Garden surprises.

It's July 5th which means Summer should be officially starting here ☀  The forecast for the week calls for it to reach up into the 80's, I'm so ready for some real heat.  Our July 4th was a lot of fun.  We walked down to our town's parade and then home for a barbecue with my family.  Unfortunately it wasn't very warm again and a bit drizzly, but we just ignored it. 
While I was outside earlier in the day doing a little cleanup in the backyard, I made some nice discoveries. 

 We have an apple on our tree!  I thought we wouldn't have any, so maybe there are a few more hidden amongst the leaves.

 This may not look very impressive, but just below the water's surface are TWO water lily buds.  They normally would have been blooming for a good month by now, they are really behind this year.

 The slugs left me a few Daylily buds!  These were planted this year, but the slugs have continued to chew the flower stalks off.

 The self sown Larkspur are now taller than me and starting to bloom!

 I didn't plant Peony Poppies here, must have been Sweet Pea... no matter how it got here, it's about to bloom.

 A favorite Hydrangea whose tag is so faded I can't read it anymore is starting to bloom.  The reason I'm so happy is that it hasn't bloomed in several years because of late freezes.  This year was it's last chance to bloom or it was going to be moving on.

 Sweet Pea 'April in Paris' is actually going to bloom.  A couple of days ago the two pots of these were looking very yellow, and I was debating just dumping them in the compost.  I'm sure glad I didn't.

Behind the Blueberry bushes and under Clematis 'Etoille Violette' is a decorative birdhouse that has been hanging here for many years.  We discovered a few days ago that a pair of Wrens have started building a nest inside.  If they decide to stay I hope they'll let us pick Blueberries when they ripen.

I've decided not to give up on anymore of my plants this Summer, and I'm not giving up that we will still have Summer weather.  I'm going to believe that we will have sun and heat and that Zinnia, Cosmos and Sunflower seeds will all begin to sprout.  It's still not too late!

Frost free Fertilizer Friday.

Another week has flown by and Spring break is just about over. Yesterday, which was forecast to be stormy and even started with a little snow, turned into a beautiful day, cool but sunny skies. We spent part of our day at a fruit market which I discovered sold many plants as well, and at a very reasonable price. So we picked up Dill (to hopefully attract butterflies), Campanula rotundifolia 'Olympica', Dianthus 'Plumerius' and Chocolate Mint. All but the mint will go into the butterfly garden, mint is always planted in pots to keep them contained in my garden. We once rented a house that someone had let mint run wild in the garden. It was everywhere and impossible to remove. Even something that smells like Chocolate needs to be kept contained. ☺
The buds on so many plants are beginning to appear; Hydrangeas, Iris (a real surprise), tiny Rose buds and Columbines and the Dogwood are very close to blooming.
April 9th is supposed to be the last frost date for where I live, and that means I can begin sowing some more seeds outside now. I've got lots of things sitting and waiting to go in the ground and it looks like this weekend the weather should cooperate for me to be able to plant.

Pink Flowering Currant (Ribes sanguineum) is still looking good, although it's just past it's peak time. It bloomed early and the hummingbirds haven't found it yet, although I did see a hummingbird at one of the feeders yesterday. I always love how the flowers look against the bark of the Ponderosa Pine.

I never tire of looking at the Bleeding Hearts (Dicentra spectabilis).

Spanish Bluebells which I remember hearing had become invasive in certain places. The clumps get larger every year, but I never find them in any new places.

Bergenia 'Winter Glow' which was planted last Fall. I planted several of these along the front of the bed. These flowers are hot pink and the foliage turns reddish in the Fall. I actually didn't used to like these, they reminded me of lettuce, but somehow they've grown on me.

Apple blossoms getting ready to open. I don't think we'll have as many apples this year, I haven't found that many buds. I think with the mild winter it didn't set as much fruit.

Daffodil 'Sempre Avanti' just starting to bloom in my front yard. It has a really nice scent. After having such great luck with Daffodils this year I plan to add lots more for next Spring.

Jacob's Ladder (Polemonium) has grape scented flowers. They smell like candy.

Camellia japonica 'Kumasaka' is still blooming.

Pieris japonica 'Purity' is a veeeerrrry slow grower. I'm just glad it bloomed again.

Leopard's Bane (Doronicum orientale)

Fertilizer Friday is hosted every Friday by Tootsie at Tootsie Time. Visit her to join in or see who else is "flaunting their flowers."
I found this quote the other day, and for some reason it struck me as funny. I think because this time of year when so many plants are coming up it's hard to know if something is a real plant or a weed.

"When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant." ~Author Unknown

A fruitful Fertilizer Friday.

I thought for this Fertilizer Friday I'd show some of the blooms that are starting on some of our fruit trees and bushes. Every year at about this time I start checking to see if there are flower buds. Growing fruit in our garden is one of my favorite things to do. For some reason they always seem to be a little easier than vegetables for me. I don't really fertilize any of them other than fresh compost around them in the Spring.

We have a dwarf 5 way grafted apple tree, there are 5 varieties of apples grafted onto a dwarf rootstock. While it's fun to have so many types of apples on one tree, it does make for a strangely shaped tree. Almost every year we have problems with worms in the apples and since I don't want to spray with pesticides, this year I'm trying Coddling moth traps to see if it makes a difference. The moths are lured to the trap which contains Tanglefoot. Tanglefoot is very sticky and the moths then aren't able to leave to lay their eggs.

'Duke' our most productive Blueberry. 'Bluecrop' has been by far the least productive. This year it seems to be the only with no buds.

'Jersey' Blueberry is just now sending out the flower buds.
We grew 5, now 6 varieties. The newest variety are Pink Blueberries! Can you tell we love Blueberries? To me there is nothing better than blueberries picked fresh from the bush. I was a bit worried earlier that there were no flower buds. Normally the flowers come first with the leaves coming after. This year it seems to be in reverse order for some reason. I guess I'll blame it on the weather ☺

One of our dwarf Pear trees, 'Comice'. The other is an 'Orcas'. When we learned about pear trees we discovered that like many other fruits you need two varieties to cross pollinate. It's important that the the varieties bloom at about the same time. We also found varieties that are known to do well in this part of the Pacific Northwest. This is only their second full year in our garden so we're hoping that this year we might get a few pears. They look so pretty right now covered in white fluffy flowers.

Currant (Ribes rubrum) 'Wilder Red' is actually growing under a Cedar tree and does really well there. Each year it produces lots of red currants, they aren't one of my favorites but they sure are pretty when they are bright red and hanging in clusters.

We also grow a Fig 'Desert King' which has just barely begun to show leaf buds and strawberries which won't have flowers for another month or so. The Meyer Lemon tree which we brought indoors when the weather got cool still has a few lemons left trying to grow. One of them is about quarter sized, and I'm crossing my fingers it can hang on until I put it back outside in a couple of weeks.
Fertilizer Friday is hosted by Tootsie at Tootsie Time each Friday. Visit her to join in or to see who else is "flaunting their flowers."