two day project

I know this doesn't look like a two day project, but it was. I thought it would be relatively easy to plant a rose, wouldn't you? The area had a dying Caryopteris in  the place, and how hard could it be to remove it, and plant a rose? Well, let me tell you. First I had to scrape off all the gravel around the bed, which of course needed to be sifted to remove the fines and wind-blown sand. This extended to the end of the bed on one side (almost seen in the top right corner) and around the shrub to the left. This was quite a length ordeal, with the decaying landscape fabric underneath, which had degraded to loose synthetic fibers which caught in everything - the shovel, the wheelbarrow, my hands, blew in my face. Try extricating sand and gravel out of that! Sifting gravel is no walk in the park either. Then there was the matter of loosening the soil, which took half a day and a pickaxe to get more than a few inches down. Then I was out of store-bought compost, and I sure wasn't going to the store to get more during this COVID-19 time. My own compost was still a little raw, so I had to use the pickaxe again to chop up the bits and then dig it in. Once the soil was loosened and amended, it was way too much to fit into the spot. So that had to be dealt with. Irrigation needed revision. So a day and a half later, the roses are planted, then watered, to settle all that soil. While that was settling, I turned the compost pile. Then there was mulching, then finishing sifting the gravel, and then spreading the gravel. Whew!
I'm pooped.

tulips

I decided to get back into tulips this year. In my old garden I had a few species tulips that did very well, but in this garden, the colors of those tulips just wasn't working for me. I settled on these white Darwin tulips called 'Hakuun'. I didn't expect them to bloom this early, very shortly after the crocuses have faded. They also aren't as large as I expected them to be. But I do love them and hope they will be with me for a long time. Many of the large flowered tulips fade out year by year, but in this climate they seem to do better and the Darwin types are supposed to be better about staying. Grow, tulips! Be fruitful and multiply!

The lilies are coming up! The lilies are coming up!

It's funny how excited I get at the sight of the lilies coming up. After the months of winter, the appearance of that tiny lifting of the mulch is much heralded. I almost do a little dance. I think it is more exciting than the early blooms of the crocuses. Different lilies make their entrances at different times, so there is great anticipation. I may have become somewhat in tune with the cycles of the lily, because just at that time when my brain says "Isn't it time for them to start coming up?" is usually within a day or two of when they first appear.


'Silk Road' is the last to appear, probably because it is planted in the ground instead of in pots. The ground stays cooler than the pots, so this delays their appearance. Do you see it? Do you see it? The first appearance of the tip of the bulb is that subtle lifting of the mulch in the left upper corner, about a quarter of the way in. You can barely see a faint shadow in the tent of the sticks, which is the pale tip of the lily stem making its appearance.

Lilium leucanthum which grew huge last year is just peeking out of the mulch.

I've been calling this lily 'Black Beauty' even though I don't believe it is. I bought it as 'Black Dragon' but it is clearly not even close. 'Black Dragon' is a trumpet lily that is dark burgundy on the outside and white on the inside. This one looks like an oriental lily with open flowers and a red interior. Still, it is fun to grow. 

'White Butterflies was one of my most anticipated bulbs that I planted two years ago. They barely survived their location, so I'm trying to coddle them in pots. I had dug them out in the middle of summer, and strangely, they immediately grew a couple of new leaves in the few weeks before a hard freeze. They may grow this year, but I don't really expect much until maybe next year (I hope). 

 'Red Velvet' also was not particularly happy where it was, so I also dug it up last summer and potted it up. It looks much happier now. I should get a few blooms this year.

'Anastasia' was the first lily to pop up this year. It's already made significant headway. I bought this one to replace the 'Scherezade' that I gave away. I didn't like how 'Scheherezade started out bordered in yellow, and 'Anastasia' looks like it may be just as vigorous with color and flower form I like better. This one also languished in the garden spot where I planted it, and I dug them up and grew them in this pot last year. I got one flower last year, but the plants grew strong and vigorously. It looks like this year will be great. Anticipation!

Spring is on its way

In this time of "Shelter-In-Place" it's especially nice to have a garden, to bring joy to the heart with the coming of spring.

I've had 7 cubic yards of mulch delivered. It took us 3 weeks to move it and spread it where it needs to go in the garden. Of course after it's all done, I realized I missed a spot.

Just starting. I estimate it took 60 trips with the wheelbarrow.

The hellebores are still blooming. I think my best one is still 'Pink Frost'.

Although the NoID is also a favorite.

And although Flower Girl is still getting established, they have quickly charmed me.

The roses are starting to leaf out. I get so excited by this, but I know that my friends, spouse and family would just yawn.

March 7, the pruned back 'Freedom' that I grew from a cutting looked like this.

And now it looks like this.

I'm particularly excited about the new growth on the hard-pruned roses, and all the new basals that are forming.

Bishop's Castle

Pure Perfume

 Winchester Cathedral

There are even a few flower buds forming on 'Winchester Cathedral'.

Lilies bursting out of the soil are such a thrill. I cherish each point comes up.

Anastasia

Iris unguicularis 'Logan Calhoun' didn't bloom at all through the winter, and now is making up for lost time. You can tell it was a harsh winter, because of all the leaf damage.

My best Hippeastrum is 'La Paz' and it is now putting forth it's annual show.

happiness is a freshly made bed

 The bed of Salvia 'May Night' was looking scraggly last year. Since it was one of the first plantings I made in the garden, I knew that the soil wasn't particularly well amended. This was also a low area on the yard. When I first took out the lawn and made these planting areas, I thought it would be nice to have the gentle swales in the garden. I was wrong. The swales went against the flow of the garden, and made for problematic irrigation and maintenance. To try to amend the problem, I dug out all the Salvias, amended the soil with about 5 cubic feet of organics and compost, 3 buckets of "topsoil' from another part of the yard, and dug it all in, deeply. Ah, a nice beautiful bed. Only then did I realize that the problem with the Salvias was probably not the soil. I had never installed drip emitters among the planting! They did surprisingly in retrospect, considering the lack of irrigation. Now to replant and get them some irrigation.

Celtis reticulata

It's a shame that Celtis reticulata is not used more in Albuquerque landscapes. The Netleaf Hackberry is one of the most striking plants in the winter landscape that I know of, and is native to the area, drought tolerant. It is so deep-rooted that it can be planted near walkways or roads and not lift the paving. It is of a size that fits well into public plantings, although a bit too large for the postage-stamp gardens that are common these days. I had debated whether to plant this tree in my own garden, but decided to to plant food bearing fruit trees instead. But if I were to decide that these edibles are too much work and have them removed, I would consider planting the Netleaf Hackberry instead.

When I was hiking in the Albuquerque foothills some years ago, I came across a stand of trees that were almost too short to be called trees. They were probably 8 or so feet tall, but with thick trunks and branches, more than 8 inches thick, that were so twisted and intertwined that they would make a contorted mulberry or a "Harry Lauder's Walking Stick" (Corylus avellana 'Contorta') proud. Of course they were Celtis reticulata. I stood in awe of these trees for a long time.

I suppose they can have a bit of a wild look to them.

That branch just keeps on going....

Of course, in the cultivated landscape, plants are irrigated and pruned up for traffic, and are not contorted and dramatic as those in the foothills, but they do retain some of that tendency.

 They do tend to branch low, and this is one thing that would make them less perfect for sidewalk plantings. This one (above) could use a better pruning job, and has less of the contorted aspect.

Although this is the best time of the year to appreciate the bark and branches of these trees, the form is still apparent even when fully leafed out.

 The bark has a kind of warty texture which is interesting. Probably not great to climb.

What these trees don't have, and may be part of what keeps them from being more popular, is the lack of color. There is no burst of colorful flowers. There are no colorful fruits (the dry berry being like a BB in size and shape, black and hidden in the leaves). There is no dramatic fall color. The trade-off is that instead of these brief moments of color, there is the year-round attractive structure. People seem not to appreciate that much.

Rosa woodsii

After seeing what the native Woods rose looks like right now, I'm almost ready to remove my roses and plant these. My roses are just scraggly thorny branches right now, and these Rosa woodsii in the neighborhood will look like this all winter. True, they only bloom for a brief period in the spring, and flowers are small and single. But bushes form a nice shape, they have colorful fall leaves, and you can't beat the show of the hips. My rose hybrids produce a lot flashier show in May, but rather scraggly bloom the rest of the summer, no fall color and nothing attractive in the winter.

Look at these hips!

Striking against the New Mexico sky.

So beautiful in the New Mexico landscape.