The Herb & Flower Gardens in May

I have so many garden things to blog about that I may have to divide it into multiple blogs! First, I was visiting my sister-in-law and her aunt came to visit. She is a rose grower with beautiful roses, and I picked her brain a little. She pointed out to me where to prune, cutting at a slant, and sealing the stem with wood glue. She said the sealing was VERY important to avoid getting rose borers. She also sprinkles a ring of epson salts around each rose and waters it in; no digging. At this point it was time for brunch, so I politely stopped grilling her.

My irises are blooming. I have a small bed of cream colored dwarf iris that my mom gave me from her garden. I'm going to add another type of iris this year, but haven't decided which one. The daffodils are just about spent. As usual, I'm clipping off the withered bloom and leaving the foliage to die back on its own.



My catmint is flowering (in the picture), and the chives are VERY close. The columbine in the herb bed has buds also.

My husband just called and tomorrow starts my Mother's Day weekend with a trip to the nursery up the road for a yard of topsoil, perennials, annuals and whatever else I can load into the trailer. He cleared out in front of the right side of the house where the former owner had put a thick bed of gravel and rocks. It's ready for topsoil and plants. The area receives morning sun, and afternoon shade. My plan is to grow bleeding hearts, hostas and columbines. I will share before and after pictures next week.

I was at Home Depot earlier this week and picked up a garden sage to replace the one I someone how managed to kill during transplanting last year, a pineapple sage and Texas Tarragon, which is actually Tagetes lucida, in the marigold family. It's only hardy to -5 F. so it will be an annual for me, as will the pineapple sage (a beautiful hummingbird magnet). I will try to mulch heavily and cover, but our winters are pretty harsh. I will plant all three this weekend. A word on Home Depot. Our local Home Depots are not the best at plant care, but I've found if I visit early in the garden season I can pick up some good deals on herbs.

Lastly, this week I divided and transplanted a shasta daisy. I started this from a teeny bareroot and 2 seasons later it needed dividing into three sections. Give this plant a lot of room! I moved it to the side of the house in a bed with daylilies and black-eyed susans. It needs full sun, and fairly good soil, nothing fancy. It's very drought tolerant. I also transplanted a lavender that I had placed too near my butterfly bush. I trimmed it quite heavily since it had been "leaning" as it tried to get away from the bush. A note on the butterfly bush. The bush dies down completely before winter, but I don't trim it back til spring. I just trimmed it this week, as I saw the growth, which starts new each year. Many people give up on their butterfly bushes, thinking they haven't survived the winter.

Enjoy your garden! ~Brenda