Lots of little things

Just like in the garden, many little things to look at today, starting with the front water barrel which is having some trouble getting into shape this year:

Pretty, but pH is off I think based on the color of the the floating frogbit which you can just see a leaf of at the right edge of the frame. It should be green, not red.

***

Also in the front is the Pachypodium lamerei, waking up from a winter of little light and no water indoors:

It will have extra branches this year, and I'm debating whether or not to repot it (or even fertilize it much). If it gets much taller it will have to overwinter indoors at an angle because will be too tall.

Equisetum cones, always fun!

Being completely random today, let's look at the back garden...

The prairie beds are looking quite good...

...even though there is probably too much milkweed growing in bad places, and way too much pokeweed. I'll thin it out later. (I'll also get around to pruning out the dead bamboo culms soon...)


Up on the deck my duckweed nursery contains another type of floating plant -- what is the darker one called?

I love how they're battling it out! (I take a handful of duckweed and spread it around the pond every few days. The fish love it!)


Even though we've had some short warm (even hot) spells this spring, overall it's been cool enough to allow my too-late planted peas to thrive:

I got lucky! (It's also been a great spring for cilantro, which usually bolts while the plants are still small, but this year we've had more cilantro than we can use -- and we've used a lot!)


The freshly-washed patio is making everything around it look even better:

The Fargesia 'Rufa' bamboo (at the left in the above photo) seems to have put on a lot of height this year...

...which will turn into width as soon as the weight of the leaves bend the culms down a bit. You can't see how red the culm sheaths actually are -- quite rusty and wonderful!

Also wonderful is the Phyllostachys atrovaginata...

...with such satisfyingly large culms this year. So great!

In the world of bamboo not so wonderful though...

...why did I let these two species mix? (Answer: laziness) The little one (Pleioblastus distichus) on the left is already out of control in this area, as I didn't plant it in a place that could be easily contained by rhizome pruning.

The larger one (Shibatea chinensis) on the right is spreading a bit more than I wanted it to originally, but I think it will work.

Rhizome pruning will be difficult because I put it so close to my ninebark, unless the ninebark wants a nice root chopping every year (which I don't think it does).


The pond is looking great...

...even if the water is still a bit green. (Okay, quite green)


The Musa basjoo is going to be tremendous this year...

...and looks great with a volunteer skirt of cleome.

Clematis 'Niobe' (which I think rhymes with "cleome") blooms looking so velvety...

...I just wish it had climbed a bit higher up the trellis. Perhaps after it flowers?


If I didn't have the red of the Japanese maple...

...I'm not sure that I'd like the patio area very much.


Finally, the efforts of a generous gardening friend (thanks Gerhard!)...

...to ensure that a couple of Ensete lasiocarpa survived the trip...

Taped to the box so they wouldn't shift

...and were happily potted...

...those efforts were somewhat negated after a squirrel (Chipmunk? Woodchuck? Raccoon?) decided there was something worth investigating in that pot:

Grrr. I almost expect this to happen though, especially with the larger pots. They love the smell of the Milorganite I believe. (The plant appears to be undamaged -- this time.)


So that's my look at a lot of little things today. Any questions?

.