As I write this post, it is the end of May. May is the busiest time of the year for a Wisconsin gardener. This is when everything starts blooming (except for crocus and daffodil, they will bloom in April unless it's a very late spring) and when we get busy preparing the garden beds and planting.
These are the only three crocus I saw this year because guess what? We have bunnies! I haven't seen rabbits for years in my garden because we have too many feral cats in our neighborhood. The other day, my husband called me into the yard to point out three large bunnies in the yard. They were so cute, and I was so happy to see bunnies again, I can't complain about the damage they do. This year they ate all my Cushion Spurge too, so I never got to even see it bloom. 😢
But the one thing bunnies and deer never eat are daffodils because they are poisonous, and this year, the daffodils were AMAZING!
The Bleeding Heart was beautiful as always.
Our flowering crab apple trees really put on a show this year because there was no late frost to nip their buds.
We have four flowering crab apple trees: two white and two pink.
I didn't see a lot of tulips this year; either the bunnies got them or their bulbs are dying off. Tulips don't last forever and reproduce like daffodils do.
I have four lilac trees, but only one flowered really well this year. One lilac bush didn't flower at all, another we had to cut down to the ground last fall to rejuvenate it, and so far other than a few sticks coming out of the ground, we've seen no rejuvenation, and the last lilac bush is just a little one so it didn't do much at all.
But the one lilac bush that did bloom was a beauty and smelled like heaven!
Every year I need a lot of hanging baskets; I think I have 27 hanging baskets total, so I can't spend $25.00 - $50.00 on a single hanging basket when I need so many. To make it as economical as possible I reuse my simple plastic hanging baskets and make my own. I use to use the moss lined wire baskets, but they just dry out too fast, and required a lot of watering, so I went back to plastic. At my local nursery they sell a trio of plants for about $7.00 that you can just pop into a container; so each basket costs me $7.00 plus the cost of potting soil. They grow super fast, in fact, I can't believe how much they've grown since this photo was taken. I will have to share a new photo of my hanging baskets with you in my next garden post.
I have a cat bird family living in this bush this summer. He has been quite the nuisance, but very entertaining as well. He has been attacking our windows thinking he sees a rival. He's also been busy chasing other birds away from the feeders. What a character this guy is.
I can never remember the name of this bush. I have a love/hate relationship with it because it is covered with thorns but it provides three seasons of beauty: gorgeous yellow flowers in spring, beautiful greenery all summer, then red berries in the fall. No wonder the cat bird loves it so much.
I have two Viburnum (snow ball bush) bushes. One is doing well, but the older one seems to be fading. I think the trees are growing too big and providing too much shade. Hopefully I won't have to cut it down.
And here is a sneak peek at my vegetable garden. That is bush beans on the left and broccoli/cauliflower on the right , with little seedlings of spinach, lettuce, basil, radishes, beets, parsley, and cilantro way in the back. A month from now, this bed will be so fall you won't be able to see the leaf mulch!
I hope you enjoyed my little garden tour. I don't have any far away shots because our yard has been under construction with a new landscape project we started last fall. I hate having my beautiful yard in such a mess, but I know it will be worth it in the end.
Have A Great Day! Amy
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