Spring in the Garden

Finally spring has come to the garden. We had a very late winter in Norcal this year with a lot of rain and cold temperatures very late in the season (I know everything is relative, my east coast friends). Rain is always good in California but I'm ready for the dreariness to move on.

I had this little scare on one of my apple trees about 10 days ago. A quick google search informed that they were wooly aphids.  

I sprayed this tree and the one next to it with one of those organic soapy insecticides and then removed everything by hand and it seems to have done the trick. These two trees seem to be quite hardy -I moved them last summer when we put the cedar tub in and they bounced back like champions and even held on to their apples. 

The potato vine on the trellis is going completely bonkers, as they are known to do. I'm hoping that the rosemary and lavender mounds against the wall have some real growth this summer to hide that ugly pvc pipe (which is the water recirculation system for the hot tub). In the fall, after I trimmed back the lavender, I hastily tipped those scrap boards to camo that ugliness, but that is currently looking pretty half-assed.

The wisteria is just starting to bud. I've noticed that other well established wisteria in the neighborhood (which get more sun), are already in bloom. This one is tucked behind the shed and was cut way back this fall when I had the trim repainted on my house. This is also only its third year and I think it takes 3 to 5 years to get blooms, so we shall see what happens here.

The muehlenbeckia screen I planted late last summer is finally starting to take off. I am really surprised by how long this took to establish itself. I've noticed this plant growing wild (in a very invasive way) by the coast in two areas in SF. I thought for sure this thing would have covered a good part of the trellis by now. Boy was I wrong. Ah, hope springs eternal, doesn't it now.  

I continue to have an epic battle with the ground cover in the rest of my yard. I am in the process of filling in a lot of the bare patches and adding a little more variety to my plantings. My biggest problem is that my beloved Calvin is just destroying my plants by peeing on them. She has been know to be a plant wrecker but this is just ridiculous. As I get further along with this quandary, I will post anew on this FWP.

Peace and love and happy spring.