humphreyhufnagel's Blog
humphreyhufnagel's Blog
Last Post 4 days, 22 hours Ago
Jul 19, 2008 | 5:50 AM PST
Well, Grand Theft Auto IV came out at the end of April, so naturally the garden has been shamefully abandoned while I obssessively explore Liberty City in all its glory. The game is magnificent -- visually it's stunning, the soundtrack ranges from jazz, to new age, to classic rock, to modern global; the voice-over work is second to none, the talk radio satire is nuanced, insightful, often acerbic, and of the very highest caliber. Some of the writing is laugh-out-loud hilarious. The fictional NYC world is immense and paplable -- people mindlessly walking across a street while they yammer into their cell phone, cops throwing coffee cups out of windows, even an online world of junk mail and scams. And the game runs as smooth as silk. A tremendous achievement.
And even on auto-pilot, the garden looked great this spring. There was an early heatwave here in the northeast that blighted my peonies and decimated my iris -- but they looked good while they lasted. I'm trying to plant more hydrangea because of all the shade in the yard, but I'm meeting with mixed results. The tiger lilies on the hillside were beautiful again, but early and short-lived because of the heat. The real winners this spring were the groundhogs. I'm so happy for them! They stomped all over my previously magnificent fern just so they could get a few mouthfuls of the fiddleheads. Ooh, and they also utterly destroyed two echinaceas that I was really excited about. Those groundhogs are truly a delight. And the smell! And the flies love them! Their charms are inexhaustible.
May 25, 2008 | 4:22 AM PST
Could it be that I actually enjoyed mowing the lawn, seeing it all neat and green!? I got some great plants in the ground: I'm trying some Baptisia for the first time; some Russian Sage and Echinacea; some great Sedum; two beautiful Peonies that I got at Peony's Envy (check the website); Clematis; Dahlias (for the first time); a lot of good shade plants, like Japanese Fern and 'August Moon' Hosta and some nice Hellebores. My Allium survived the winter and bloomed well and my two Bleeding Hearts look good. Right now my Iris along the brook are just starting to open up, and the big red Rhododendron outside the dining room is bursting. The real champ this year was the Dogwoods, which looked like they were covered in snow. The real loser, sadly, was my Wisteria. It's alive, and it bloomed, but not well -- I'll go easier cutting it back this fall. I'm excited about my roses. I'm training a Rose 'New Dawn' to climb up an old chicken coop outside the tool shed, and it's already twice as big as it was last year and loaded with buds. I'm also planting a few containers, which came out OK. I posted some pics.
Apr 17, 2008 | 3:05 PM PST
The weather is very mild by me, in fact it's downright hot, almost like June. All the small Spring flowers are blooming; I don't know half their names and don't care -- they just pop up wherever they want. They're among my favorites, blooming cheerily, and in ways that other flowers in my garden just can't match.
Almost all my daffodils and Hyacinth survived the winter and are exulting in the early warmth. The flowering quince is ready to burst. Likewise for the Dogwoods. I don't care if every garden in NJ has a Dogwood -- I love them. When they're full of blooms they look like they're covered in snow. The pussy-willow across the brook is blooming. Just overnight, I found scattered like confetti little white blooms across the front lawn. Forsythia, of course, are also blooming. I know it's a little early, but I couldn't resist planting another foxglove by the potting shed, and also a couple of Jacob's Ladders for my very humble (right now) shade garden, and a couple of Blue Spruce Sedum by the brook. I'm also trying a few containers which I purchased cheaply over the winter, but I just don't think I have the eye for container planting. My Primrose survived a deer attack, and actually rebloomed. Everything's growing by the minute.
Apr 13, 2008 | 6:12 AM PST
April is the cruellest month, breeding/ Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing/ Memory and desire, stirring/ Dull roots with spring rain. Or something like that. What's the old maxim? "March is lovely, April's ugly"? I'm inclined to agree, although it is exciting to see everything returning to life. My Crocus survived my inept planting and rewarded me with about a half dozen blooms along the walk to the road. I posted a pic. I'm adding a border garden along the wall behind the carriage house -- I'm halfway done. The back edge will be a lining of really old bricks I found at the back of the house when I first moved in. I'm going to plant mostly peonies there, so that for three beautiful weeks in May it will be an ocean of peonies. I'm also going to try some Gladiolus, although I think it's a bit chilly by me for them. Other than that I'm cleaning out the other gardens, especially behind the dining room, and today I'll clean out (and expand) the far side of the brook garden. Also, my folks are bringing a Lenten Rose today, which will be the first contribution to the shade garden along the road side of the house. As a postscript, it looks like my Wisteria somehow managed to endure my bungled pruning -- hopefully it blooms.
Mar 30, 2008 | 5:23 PM PST
There is a great disturbance in the Force. Winter is making its last stand in NJ, but what a stand! All my Spring ephemerals are coming up, but like cowards. Today, only today, I could really feel the house and the land growing warm. My parents got me three beautiful primroses; I promptly planted them next to the brook, where I hope they'll be happy for many years, but what do I know? I didn't have a camera last Spring, so I sort of forgot the particulars of what bloomed, but my folks have better sense than I, thank God, and got some great shots of last Spring, which I have posted. The crown jewel is unquestionably the powder blue Wisteria which blooms for 16 magnificent days in Spring. I wish it was of a deeper color...
Mar 16, 2008 | 7:52 AM PST
I got my tool shed/potting shed organized this weekend, and boy did it need it! Spring is finally starting to show it's head here in the Northeast. Snowdrops are blooming sporadically around the property, daffodils are beginning to poke their heads up, and best of all, it looks like the crocus bulbs I planted last fall are starting to sprout. I have a long slate stone walk from the front of the house to the street, so I planted these crocus bulbs randomly between the stones. Hopefully the effect will be to accentuate the walkway with the sporadic blooms of the crocus rising between the stones. I'm also finding other bulbs popping up that I completely forgot I had planted -- I should have kept better records of what I did, but things are so hectic in the fall, I was lucky just to get the leaves up.
The house sits on a fairly mature landscape, and last year I did little except clean up and maintain what was already here, trying to get a sense of sun patterns, and just get a feel for what I could expect from the land. I couldn't resist planting a rose here and a lilac there, but it was done with great restraint. After a full year at the house, I can safely say that there is little which is irreplacable, and I have every intention of laying my hand on the property more firmly. My two main goals are to create a shade garden on the roadside of the house (the front of the house doesn't face the road, but that's not uncommon in older homes), and to significantly expand the brook garden and the garden outside the dining room. The order has been placed at the nursery, and Spring can't come soon enough.
Mar 6, 2008 | 3:11 PM PST
The Daffodil bulbs bloomed; I was afraid it would be a 3 month exercise in futility, but it worked! Next year, tulips. The snowdrop are already starting to sprout here in the dismal mid-March of NJ.
Mar 2, 2008 | 5:25 AM PST
Tags: bulbs , bird
It's been two weeks and my daffodils are ready to burst! They just need a few more days. Next year I'll try tulips, because between the chipmunks and the deer, trying to plant them outside is hopeless. I know it's off topic, but I'm staring out the window right now and there is an absolute feeding frenzy at the bird feeder. I'm refilling it every day and every day I feel like I'm going to be swarmed, Hitchcock style.
Feb 25, 2008 | 4:25 PM PST
Tag: bulbs
I'm trying it this year for the first time. I have a little separate garage that keeps the perfect temperature (I think) -- cold. I got a rectangular container and planted 5 or 6 Narcissus Daffodils around the middle of November, and brought them inside and gave them some water when the dirt thawed. The results are very promising. They shot right up, green and healthy! I hope they have enough energy to bloom well. I heard they need three months dormancy, and that is what I gave them, but just barely. Needless to say, if I am successful with this attempt, I'll go crazy with it next year.
