Garden chat & photos for torts and people ♫ ♫

[Oxalis]

Took a nice walk around the yard today to see what's growing. The air was nice and cool but the sun was warm; a perfect combo. All the animals were out! The trout lilies have finished blooming now but here's a photo from about a week and a half ago.



The wood poppies are still out and look pretty happy. I think they got bigger.



The redbuds have flower buds but they're not open yet, so I'll check back later. I encountered a big frog on my way there. Northern leopard frog, I believe.



Apple blossoms are out in our little orchard. We did a lot of tree trimming on them this year. One of our cherry trees was covered in blossoms and just buzzing with bees!



A cute snake my husband saw the other day but I missed it. I'm hoping to see more snakes this year. Husband finally saw the weasel out there with me today! Weasel was harder to try to get a photo of though. It was cute and very curious about us. Probably a short-tailed or long-tailed weasel.



Lots of other plants are coming up or budding. The musclewood tree we planted last year looks great so far this spring with lots of leaves. We also removed fencing (which we put up because we have way too many deer that eat everything) around 4 eastern red cedar trees. They outgrew their fencing super fast in the past 2 or 3 years, growing from about 1 foot tall when we planted them to maybe 4 feet now. It doesn't look like the deer have been eating the new growth on them, but nothing really stops them. When shopping for plants, always take that "deer-resistant" note with a grain of salt!

 

[Yvonne G]

Thanks for the tour! You have a lot of nice plants.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

I wish I had similar photos to share from my garden. Unfortunately "back winter" has struck us here in Finland, and there is a couple of inches of fresh snow. Not to mention that there is about two feet of snow in some parts of my garden, since it is quite shady. Ground is still too frozen to dig. I can't wait to be able to plant my crops outside and start building an outdoor enclosure with edible plants for my tort

 

[Oxalis]

I wish I had similar photos to share from my garden. Unfortunately "back winter" has struck us here in Finland, and there is a couple of inches of fresh snow. Not to mention that there is about two feet of snow in some parts of my garden, since it is quite shady. Ground is still too frozen to dig. I can't wait to be able to plant my crops outside and start building an outdoor enclosure with edible plants for my tort

I wish we had received more snow this past winter. I'm anticipating a hot summer with dry conditions.

More colors to share! Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica), a true ephemeral, so enjoy it while it lasts!



The Jacob's ladder (Polemonium reptans) I planted last year bloomed. They produce a lot of flowers that add a nice color to a shady area.



Both our trillium (Trillium sp.) and bellwort (Uvularia sp.) have bloomed. They live inside chicken wire because apparently deer go gonzo for bellwort. This is a low, shady area where water collects. I think it'd be neat to grow some mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) in this area too.



The redbuds have finally opened! We have two of these and they've grown like weeds since we planted them, so seeing the blossoms is very rewarding. I saw a bee enjoying them too. The flowers aren't quite on the trunk like yours, Yvonne, but it is hard to tell. Maybe it's something they do when they're older?

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

To update, snow has almost melted from our garden. Snow currently covers only the shadiest parts. The daily maximum temperature has stayed in the high 40s F (about 8 to 10 C) this week and I was able to forage Edwards first meal this spring from outside on Tuesday, some Ground Elder and Norway Maple sprouts. The ground is still mostly frozen up to 4 inches or about 10 cm in depth.

The only flower blooming in our garden currently is the Black hellebore (seen in the picture), which is toxic to tortoises. Only a few native flowers bloom in our area this early.

 

[Oxalis]

To update, snow has almost melted from our garden. Snow currently covers only the shadiest parts. The daily maximum temperature has stayed in the high 40s F (about 8 to 10 C) this week and I was able to forage Edwards first meal this spring from outside on Tuesday, some Ground Elder and Norway Maple sprouts. The ground is still mostly frozen up to 4 inches or about 10 cm in depth.

The only flower blooming in our garden currently is the Black hellebore (seen in the picture)View attachment 369946, which is toxic to tortoises. Only a few native flowers bloom in our area this early.

Lovely flower! As someone who loves cooler weather, I wouldn't mind seeing some more snow one last time until next winter. Too bad.