Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang

Much has happened since my last post. I left off with non-hardy plants coming back in the garden and yesterday was the big surprise, my Colocasia 'Illustris' has come back. A tender tuber, hardy in zones 8 to 10, but rarely returning even in zone 9 (and we are zone 7). Well.... he's back. I dug the tubers in fall to store them, but bits have returned on their own. Amazing!!

The first miniature gladilus is flowering. A deep purple, it's beautiful.

When I walk Duke in the woods, I find pockets of Indian pipe popping up. Every year I try and remember their season. Clearly it's the beginning of June. Indian pipe feeds on fungi that are mycorrhizal with trees, so it's really a parasite. Since it does not contain chlorophyll, it's completely white. There are a few common names, two others are ghost plant and corpse plant. Today I noticed a bumble bee pollinating them. I have seen ants do the same.

We lost a bantam chicken to a fox. It was Pequeno Maxwell's wife Priscilla, an adorable little white bantam. She built a nest by our garage and was sitting on eggs. Next time we will move the nest to safe quarters, if there is a next time (he still has Lucille). As we realized that she was gone, we found a guinea nest with 26 eggs in it and a female sitting on it. Between three of us, we couldn't capture the female guinea, our plan was to move her into a pen with her nest and eggs. So we gathered the eggs and delivered them to a friend in Berryville who will incubate and hatch them. She was our original source for guineas,  and she's down to three. And lastly, in the chicken department, we have 10 new youngsters, all Sex-links, a hybrid between Rhode Island Reds and 2 other chickens, all good egg layers. 

My work at Oak Hill has been delightful, the weather has been awesome! Yesterday I clipped the knot garden which is designed with boxwood 'Morris Midget'. Planted five years ago, it's really coming into its own. I use a pair of hedge trimmers, the brand is "Okatsune", Japanese and very good. I use the short handled pair, sold as #60. It's real precision work, but these trimmers make it all happen.

It's lily time at Oak Hill and they have just begun. My favorite might be Lilium 'Royal Sunset'. It's a variety I sold at Windy Hill, years ago. The only thing that keeps it from being number one is a lack of fragrance, not that it doesn't have the genes. The royal series is part of the L.A. hybrids, so named because they are a cross between L. longiflorum (the Easter lily) and the asiatics, hence L.A. Some have the fragrance inherited from the Easter lily, some don't.

 I have many 4 legged helpers in the garden. There are three yellow labs. and one cat named "Trouble". You never know where or when she will show up. Today she hung out with me.

 

 

 

Comments

[Rebecca Ryan]

The knot garden is beautiful! The Royal Sunset lily is stunning and Trouble is cute lounging in that tree! Thanks for sharing! Looks like June is off to a good start!

[laura mcdonald]

awesome to see you've found indian pipe too! i think it's early this year - like everything else, can not believe that my beloved daylilies from windy hill are blooming already. keeping fingers crossed that the rest of the summer is as kind.