The Photinia Fraseri shrubs are in full bloom all over my front and backyard, attracting swarms of Painted Lady butterflies, Small Cabbage White butterflies, bees and other insects. It’s quite a sight to watch them fly around and my kids are loving it. My husband got one of the butterflies to rest on a tiny rock, and I was able to capture the picture below. Their outbreak this year is a pleasant surprise.
Painted Lady Butterfly resting on a rock.
I found a dead Painted Lady Butterfly by my mail box. Since I was unable to see the undersides of the first butterfly I found last month, I carefully flipped this one around and snapped a picture. I love the colors and details on its wings; it’s such a beautiful insect.
Painted Lady Butterfly.
I had a tough time taking a picture of The Small Cabbage White. It was all over the place.
The weather is warming up, awakening and encouraging the plants to thrive. This is the Spring I love. When everyone and everything comes alive. When the old suddenly becomes news, when what was lost is once again found and when beauty is given for ashes. I love all the seasons, but I love Spring best for new beginnings in the garden.
Last Spring I bought two climbing roses (Yellow Lady Banks Rose) and planted them at each end of the second set of arches by the front gate leading to the backyard. By now, the arches would have been fully covered, but as you can see, only the climbing rose facing the front yard has covered half of the arch. Late last Fall, my neighbor’s cat was strangely attracted to that climbing rose and continuously peed on it for weeks straight. Of course, I could see the tracks, but I didn’t know at the time since all my plants run on drip irrigation. One day I saw that the rose was wilting, so I increased the amount of water thinking it was due to the heat. The next day, the plant died and I could smell the cat urine around the plant and in the soil. I would have made them replace the plant, had the cat (who has caught several times on camera) not gone missing. Yes, cat urine will kill your plants.
Yellow Lady Banks Climbing Rose.Yellow Lady Banks Climbing Rose.
I had to wait until early Spring, when climbing roses were available in nurseries to get a replacement. I bought a White Lady Banks climbing rose and given that these are fast growing roses, I am pretty sure the arch will be fully covered by the end of the year. The Lady Banks’ Roses are beautiful and being thornless, they make training and maintaining painless. Also, they are drought tolerant and disease resistant especially when provided with full sun exposure.
White Lady Banks Climbing Rose.
After getting rid of almost all my rose bushes years ago, I decided to buy one more last month to replace one of the Blue Moon Roses which died. This one if called Kordes Perfecta Rose and bloomed for the first time yesterday. It’s quite a beauty.
Kordes Perfecta Rose.
My Rose trees are always infested with Aphids during this time of year. As I was about to spray the rose tree in the backyard with liquid Sevin® Insect Killer a couple of days ago, I was delighted and grateful to see a colony of ladybug larvae at the base of the plant while the majority were making their way up. Knowing the solution would kill them too, I surrendered and allowed them to do their job. As of today the rose tree is almost insect free.
LadyBug Larvae.
A Painted Lady Butterfly resting on the green leaves of a Golden Arborvitae.
Painted Lady Butterfly.
Happy gardening and I hope everyone is having a great day.
I was pleasantly surprised this morning to find a Light Orange Tulip flower, the only flowering plant on the edge of a small flower bed with a variety of bulbs. So bright and beautiful.
Light Orange Tulip Bloom.
Last Friday we went plant shopping at Lowe’s and purchased a few plants. I love Wisteria and it’s such a beautiful plant, but I am still skeptical about planting one in my yard because of the plant toxicity. I suppose time will tell …
Chinese Wisteria, Calla Lily, Rose Marie Magnolia.
I am growing a few cactuses in pots to transplant in the backyard by the dry creek bed along side a varieties of drought-tolerant ornamental grasses.
Opuntia, Spring Cactus, Ruffled Red, Mardi Gras.
I dug out the re-did the flower bed under the living room window to match the one under our bedroom since both face the street. I dug out the Lily of the Nile, split most, transplanted them in the backyard and watered heavily. I am sure they will thrive in their new location which is directly exposed to the sun. I had a bunch of Goodwin Creek Gray Lavender seedlings, which I transplanted into the flower bed.
Spring break was wonderful. I slept a lot, ate a lot, and gardened a lot, just as I wished I would. My backyard looks amazing, it really does and I love how everything turned out.
We are redesigning parts of it, but as of now, we are working around the gazebo. I have been training a different set of climbing roses to make their way up the second set of garden arches by the side gate.
On Friday we saw a sun dog, (a little late as it was fading away). It was bright and quite a sight.
Sun Dog.
The Spanish Lavender I thought I had lost last Fall came back strong this Spring. It did poorly in a planter, so I planted it in ground, in a well drained soil and it’s thriving. I love the pleasing scent and vibrant flowers.
Spanish Lavender.
The Julia Rose Itoh Peony has tripled in size since last week and the delicate leaves will soon turn green.
Julia Rose Itoh Peony shoots.
A lone California Poppy plant.
California Poppy (young plant).
Today was such a wonderful day and I decided to reward myself with a simple pleasure. For dinner I had a barbecue chicken pizza, a glass of beer (I hardly drink beer, if at all. But when I do, the only one I can handle is Stella Artois). I also enjoyed a delightful read (Didn’t My Skin Used to Fit?: Living, Laughing, Loving Life After Forty!) by Martha Bolton.
BBQ Chicken. Stella Artois. Martha Bolton.
I feel blessed in my garden after all the work we have been putting into it these past years.
It’s been a very busy weekend for us. We helped two neighbors get rid of weeds around their property. Although we are a little sore, it felt good and it brightened their day. We offer such physical labor once in a blue moon to neighbors who need it the most.
We were gifted a 3 year old, 8 and a half foot Elm Tree, which we transplanted on Saturday. The seed from the mother tree landed on my neighbor’s backyard, on the side of a sprinkler line and grew. We carefully dug it out and transplanted it in our backyard. We hope and pray that it survives and thrives.
The weather has been wonderful since the beginning of the week and even though the ground is getting stiffer, it is still a good time to pull out those weeds before they start shooting their seeds (which remain viable for many years). It took me a few years of dedication and hard labor to eradicate those seeds and my yard is weed free today because I never gave those weeds a chance to sprout to begin with.
My Gaura plants as well as my Scotch and French Broom shrubs have spread their seeds all over my property. It’s insane, I could start a nursery with all the seedlings. Since it was a little gloomy in the morning, I spent over an hour digging out, transplanting and relocating the seedlings. I also transplanted a few Dwarf Cup Flower seedlings.
The Purple-Leaf Cherry Plum trees are now in full bloom. The Snow Fountain Weeping Cherry is starting to bud and flower.
Snow Fountain Weeping Cherry Blossoms.
I haven’t done much this Winter but read, drink tea and read some more. With the weather getting warmer, I am ready to redesign and expand parts of my backyard garden.
By JM Perez
