Late May

Over May 24 weekend we did more work in the side garden. After several years we have finally expanded the garden to take up all the space next to the sidewalk. Unfortunately it looks really unbalanced now. One side has lush growth and is surrounded by fencing but the other side is all new, small perennials with no fencing. Hopefully it will even out a bit as the summer progresses and the plants grow.

We also took on the task of dividing the daylilies. They had become incredibly compacted. I was shocked by how many plants came out of that space. As we were digging a woman came along in her car and stopped. She got out and asked if I wanted two large yarrow plants she had just dug from her garden. I said sure and traded her for most of the daylilies. How great is that?! Later in the evening I took another batch of daylilies over to Fuller Street Parkette where they were the “Friends of Fuller Park” were having a bbq and planting. There are a few left that I plan to plant in one of the borders at my community garden plot.

The irises are starting to bloom in full-force. I can’t believe that what began as a few bare roots in 2000 is now a large patch of plants. This is the dwarf iris given to me by Davin’s mom and this is a taller variety I bought a year or so later.

I took a few more photos in the garden today. The columbine is blooming. Unfortunately someone stepped all over the chocolate columbine a few weeks ago and it’s just not coming back with any blooms. This kind of thing happens so often I try not to get too attached but it’s still such a huge disappointment and loss. And as promised a better photo of the Salad Bowl container.

Gayla Trail
Gayla is a writer, photographer, and former graphic designer with a background in the Fine Arts, cultural criticism, and ecology. She is the author, photographer, and designer of best-selling books on gardening, cooking, and preserving.

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3 thoughts on “Late May

  1. Hi Gayla–

    Just wondering what the yellow circle is in the salad bowl container–I can’t tell from the picture. It looks really pretty though, I tend to use all available space for veggies and herbs, since they’re always pretty cramped. I might have to give some other plants a shot though!

    midge

  2. That’s a little ceramic cup that I put in there. You could do a similar container with low-growing herbs. Perhaps a container with a variety of thymes; lemon thyme, silver thyme, caraway thyme. I grew two varieties of mint in the container last year but of course they did not survive the winter. The sedum and saxifrage did.

  3. That salad bowl container looks really cool! If you made a small one, it would look great as an unusual centerpiece for the dining room table. Especially if it was planted with edible plants!

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