Happy Mother’s Day, y’all.  I spent mine with my three kids. First breakfast in bed, then garden maintenance with my 11 year old son helping me mulch.  Then dinner consisting of  hot dogs and s’mores on the grill in front of the newly roofed Garden House.  It really doesn’t get any better than that.

Since I’m traveling this week for garden bloggers Fling in Asheville, I needed to get some maintenance done in Helen’s Haven before I left town.  I weeded, cleaned the fountain filter, mowed, and mulched.  Things are looking mighty tidy.

David Spain and his crew with Moss and Stone Gardens did a couple of projects for me this week. The first was to take the tobacco sticks I’ve been holding on to and build fence panels to cover the chain link fence that divides the back of my property with the owners behind me. More on that later.

Next, they added a roof to the Garden House. As if on que, it started to rain as were cooking the Mother’s Day dinner. The roof protected us from the rain so  we were able to enjoy extended time outside.

David and his crew also took down a once loved willow ‘Scarlet Curls’. It aged out and had become a trash tree.  More on that later, too.

Here is May’s maintenance for the Mid-Atlantic.

Helen  Yoest is a writer and speaker through her business Gardening with Confidence ®.

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Helen’s writing

Helen’s book,  Gardening with Confidence–50 ways to add style for personal creativity is due out this fall.

The book launch will  held at the JC Raulston Arboretum, Thursday, November 1, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

Save your water. Add rain barrels.

Helen  Yoest is a writer and speaker through her business Gardening with Confidence ®.

Follow Helen on Facebook

Helen’s writing

Helen’s book,  Gardening with Confidence–50 ways to add style for personal creativity is due out this fall.

The book launch will  held at the JC Raulston Arboretum, Thursday, November 1, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

Helen  Yoest is a writer and speaker through her business Gardening with Confidence ®.

Follow Helen on Facebook

Helen’s writing

Helen’s book,  Gardening with Confidence–50 ways to add style for personal creativity is due out this fall.  

The book launch will  held at the JC Raulston Arboretum, Thursday, November 1, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

Improve potting soil mixes. Incorporate water-retaining polymers into the potting soil for your container gardens. They really make a difference.

Helen  Yoest is a writer and speaker through her business Gardening with Confidence ®.

Follow Helen on Facebook

Helen’s writing

Helen’s book,  Gardening with Confidence–50 ways to add style for personal creativity is due out this fall.

The book launch will  held at the JC Raulston Arboretum, Thursday, November 1, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

Reduce lawn size or switch to low maintenance grasses.

Helen  Yoest is a writer and speaker through her business Gardening with Confidence ®.

Follow Helen on Facebook

Helen’s writing

Helen’s book,  Gardening with Confidence–50 ways to add style for personal creativity is due out this fall.

The book launch will  held at the JC Raulston Arboretum, Thursday, November 1, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

To say I love orange would be an understatement.  I attended the Historic Oakwood 23rd annual tea and tour yesterday, and my daughter snapped this photo for me…because I do love orange.

I was fortunate enough to attend the 2nd annual Garden2Blog event at The Moss Mountain Farm hosted by P. Allen Smith.  It’s truly a great experience, and if you ever have a chance to tour the Farm, you will not be disappointed.  More on that trip later.

Speaking of orange, do you know orange is the new black? It’s a color repeated through The Moss Mountain Farm.  A soft orange that blends well the soft yellow color used at Allen’s  Garden Home.

After 1.5 inches of rain on Helen’s Haven I ventured outside.  Maybe not the best time to be  walking about, but it was a good time to pull weeds.  Lots of weeds.  Including the cleome re-seeding in the path next the Rock Garden and in Le Petite Potager. The milkweed I grow for the Monarch butterflies is a bit aggressive, so that was thinned out as well.

There was a lot in bloom, so it was a good time to photograph the garden. The roses got a good pruning.  I pulled most of the roses out last year, only keeping the best performers.  It looks like one more needs to go–Fragrant Wave.  There isn’t a single leaf on it; victim of black spot.  I refuse to spray.

Planted the Proven Winners trial plants.  It is a mighty fine selection this year; I’m looking forward to see how well they will preform in our heat and humidity.

Cleaned the fountain filter.  The algae is building up in the water, and will need some maintenance.  I’ll wait, though, until the frogs are done doing their thing.

Pruned passion vine. She can get too passionate for me, but I keep her because passion vine is the host butterfly for the Gulf Fritillary.

Dead leafed the daylilies (I am so over most of them; I can’t give them enough water) and daffodils.  Finally the daffs were laying on their side and turning yellow and blond…a sign they have gotten what they need to next year’s performance.

I mowed.  Despite the heat and lack of rain (save yesterday’s event) the tall fescue is looking good.

All in all, it was a 3-yard waste can day.  This will lessen off during the summer.

Here is May’s maintenance for the Mid-Atlantic.

Helen  Yoest is a writer and speaker through her business Gardening with Confidence ®.

Follow Helen on Facebook

Helen’s writing

Helen’s book,  Gardening with Confidence–50 ways to add style for personal creativity is due out this fall.

The book launch will  held at the JC Raulston Arboretum, Thursday, November 1, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

Pollination power in the garden

By Helen Yoest / 04.26.12

It’s easy to forget the power of a pollinator.  For most of us, more time is spent admiring pollinators in our gardens than giving thought to the fact that pollination is required to produce seeds and fruits in up to 80% of the world’s flowering plants.

Nature has her way, though, to interest us in attracting pollinators, although our reasons may be different. Nature’s reason is to pollinate.  Most gardeners’ reason is to bring the birds, bees, and butterflies into the garden for movement, amusement, and interest.

Either way, nature wins. With each visit, pollination occurs.

Butterflies, hummingbirds, and mason bees

I’m most amused by hummingbirds, butterflies, and mason bees.  Nectar-rich flowering plants are grown in abundance for butterflies to flit from flower to flower, for bees to bumble around with random grace, and for hummingbirds to insert their tongues deep into the throat of a trumpet-shaped flower.

The Southeast is the summer home of the ruby-throated hummingbird. Hummingbirds are welcome visitors to my garden. From the time their spring migration brings them to my area, until the fall, when they’ll tank up on nectar for the long journey home, hummingbirds will find plenty of trumpet-shaped flowers to give them what they need.

Attracting butterflies to my garden — and keeping them there — is a natural for me, whether they’re big or small, multicolored or not; from the majestic swallowtails down to the little skippers.  My garden includes a variety of flat-faced flowers to serve as a landing pad for the butterflies to alight.

Orchard mason bees (Osmia lignaria ssp.) are an important pollinator of our spring fruit trees, flowers, and vegetables.  These bees nest within hollow stems, woodpecker drillings, and other holes found in trees. Nests for these bees are easy to make, as well. Mason bees are not aggressive and can be watched closely without fear of being stung.

Attracting pollinators is simple

All it takes is adding nectar-rich flowers to your garden, and you will attract wildlife bringing you the power of pollination.

Helen  Yoest is a writer and speaker through her business Gardening with Confidence ®.

Follow Helen on Facebook

Helen’s writing

Helen’s book,  Gardening with Confidence–50 ways to add style for personal creativity is due out this fall.

The book launch will  held at the JC Raulston Arboretum, Thursday, November 1, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

Eliminate thirsty plants. Journey through your garden with a notebook. Draw a line down the middle of the page – one side entitled KEEP and the other side entitled QUIT. Mourn your losses and then move on. Evaluate each plant’s needs within its location. Either move thirsty plants to the Oasis zone, give them away, or use for compost. Also evaluate what did well and then plant more of those achievers.

Helen  Yoest is a writer and speaker through her business Gardening with Confidence ®.

Follow Helen on Facebook

Helen’s writing

Helen’s book,  Gardening with Confidence–50 ways to add style for personal creativity is due out this fall.  

The book launch will  held at the JC Raulston Arboretum, Thursday, November 1, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

Helen  Yoest is a writer and speaker through her business Gardening with Confidence ®.

Follow Helen on Facebook

Helen’s writing

Helen’s book,  Gardening with Confidence–50 ways to add style for personal creativity is due out this fall.

The book launch will  held at the JC Raulston Arboretum, Thursday, November 1, 2012, 7:30 p.m.