Carolina Wrens

Carolina wrens are nesting in an aloe plant on my front porch. I spent a lot of time this weekend sitting on the porch watching them bring food to the babies. The babies are getting big--I can hear them chirping when the parents approach. I think they'll fledge soon. One of the parents hopped all around the porch this afternoon, with a big bug in its mouth, chirping at the nest, as if encouraging the babies to come on out for a snack.

In other backyard bird news, the chickadees have fledged. Chickadees took over the bluebird box this spring. By the time we realized they were there, there was a nest full of babies, so we just let them be. This morning, a male bluebird was calling and investigating the nest. I cleaned out the old nest bits; I hope the bluebirds decide to stick around.

Peonies

It's that time of year again--the roses, peonies, and irises are blooming like crazy in my front yard. It's nice while it lasts. I don't usually think to cut flowers and bring them in, but today I filled one vase with roses and another with peonies and irises. The irises have the strongest and best scent, which surprised me.

It rained last night, and is beautiful and sunny this afternoon. It was a soft and steady rain, so the peonies are still standing. Once they're in full bloom it only takes one good thunderstorm to flatten them as the flowers fill with water and fall over (or get knocked down by strong winds). So far so good, and there's only a little chance of thunderstorms midweek.

Wow.

This is why they call them Knockout Roses.

Potatoes

How do I know when the potatoes are done? Since they're growing underground, I can't see when they're ready...

So far, the potato experiment seems to be going well. The plants are healthy and green and hip-high. They're growing so much, I'm worried that I planted them too close together.

At least I don't have to worry about the potatoes getting sunburned. One of the websites I looked at for growing advice said to keep piling up dirt at the base of the plants so the growing potatoes aren't exposed to sunlight. I haven't seen any potatoes near the surface, but I'll keep checking. I also need to make sure I keep them watered. The raised bed drains very quickly, and potatoes don't tolerate drying out.

The website (an extension service, but I don't remember where) said that the time to harvest was after the foliage had died, usually in July. It's also possible to harvest some potatoes early (but I don't know how early...). That would probably be a good idea--to spread out the harvest--since potatoes don't freeze, can, or keep particularly well. I guess when they do come in, we'll be eating a lot of potatoes for a few weeks!

Vive la France!

Our daughter is studying at the University of Angers this semester. Angers is in the Loire Valley, in central France, about two hours away from Paris. We visited her last month. It was absolutely wonderful.

Because I'm a geeky plant person, we visited several jardins in Angers and in Paris. Here's what I learned: Jardins des Plantes are formal botanical gardens, with an emphasis on ornamental trees and flowers. There may be an arboretum, with tree species labeled, and lots of statues and fountains. The Jardin des Plantes in Angers even had an aviary full of different species of parrots.

Plain old jardins are more functional. There are lawns, and walking paths, maybe some fountains, and tree-lined allees, or walkways, with plain dirt surfaces. The Jardin du Mail, across the street from Angers' City Hall (Hotel de Ville) had a fountain and a large central lawn, lined with trees and dirt pathways. There were small landscaped flower beds near the fountain, but no brick or cement walkways, and no landscaped beds under the trees. Just dirt. After spending all these years in the South, it was disconcerting not to see beds of azaleas or swaths of pansies under the trees.

The photo shows the formal gardens in the moat at the Chateau d'Angers, the fortified thirteenth century castle in Angers. The moat has always been a dry moat--historically it housed the king's menagerie! The gardens are quite pretty, but this is as close as we could get. There's no access to the moat gardens. Inside the castle walls are more gardens--some are ornamental, but there are also vegetable gardens and a small vineyard.

Both Angers and Paris have gridded streets with lots of diagonal streets running across everything. That leaves lots of opportunities for traffic circles, many with statues in the middle--or something even bigger, like the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. There are also lots of tiny triangular parks. Our hotel in Paris faced one of these pocket parks. There were some trees and some benches--it was a quiet little spot in the middle of a busy Paris neighborhood.

We loved our time in France. I already have a list of things to see and places to go on our next visit!

Bleeding Heart

I was mowing the lawn this afternoon when I noticed something new growing under a dogwood in the woods--a bleeding heart (Dicentra)! Very exciting. The goatscaping made it possible for natives like this and the trillium to have some room. But, oh, the irony... I planted a bleeding heart in the front garden a few years ago, and it didn't do well. It looked so pitiful that my husband cut it down while weeding last year. It was an accident--he didn't know what it was. I was hoping it would come up this spring, but so far it hasn't. That made the one in the woods an especially wonderful discovery this evening.

We've been trying to keep the undergrowth in the woods under control since our visit from the goats. Things are still looking pretty good back there, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to take the Roundup to the poison ivy. Unfortunately, it's really enjoyed all the open space (where there used to be English ivy and honeysuckle).

Goatscaping

We were out of town for a bit, visiting our daughter who's studying in France this semester. I'll have some pictures, and thoughts on French gardens, soon.

Right before we left for our trip, we had some landscaping done. Our back woods were terribly overgrown with brambles, English ivy, and holly bushes. We would go out each spring, pull ivy for a few hours, fill up the yard waste cart, get discouraged by our lack of progress, go back inside and give up for the year. Pathetic. This year we decided to take decisive action, before the ivy completely took over. We hired Piedmont Goatscapers and their crew of goats to come in and clean up the place.

On the first day, the human crew came out to mark the young trees and plants we wanted to save. They set up a moveable pen with a solar powered electric fence. The next day, they brought the goats, and the goats went to work. The whole thing took about three days.

The most exciting part was what my neighbors called The Running of the Goats. At the end of each day, the shepherds herded the goats back to the trailer down a long chute that ran from the pen in the woods, along the edge of the woods, across the yard, to the street, where the goats were loaded on to the trailer to go home each night. The second day they were here, they caused a traffic jam, as people driving by stopped their cars to jump out and take a look and even to take pictures!

The woods look terrific now! They uncovered some native trillium growing back there, and the redbuds and dogwoods really stand out.