Sping in Ellen's Gardens of Witchery

3:04 PM

Hello! Today the weather is in the 70’s much more typical for April than last week’s near 90 degree temperatures. I spent the first half of my day transplanting ferns and dividing hostas in the perennial gardens. Hooray free plants! The gardens are really starting to fill in now. The hostas are up and the leaves are unfurling. The tulips are blooming away and the hydrangeas are popping more leaves every day.

To my surprise even the Chinese Snowball Bush is setting its blossoms. Even after the crazy temperature swings- first that heat and then we had a week long cool spell. And it did not affect that shrub at all. Here is a picture of the blossoms. They start out small and green but will get much larger and then turn to white and be all round and pretty – hence the name “Snowball bush”. This blooming shrub is in the viburnum family and the botanical name  for this shrub is Viburnum macrocephalum sterile. Because somebody is going to ask. Yes, they are easy to find at nurseries and garden centers.

Here is a picture to the right, of one of my perennial gardens with the tulips blooming and you can see how much the Oakleaf hydrangea has leafed out since the “Garden of Buckets” blog photos I posted a few weeks ago.

 I am so glad that I followed my instincts and only planted pansies and geraniums last week, they like the cool weather. It got down into the 40’s for a while. So anything else would have been in trouble. My pot of culinary herbs is looking great and it was wonderful when I made potato salad  this week to just step on the back porch and snip some fresh dill and parsley.

Here is my faery garden all in bloom and made out of an old birdbath. Aren't those violas sweet in there? I wrote about how to make one of these for yourselves in the Llewellyn Witches’ Datebook a few years ago.

As to my other yet-to-be-planted window boxes and containers.... I am definitely waiting until May to plant the wave petunias in the window boxes and my big pot of Voodoo impatiens for under the rose arbor. Any earlier and they might get zapped by cold temps.

Voodoo Impatiens are a color variety of impatiens that are an intriguing mix of purple and orange and coral. A picture I took of the impatiens turned out so well I use it on my Café Press t-shirts and mugs! There is a link at the top of the page for my Café press store go check it out!

Still, it’s too early to plant those impatiens yet. I'll probably wait until Mother’s day weekend. My three gown kids just take me shopping to the nursery on Mother’s Day- or before, and I buy all my plants for the window boxes and containers. It works out well. They always know what to get me for Mother’s day, and I get to spend time with them and I buy what I want.

Tonight I’m going to sit quietly in my gardens and watch the full moon rise. No coven get-together this month. So I am going to enjoy a solitary celebration.

I have two more chapters to go to finish book number 13 and its bouncing right along. Actually both of those last chapters are half way finished. So its going to be fun to work on them.  I should have the book done by early May and take the rest of the month to polish it and shine it up.

Then I’ll ship it off to my editor at Llewellyn, Elysia. Once she has it safely in her hands, I’ll announce what the topic and working title of the book is. Release date for book number 13?
Summer 2012.

Happy full moon and blessed be!
Ellen

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3 comments

  1. WinterswanApril 17, 2011 at 4:27 PM

    Your energy is amazing! I had a productive and great day yesterday, but today-lazy lazy lazy. I did receive a copy of your newest book in the mail on Saturday and look forward to diving into it. Enjoy the full moon!

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  2. RueApril 18, 2011 at 9:21 AM

    Always so excited to hear about a new book from you!

    My Mother's Day gift to my Mom each year is also to take her to the garden center. It's a tradition now, and something we both enjoy so much.

    The garden looks fabulous! Digging around for a funky pot to make my own mini fairy garden now!

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  3. AnonymousApril 21, 2011 at 8:12 AM

    What a great idea, Mothersday shopping in a garden center. That is just total bliss ; )
    I love your garden and the tiny fairy garden is so sweet and really something I would like to make for my tiny garden.
    Have a wonderful day.
    Hugs from The Netherlands.

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