In the Garden: May 2006 Archives

Well, the landscaper showed up this morning and took out the stump of the viburnum.

I was at the salon, and my mother called to say that the landscapers had arrived and were busy taking out the stump. They were originally supposed to have done it last Tuesday. It was rescheduled to Friday. No one showed up.
I talked with the landscaper's wife and told her that I didn't want them to work on the stump unless I was around. So much for communication.

So, when I got home, they were about two-thirds of the way done. I watched as they took out the rest. Unfortunately, I had to point out an arm of it they had missed, and you know that if I was able to see that one arm, there are others just below the surface that I missed.

I plan to add LOT of compost to the area, working it into the soil. Once the area has been cleared, I'll plant new perennials and then mulch everything. Can you envision Bluebeard, Russian Sage, Sunrise Coneflower, and Homestead Purple Verbena leading from the brick walls out to the edge of the garden?

The last thing the landscaper did before he and his crew left was to plant the new redbud. We agreed on how far forward of the house the tree should go. We have the species that has just one trunk, rather than the kind that grows multiple trunks. It's just a baby tree. It will be a long time before it fills out and shades the area again.

I've wanted a redbud for a very long time. Cop Car tried to help me out by transplanting several of the seedlings from her lawn, but we lost them over the winter. We'll have to hope that this one lasts.

..should be the word of the day.

This morning, around 6:30, the herb garden looked mysterious and very verdant, much as I think a secret garden might look. The shadows, dissipating as the light grew, outlined the leaves, and heightened the darker colors in the garden. The lighter lamb's ears glowed against the darker background.

Its cold and rainy in Chicagoland. We are not likely to see any sunshine today. But, the view out our windows is amazing. Everything has been responding to the cool, wet Spring weather. The chives are almost ready to bloom. The herb garden has gone from slowly waking up to looking almost mature in the past week.

The green leaves of the day lilies seem to be jumping out of the ground in their haste to grow. We won't see blooms until June, but the greens are full and tall. Almost everything has come back in the herb garden except two pods of thyme that I'll have to replace. I've never seen it die back like this, and I can only assume the mild winter, coupled with the drought, finally did it in.

Two of the iris are open! "Infinite Grace" and "Rare Wine" are the two along the brick wall of the garage that are the first to open. Most of the rest of the iris are showing buds, even the one which I know will be last to bloom.

The stump of the viburnum has STILL not been pulled. I think I am going to ask them to wait until next week, because I feel that it is important I be here when they pull the stump, and then plant the redbud. I've been told that the root system is as deep and wide as the tree or shrub was tall, so there's a whopper of a root to pull out. I'm concerned about the extent of the damage to the existing garden, and I don't see how they can avoid damaging the lawn, after all this rain.

Dear Husband gave the lawn it's first rough cut about a week or ten days ago. He's going to need to hire a fleet of mowers, the way the grass is growing! We can hear the grass calling to him at night....and the dandelions have a nasty laugh, rather like Peter Lorre in the "Maltese Falcon." (Heh heh heh)

To recap, the gardens are astonishing this year, there's a lot of work left to do, and DH gets to mow. Don't you LOVE SPRING??