The Gardens of Retriever Ridge

[mjt]

She Who Must Be Obeyed calls it the fence crisis. There's the chain link fence around the pool with some decorative split rail pieces here and there. Then the 8 foot fence surrounding the gigantic garden. And smaller areas that are "caged".

I warned her that they were caged for a reason, but she removed some of them any way. That reason is a bunch of these:

As you can see, they are quite bold.
And everything that was caged no longer has leaves. There isn't a hosta leaf anywhere on the property; only stems.
They particularly like to eat asiatic lilly buds the day before the flowers will bloom.

I'm not interested in fighting nature, so I've been pulling together a list of deer "resistant" plants that will take the place of the ones they've mowed down. And I'll move the tastier treats inside the pool fence.

[mjt]

As the snow melted, I started looking for a way to identify things I was seeing around the property. Several of the "free" mobile apps weren't really free... I found one that is actually free, called "Seek" by iNaturalist, and have been reasonably happy with the results so far. If you know of a better one, let me know.

Early in the spring we had Rue Anemone in the woods by the pole barn.


And a couple of Eastern Redbuds. They are quite spectacular for the couple of weeks that they are blooming. Their bark is also interesting IMO.


And inside one of the fenced areas, Grape Hyacinth. They will need to be relocated because of the planned changes around the pool.

[mjt]

In early June, quite a few things started to bloom. So far, the deer have left these alone.

Irises of all colors. Mostly they are in beds at the front of the house. These beds were also filled with various Daffodils, of which I failed to get pictures.


Those beds also contain Peonies. This one was stunning and I've forgotten the colors of the other ones. Slacker.


Shortly after the Iris peak, the beds along the side of the house started to bloom. What my plant identification app says is "Bloody Crane's Bill", a member of the Geranium family.


And Clustered Bellflower.

[Gothichome]

Matt, a nice selection of mature plantings, all low maintenance I might add. Are they all around the home? Some of those clusters would look great a distance from the home but very viewable from a good vantage point. Sort of like looking at a impressionist painting.

[Lily left the valley]

I am envious of your inherited plants.

Our backyard still looks very much a meadow, but I'm working on unearthing our usual beds over time.

Speaking of which, I need to get back out there before the heat of the day sets in again.

You can also try a google image search for IDs. It's the only other free option I know of so far that has any sort of image match. It's definitely NOT as good as iNaturalist (which will only get better in time as more folks use it and add their own images to get put into the pool), but it's come in handy for me image match wise, especially before iNaturalist existed.

Otherwise, there are many sites out there where you can put in characteristics of plants and ID them that way, but that takes much more time.

Thanks for the update and pictures!

[mjt]

Today we have raspberries. And more will be ripe tomorrow. More than we know what do do with. We're going to need a bigger freezer. Or act as a supplier for a local restaurant.


We also have a couple of Clematis that are blooming.

[mjt]

Just so it doesn't go to my head, todays specimens include:

mortuus est iuniperus


and Euonymus Fortunei Canis (also featuring some now leafless hosta that are common on the property)

[Manalto]

The burgundy clematis looks like it might be 'Niobe.'

[mjt]

This weekend's bounty. Black Raspberries have started to ripen.


As have the blueberries. I had only a few minutes to harvest...