It was a pussy-cat winter: says forsythia

This spring's forsythia in bloom
After the winter my forsythia looks usually looks like the picture below, that is, with only a bit of bloom at the bottom where there was snow cover.

Well, it must have been an easy, or at least a milder, winter: this spring the entire shrub is blooming for the first time in about five years.

So far it's been unseasonally warm for April - too warm for those of us who like to see the spring bulb flowers linger. And already, dare I say it, it's very dry. I sure hope this summer isn't as depressingly dry as it was last year.

Drought years get me so down that I want to quit gardening. I wonder if other gardeners feel that way. If I was on city water, and could water my garden more easily, would I feel the same way? Perhaps not.

© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener

Our barn swallows are back

Our barn swallows are back as of this morning. The swallows interact with us a good deal, mostly telling us in no uncertain terms that they want the barn doors opened each morning. There are holes with perches that they can use, but they would rather fly in, as they have lots of mouths to feed.

Later, when the chicks are about to fledge whenever we walk by or go into the barn, we trigger loud alarm calls and get buzzed. I've felt a whoosh of air many a time as a swallow swoops by my ear.

Having the swallows in residence means we have a flock of summer pets with entertainment value. We are fond of them, but it seems there are people who hate these birds. A blogger south of the border, who describes himself as a country boy (not a cowboy or a farmer or a hayseed or a redneck, though he admits to being bit of all those), hates barn swallows. At the bottom of his list of spring things to do, there is this:

Prepare for annual battle with barn swallows by stocking up on 12-gauge shells (I've tried scarecrows, plastic snakes, sonic barriers, and cussing... and I'm finished screwing around with these birds, it is time for them to die).

Yes, it's true that these birds do make a mess in the barn with their droppings, but shooting them????

Fortunately, our ride-on lawn mower has a sun-shade which keeps the droppings off the seat. Late in the summer when the birds are gone, we clean the floor with a power washer.

Aside from that, the swallows aren't a big problem. They're just fellow residents of our little eco-system, a 10-acre spot with lots of food and water, and we're happy to share. They are voracious insectivores, swooping and diving around the lawn mower as it scares up the insects. Apparently, barn swallows are quite effective at reducing insect pest populations - definitely my kind of bird.

(For more information about barn swallows, see this site by the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology.)
© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener

The BIG ornamental grasses clean-up

Toby sniffs around last year's grasses
This was the week of the big garden spring clean-up. My beds around the house are dominated by ornamental grasses. I like to say that no other plants are as easy to maintain: All you need to do is cut down and clear away the previous year's growth in late winter or early spring.

But this is easier said than done. For the job, we always rent a gas-powered hedge trimmer, and the actual cutting takes half a day. It's clearing last year's growth away that makes it such a huge job. But with three helpers, we managed to do all the rough clean-up in one day. The rest of the week was spent on a more thorough clean-up of all the beds, and we've also begun to work on the edging. After that comes weeding and mulching.

After cutting down the grasses
The landscape looks a bit odd without the ornamental grass foliage. There a few bulbs in between the clumps that will bloom soon to give us some colour before the grasses start to grow again.

Here's how our front garden looks after the grasses have put on their spring flush of growth:

New flush of growth; photo from spring '06
If you're interested in ornamental grasses, I have lots of information about them on my web site.
© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener

Adventures in hiring gardening help

I recently had a help wanted ad for a gardener at Craigslist, my local paper and Workopolis.

The person who wrote this corporate boilerplate didn't have a hope of getting an interview:

Being hard-working, conscientious, flexible, honest and above all else, results driven. I am able to discern and respond to changing requirements while maintaining team communication and interaction. As a detail oriented self starter and organized professional, I have developed sound multi‑tasking and problem solving strategies and can respond quickly in dynamic setting to establish consistent productivity. I also understand the importance of unconditional customer trust and satisfaction in the cultivation of a loyal client base. I am very interested in ongoing skills development; confident that I would be a positive addition to your organization, and a great team player, the opportunity to further discuss my qualifications and your needs would be very welcome.

Available at your earliest convenience, I look forward to hearing from you.

The gal who wrote this got the job:

This job sounds perfect for me! I have been working on my own property building my garden for the past 8 years and it has become my passion. I would love to work with more extensive gardens as I am out of room. I have worked for the past 14 years in an indoor corporate administrative environment and yearn to be outdoors. I have already got slivers and calluses from raking and transplanting this season. I can deal with weather.

I am in the midst of a career change and have decided to follow my dream and pursue garden design. I think I am perfect for this position as I am driven to perfection and would love to make your garden the best in show.... I have no formal education or experience other then my own garden successes and failures that I have learned from.

© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener

Hurrah: My book is out again

Available only in Canada
through Chapters/Indigo bookstores
It's had a cover makeover and a name change to Basic Gardening, but the content of my book is identical to the original version, Clueless in the Garden: A Guide for the Horticulturally Helpless, which has been out of print for about a year.

When the book came out five years ago (has it already been that long?), the "Dummies" series was popular. The publisher Key Porter, had the me-too idea of commissioning a number of "Clueless" books on topics like cooking, wine, etc.

When I was approached to be the writer for the gardening book, my initial reaction was: Who needs another book like this? Bookstore shelves are littered with how-to books. But while out planting my annuals and vegetable garden, I got to thinking: Why not do it? It would be neat to have my name on a book, and I've written about all those topics for magazines, so why not give it go?

Doing the book was a good experience, and it gave me the confidence to start my gardening website, which is an on-going project and nice little online business that I work on every winter, when I'm resting up from the garden.

As for the new edition of Basic Gardening, the reprint was done for Chapters and Indigo stores in Canada, and will only be available there. It will also be listed at the Chapters.Indigo.com website soon, and I'll let you know when it's up. As far as I know, it won't be available in the US.

© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener

Mud season here. On deck: Spring

Our creek floods its banks again
Winter's retreat is long and ugly: we have officially entered mud season.

This is my least favorite time of the year, but it's the last hurtle to get over so we can at last enjoy some spring weather.

Most of the snow melted as temperatures are finally went up a bit yesterday and today. Overnight we had rain, which together with the melt run-off brought the inevitable day of flooding. Fortunately, it was very windy, which should help things dry up.

What we really need is some sunshine. Maybe tomorrow...

High water under the crumbling bridge at the road
© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener

Spring's late - first crocus showed up yesterday

Crocus in bloom on this day a year ago
I've never been one to keep a garden diary in book form, but the great thing about blogging and digital photo metadata is that you have a pretty good record of what's blooming when from year to year.

The picture of the crocuses above was taken a year ago today. Yesterday's four little crocuses growing through old verbascum leaves sure didn't look anything as nice as the crocus patch above. And this evening, it's snowing...again.

Interestingly, last year, we had snow on April 8th (it was Easter weekend). Of course, it didn't last long. From the looks of things, I won't be surprised if we get a bit of snow again this April.

Last year's Easter weekend snow
© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener

Gypsy moth spraying: the question of the season

Gypsy moth egg masses on a young maple in my neighborhood
A few weeks ago I put an article about gypsy moth caterpillars up on my gardening website. Today I received this email from a reader in Oakville, Ontario:

I am interested in your article about the gypsy moth! We in Oakville have learned that some of our lovely forest areas are to be sprayed with Btk in May.

I was interested in your comments that this infestation doesn't last and in a few years is not present in that particular area where it was a problem. I would really appreciate any more thoughts you may have about this as my question to our local officials was to be: "What happens if you do nothing?" Thank you in advance for any information you may have for us.

This was my reply:

Thanks for contacting me about this issue, which is going to be of great interest and concern this summer. I have noticed that all the big oaks and maples at the local golf course across the road from me are covered in egg masses. If nothing is done, they are going to lose all their leaves this season.

We hand sprayed our own trees with Btk last May (they are not very large as yet, about 15 to 20 feet tall), and the control we got was amazing. I did a visual inspection of the deciduous trees on my property last week, and I found only two egg masses.

You are very fortunate that Oakville is willing to spray Btk in May. It is a safe, natural and effective control. It's true that the populations do crash after they get really bad, even if you don't spray Btk.

However, doing nothing this year could seriously endanger trees because they have been very stressed by almost a decade of drought, culminating in the worst drought in 49 years last year. If stressed trees get defoliated by the caterpillars, they will be in serious danger of further decline, and you could see a lot of large trees dying in Oakville in the next few years.

I would support spraying. It's a small price to pay for all the environmental and quality-of-life benefits of shade trees. Everything is a trade-off, but I believe the trees need us to help them now. With the drought stresses they have endured over the past decade, trees in southern Ontario don't have a lot of reserves. I hope that helps in deciding to support spraying.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service has an excellent gypsy moth education website, from which the following information is taken:

The Effects of Defoliation on Trees

The effects of defoliation depend primarily on the amount of foliage that is removed, the condition of the tree at the time it is defoliated, the number of consecutive defoliations, available soil moisture, and the species of host.

If less than 50 percent of their crown is defoliated, most hardwoods will experience only a slight reduction (or loss) in radial growth.

If more than 50 percent of their crown is defoliated, most hardwoods will refoliate or produce a second flush of foliage by midsummer (figs. 11, 12). Healthy trees can usually withstand one or two consecutive defoliations of greater than 50 percent. Trees that have been weakened by previous defoliation or been subjected to other stresses such as drought are frequently killed after a single defoliation of more than 50 percent. (My emphasis, as this is the current situation of trees in southern Ontario.)

The entire article can be found here.
© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener

Wild garden vistor snacks on crabapples

Coyote foraging for crabapple berries
Around supper time this evening, my husband looked out the window, and said, "Isn't that a coyote?"

Yes, and there it was in our crabapple orchard, looking for a snack. We even saw it pick the fruit right out of the tree. (My dog does this on occasion too.)

Our crabapple trees have persistent fruit, and the birds have been harvesting them of late, but I often wondered who else snacked out there because my dog, Toby, is often very keen to go under the crabs to check out the scents.

I got out the camera, and was able to take some pictures from the living room window. When the coyote moved behind a tree, I went outside to see if I could get closer, which I did manage without being noticed.

But by that time Toby had seen the coyote and was going nuts, barking up a storm. He was indoors, but loud enough for the coyote to hear. Then, the coyote spotted me and took off through the neighboring tree farm to the woods.

So coyotes eat crabapples. Who knew?


© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener

First day of spring: cold again, my birds are back

The creek today: the flooding usually lasts just a day
Amazingly, yesterday we hardly saw a bird. Then today, we had flocks of birds on the property. If I were a bird photographer, I'd have pictures of them.

From the kitchen window, I saw a woodpecker, robins and a blue jay, all within seconds of each other on the same oak tree. Then, while out on our walk, we finally heard them and saw them: the redwing blackbirds are back! We also saw flocks of cedar waxwings and robins (both drawn to our crabapple trees), not to mention, alas, hordes of starlings.

I sure hope it warms up for them all. Today's temperatures hovered around freezing all day, with the wind making it feel much colder.

Not looking or feeling the least like spring
© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener