Almost spring

It has been a cold, wet winter.  My garden has been appropriately dormant.  Even the Daphne and Lenten roses were late blooming.  Now in the end of March I have daffodils and forsythia blooming, with the redbud trees just showing their color.

We have expanded our front garden, and hope to have a larger corn crop this summer.

Now it is time for the spring trip.  We soon leave for two weeks traveling in China.  I will, again, use this as a travel blog.

Carolina Fall

Fall is, without a doubt, my favorite season.  That may seem like a strange thing for a gardener, but I love the cool nights and the bright colors.  I also like walking through leaves.  (Raking them, not so much)

Here is a miniature Japanese maple in our front yard.  I expected it to get larger, but in more than ten years it has hardly grown.  But it is pretty.

I took the hummingbird picture several weeks ago, just as the pineapple sage was beginning to bloom.  I was amazed at how well the picture came out.

We have transplanted a number of azaleas this fall.  I am now mulching leaves to protect them.  

So wet!

 It has rained constantly for more than a week.  We had over 10" of rain in June.  It is a wonder my garden hasn't drowned!  While everything, particularly the weeds, are green and lush, my vegetables are ripening slowly.  I had hoped to pick corn for the 4th, but it won't happen.  I have picked just one tomato.

The flowers are doing well.  Here is an orange crocosmia.  Such a delicate flower with a bright, bold color.  These are one of my favorite mid summer bloomers.

I continue to monitor our "critter cam".  We have seen a small fox and very small possum.  It is fun to see what visits the yard, and also interesting how our cat, who is now 14 years old, ignores them all.  As a younger fellow, he would have chased them all away.

It looks like it will finally be sunny for a great 4th of July celebration.

More critter stories

Saturday afternoon, my husband got to see the fox in broad daylight.  Unfortunately I missed it, but here is a pretty good picture, taken through the back door.  We now know for sure that it is a grey fox.

And below is my first ripe tomato.  Did the fox take a couple of bites?  Or something else?   I don't know teeth marks, so I can't tell.  It was very close to the ground, so it could have been any number of animals (neighbor's cat?  raccoon?).

I certainly hope this is not the fate of the rest of my tomatoes.

Another inch of rain today.  So we have had nearly 8" in June.

It continues mild

 I have never had 'Hens & Chicks" get as large as the one in this strawberry jar.  They are such sweet little plants.

The weather continues to be wonderfully mild for Eastern North Carolina.  To date, we have had only two days with temperatures above 90.  Today it was about 81 with low humidity.  What a joy.
The cooler temps and all the rain is letting the garden get well established this year.

Lots of things are blooming now.  Here is some cleome from the back yard, and an Easter Lily from the front yard.  The Knifophia (red hot pokers) are now blooming, as are canna lilies, St. John's Wort, phlox, daisies and black eyed Susans.

The first planting of corn is up about 4 feet and looking great.  We should be able to harvest our first tomatoes soon.

More on the critter cam

 Tropical Storm Andrea blew through yesterday, dumping more than3"' of rain in a day.  Fortunately, the wind was not too strong, so there is little damage.  Some of my plants are bent over, but nothing appears to be broken.

Here are pictures of two things blooming this week,  white crinum lilies and bee balm.  The St. Johns wort bush has begun to bloom,  as have the hydrangea bushes and the canna.  My two elephant ear plants are looking healthy, and I am seeing phlox again this year.  I never saw it last year, but I have removed a lot of wild strawberries and mint from that beds, so both the phlox and bee balm can grow again.

I am having great fun with the wildlife camera.  I have captured nighttime pictures of a possum, fox and raccoon, and daytime pictures of squirrels and chipmunks.  Also our cat and the next door neighbor cat are big camera stars.  Here is the best video I have gotten so far, of a young raccoon.

Wildlife camera

Since I saw a fox last week, we decided to buy an infrared wildlife camera for the back yard.  It arrived yesterday, so we are installing it this afternoon.  What fun to find out what really is going on back there, after dark!  Pictures will certainly follow.

We continue to work on the front yard.  Today we dug up a bed of Siberian Iris, which I will give away.  We also are moving monkey grass from one bed to another.  This will give the corn, tomatoes and pumpkins more sun, and more room to grow.

I am beginning to work on a more detailed list of all the plants in the yard.  I would like to have some type of garden layout, with everything names, and the general dates when each plant blooms.  More organization than I am use to!