Bloomscrolling--what's in bloom where you are?

[AdagioM]

@wtg Your anemones are pretty! Ours are pink, but they don’t bloom until later, and they bloom on very tall stems above the foliage.

[wtg]

@AdagioM The stems on mine got longer, so they are dancing well above the foliage.

I do love the way they look and they seem to be both disease- and rabbit-resistant. However, as you've noted in the past, they do tend to invade the garden. I cleaned out an area of "volunteers" a couple of years ago. And I started deadheading the remaining plants to prevent the seeds from forming and re-populating the garden.

Seems to be working.

[Bernard]

Update. The good news is that the Rhododendron buds and flowers survived last night's freezing temps. I don't know about the Lilac because the buds are still quite small, only time will tell. Fingers crossed.

[AndyD]

Last year MrsA and daughter#2 went to Amsterdam and now we have

[Steve Miller]

Kim planted Rhododendrons, Azaleas and Hydrangeas in the bare flowerbed in front of her house. Digging wasn’t easy - turns out there is a big stump in the center of it and lots of roots.

Does anyone have experience with stump killing? We’re told it was a Wisteria and it’s starting to come back.

[Steve Miller]

Today’s task is to clear out some of the carnage from the last winter. They each have a tiny bit of growth at the base but I’m informed that they’re not coming back.

Japanese Maple - the first one I planted:

Weeping Atlas Cedar:

Not shown is a small lace leaf Japanese Maple that I was learning to shape with bonsai wire. Nice shape but not coming back.

They were all rated for zones a lot colder than mine. Not sure what I’ll replace them with.

[wtg]

@Steve-Miller said:

Does anyone have experience with stump killing?

I always dig stuff up if it's smallish. Larger trees have been ground out by the arborist.

Wisteria is pretty tenacious. I'm guessing that both manual labor and glyphosate will be required.

[AndyD]

@Steve-Miller, sad losing those. I recall asking a professional gardener how to check if unsure a bare branch and whole tree was dead.
He simply snapped each near the end then nearer the trunk. Dry is dead, sappy or green alive.

[AndyD]

Wisteria can be a vigorous pain... I'd drill into and add poison to the very short stump.

[wtg]

Summer is here (basically zero chance of frost moving forward) so I'll be spending the next few days catching up in the garden. I have already purchased veggie plants and have bean seeds and seed potatoes. Time to get to work getting everything in the ground!

Looks like this year's crop of gooseberries and currants (both red and black) isn't going to be as good as last year.

[wtg]

On another gardening note...I really like a variety of tomato called 'Little Sicily'. Tasty tomatoes, great yields. I have purchased them at Home Depot and at a local garden center but neither had them in stock this year. I don't have a lot of opportunities to get out to do plant shopping these days, so I took a flyer and ordered them from Home Depot online; I was surprised to see them listed. I thought I would probably get a couple of spindly, broken, yellow plants that I'd be schlepping to the store for a refund.

Imagine my surprise when this very sturdy box arrived with two tomato plants in it:

Each plant was in a small hinged "greenhouse":

Some of the healthiest specimens I've seen. I unpacked the plants when they came a few days ago, so they've already grown. I set up this photo so you could see how cozily they were packaged:

Hopefully the universe will forgive me for all that packaging. But I'll be eating the tastiest tomatoes in the 'hood later this summer!