A Nerd In The Garden: Landscaping & Hummingbirds

This weekend the hummingbirds made their return presence known. I was delighted to see them visiting the crocosima and I’m pretty sure that I heard the chicks in their nest. The crocosima and my mallow plant bloomed about two weeks early this year and I was worried that the hummingbirds would be late. I hope the blooms last long enough for the chicks too.

A local nursery was having a sale and we picked up four plants for the empty flower bed. We got two Rose of Sharons and two elephant ear plants. I also re-planted the gunnera that died in the unexpected freeze last year.

This week we had 3 cubic yards of hazelnut shells delivered so that we could mulch everwhere we didn’t want to have to weed next year. There were a surprising amount of whole nuts in the delivery and we set them out for the squirrels and the crows.

I like the look of the hazelnut shells and they are lightweight so it is easy for me to shift a bunch of them by myself. Since we had a heat wave this weekend I was glad that I was able to get a lot of the work done myself.

The gunnera got pretty badly sunburned before we got it properly mulched. It spent a week in the ground before we were able to get the mulch delivered. Thankfully there is a bunch of new leaves coming up. It seems a lot happier now that there is a whole thick layer of mulch over it.

We planted the Rose of Sharon and the elephant ear plants inbetween a rhododendron and two pink roses. It’s a long narrow strip of a bed that follows along a fence, and I’m using the term bed very loosely here—it’s more a strip of dirt that mere weeks ago was a long narrow strip of weeds.

The pumpkins and squash are taking to growing vertically very well. We picked up some more tomato cages and they are vining up them quite merrily. We also have a nest of bumblebees living behind a rose bush. I’m fairly certain they are the ones who are so kindly pollinating the tomatoes. I made sure not to bury the entrance to their nest when we were mulching.

It’s been a very busy few weekends but also very satisfying as the garden and yard start to come together. Next weekend will be more gardening and also 4th of July celebrating. K