The Grass is Always Greener... March 15, 2015

Today I am linking with-

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, hosted by Carol, to see what is blooming elsewhere join in.

For GBBD,  daffodils have been blooming, as well as hellebores, and new flowers continue to appear, 2-4 weeks earlier than normal.   A tall Camellia shrub seen out of the second story window-

Camellia flower-

Magnolia rubra rusticana is blooming-

My favorite Grape Hyacinth, Muscari latifolia, I love the difference in the upper and lower florets-

Some Euphorbia blooming wth Muscari and Vinca-

Wojo's Gem Vinca, my favorite for the variegated leaves among the Vinca minors now blooming-

In an attempt to reduce the high level of maintenance on my 2 acres which have the gargantuan PNW weed problems of 30' /  9m Himalayan blackberries, thorny Evergreen blackberries, and small but lengthy and persistent native trailing blackberries, with sharp tiny spines good at penetrating gloves, so it is also known as "Vegetable Barbed Wire,"  I have been getting rid of overgrown shrubby growth where the blackberries can hide and turning it all into grass so it can just be mowed.  Here is an area formerly thick with tall blackberry vines and stinging nettle, with Scott's fescue grass mix sown in fall 2013, I chipped 12 bags of blackberry vines here back in the day-

Now I am using a No Mow grass mix from Prairie Nursery, also mostly fescues.  These were spring planted.   I removed dense Thimbleberry bushes here; it required a lot of weeding last summer.  Moles think I planted grass and water just for them-

Another area had many buttercups and weeds growing in a long narrow fenced bed with bean trellises, with so many voles there it was hard to grow anything, but now it can be mowed.  If you want to see how I worked it up, click here.   The grass was fall planted and has been under tunnels all winter to keep the ground warmer.  I'm now in the process of removing the tunnels so I can weed.

Weeds include Artillery weeds, Cardamine hirsuta, AKA Hairy Bittercress, it shoots its ripe seeds; a stoloniferous buttercup,  and the taller, lighter green grass that is coming in competition, the No Mow grass is shorter and darker.

Once I get it weeded and it gets mowed, it will be so much easier to maintain.  What labor-saving ideas have you tried?    Life can be tough, the weeds can be relentless, but faith gets me through the day.

I hope spring is finally coming to those on the east coast.   Hannah

or cameras are macro

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