"JEREMIAH WAS A ...."

North American Bullfrog

Rana catesbeiana

Can you find the bullfrog hiding under the leaves?

 

While sharing plants in my garden with neighbors, I was surprised to hear the deep, throaty tones of Rana catesbeiana (North American bullfrog). Heading toward the distinctive sound, I spotted the temporary pool in my rain garden created after the sudden thunderstorm of the night before. There, cool in the shade of a hibiscus leaf, sat the creature whose great voice was disproportionate for its size. The next day, only a muddy patch was left there, with no trace of the bullfrog. I suspect that it had burrowed into the moist soil. During drought conditions of summer, these animals survive by conserving energy underground in a state of hibernation called estivation. I hope to see him emerge after the next big storm!

GARDEN MAINTENANCE

Garden Maintenance: This month brings many of the same tasks as previous months:

• Weed – get them while they are still relatively small, they will only get bigger and more tenacious.
• Mulch only if you have to. Planting ground covers helps prevent intrusive weeds in bare spots.
• Deadhead to prevent the formation of seeds that will take the energy from the plant’s growth. However, if you want the fruit and seeds for winter interest, keep them on.
• Remove poorly located “volunteers” to better locations or share them, if they are not invasive.
• Sit back and enjoy the results of your labors!

The blossoms below are from the garden of Barbara Rosenzweig.

  

     

SPRING GARDENING TIPS

Pack the plants together to keep down weeds and create large sweeps of color.

• Be sure that all dead foliage from last fall is cleared away.
• Now the fun begins!  
• As young perennials continue their spring “rebirth,” you can take advantage of their wonderful ability to be divided.  Masses of a single color can be created and color can be brought to new areas of your garden. Think of your landscape as a lovely painting just waiting to be “completed” with colors from your flower palette. This way, too, bare spots can be filled with the added goal of preventing weed growth. And, of course, you can always share your bounty with gardening buddies

Here again, masses of color are very effective. In early spring, keep dividing perennials and massing them.

• Some of the plants that may be divided now are bleeding hearts, asters, primrose, iris, daylilies, and chrysogonum. This is best done before they get too big. If you wait too long in the season to divide and transplant them, excessive wilting or death may result.
• To make plants bushier, cut back beautyberry, roses, St. John’s Wort, buddleia, and caryopteris in late March, early April.

 Daffodils put on a beautiful early spring show. Use creeping phlox as a ground cover to set them off.

• New study: The Royal National Rose Society gardens in England conducted a rose trial that seems to prove that rose deadheading radically effects its rebloom. “If it is clipped off at the neck, rather than to the first leaf bearing five leaflets, as rose wisdom once dictated, the bush reblooms sooner, with 50% more flowers over the season."

Primrose is another perennial that can be used effectively in masses or borders.

Linking to

My Romantic Home on Friday

My French Country Cottage on Friday

The Charm of Home on Friday

Common Ground on Friday
Pink Saturday on Saturday