The Open House is Upon Us

We've been working hard at Vicki's to get the nursery tidied up for the Open House. The event is scheduled for Sunday, June 23rd from noon to 4 at 1090 Meadowcrest in Waterford, 48327. I'll put out a few balloons so you'll be able to spot us. We'll have good food, great discounts and tours of the greenhouse and new gardens. Please stop by if only to get a piece of my famous "dump cake"! We'll go on rain or shine and we can huddle in the greenhouse if we get a passing shower.

I'm trying to clear out the overwintered one gallon pots, many of which look great and are starting to bloom. They'll be priced at only $3.00 that's half off regular price. All the smaller pots are just $2.00 each - full flats of ten, only $20.00 and that includes all the newly potted mums and fall stock. It's a great way to get some hardy, perennial plants and start or complete a new garden at a really reasonable price.

Spent the day yesterday with my brother and did some pruning and whacking of the exuberant shrubs in the raised bed planter. It's time to shape and prune back the forsythia and lilac and other early-blooming shrubs so they can make buds for next year during the summer. Evergreens like taxus or yew, boxwood, arborvitae and the false cypresses can be pruned now. The pines and spruce can be 'candled' or the new growth cut by half to keep them more compact.

Fertilized the garden with an organic 'Holly-Tone' and am hoping for some good rain to wash it in. Also fertilized the nursery with a regular 'Miracle-Gro'  to perk up some of the pots. Have to go and fertilize the open house location as the recent rains we've been having has washed all of the nutrients from the pots and the delphiniums are really starting to show it.

Spent the evening with a great group - the Pontiac Garden Club. Nice mix of members older and young and they met at the beautiful Pontiac Creative Arts Center - so I got in some gardening talk as well as a neat art show. They allowed me to set up my wares along the sidewalk and I'm happy to report that many of my babies got some good new homes. The hellebores proved to be a hit and I am getting low on the spring-potted stock so I went ahead and ordered more for summer planting.

Set up along the sidewalk in Pontiac

The garden continues to develop and bloom. The photos below are a few of the highlights.

Spiderwort

A corner of the raised bed

I think Spiderwort or Tradescantia gets a bad rap. Easy to grow and long-blooming, this plant is not for evening gardeners as all the blooms will be closed by then.

The raised bed - oxeye daisy, sunrops and spirea

Sundrops

My brother's weed garden

Variegated Carex finally growing out of its dead foliage

Strawberries and Rhubarb

Strawberry-Rhubarb crisp

I love the caramel-color of the leaves of Heuchera 'Marmelade'. It is an easy coral bell but can burn up in a dry site. Here it is shown in the raised bed planter with oxeye daisy and spiderwort.



















The raised bed planter always looks to fresh with the oxeye daisy and the sundrops.




















Close up of Sundrops - Oenothera and I think the species is 'speciosa'.




















A view of my brother's "Hand's Off" weed garden. I confess - I did pull a small mulberry tree with my brother's permission. Not the place to grow a big, weedy tree.















I love this carex or variegated sedge but man it sure looks ratty until it grows out of its winter funk. I know you can prune off all the dead stuff, but this planting is so dense it is impossible.
















Made a bowlful of strawberries and rhubarb...

















and then turned it into a delicious crisp.

Japanese Honeysuckle along the cyclone fence

Japanese Honeysucle

Japanese honeysuckle is such a rampant and enthusiastic grower. Great as a groundcover for hillsides or tough sites. This one is growing in part shade and I just let it ramble along the fence and shrubs.





















I can't resist the sweet, orange-blossom scent.