WiseAcre Gardens

  Just a quick photo of Creeping Phlox (Phlox subulata) for GTS. 

No Parking – Standing Only

  This is the Amish version of just running into a store while you leave your vehicle running.

Ah what the hay. How about one more flower.

 Wyoming Mountain Aster

 - Aster alpigenus

I have nowhere to put one yet I couldn’t resist buying 3. Since I have no time for my own garden right now they became gifts. I can always buy more.

Believe it or not I don’t have a rock garden. That is something I need to fix this summer. I so want to add this little native plant to my collection. It might be small but the flowers make a big impression.

WHOOT!

 Today is more than Green Thumb Sunday. I might have gone to seed but my youngest seedling is thriving. Today she graduates from St. Lawrence University (summa cum laude).  I guess ignoring the kids while I read was good for them after all.

Go read a book or back to the cage for you!

 I was back on the Russel Turnpike again and found a wonderful spot filled with red and white Trilliums, Spring Beauty and Squirrel-Corn.

The WakeRobins have bloomed a bit later than the White Trilliums found in the same spot on May 1. Right now all the Trilliums are at their peak and can be seen in scattered colonies in the woods throughout the central part of St. Lawrence County, NY.

 Trilliums are known for having things in 3s. Today was a bonus 3peat. The easy to spot trilliums lead me to two other wildflowers that are a little harder to spot while racing down a dirt road.

What first registered in my mind when I saw the small while flowers was Bleeding Hearts. Then Dutchman’s Breeches but after a carefull look Im pretty sure that the ‘bed’ of finely dissected leaves was Squirrel-Corn. I didn’t have the heart to find out for sure by digging some up to see if the roots looked like ”corn kernels”.

I’ve saved my favorite for last.  Spring Beauty flowers are small but impressive if you get up close.

These look to be Claytonia caroliniana (Carolina Spring Beauty) with wider leaves than Claytonia virginica.  The whole plant is so small that they are easily overlooked in the undergrowth in the woods. If it wasn’t for the Trilliums getting me to stop in the first place and the Squirrel Corn leading me on I would never have seen them. While most have the striking purple veins some were so feint that they looked plain white.

But that wasn’t all for the day. Just down the road I saw a nice bed of wild strawberries I’ll be picking in the future. Someone already staked a claim but I’m sure the fly won’t be in the ointment when it comes to harvest time.

It wasn’t so long ago that the gardens looked bare and the pond stood in stark contrast to the landscape.

A few weeks later and things are looking much better.

 What caught my attention today was some Sweet Woodruff growing out of the pond wall. Sweet Woodruff earns it’s reputation as an aggressive spreader. Not even a stone wallseems to stop it.

 Below the woodruff are Jewelweed seedlings and above is a creeping hydrangea which is proving to be no match against the invading groundcover.

 On the other side of the pond the Hostas and Ligularia are filling out nicely.

 Now to zoom in a bit closer to see the ‘bubble rock’

 Calling this stone special is an understatement. No one had ever seen anything like this before at the quarry and I’ve never seen anything like it anywhere else either. Ripples – yes. Bubbles – no. The stone has lost it’s colors as it’s darkened with age. I suppose a good powerwash would bring back the purple and orange.

 This was one set of slabs I wasn’t going to let go of. Unless of course you make me an offer I can’t refuse.