Friday, February 15, 2013

february bloom day 2013

Hello everybody!  Today is the 15th of the month, which means it's Garden Blogger's Bloom Day.  Every month, on the 15th, Carol over at May Dreams Gardens hosts this event, and it gives bloggers all over the world a chance to show off what is blooming in their world at that particular moment.  I love reading new blogs, and seeing all the pictures.  I've found other blogs in my region, or with similar growing conditions, and I've gotten some great ideas for plants to put in my yard.  My favorites have been grouped together in the bundle you see on the right had side of this page.

The best part about bloom day for me is being able to catalog my yard.  If you're new to my blog, I moved into my Great Grandmother's cottage house just over a year ago with the plan of watching nature take it's course for a year without planting anything new.  I wanted to learn about my new yard and what my growing conditions were before I went crazy putting plants in the ground.  Bloom day has been great for me, because I can go back and see what things looked like at different times of the year, and plan my gardens accordingly.  I can also look back and see how far I've come, which is not a bad feeling either.  Last February was my first bloom day post at from my new house, and it's nice to see some familiar blooms, and my first additions to the gardens.

It felt like the blooms were coming early this year, but it looks like everything is on par with last year.  My daffodils are coming up, and the bushes near my spare bedroom are blooming.


 

The Vinca Minor is a little early though.  It showed it's first flower yesterday!


One of the best things I did last year was amend the soil in the beds beside my driveway.  I added mushroom compost & mulch, and this year I have mystery tulips coming up by my back door... in an area that was completely bare last year!


November marked 1 year in my house, and the first things that I planted were hostas and hellbores.  Like so many other areas around my house, the rock garden had been neglected for at least 20 years.  The soil was hard and dry, and nothing was growing here.  With my mom's help, we broke up the soil about 8 inches deep, then mixed in mushroom compost, topped it with much, and added additional rock edging to keep everything in place.  It was a lot of work to do it 'right', but the pass along hellebores are happier than I've ever seen them!


Thanks for stopping by today!

11 comments:

  1. Daffodils and hellebores - sure signs of Spring!
    I must go check on my Vinca - it is on a hillside and I didn't walk down there to look when I was out making my Bloom Day photos.
    Happy Bloom Day!
    Have a wonderful week-end!
    Lea
    Lea's Menagerie

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    1. Thanks Lea! My grandmother's Vinca has been blooming for about 2 weeks (across the street, but much better taken care of over the years) so I've been keeping an eye out for mine to start blooming.

      There was a lot of Vinca mixed in with the ivy I pulled up last year. I tried to save as much as I could, but it doesn't look like I have much left. Hopefully with a little TLC I can help it along.

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  2. Yay Spring! That doesn't look like Vinca though...may be just a bad angle. AND don't worry about trying to save Vinca. It will come back...and back...and back. I'm actually trying to get rid of mine. I have the variegated variety and it's actually a pest...on the "invasive species" list for our area. Anyway...love your pictures!

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    1. I think my love of vinca has come from my hatred of ivy, and the fact that it doesn't climb! Thanks for stopping by, I'll try to have a better picture of the vinca blooms next month!

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    2. I agree with you there. I'm not a fan of ivy either...though I DO have some. I remember years ago when I was a girl our neighbors took out the ivy in their front yard. Unbeknownst to them, it was full of mice! And unfortunately, since they now had no home, they scattered all over the neighborhood! It was maddening. Thus stems MY distaste for ivy!

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  3. I saw Vinca blooms the other day, always a pretty blue when there isn't much other blue. Early Daffodils are such a cheerful sight, too.

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  4. Wow that's awesome if I tried anything like this the pictures would look a LOT different haha

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    1. The great thing about the daffodils is that they're bulbs, you plant them in the fall, and if they don't get dug up and eaten by critters, you have flowers in the spring. Trust me, I'm very low maintenance when it comes to plants!

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  5. I LOVE those vina minor! I just never knew the name for them. And no one knew what I was talking about when I said "those star flowers". Ok keep up the pictures of spring! We are unfortunately burning up in the Bolivian summer here haha

    carpe diem,
    emi okamoto

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    1. Will do!! I love reading about your time in Bolivia btw, Carnival looked like a fun and crazy adventure. :)

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