The death of plants

It seems I have lost quite a few of my perennials over the winter. I am not sure if it is because of the dry fall, dry and cold winter, or dry spring (are you seeing a pattern here?) Just proves that you really have to hand water to keep them alive here in Colorado.

Most of the items I lost were from smaller containers, and planted later in the growing season. In my experience, the gallon size perennials seem to have a higher success rate than the 2 or 3 inch. I also tried chocolate flower and am very disappointed that that one doesn't seem to be coming back. I just have to tell myself that it's early, and to give them a little more time to sprout from the ground. The one that I am MOST surprised that didn't come back was my Jacob's Kline Monarda. I have NEVER had problems with Monarda coming back (invasive, anyone?) and am extremely disappointed because I have to order that one online. Again, I am guessing it is a dryness issue since Monarda likes it a little damp.

I had almost convinced myself that I would limit my plant spending this year as I wanted to see how everything was filling out. Since I keep adding year to year, a lot of my plants are on second and third years, and will be a true joy to behold. I keep getting magazines of these lush, beautiful gardens and would love that look. Obviously, I need to add more shrubs to my gardens for the greenery. I also need to move to a place that isn't quite as arid. ;)

I am happy to note that even though I didn't water ONCE, my raspberry in my large wine barrel is alive and well. This should be the year we get fruit on it, so I am glad it survived my neglect. I highly recommend planting your raspberries in a wine barrel because it keeps it contained and doesn't seem to be fussy.

Did any of you lose anything this year? It's like saying goodbye to an old friend. It makes me melancholy. However, when I am at work, I tend to get over the sadness quickly because there is always another beautiful plant to replace the old one!!

As it's snowing outside, I am just telling myself to go around and look at my gardens to see splashes of color here and there. My crocuses are up, and my bulbs are peeking through the ground. Is it spring yet?? I am so ready for it this year!!

Brian and I have had a busy weekend. We've been getting our trailer essentials and loading them in. After a wonderful trip to Target, we are now set with dishes. Since I keep everything, all of our bedding is set. There are just a few more items, and then we are ready for our first trip. I am hoping it warms up a little more before we head out! Destination...not sure yet. We are thinking Boyd Lake, but haven't made up our minds.

We get to have dinner over at mom and dad's. Since I worked the past few weeks, I haven't had time to visit much with them. A couple of Sunday's ago I went to listen to my father preach and then had lunch with them afterward. It was nice to see them and just spend time with them. I miss them a lot.

Ah. Work. It's going well. I started earlier than I usually do and potted up hundreds of roses in a short time. About 120-125 in one day. I will be having down time because a coworker is back, so I am going to try to keep using my muscles so they don't go in shock again. It would be a lot easier if it were warm!! Not sure what my schedule will be like. It's all up in the air right now, just like every year.

Things to pay attention to in your gardens. With the warmer weather this week, I would water again (of course) and about day 3 of warm weather, you can even fertilize. March-April is when I normally do it, but you can wait until May. I just noticed that when I fertilize a little earlier, the bugs seem to stay away more often. A healthier tree they do not like!! Also, make sure your iris beds are cleaned up. This is the time where fungus and bugs start going crazy. Pretty much clean up is starting...just keep the mulch around things that the cold air could hurt. I still don't prune my roses until April-May.

This weekend I will be planting spinach, beans, onions and lettuce and different intervals to get started on the crops. So excited to have fresh produce again!!

Here's to a happy, work filled spring! I can feel it!

Dry Winter

Your hands are dry. Hair has static. Can't touch anything in your house without getting zapped. You must live in Colorado in the winter!

So, you put lotion on for your dry body, conditioner on your hair, and...still get zapped by everything you touch in your house. If you are taking care of your dryness, have you stopped to think about your plants and trees needing the same treatment?

I put this out every year, but have to say it again. Water during the winter! We have had such a dry season, and although there is finally snow on the ground, I hope you had watered during September -January, because boy, did those plants need it! If you didn't, no time to start like the present. If we have a dry winter, I always suggest for people to take 5 gallon buckets and drill a small hole in the bottom. Then place the bucket at the base of the tree or near the base. Fill with water. The water will slowly seep into the ground, ensuring you that the tree is getting at least five gallons of water. For the larger trees, I put two buckets down. If it is really dry and the weather highs have been above normal, I will water twice a month. If we had some moisture, then just once. If we have a very wet winter, I do not water at all. If the ground is frozen, I wait until we have a few days of warmer weather before attempting to water at all. I currently have 14 trees and 4 buckets that I distributed around the yard.

This has saved landscapes. While your neighborhood's trees are dead all around you, yours will be lush and healthy in the spring! I also water my shrubs and perennials with a hose.

Bloomin' Tuesday!

Today is Bloomin' Tuesday and I have a two part blog that I will share half this week and then half next week. I had the pleasure of visiting the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in Vail, CO last week and I was in HEAVEN. If you haven't had a chance to go visit the mountains in the summer, please do so! The wildflowers were in abundance, the weather perfect and the gardens were divine! Here are just a few shots that I took of the Alpine Gardens. Thanks to Jean for providing a chance to share some amazing flower pics! Go to Jean's site to check out what's blooming across the world.
















Next week are some shots that I took at 10,500 ft up on Vail Pass!

The return

Brian and I returned from vacation on Friday, and yesterday I had major clean-up in my gardens. It looked like a jungle due to the heavy winds and rain we received the previous week! My hollyhocks were sideways, my russian sage had split down the middle and were lying flat. Time to get the twine and pray! This is the year where I had to see how everything grew together, and next spring is the year to fix everything. I know there are a lot of people that do dividing in the fall, but I've never had a lot of luck with that here in Colorado. I'm not sure if it's because I wait too long and then the roots don't have enough time to establish or what, but a lot of things die over the winter time. Color combinations and size of plants are the main obstacles right now. I planted some crazy daisies and some daylillies right by my sidewalk walkway and everything was too huge to walk through. I had no idea the crazy daisies would flop as much as they have and have to move them pronto. They flopped so much I just cut them down and didn't even get to enjoy the flowers!

Moving on to my veggie garden...I have little grape tomatoes EVERWHERE, and I have to restake all of my tomatoes because they have outgrown what I previously had. I have peppers that are very close to harvesting, and saw our first cukes and beans coming along strong. FINALLY the heat has come through and things are growing with gusto.

My backyard is missing summer color so I will be dividing like crazy and bringing new color to it next spring. It's hard to know for sure what will bloom because when you buy things new, they don't necessarily bloom the same time the first year. I have two types of hibiscus that should be blooming now but haven't yet...and my Limelight Hydrangea is about to pop. Other than some daisies, foxglove and columbine blooming, that's the only color besides green that I really have in the back.

All of my trees are doing very well. I was surprised they don't have any signs of stress from the heat. This week should be a bit cooler to give them a much needed break.

All in all, it's been a pretty successful summer in my gardens. I have one side trained to only need water once a week, which is great. If I could stop planting on the other side, I could get that down to twice a week waterings, I think. Saving water is the plan...

Planting with Plant Select

I'm reading a wonderful book called "Durable Plants for the Garden" which is made by the Plant Select group here in Colorado. Lovely book. The pictures are outstanding and the illustrations are to die for. I've loved looking through and reading each page carefully. However, something to keep in mind when growing Plant Select. They are a cooperative program through the Denver Botanic gardens and Colorado State University. Just because they say that every plant will work where YOU live, isn't necessarily the case. As a gardener, I love to try new plants to see if they will make it. It hurts when they don't because the first year, the blooms are spectacular, but it also hurts the ol' pocketbook. I'm not knocking Plant Select. Their intentions are superb and God knows we all need help in picking out plants that will work here in Colorado. With the shorter growing time, the conditions becoming more and more arid (although you'd never guess that this year) and the cold winters, it's nice to have a list of plants that are durable and will survive these harsh conditions! I appreciate you, Plant Select, but I'm compiling a list of plants that are iffy that you've come up with.

Salvia darcyi 'Pscarl' Vermillion Bluffs
I fell in absolute adoration with this plant a couple of years ago. I love reds in my garden, and here in Colorado, it's hard to find durable plants that have a red bloom. This particular type of Salvia is RED. Not pink-red, not orange-red, but RED. It also is great for the back of your gardens because it gets HUGE. The first year I grew it, it grew fast and the blooms lasted forever. It didn't come back. I went to my local nursery and bought another one. It did great that year, and didn't come back. So, I bought two more the next spring. One I left alone (I didn't cut it down until I saw growth) the other I did cut down. The one I left alone is growing fine, the other one is dead. Hey, a 1 out of 2 ration isn't too bad! I would suggest mulching it very heavily and leaving it alone until the end of May. The roots are huge, so they are trying to make it, but it's very iffy out here. I just had a customer come in and buy 18 of them from the nursery because it brought the hummingbirds out to Bennett, CO and the customer was overjoyed. His didn't come back in the spring, either.



Bridges Penstemon
I bought three of these three years ago and have lost one each spring. It's another red. Plant Select says this one will last the longest of all of the Penstemons. The first year it didn't bloom (which is pretty normal for Penstemons). The second year, after losing one, the other two bloomed beautifully. The third year, I had lost a total of two. I will say that it takes very dry conditions, and Penstemons are known for not liking wet feet in the winter...and my hubby might have dumped too much of the snow off the driveway on my plants this year. However, it was a VERY dry winter...so I'm not sure that was the cause.



Salvia greggii 'Furman's Red'
Are you seeing a red theme, here? This salvia has actually done very well for me, but that might be because I've coddled it during the winter. It's also on it's third year and comes up beautifully. I mulch it all the way to the top and last fall I cut one down and left the other up to see if that made a difference. It didn't...both came back with no problems. However, my dad has also grown this, and had to replace it this year. He lives NW of me. He didn't mulch it like I told him to, so he might try that this year. From what I've heard from customers, they've been treating it like an annual. Hummingbirds also love this plant, and what people will do for hummingbirds!!


Delosperma 'John Proffitt' Table Mountain ice plant
I haven't planted this before, but we lost over half of them in the nursery containers over the winter. Another plant that doesn't do well with wet feet. Not sure what happened, but I'm not happy they didn't survive. Hopefully it does better in the ground.



Plant Select has tons of other varieties (check out their site) that perform wonderfully, though, too. My suggestion is if you see a plant select variety early in the season, grab it, because you won't be able to find them later on.

A list of my favorites:

Buddleja alterifolia 'Argentea'
This is a monster, growing 12-15 feet H. It blooms off of old wood, which is unlike most butterfly bushes. The flowers weep down, and they are PLENTIFUL. Just a beautiful show in the earlier summer-late spring.


Cytisus purgans Spanish Gold broom
It's hardier than any other broom I've seen and seems to be unaffected by alkaline soils, harsh winter conditions, etc. 4-6 feet by 4-6 feet. Evergreen.


Carol Mackie daphne
OMG. I love this plant. The variegated leaves, the smell in the spring. Great speciman plant that performs very, very well. If you don't have one of these, go out NOW and buy one. 3-4 feet by 3-4 feet.


Princess Kay plum
Fall color is exquisite. Smaller speciman only getting 15-20 feet high by 12-15 feet wide. The white blooms in spring are clustered, so they are very noticeable. I love this tree. The aphids love this tree, so protect it.



One I've never tried but will be on the lookout for is the Phlox bifida L.C. Beck Snowmass phlox. The blooms look like little snowflakes.


All in all, Plant Select keeps getting better at producing plants that will work in Colorado. If you haven't enjoyed this book, it's sold through Amazon.com. You will love it! Thanks, Plant Select, for trying out new species, and keeping Colorado beautiful!

The tried and true, and the new.

I've done it again. Couldn't stay away and bought some more flowers and shrubs. The conquest? A hardy hydrangea that isn't quite as picky about our alkaline soils. The purchase? A super hardy hydrangea that's called 'Limelight'.

Hardy to zone 3, this hydrangea can handle the sun. It also can handle heavy pruning which produces an abundance of flowers. What I love about it most, though, is the flowers are mostly white, but in the fall take a pinkish tone. I have yet to see a negative review about this hydrangea. The leaves aren't as big as the typical hydrangea, but the flower heads are around 8" across...so who's looking at the leaves?

I also am trying a native groundcover called Woadwaxen 'Golden Template'

After established, this beauty takes little to no water which is perfect for the front of my gardens that gets hot, western heat that is close to the sidewalk. It blooms in late spring to early summer. Only 8-10 inches tall, it spreads up to 2' wide. The blooms remind me of a golden broom.

I also grabbed a Verbascum 'Jackie in Pink'


It's a dwarf Mullein and goes well with my delphinium, and cottage garden look. It's also hardy to zone 5 which doesn't happen a lot with Mullein. It's a biennial, that only produces more flowers on bare soil, so I have to make sure I move my mulch out of the way. It's just gorgeous!!

The last purchase of note is the Lo and Behold 'Blue Chip' Buddleia, or butterfly bush.


This is a ground cover butterfly bush with beautiful blue/lavender blooms. 20" tall x 20" wide, it's the perfect spot in front of my blue garden that actually gets the full day sun. You don't have to deadhead it, and it's not supposed to seed which is the perfect low maintenance ground cover I need. It starts it's bloom time in early summer and goes until fall. I can't wait until I see it in action! Pictures can't do it justice!

As for the tried and true, I had to replace a gayfeather and I'm adding another iceplant in my rock garden. Delosperma Red Mountain.



It's an orangish color that I haven't seen before. I was going to grab the Lavender, but I sold out the day I was going to take it home. I'm hoping this variety is as hardy as the Delosperma Cooperi.

I also bought my Blue Mist spirea...a very small one. I've just decided to keep it small and hope for the best!! Now, off of the computer to get my son to dig holes!

Browsing my gardens

My baby, Emerald Arrow Bosnian Pine. To the left is the Emerald Carousel, to the right is the Autumn Magic Chokeberry.

Side border with my forsythia that I had to cut way down...hardy glads, tulips, Karl Rosenfield paeonia, and Coppertina Ninebark

Various iris that I dug up from my mother-in-laws home and that Lisa from my work gave me.

May Night salvia, Centranthus Ruber or Jupiter's Beard

My two veggie gardens just built along with major cleanup that needs to happen. Yikes! The barrel is for my raspberries...

I love sticking pots in my gardens until they get the height they will be in several years...

One of the many containers I potted up. I just LOVE this ruby red geranium!

Claire de Lune clematis. I really need to find a spot for this. It is just breathtaking.

My front garden...year three. The huge bush is actually a mock orange. I've never seen one this big. This is the first year we haven't cut it down. We're hoping for the citrus-smelling flowers in June. I think you have to actually click on the pic to see it!

Other front garden, year two.

Malva Zebrina. I came back this evening to take more pictures and something is eating it all up! :(

This is one of my favorite views. I'm in love with aspens. Thank goodness I live in Colorado!

A random purple iris. I love it that I never know what will show up each year!

Pasque flower, gone to seed. I can't decide if I love this plant with the flowers, or this way.

My first attempt at a "Steppable". It's quite taller than I thought. I can't get myself to step on it...

Linum perenne or Blue flax. My hubby's favorite!! It reseeds nicely and is quite manageable. The truest blue I can find.

Closeup of yellow iris. I'm addicted to these flowers. So graceful and elegant.

Queen of the Night tulip. I hated to see the blooms fall. I can't wait until this beauty multiplies. I received the bulbs in the mail too late in the fall and wasn't able to plant all of them.

This is a new one!

Just had someone stop by and say, "I always thought the person that lived here was old...they're the only people that have enough time to keep a garden looking this pretty!"

Um. Yeah. I guess I understand the sentiment, although I think when I'm "old" this might offend me... didn't know "old" people had so much time on their hands!!

I swear to post pics today...

Between Baking Projects . . . I Like to do a Little Gardening Now and Then . . .

I'm not really sure what these are . . . I think my brother-in-law calls them sundrops. Appropriate, yes?


Even a garish little primrose appears shamelessly amid the detritus of last autumn.


The sweet woodruff is in full bloom right now, and the fern unfurled just last week . . .



Trillium are protected in Michigan, so when I see this flower in our backyard I feel like we've been entrusted with something remarkable.


This lovely little plant with the speckled leaves is a pulmonaria variety called "Mrs. Moon." The blooms are tiny as can be, but aren't they cute?

Back to baking now. (On the menu tomorrow . . . fresh strawberry scones.)