Trailing Purple Verbena
Gladness is born of the April weather,
And the heart is as light as a wind tossed feather.
Who could be sad on a day like this?
The care that vexed us no longer is. – Eben Eugene Rexford
What’s blooming today? A stroll through the garden shows the trailing purple verbena in full bloom. Many of the roses are sending out test buds to see if the weather is good. I have blooms on my ‘Souvenir Du St. Anne’, Golden Celebration, Grauss an Auchen, Hiederoslein, Mrs. B.R. Cant, Joseph’s Coat, Red Knock Out, Tuscan Sun, Traviata, Hermosa, Belinda’s Dream, and a white rose (I just can’t remember it’s name but it is French).
All the trees are budding out. The apricot had just a few blooms on it and the ‘Forest Pansy’ Redbud is done with it’s bloom but the beautiful purple leaves are coming out now. The weeping peach trees are still heavy with bloom even if some of them are beginning to fade. The Arkansas Black-Twig apple is just now starting to open its buds. The ginkgo and the bald cypress are greening.
The perennials are reemerging. The horseradish and Texas Star hibiscus are back and the salvias are gorgeous even if they aren’t blooming yet. The strawberries are blooming (and producing – yum!) The blue bells are just beginning to fade. The Gulf Coast penstemon is blooming – come on humming birds! The wine cup is highly mounded and has opened one test bud and so has the oxeye daisy. The Spanish lavender and coral sage are beautiful. The phlox is just beginning – I can’t wait until the fragrance starts to fill the air. This is just the beginning!
A Canteloupe Tree
We have been busy planting over the weekend. We planted yellow squash, zucchini, more Sugar-Ann peas, nasturtium, hyacinth bean vine, loofah, bird-house gourd, beets, brandywine tomato, huscky cherry tomato, beefmaster tomato, cucumber, basil, Anaheim pepper, and alyssum. And we liked our surprise cantaloupe so much last year that we also planted cantaloupe right next to our cedar elm again so that we can have another cantaloupe tree! Samantha got in the act too and planted some blue fescue grass in a pretty little pot. John decided to start a few things in egg cartons, so he planted gaillardia, columbine, Bells of Ireland, delphinium, Shasta daisy, basil, brandywine tomato, beefsteak tomato, tam jalapeno, and cilantro. Some of the seed was really old because it came from my mother cleaning out her stock. We will have to see how they do.
We also worked a lot on the pond and put in some waterlilies and anaichis (underwater plants). Before we cleaned the pond, it was red from the tannins produced by the leaves that the wind carried into the pond that we then neglected to remove. The pond has now gone from red to green (believe it or not, this is good). The plants will start using up some of the nutrients soon and the waterlilies will start to cover the pond and block the light to starve out the algae. We can now see our fish, though, and they seem very happy. I count 6 fancy goldfish and two mosquito fish. We still can’t see well enough to the bottom to see of the plecostomus made it through the winter. There is something else living in there too! I thought there was a green leaf in the pond so I tried to grab it and it squirmed right out of my fingers. I can’t wait for the water to clear to get a better look. Maybe a tadpole? Whatever it was, it was bright green and about 1/2 inch long.
I hope you are having as much fun in your garden as I am in mine!
