patalija

April 7, 2002

Bed and Breakfast

George and I moved about a dozen large pots of annuals I’ve been trying to winter over out onto the deck. I have several of scented geraniums and if you’ve never had them – they are so wonderful. My collection includes Rose, Lemon Rose, Nutmeg, Mint, Lemon and a few others I can’t recall offhand. The most gentle of breezes or light touch will release the heady aroma, so I always enjoy working with them.

I also wintered over four hanging baskets of spider geraniums, though I discovered a heavy outbreak of whitefly on those. I had to prune them back so much that I’m not sure they’ll pull through. That, and the several dousings with Safer Soap will either cure them or kill them for sure.

I spent one day last week, pruning all of these, adding fresh soil to the top layer and fertilizing them. We have to watch the weather reports closely so that we can pull them back into the garage if frost is expected.

The silver leaf is beginning to leaf out and some of my clematis are as well. I planted the silver leaf last year and it grew eight feet high and five feet across the beam on the deck. There is a clematis on the center beam (which the silver leaf came with inches of) and another clematis on the far beam. So, both of those will need to be moved after blooming this year, in order to make room for the continuing onslaught of the silver leaf.

I have two dwarf Japanese Maples in large urns and they are beginning to show signs of growth. A large dracenea (?) in another urn has grown over four feet this year and now stands about six feet tall. Its pretty and green year round.

I’ve been waiting for the chipmunks to return. I enjoy them so during the summer months. It’s fun to watch them sneaking around corners and hiding from the squirrels, who are constantly on the look-out for them and chase them away as soon as they are spied. They appear in the spring, hang out here until around the first of November and then go wherever chipmunks go during the winter. I’m wondering if they hibernate.

While bedding and breakfasting with us during the summer, they scurry across our deck like it’s their own personal highway, digging holes and burying sunflower seeds in any plant within reach. I’m constantly pulling up stands of sunflowers from my pots during the warm months.

The other morning I was peering at my hummingbird feeders to get a glimpse of who was coming to breakfast. I have one just outside the window over the sink and another hanging on the other side of the deck. As I watched the hummingbirds, I caught just a flicker of movement out of the corner of my eye. I quickly turned my head, but saw nothing.

A few minutes later, I definitely saw something in the barren last year’s growth of the silver leaf. There’s a birdhouse there which I have dragged around for more years than I want to count. I affixed it to the top of the beam last year and it was lovely with the vines twirling up, around, over and beneath it.

It’s made of driftwood from the Oregon Coast and always occupied a prominent spot in the garden on our Oregon farm. It was the birthing spot for more than a few flocks of birds over the years and one memorable year, it was filled with baby oppossums. We never figured out how the mother got in and out, unless she was mostly fur, but it was definitely full of babies! We used to watch them through the binoculars from the back door.

This year, the old birdhouse has opened its doors to two chipmunks. Closer inspection that day showed me that it had been filled with dried materials and built up inside about six inches or more. I have since seen one and sometimes two of the chipmunks standing just outside the door of their bungalow. Boy, are the squirrels gonna be jealous.

P.S. In case you haven’t guessed, I just learned how to post pictures here. Oh THANK YOU Doodles 🙂

Love reading all this. We were finding the hummingbird feeders today and such. Our Japanese maple is full of growth. I love geraniums too but don’t have them now. We do have plenty of herbs to enjoy the scents of. Especially when watering on a warm day and all the oils release the wondrous aromas. Ah! Spring is great 🙂 Hugs

Alexandra

April 8, 2002

So tell me how to post pictures, please!! We’ve finally had “spring rain” here in Illinois, the kind of rain where you know it’s okay to plant things. We are new, so we’re just doing our garden. Hubby bought some roses, pansies & herbs for the herb garden today. We’ll see what else he has in mind. hugs,

Adagio

What a nice walk around the world of your yard!! :)xo

~X-Factor

I didn’t know there were so many types of scented geraniums. Everyone seems to be in spring mode today. It has been slow in arriving this year. I love loitering around the nurseries, plotting and planning.

gel

April 9, 2002

I love scented geraniums. I’ll have to get some this year. It sounds very cozy on your deck.

MJ+

RYN: yes, Charles gave an impassioned speech in remembrance of his granny. He was her favourite.

Your grounds look fabulous from what I can see in the background. Beautiful tall trees. Things are definitely not so green up here. p.s. please don’t take me for a monarchist – I was commenting quite dryly on the priveleges of the so-called elite.

Spinster

How about a picture of the silver leaf? Either Im not familar with it or I know it by another name.

I have several varieties of scented geraniums, including Cinnamon, Pepper, Rose, and Lemon. Love them all. They make wonderful herbal sachets and I often use them in bouquets. Right now I’m enjoying my sweetpeas and French iris. Came here through [quieted]’s diary to a very nice entry indeed. Blessings,

This time of year is so exciting. It’s fun to see what is starting to green up. The birdhouse is absolutely lovely.

Spinnaker

There must be a lot of gold in your aura too! Yellow/gold what’s the difference? I always get these things wrong. hehehe I love the idea of a B&B for squirrels. We buy peanuts for ours and you should see them chase the crows away. Catman is way weirded out as he is afraid of the big birds but likes to eat the squirrels. Topsey-turvey world. 🙂

Wide-Eyed

April 10, 2002

Great that you can share pictures now. What character your birdhouse has! Your place looks like a park – those very tall trees are beautiful. I miss wildlife now that I’ve left my country home.

fate is speaking to me, this is about the tenth entry i’ve read today with flowers and gardening. Off i go to the greenhouse. Nice to meet you, i’ll stop by again soon!

Hi sweet patalija. Well done, music next? Let me know if you need any midis. Come over to England and help me with the garden. We can drink an elixer of laughter under the moon….G can visit with my neighbors and we girls can giggle. Hugs

Ollie

April 13, 2002

Dear friend P, just catching up today, I also want to go back and read your last entry too. How uncanny, when I first started to read my eyes were amazed by your words! I tried and tried when the kids were growing up maybe about the early 80’s to find ‘pelageraniums’ I got books from the library, called nurseries, wrote letters, no one in my area (northern Ohio) had any scented geraniums!

So….I gave up and just continued with the good old variety of ivy geraniums and traditional ones. I would cut them back in the fall and hang them upside down in the basement over the winter. They always came back. I really don’t have a green thumb, the green thumb belongs to Stanley, who by the way also builds birdhouses! Have a great weekend talk soon!

Doodlebug

You are very welcome! And all of your pictures are delightful! All those herbs sound heavenly! Hugs!

forever in motion

April 29, 2002

Oh, how fun you have pictures here! And I’m green with envy, looking at the trees in your background. Wonderful.

Happy May Day, patalija! I salute your efforts in the garden with this quote someone handed me today. “The first day of May has been celebrated for thousands of years as the point of fertility, as a time when nature blatantly displays its beauty to bring about the conception of new life. In Celtic tradition, it is known as Beltane, or Bealten, the magic of flowers.” The magic of flowers! Wow.

I was just browseing through , What a beautiful picture you have on your opening page. If you have been reading ME’s diary then you know how much we like to garden as well. we’are busily putting in another patio right now and with heat we’ve had in the PNW I almost feel that I need to put in another water main, Lord my plants are screaming, and my bill will be too!