Oh, those tulips!

 I'm obsessed. The tulip I couldn't remember is Mango Charm, purchased from Johnny's Selected Seeds.  It should be called Chameleon, because it is constantly changing.  

It starts out with a yellow-green bud.

As it opens, the petals become a soft yellow tinged with apricot, perfectly complimenting the Apricot Whirl and Pink Charm narcissus (also purchased from Johnny's).

 

It slowly becomes more pink, almost mimicking a soft sunset.

And finally, it ends its reign by turning a beautiful blush pink tinged with white.

 

Most tulips don't reliably rebloom season after season, so I'll be sure to purchase more of these to plant this autumn.  They're just breathtaking.

Also breathtaking is a clematis that I purchased, in of all places, Ocean State Job Lots.  I purchased three clematis a few years ago, and the packaging gave no indication as to the actual variety or type of clematis it was.  I just assumed it was from the summer blooming group, or Group 3.  This group produces flowers on new wood, or new growth, so every spring I would cut them to the ground and allow them to regrow, but never saw much for flowers.  In fact, the only flowers I would get were the Nelly Moser-type pink with white edges.  Disappointing, as I already had one of those.  This spring I didn't get around to cutting them down quick enough, and suddenly there were blossoms swelling all over the plants.  I decided to let them be and see what happened.  I'm so glad I did!

It seems this particular clematis is from Group 1, or the spring blooming group, which flowers on old wood.  If I'm lucky, it may end up being a group 2, which is a reblooming variety.  These will bloom on old and new wood, so I'm doubtful that's the case, otherwise I would have seen these gorgeous creamy blooms over the last two years.

I did finally get the cover on the polytunnel, and my seedling plants have been moved out of the house and into that for hardening off.  I ended up using some bark chippings my mother had to create a grass-free base.  I love that the wood chips retain moisture so that when I close the polytunnel up, it creates a lovely humid environment for the plants. 

They're all responding well except for the baptisia seedlings, which have begun a mass die-off.  This coming week is supposed to shoot up to summer like temperatures, so I'll plant them out and see how they do.

I've got a decent start on the new section of mule track, too.  I am waiting for some gate hardware to arrive before I put up the welded wire fence, but I think this is going to work out well.  

 I've been using Reputa to haul manure out to the back of the pasture, and she's been working great.  It's so good to have her back to work!  Li'l Red has been down and out since autumn with rust chips clogging the gas line and a massive mouse nest in the motor.  Luckily my ex's cousin is a mobile tractor repair person, and he was able to flush the gas tank so it looks brand new, repair the gas cap to prevent water from getting in, and peel out the mouse nest.  I fired it up and one more mouse ran out of the motor and hit the ground running, and a minute later another one was belly up inside the cover but fell back into the motor when I shut it off.  I think there might be an endless supply of mice living in my tractor motor, and it freaks me out.  My plan is to start it up and walk away, allowing it to run and hopefully drive out the furry invaders.  

I've finished another section of the dead hedge, and I'm learning as I go.  This section was made up of mostly forsythia trimmings, and I'm not sure how the mixed material is sitting with me.

I don't mind if there's mixed material in each panel, but having one panel mostly brush with not many thicker branches looks a little funky.  Again, the advantage of this hedge is that it will always be changing depending upon the materials available.  I'm ok with that, because it's FREE.  The corner was a little tricky, and I have to angle the next section to run parallel with the barn.  Once I start running a fairly straight line, I think it's going to go up fast.  At least I hope so; I'm still running behind!

May. I'm already so far behind.

 How does this happen?

One minute there is snow on the ground, then you turn around and the grass needs mowing, shrubs need pruning, plants ordered in the dead of winter start arriving and need planting...it's crazy!  I really meant to clean up the hillside garden before I started planting, but that still hasn't happened.  I did at least get the buddleia cut back.

I've planted out leeks, shallots, and potatoes so far.  This year I'm growing potatoes in bags, and I already feel like it's going to go so very wrong.  I've followed instructions, so I don't think it will boil down to my inexperience, it's just that the long range forecast is showing a lot of rain and very little sun.  This is how last spring started, and then the rain just didn't stop until July.  I'm really hoping the early plantings don't get drowned this season.

Below: leeks, freshly planted, and leeks, overwintered.  In the tub I've planted mesclun and salad mix lettuce.

 Now that I know leeks can be left in beds, I won't feel so pressured to harvest them.  And this is only one bed; there's another section with more leeks.  I'm not overly fond of them, but the company I buy from doesn't offer smaller lots.  If the potatoes do well, I guess we'll have potato leek soup by the gallon.

The shallots are planted in the stock tank this year, and I've tried to put the potatoes in the sunniest spots but where I wouldn't be tripping over the bags.

 Peas have been sown in the planters that flank the hay ring.  I'll plant cukes in the planters after the peas are harvested.

Garlic is looking awesome, if I do say so myself.

The onions are planted in the big container by the house this year.

It won't be very pretty, but I'm still having a hard time with crop rotation, mostly because perennial plants keep taking up valuable real estate in the veg portion of the garden.  In fact, because of that very reason I ended up planting my raspberry bushes in the back yard.

This was a decent spot that gets full sun most of the day, and not in an area where they might get damaged.  I still have to finish the trellis - I'm going with the traditional T shaped one.  These are Joan J raspberries and I chose them because they're virtually thornless.  As I get older, I look for ways to avoid hurting myself...well, for the most part.  

In the front of the house in the small bed I've made some terrible decisions that need to be corrected.  I do love the chaos and densely packed sight of a cottage garden, but I've really over planted this bed.

The tulips and hyacinth make it look especially crowded, but they aren't the issue.   I've allowed Queen Anne's Lace to take seed, I have three clematis, two lilacs that will only get bigger and bushier, two asters, a delphinium that loves this spot, horseradish, a low growing globe type flower (the name escapes me at the moment), and a Ragged Robin plant (bottom right of the above photo) that I pulled from a roadside last year.  Oh, and I added a creamish colored daisy to the mix.  Sacrifices must be made and plants will be moved.

In the dogwood garden, the Midwinter Fire dogwoods are losing the flame-like luster of their bark as they begin to leaf out, but I'm really happy with the daffodils I planted there last year.  I can't wait for the tulips to bloom.  Mostly because I can't remember what color they are.

The daffodils under the mulberry tree continue to spread and are just beautiful.  The deer have once again eaten every single tulip and hyacinth, so those are just lost causes.

The hot garden and the cottage garden were both impulse plantings directly into patchy grass areas.  I may regret that, as it's difficult to peel the abundant crab grass out, but the idea is to see how the plants that are there do, and add plantings throughout the summer, eventually crowding out the grass and weeds.  The Crown Imperial Fritillaria didn't get as tall as I'd hoped, and we had a week of below freezing temperatures recently.  I've never grown these, so I wasn't sure how hardy they were.  To err on the side of caution I tried covering the plants overnight.  One was short enough that a five gallon bucket over it worked perfectly, the other was a little harder to cover.  I ended up using a large muck bucket that wasn't quite tall enough, and it began to deform the stem.  Despite this, and the fact that the stem actually broke on one side, it still had enough oomph to bloom.  You can see the break just below the string here:

I guess that proves these are much more hardy plants than I gave them credit for.  Next year, no babying!

Across the driveway in the cottage garden, the species tulips are taking off, along with the Rip Van Winkle daffodils.  Unfortunately, since both are yellow and short, they basically look like dandelions from a distance.

 Live and learn, I suppose.  Maybe with a little less grass and a little more mulch, it will make them really stand out.  I'm mulling over the future presentation of these two gardens.  Add that to my ever-growing list of things to do.