The Orchestra Tunes Up in Serendipity Gardens

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Garden Music Is about to Start

It’s almost time for the new gardening season to begin. I am excited.

Hellebores

Hellebore brightens an early spring landscape.

Last spring, I was away from my garden. I did not see a single plant emerge from the soil — and I missed it terribly. Fellow gardeners will know how exciting it is to see the first snowdrops; to cut back the messy, winter-worn hellebore leaves and see the lovely flowers hidden beneath; or to see spring flowering bulbs pushing their way out of the earth. I always think it’s rather like an orchestra tuning up. A bit of horn here, a bit of violin over there, then various instruments becoming gradually louder and  more coordinated, and then, in May — the symphony begins in earnest!

We had a warm winter in Michigan. January was the warmest on record. February, usually the coldest month, still was. But in the midst of that cold, we had many days above freezing. We also had a fair amount of snow, but it came in frequent 1-inch or less batches. We had only one big, deep snow. Altogether, this was a far cry from the 90+ inches of snow that fell last year. While every winter, I long for warmer weather, I am also glad for the snow when it comes. I always worry that ripening buds might burst open too early and then get nipped by a sharp frost. But Mother Nature sends along some snow, as though to whisper: “Patience. It’s not quite time yet.”

Now that spring is clearly on its way, though, what will this gardening year be like?

Plans for the New Garden Year

Native Garden Plan

A map of the all-native garden shows that it’s mostly yellow and purple.

My Native Plant Garden: First of all, I am eager to see the first growing season of the native plant garden we planted last fall.  At the same time, we also purchased four new native shrubs: a downy viburnum, an elderberry, a black currant, and a St. John’s Wort. I am looking forward to tracking their first year of growth, too.

Already, the basal leaves of the wild monarda are up, and the new crown of the thimbleweed burgeons beneath last year’s cover of dried leaves. The other plants are a bit slower to come up, though I am looking for them to appear any day now.

Many references tell me that native plants are the best to plant for a number of reasons. Kim Eierman, founder of EcoBeneficial, is one of these. Read her article, Why Locally-Sourced, Locally-Grown Native Plants Matter to learn why even cultivars of natives may not be the best choice if your goal is to build diversity in your landscape and support local wildlife.

To read about the all-native collection of plants in Serendipity Gardens, see Planting a Native Garden.

The New Canoe: My husband donated his canoe to Serendipity Gardens. It has a crack that makes it unsuitable for floating down the river, but it should be just fine for gardening. I’m thinking of making it a medicinal herb garden, along with a few flowers, both of which will be good for butterflies and bees. It’s a big canoe! Look for a post to follow as I purchase plants and plant this boat.

Veggies and Such: I will be very happy to have home-grown peas, salad greens, kale, tomatoes, beans, asparagus, potatoes and more. Having had relatively bad luck with starting seeds , I will probably buy many of my plants at the Ann Arbor Farmer’s Market. It is open on Saturdays and Wednesdays, and we try to visit for at least one of those days to purchase fresh produce and support local farmers. (See A Seed Starting Fiasco in Serendipity Gardens … and What I Learned)

Pots of Sedums

Pots of sedum make gardening simpler at Yelton Manor in South Haven, MI.

Succulents: Last summer, we visited Yelton Manor in South Haven, MI, just off the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. The owner has long been known for her perennial gardens, and that was one of the attractions of this particular bed-and-breakfast for me. Recently, though, she redid her gardens and now has pots and pots of succulents, such as those in this photo. I plan to imitate her a bit and have a few pots of succulents myself. She assured me that these showy plants are very easy to care for and propagate.

Planting a Tree: We lost a tree last year. It was a tall pine that succumbed rather suddenly to a disease that turned it brown all over within the space of a couple of weeks. That tree left a big hole! I want to replace it with a native evergreen. What’s for sale locally that I’ve found so far are white pine and spruce. Or perhaps I could plant an Eastern redbud, which would create a triangle of these lovely trees. Or perhaps I could plant both!

Grow strawberries in gutters.  This is brilliant!  Keeps the berries off the ground and away from bunnies and neighborhood children!:

Delicious strawberries hang from planted gutters!

New Ways to Use “Stuff”: Finally, I want to emulate some of the projects I’ve seen on Pinterest. One of those is the gutter strawberry garden. Don’t these strawberries look luscious hanging down, just waiting to be enjoyed by people and perhaps birds as well? Imagine having this tasty beauty on your own patio!

To create this scene, I’ll need some way to suspend the gutters, such as an A-frame structure. See the Pinterest article for this and other suggestions.

Here’s to a summer of happy gardening for all. Let the concert begin!

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