One note

Posted on June 10, 2019 by Judy@NewEnglandGardenAndThread

I’ve been singing one note lately – gardening. 😎

Dwarf Korean Lilac at its peak.

I won’t put you to sleep by detailing what I’ve been doing. Let’s just say I’ve been catching up on weeding, pruning, planting containers, and, of course, moving plants around because that’s what gardeners do.

I’ve also taken some time to just sit and enjoy being outside in the beautiful weather we’ve been having. Windows are open, and the fragrance of the lilacs finishing up their season is unbelievable.

Shade garden, poppy and iris, clematis, outdoor potting table (Yes, I have two potting tables, inside and out. Doesn’t everyone?), container planting, side garden

If you remember, the MGs are fighting rodents at a new native pollinator garden which we found out is a family of groundhogs. One garden tender is a resident, and he has set a trap. So far, he’s relocated two members of the family, and we’re hoping to relocate the entire group so the garden has an opportunity to prosper.

I worked out there on Saturday and found that the majority of the plants are recovering except for the lupines and butterfly weed. But, did the tomato cages with plastic fencing, chicken wire cloches, and dollar store waste cans all pinned to the ground with landscape pins work? Yes, they did. 🙂

I also went on a gardening tour last week to a fellow MG’s home. She has a native lakeside woodland garden that is jaw-dropping beautiful. The most spectacular feature is a pond they created where a previous owner had dumped gardening waste into a depression in the ground. They added a liner, circulating pump, lined it with rocks, and planted it with native ferns and flowers. It is spectacular, and even though I took a ton of photos, I couldn’t really capture its beauty.

Woodland water feature, Lady’s Slippers, and Popcorn Doublefile Viburnum. Yes, I’m searching for this Viburnum to buy for myself because it is gorgeous.

Whatever you are doing this second week of June, I hope it includes some time outside doing whatever makes you happy. 78°F with moderate humidity make me a happy woman even with the darn black flies.  😎

About Judy@NewEnglandGardenAndThread

Master Gardener who enjoys gardening, quilting, photography, and traveling.
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57 Responses to One note

  1. Cynthia Reyes says:
    June 10, 2019 at 8:33 am

    What a remarkably beautiful garden you have, Judy. Or maybe I should say “has you”, because that must take a great deal of work. It’s special.

    Liked by 3 people

  2. pastpeter says:
    June 10, 2019 at 8:37 am

    Everything looks green and grand! Happy for you that the good weather has reached NH! I love your shade garden, and your friends woodland pool!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Judy @ NewEnglandGardenAndThread says:
      June 10, 2019 at 2:02 pm

      For the past week, we’ve had weather like days of old. It’s been in the 70-80’s, humidity around 50%, windows open – life is good. 🙂 You would have loved that woodland pool. The words that come to mind are lush and layered. She is an amazing gardener and has great vision. I saw my first peony in bloom today. 🙂

      Like

  3. Murphy's Law says:
    June 10, 2019 at 8:46 am

    Wow! Seeing your gardens is like taking a walk through the Botanical Gardens!! Love the shade garden, and the tea kettle planter is so cute! It’s a ton of work, but it must give you great satisfaction to see the fruits of your labor.

    So glad to read that the native pollinator garden has mostly survived….with the help of your clever thinking and a little hardware.

    Happy Monday!
    🐾Ginger 🐾

    Liked by 1 person

    • Judy @ NewEnglandGardenAndThread says:
      June 10, 2019 at 1:58 pm

      Those two gardens are part of the three here in the back. Then there are ones up front. I actually tried to get a couple of photos of them today, but it’s hard. If they are remotely representative, I’ll post them next week. I’ve had that tea kettle and kept meaning to do something with it and finally did. I chuckled while I was planting it. Gardening is a lot of work so you have to have your chuckles now and then. YES, most of the plants will make it under their wire contraptions. 🙂

      Like

  4. Dan Antion says:
    June 10, 2019 at 8:50 am

    My wife fought a similar battle last year to keep the bunnies from eating her beans. Good luck relocating the groundhogs.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. stitchinggrandma says:
    June 10, 2019 at 9:05 am

    You hard work shows in your garden! We are having intermittent weather. Some days HHH and other days lovely with no humidity. My outdoor time has been spent on the bicycle.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Photography Journal Blog says:
    June 10, 2019 at 10:46 am

    I’m glad to hear you are taking some time to just enjoy as well 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Robin at Haphazard Homemaker says:
    June 10, 2019 at 11:23 am

    Love all of the beautiful pictures!

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Dawn says:
    June 10, 2019 at 11:59 am

    Your garden looks so beautiful, Judy! It would be lovely to sit and chat in your gorgeous shade garden (after a full garden tour, of course!😊) I just love your tea kettle planter!
    Hungry groundhogs have been a big problem in my Midwest garden, too. When I bring new plants home, I must hide them in the garage until I can plant them, or the groundhogs will nibble them right from the containers! They always seem to have a fondness for my newest perennials. Hope you will be able to relocate all of those hungry groundhogs soon.
    Thanks to your inspiration, I am dreaming of adding Dwarf Korean Lilacs near our front porch. I know they are very popular with pollinators. Do you think I might have a big problem with bees near the front porch?
    So glad that you are making some time to relax and enjoy your garden, Judy!
    Take time to smell the Rosemary! 💗

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Eliza Waters says:
    June 10, 2019 at 12:44 pm

    Your work speaks volumes, Judy – so beautiful, both your and your friend’s gardens. Hope you are taking time to enjoy the fruits of your labor (one of my toughest challenges!). Have a great week!

    Liked by 1 person

  10. circadianreflections says:
    June 10, 2019 at 2:17 pm

    I love your potting bench and yard! You sound so happy and in your zen place. I’m am happy knowing you’re happy!

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Marilyn Armstrong says:
    June 10, 2019 at 4:54 pm

    We hacked down the roses. If they don’t come back, I’m okay with that. They have brutalized me for years. However, they WILL grow back because they are the toughest plant I’ve ever encountered. We also had to take down the really dead Rhodos, but some of the dead ones seem to be attempting to make a comeback, so they look kind of strange with new growth mixed with what appearto be curling, brown dead leaves.

    I don’t know what to make of them. We sort of took a middle of the road approach. If it looked alive, we left it and I think it will do better without the strangling killer roses. Otherwise, the Columbine is all over the place — multiply last year’s crop by three! Now they are on both sides of the driveway. We didn’t plant them there. I don’t know how they got there. Wind? Birds? Along with the Narcissus, which not only did we not plant, but don’t even have growing in our garden.

    No deck flowers this year and soon, the bird feeders will come down. We have to refinish the deck which will give the squirrels and birds an opportunity to interface with nature again. They seem to have forgotten.

    I’m so impressed by your energy. I wish I had even half that much. I need to re-pot a lot of indoor plants, but all of it is fragile and easy to break, so I’m not going to do it until I am desperate.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Judy @ NewEnglandGardenAndThread says:
      June 11, 2019 at 7:28 am

      It sounds like you have been plenty busy. The rhodies took a hit from this past winter’s changing temperatures and lack of snow cover. Every time I work an Ask A MG, people line up to ask about them. You’ve done what they’re suggesting – cut off what looks dead after new growth shows up. Those must be some major healthy roses you had going there. And, I always have to chuckle when plants show up where you didn’t plant them. Good luck with your deck project. Hope it goes well. 🙂

      Like

  12. Nancy says:
    June 10, 2019 at 5:45 pm

    You saved the garden! Way to go!

    I loved your garden with all the Hostas! Gorgeous!

    And your friend’s pond is as well.

    Happy new week in June to you!

    Liked by 1 person

  13. germac4 says:
    June 10, 2019 at 8:31 pm

    Your garden looks lovely Judy… although you have to wait a long time for summer… it looks gorgeous when it arrives! I’m living vicariously through Northern Hemisphere garden blogs! I would love to have two potting tables … however we are getting better organised with what we’ve got.
    Glad you are spending a bit of time relaxing in your garden & enjoying it all!

    Liked by 1 person

  14. tonytomeo says:
    June 11, 2019 at 3:53 am

    Protecting the garden from wildlife can be such a hassle! Some of the kids toys, such as teddy bears, repel squirrels, but not rats.

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Oddment says:
    June 11, 2019 at 5:13 am

    If you’re going to sing just one note, this would be the note to sing! How beautiful your gardens are! So glad you are finally getting gardening weather — you sure know what to do with it! — and glad also you can find a moment to bask in beauty and weather. Congratulations on besting those groundhogs — may they all find new homes far away from your waystation. Thanks for all photos; they really inspire!

    Liked by 1 person

  16. KerryCan says:
    June 11, 2019 at 5:58 am

    Oh, what a happy woman you are! And the hard work appears to be paying off with lots of beauty. I love viburnums and that popcorn one is amazing. I am excited because I have been trying to get poppies to grow around here forever (and everyone says they’re so easy!) and I finally see a bud on one. AND my climbing hydrangea looks like it’s going to flower for the first time ever!!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Judy @ NewEnglandGardenAndThread says:
      June 11, 2019 at 4:40 pm

      Too funny – I have a long list of hydrangeas, but I’ve never had good luck with a climbing one. Two friends have gorgeous specimens climbing trees and fences. Hope yours are covered with blooms and make you smile. 🙂 We have one poppy plant that blooms every year. Shortlived but long on beauty. I’ve tried some from seed but haven’t been very successful. Gardening is never as simple as it seems. 🙂

      Like

  17. Annie says:
    June 11, 2019 at 8:11 am

    I smiled at the photo of the teapot container. I love to see whimsy in a garden. Your blooms are ahead of mine. No clematis in bloom here. I would trade all I have for a lovely woodland garden and pond like your friend’s. That’s such a soothing habitat.

    Liked by 1 person

  18. Tina Schell says:
    June 11, 2019 at 6:51 pm

    LOL, we’re in high 80s here already. We look for shade and ocean breezes although our magnolias are still clinging to life! Your garden is glorious

    Liked by 1 person

  19. Rose says:
    June 11, 2019 at 9:54 pm

    Everything is just so beautiful…and I really love that pond and surrounding area.

    Liked by 1 person

  20. the eternal traveller says:
    June 11, 2019 at 11:36 pm

    Yay, spring has finally arrived! The gardens look beautiful.

    Liked by 1 person

  21. gardeninacity says:
    June 12, 2019 at 1:44 pm

    I have never had to contend with groundhogs, but I’m glad your defensive measures are working.

    Liked by 1 person

  22. Joyce says:
    June 12, 2019 at 5:43 pm

    Well, what I’ve done for the past three days in this lovely mid-June weather did not make me happy! I was sick in bed with some weird flu that showed only a slight cough and extreme weakness. I’m better today and concentrating on the 5 lbs. I lost with no appetite!
    It does kinda crack me up how a single groundhog family can require such an arsenal of wire, cages, and contraptions in defense of its munching habits! I’m glad they are being humanely relocated. I think you’ll eventually win this one!
    Your yard is gorgeous – very “park like.” I just melted when I saw the vintage coffee pot re-purposed as a planter. My grandma had one like it and used it as sprinkling can. I loved watering her plants with it.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Judy @ NewEnglandGardenAndThread says:
      June 12, 2019 at 7:51 pm

      I am so sorry to hear you have been down and out. Not good. But, I sure am jealous about kicking 5 lbs. to the curb. Go, girl! Isn’t that a hoot what we are having to do to combat those hungry groundhogs. Knock on wood, I haven’t had to deal with one at home so I wasn’t sure all those contraptions would work. That pot is a hoot, isn’t it? My Grandmother had one too, and I saw this somewhere for $5 and had to have it. But, I must admit it has hung over my inside potting table for a while, and this year I decided it had to make it to the outdoors. Hope you continue to feel better so you can enjoy all those grands who will be off for the summer and want to visit their crafty Grandma. 🙂

      Like

  23. Brenda says:
    June 13, 2019 at 6:52 am

    I was gone for a week and spent yesterday–my first day back–gardening all day long. Soil on my hands, sun on my back, exuberant birdsong, and a few pesky black flies–absolute heaven. And the fragrance … I have never seen lilacs so lush and bloomy. Spring may have been late this year, but it’s extra glorious. Happy gardening!

    Liked by 1 person

  24. Karen says:
    June 15, 2019 at 3:44 pm

    How said the sun was never going to shine in New Hampshire. I’m so happy that you are making the most of your good weather. Those groundhogs were my mimesis as well…trapping and relocating them was the only way to get rid of them.

    Like

  25. Joanne Sisco says:
    June 19, 2019 at 3:20 pm

    This is the first time I’ve seen photos from your garden. Thanks for sharing them! You have a lovely space and it shows the work and effort you put into it.

    Liked by 1 person

  26. joey says:
    June 22, 2019 at 11:47 am

    Beautiful woodland spot there — that pond, those ferns, the light… WOWZA. MG is doing it right.
    Your garden (and your potter’s tables) and your ideas are enviable. I am glad you’ve gotten so much accomplished by mid-June! Here, it just rains. Rain is our one note.

    Liked by 2 people

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