The Historic District

It happened in Connecticut and it happens here in Mobile.



'Grandpa Ott' morning glory self seeds and comes back year after year. Not aggressively, but just enough to enjoy those blooms that appear to be lit from within. I used to feel that I was compromising by not growing 'Heavenly Blue' with those big, azure flowers but now I prefer this one. It's carefree, beautiful and blooms all summer.

In the summer of 2018 I posted this picture of my newly-planted potential podocarpus hedge in front of the world's most rickety fence:



At the time I wondered what would happen first: would the fence fall down (a couple of pieces have; it looks like the work of a bad dentist) or will the podocarpus reach hedge height, i.e. the top of the fence? Here it is today:



I guess I got my answer.

The gardens are waking up here, so the Grampa Otts will be busting out of the ground soon enough. The veggie gardens are largely planted except for the tomatoes. We still have ice under the barn, but with luck it'll be melted by June.

It’s been a while since I have posted a picture so I though I would start by showing off our tulip garden.

Very nice. I also appreciate the conspicuous absence of neighbors across the street. It's a little surprising to me because yours strikes me as a house that would look comfortable in an urban setting, but the countryside suits her just fine.

James, all that you see used be part of the farm that our home was built on, there’s. Lot more more farm to the right of the picture.

Wow those tulips are gorgeous. My wife is trying to grow them, but the deer love tulips as a meal. We have to spray deer repellent on them each week. They love lilies too. I planted two Haskap(Honeyberries) next to my blueberries this past week. I'm very excited to get them going.

Tulips must be delicious because lots of critters go for them. I couldn't grow them because of squirrels. I suspect where you are, Ron, the squirrel population is low because of predators.

Because I did a big springtime push to get the upstairs bathroom and the pantry below it usable, I had ignored many of my gardening responsibilities. I've had a couple of happy surprises though, those plants that dropped seed and produced another crop for 2022 without my intervention. The latest was this:



They're seedlings of an ornamental pepper called 'Jigsaw'. I had mixed results last year with them, but the one in this clay pot did great. I reused the pot for a rooted rosemary cutting and lo and behold, another crop of 'Jigsaw' appeared! When they get big enough, I'll separate them. This year I'm going to try them in food. The ornamental peppers are usually pretty hot.

Just this morning I was walking my sprawling estate (my wee yard) and came upon this pair:



I don't know if it's romance or territorial sparring, but I didn't want to disturb them, so I went back into the house. It's nice that turtles are so common around here; I rarely saw them while growing up in Connecticut.

NH, the tulips are filling in nicely. This is the second season in the ground after splitting them. Every three years or so we have been digging them up and splitting. I think we started out with a bag of thirty or so.
James, the rabbits an squirrels don’t seem to touch them and the deer do it venture out of the wood you see in the far distance.

Well everything that’s going to grow has started, I lost 5 of my tree lilies and the dahlia I planted last year never did sprout. Looking forward to plenty of flowers this year.