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Sunday, March 15, 2015

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

©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved.   I enjoy your visits and comments, and I enjoy commenting on your blog as well.






37 comments:

  1. Beautiful sight out of the window :)

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    1. Thanks, Villrose, they are lovely while they last. I have a few other Camellias that just don't do as well. The sasanquas stay rather small and don't bloom much or at all. Camellia sinensis has such tiny white blooms I rarely notice them.

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  2. Hannah, your garden is certainly bursting into life. Things really start moving fast at this time of year. Your camellia is beautiful.....ours have just begun to bloom but they have had quite a bit of wind damage.
    Thanks for the video.

    Happy Monday!
    Ruby

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    1. Thanks, I think the Camellia is blooming several weeks earlier than usual, perhaps since they are against the house they do really well and I never do anything for them at all.

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  3. What beautiful flowers. Great pictures.

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    1. Thanks, Nicola, I enjoyed your rain drops.

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  4. Hannah, your flowers are so beautiful! Thanks so much for a bright Monday morning.

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    1. Thanks, Linda, I'm amazed how early things are blooming.

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  5. Replies
    1. Thanks, Theresa, more flowers are blooming every day, I didn't get them all photographed.

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  6. Replies
    1. Thanks, Freda, spring has so many surprises.

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  7. Beautiful blossoms.

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  8. I am so enjoying this time of year, but not looking forward to the weeds that have invaded my beds. Ugh! Your blooms are quite beautiful, but the Camellia is close to my heart. They grow like crazy here.

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    1. Thanks, Gail, I broke away from weeding the grass to doing a few beds and it's the usual struggle with grasses, etc. I put down some cardboard under my roses and need to get wood chips distributed.

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  9. Wow, what a tough battle you're fighting with your weedy growth - those blackberries can't be easy to rout out! The Camellia is beautiful. My one C. japonica hybrid has been shy about blooming this year, due to our excessively warm weather perhaps, or maybe the drought.

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    1. Thanks, Kris, those blackberries won't give a gardener a break, that's for sure. The only sure way to keep them away is mowing. My C. sasanquas are very shy, I've had Yuletide for maybe 15 years and still no blooms, but Apple Blossom has bloomed the last 2 autumns.

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  10. I love camellias! All your flowers are very beautiful!

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    1. Thanks, Marie, I should cut some for a vase.

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  11. Wonderful and magical flowers, excellent catches! Beautiful photos!

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    1. Thanks, Leovi, always great to hear an artist's praise.

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  12. Beautiful, beautiful blossoms… we are good at waiting for spring, it arrives late and rushes quickly into summer in northern New England… I think this really bolsters our appreciation when the snow melts and those first heads of bulbs and tips of branches sprout. Thanks as always for sharing the love up-close with I Heart Macro ♥

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    1. Thanks, Laura, I imagine you get really good at being patient, but that it seems much more miraculous when spring does arrive! Thanks for hosting.

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  13. Gorgeous flowers! I love the camellia and the magnolia. I found some hellebores and snowdrops in the park on Sunday. I love to see everything start to grow in spring.

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    1. Thanks, Gunilla, you also have to be really patient where you live, I'm glad to hear you are having some flowers.

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  14. It's nice to see these beautiful flowers !

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    1. Thanks, Ela, I hope the flowers are coming out there too! I enjoyed your birds, I hope to photograph some new birds soon.

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  15. Your patience and hard work have paid off beautifully, Hannah. I can't wait for our flowers to show up.

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    1. I hope your flowers come up soon. Your photographs of Brazil and Uruguay are amazing, such a wonderful trip!

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  16. beautiful flower photos! love the magnolia and the muscari.

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    1. Thanks, Christine, Muscari are so reliable in spring, love the blues, I should plant more someday.

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  17. Wow, that must have been a lot of work. It's definitely paid off though and that's what makes it all worthwhile. The flowers are pretty.

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    1. Thanks, Terri, it was a lot of work but at least I can look at the nice clean landscape now and just let my husband do the mowing, instead of fighting the terrible blackberry vines or weeds anymore.

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  18. It looks like spring is right on schedule at your place and soon you will see the beautiful results of all your labors. What pleasure our gardens bring to us! They make it all worthwhile.

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  19. Thanks, Dorothy. Everything seems really early, but at least the temperatures are staying up so far, and it's great to see the flowers early.

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  20. Our spring grass is smothered and covered today. Spring is stalled...

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