With temperatures on the cooler side with occasional rain, especially on the weekends, April did not provide much opportunity to get into the garden. But weather warmed in the first week in May, and it seemed that nature got jump started.
Below was the picture from 10 days earlier.
The early season bloomers included Bluestar (Amsonia tabernaemontana), Black and Red Chokeberry, and Golden Ragwort. The Serviceberry tree was the first to bloom and was complete by the beginning of May.
Bluestar – Amsonia tabernaemontana
Red Chokeberry – Aronia arbutifolia
Golden Ragwort – Packera aurea
The garden cleanup occurred this weekend, removing dead plant stems and pulling some of the many dandelions that should have been removed last year.
Dandelions are not the only nuisance. Grass from the lawn seems to make its way in and must be removed before it sets a more stable root structure. And then there are the rabbits. I have started placing in plant cages, although some plants, such as the New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americanus) took a real beating.
The other challenge this year will be loss of plant boundaries. Now in the 6th year of this project, the garden has become almost a continuous mass where the plantings are no longer distinctive but meld together. I guess this is the way it occurs in nature, but identification becomes more difficult. I plan to clean up some of the lines if any one type of plant becomes overly aggressive.
Pennsylvania Native Garden Journey 