“In the last few months, I have completely changed the way I work in my yard. I no longer have goals like making a yard where I can entertain or hang out. I just go out and putter around in the yard. Puttering is the point. Puttering is how I hang out in the garden. I’m outside, I’m moving around, and eventually everything looks better” — RainJustRain in last week’s SMGB 15.25 diary comments.
I hope you don’t mind my borrowing your comment as a lead-in to this week’s post, RainJustRain. It really resonated with me when I read it, and I realized that puttering is what I have been doing for part of this spring too. I think it’s because of the WEEDS. They are winning. They have won. I have never seen such prolific growth of undesirables. I know that many of you have been complaining about the same phenomenon. I start weeding an area, and then realize that I will never have the time to clear even part of it, so I just start wandering around, looking at things.
Of course, that is what I usually do during iris blooming season. Every morning I sneak out early and do a walk-about to see what new iris/es have bloomed during the night. But now iris season is nearly over — oh, there is a tall bearded here and there, and some Siberians — but no new thrills; still, I’m wandering around just looking at plants. I thought I would share a few photos of my “After Iris — Before Daylily” garden, taken as I puttered around.
I have quite a few ninebark shrubs in the garden. I planted them because I like the dark foliage, and because they are native. I really don’t particularly like how they look when in bloom:
But since I was just puttering around that day, I took a closer look:
I think the individual blooms are just exquisite! They gradually turn to red. I had never looked closely at them before.
Several years ago, I planted a hardy wisteria next to an old maple tree. I knew that if it survived, it would climb the tree and form thick stems. Every year it grows a little higher up the tree, but this is the first year I noticed the flowers. Just puttering around, and I happened to look up, way above my head. Taking time to look around. Puttering.
I no longer have many roses. Hybrid tree roses were my first garden love, but they required so many chemicals, and winter protection. Simply too much work when my son was young, and I was working full time. Now that my garden is chemical free, I have just an old yellow shrub rose that was here when we moved into the house over 40 years ago, one William Baffin climbing rose, and three of these on the back fence: George Vancouver, another of the Canadian Explorer series. It blooms faithfully and will be lovely until the Japanese Beetles arrive. I haven’t seen them yet this year, but I’m sure they’ll show up eventually because they always do. Mr. Mimer doesn’t do much gardening, but he has the unenviable task of hand picking and drowning Japanese Beetles.
We are members of the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, which is where we often go to look at trees or shrubs when we are thinking of adding a major plant. The Arb has marvelous collections of trees and shrubs that do well in our northern climate. It’s where we first saw a Swiss Stone Pine, which we now have growing in the back yard as a Memorial tree, and where Mr. Mimer fell in love with this plant:
It is turning into a monster, vining along the fence close to George Vancouver. Up close and personal:
Below are a few more shots of what’s blooming these days —
This week I used some of the birthday money Mr. Mimer gave me to buy this colorful accent piece for a corner of the patio. My garden is mostly plants; I don’t have too many “whimsical” things or garden art, but I liked the colors.
So, how is the weeding going in your gardens? I know I will start weeding again soon; I can’t help myself. But I have enjoyed some days of just puttering around, noticing little things, picking a weed here and there. Let’s hope for just enough rain, no hail, and fewer Japanese beetles or whatever pests you have in your part of the country.