The Heart Of Mayflower Greenhouse....Gone!

The heart and soul of Mayflower Greenhouse died on May 7. When Jan Wos moved to this area from Poland, he bought a very small greenhouse and, as stated on the website, he transformed it into a garden center that combines old world European charm with zestful creativity. He will be missed by family and friends from around the world.

Back in early April my friend, Debbie, and I took a "Fun With Succulents" class lead by Jan. In addition to being smart and creative, he had a great sense of humor and it was my pleasure to be part of the group that evening.

These photos are from that night. I don't usually include this many in a post, but am making an exception today.

An example of Jan's creativity.

Color everywhere at Mayflower. 

Plants and containers.

 

 

My very delightful friend, Debbie.

She knows more about gardening

than I can ever dream to know.

An important aspect of a garden center

is the accessibility of wagons. 

How else does a gardener transport all

of his/her plant loot to the car?  



Memories of Jan Wos will make people smile.

That's a good thing!

Slow To Grow

The growing season here in Zone 4 has gotten off to a slow start, but that doesn't mean I've lost hope. There are a few lovelies making pretty in the yard in spite of the weather.

These are a beautiful white crocus known as 'Jeanne d'Arc'. They are supposed to have a pencil-thin purple line running up from the base, but even with a magnifying glass I don't see it. I planted the bulbs (or are they corns?) last fall and I'm thrilled to see them bloom for the first time.

Glory-of-the-Snow is an early bloomer that appears not long after the Snowdrops. The blue flowers are star-shaped with glistening white centers. The plants are only about 6-8 inches tall and require very little attention. Deer and rodents do not find them to be tasty.



I've lost track of the name of these daffodils. Mount Hood, maybe? Or Ice Follies? Very pretty, no matter the name.

These yellow daffs I recognize, Dutch Master. They were planted in 2005. All of my spring bulbs would benefit from some fertilizing. Should they be fertilized after flowering or in the fall? I am careful about not cutting away the foliage until it's turned yellow.

One of the smallest daffodils grown is the Tete-A-Tete, the flower stems are only about 3 inches tall. Planted nearby but not in the photo is another hardy spring flower that's not yet blooming, Muscari armeniacum. They are a small grape hyacinth with a height of 6-8 inches. Would be really pretty if they bloomed together, but they don't and so I enjoy them one at a time.

The critters must have been hungry because they feasted on some of the Asiatic lilies, Cote d' Azur, that had just started to show new growth. Last summer these plants stood tall in the garden and had pretty pink flowers. I've not seen any rabbits this spring, but we do have a pair of Mallards hanging around, so maybe they are the culprits.

I know a lot about eating rhubarb, but not much about growing it. Our neighbor gave us a couple of transplants last year. It survived the winter, so that's a good thing.

This Mourning Dove was sitting on our deck railing wishing it would stop raining. Cool fact that I found at http://www.birds.cornell.edu. "Mourning Doves feed their nestlings crop milk or "pigeon milk" which is secreted by the crop lining. This is an extremely nutritious food with more protein and fat than is found in either cow or human milk. Crop milk, which is regurgitated by both adults, is the exclusive food of hatchlings for three days, after which it is gradually replaced by a diet of seeds."





Milk-White Flowers

The Garden Snowdrop is such a pretty little flower. According to The Plant Expert, the flowers look like three drops of milk hanging from a stem. This accounts for the Latin name Galanthus which means "milk-white flowers". I found this one blooming on April 4 in the natural area on the west side of our house.

Crocuses are very popular and with good reason. They come back year after year, slowly muliply and come in beautiful colors like purple, yellow, white, mauve and blue. These have been in my garden since 2008.  They started blooming about a week after the Snowdrops. Last fall I planted white crocuses that haven't bloomed yet, but I'm looking forward to the show. 

No, I didn't climb the tree to get the photo of this nest. I used my zoom...being the zoomer that I am. We were driving along the Fox River and spotted this nest up high in a very tall tree on the river bank. It's common for bald eagles and ospreys to nest along the shores of Lake Michigan and the Fox River. I can't say for sure that this nest belongs to either one of those birds. It's just my guess. Darn birds...they could at least put out a sign identifying who lives there.

The Coo-Coo Kid had a birthday last weekend. His sweet mother made this Dirt Cake for his friend party on Saturday. She served it up with a plastic shovel and the kids loved it.

The next day the family gathered to celebrate our much loved brown-eyed boy and there was another cake. It was his ninth birthday. He asked recently if anyone had left a comment on his blog. I told him that he needed to publish a new post in order to get new comments. He has something in mind. Stay tuned.







This Is No Joke

Today is April Fools' Day, but this is no joke. We still have ALL this snow in our yard. No, that's not a movie star in the photo. It's me standing out there wondering what happened to spring. Covered with snow and waiting to make an appearance are daffodils, muscari armeniacums, hyacinths, glory of the snow, anemones, allium, camassia quamash and crocus.

This picture of my mother was taken on March 17. It was a mild day with a light rain that was washing away the last of the snow. We were leaving the nursing home after visiting my dad when she spotted this plastic Frosty buried in a dirty snowbank. She's had a rough nine months, but still manages to smile. One week after this photo was taken, we had another 17.8 inches of snow.

Let the mating season begin! For wild turkeys, that is. I found this male courting a hen. The males are polygamous and will form a territory with as many as five hens. The eggs are incubated for about 28 days and hopefully for the little poults the snow will be gone by then. 

Lots of leaves.

No flower stalks.

Poor me.

What did I do wrong?

Don't Be Fooled. It's Not Over.

Winter should be over when you've

worn out the knees of your snow pants.

When your mittens fall apart,

that should mark the end of winter.



But it's NOT gone. It hangs on!

There ought to be a law against the

view from our front porch looking

like this on the 9th of March.

 

Hungry for guacamole?

Come back in four years,

when our tree sets its first fruit.

Pretty sad situation when my only gardening topic is an avocado pit. It could be said that in the month of March gardening in Zone 4 is the pits. 

This Is What The First Day Of March Looks Like

This is what it looks like in my neck of the  
woods on the first day of March.

The closest thing to spring

   was this bit of melting taking

place in the downspout.

Lovely, isn't it?

Most everything is still blanketed in snow.

The tall grasses are struggling

with the wind and snow.

 

The Coo Coo Kid escaped to a
 warmer land where he was able
to leap over sand castles.
No wonder he has no time
to update his blog.

Between Friends

Between Friends

by Sandra Bell Lundy

Nothing alarming happened today to make me post this. No need to worry, it's just another way for me to remind myself to live in the present. Wisdom is all around us, even in the comics.