In the Wild

This weekend wasn’t a beach weather weekend. But we took a walk anyways and I was able to see the patch of wild iris that I look forward to seeing every year at this time. The patch increases every year and is truly joy to see.




While we walked on the road we came across a large patch of milkweed and sure enough the monarch caterpillars were feeding. This year I started some milkweed from seed and I plan to plant these plants when they are a little bigger. I want it for my garden to attract the monarchs which are always such a joy to see. It is always good to walk with a friend as she points out what you don’t see. I don’t think I would have seen the caterpillars if she hadn’t pointed out the milkweed to me.







On our way up north we made a detour to Gladwin to Stone Cottage Gardens. I came away with a Santolina plant and a Heuchera with some variegated leaves. Stone Cottage Gardens is well worth going to as the gardens are beautiful and just fun to walk through.


I have been laying more newspapers and mulch at my parents’ house. I got a little “help” from a squirrel who decided to dig right in that area. I guess that is how it goes. Contending with wildlife is definitely a gardener’s life.

Garden Tips

Before heading up north for the weekend, I spent some time in the garden using a few tips I have learned over the years. One tip a lady on the Frankenmuth Garden Walk taught me several years ago. I have been using it ever since. I cut a long strip of fishing wire and tie it around those tall, prone to fall, perennials to keep the flowers upright. I use it on balloon flower, asters and delphiniums among other plants. The plants stay upright and the fishing wire is practically invisible.

Another thing I did was pinch a few of the really tall growing plants back a bit. These plants are the asters, chrysanthemums and salvia. This helps keep them compact and bushy so they don’t fall all over the place. They don't bloom as early, but one can always use some color in September.

Some of my vegetable seedlings get old margarine containers with holes cut out of the bottoms as collars to protect them from cut worms. I spray paint the containers so they look nice. They work pretty well for broccoli, tomatoes and peppers that I start indoors from seed.



Yesterday I spent a great deal of time in my mother’s garden laying down newspapers (several sheets thick) and spreading mulch on top of it. This keeps the weeds at bay, a necessary chore for me if I want to maintain two gardens 90 miles apart. It looks pretty nice as well.




June is underway here in mid-Michigan and I have coral bells, foxglove and irises in bloom. Plenty of color to keep me happy. Soon I hope to have all the seedlings I started in the ground or given away. Of course at the farmer’s market I splurged on an edible chrysanthemum ( you can eat the leaves and flowers) and Sweet Annie and an unusual variegated morning glory. Oh well. What is gardener? Someone with plants on the deck that need to get into the ground.

Different Places

The nice part of heading north is seeing lilacs in bloom. The lilacs in Saginaw finished a couple of weeks ago so it is nice to be someplace where they are currently in bloom and spreading their fragrance. Different places, different seasons. The Tawas area is just enough behind Saginaw to give you different bloom times for the same plant. So you get to enjoy them twice! What a good deal that is!

There is plenty of lily of the valley in bloom as well, a plant that does remarkably well in all this shade and sand. I used to think I would prefer gardening in sandy soil after dealing with my hardpan clay soil at home. No more. This sand just does not hold the moisture and provides no nutrients to the plants. I can amend my clay soil with compost and it makes a huge difference. But this sand needs more than I can ever give it. Whatever I do it never seems enough.




We also have a wild version of lily of the valley in bloom. Many wildflowers seem to like this sandy soil under the shade just fine. Wild columbine, goldenrod, roses, fleabane, silverweed, goatsbeard and black-eyed susans bloom at different times of the year here with no help at all from this gardener. I have added tansy and artemesia (which are in pots in the ground at home since they can be so invasive) and they do fine without being contained in my mother's garden. And my mother’s myrtle is a wonderful replacement for grass in this area where grass does not do its best due to the shade.



Gardening is a balm for the soul. My mother and father are 84 and 89 respectively. Both of them suffer from health problems in this twilight time of their lives. These two smart, vibrant, wonderful people are in many ways more my children than my parents now. So I exercise with them the same thing I exercise in the garden. Patience. Lots of it. Things don’t always turn out the way you want them to, but sometimes something wonderful occurs. And the something wonderful in my life is having two good parents who are still with me when so many of their generation have passed on. Life starts with a simple seed and then blooms into beauty, fading eventually before dying. In that dying the soil is nurtured, that good earth, to begin life anew. So when I die, throw my on the compost heap to nurture future generations of life. All of it!

Good Friends, Good Food, Good Plants

What a wonderful few days it has been. Friday was Beautification Day in St. Charles, Michigan. All the students at the high school participate in this clean- up project each spring. I was lucky enough to be on the planter crew. We potted up several large pots with geraniums, ivy, asparagus fern, coleus, impatiens, petunias and then the pots were scattered at various places throughout the community. This project has been ongoing for 36 years and is a great way for the students and teachers to give back to their community. I will definitely volunteer to help again next year.



On Friday afternoon my friend Janet and I slowly wended our way to Auburn Hills where my sister lives. When I say slowly I mean that we stopped off at a few garden centers first. We stopped at the Weed Lady in Grand Blanc whose building I loved as much as the many unusual plants I saw for sale. Then we moved on to the Heavenly Scent Herb Farm which is known for it’s heavenly scents. At least at the Birkam household it is. I bought a Lemon Meringue scented geranium that reminds me of pie (hence the name) plus a lemon verbena plant which is a plant I cannot be without. This year I plan to keep it in a pot and see if I can winter it over. Heck, if the French Tarragon could come back wintering over in a pot in the shed, maybe I will have the same luck with the Lemon Verbena.

After we left the herb farm we stopped at Bordine’s where I just had to get a Bay. I try this plant every year and every year I swear it will be the last time I try to winter it over, but here I go again. I just couldn’t resist this particular Bay since it seemed so healthy. Janet has agreed to try it in her basement room with no ventilation if it starts to seem droopy. At least I know I will have no problems in the summer. It loves to be outside.

We did finally arrive at my sister’s where we spent the night before heading to Eastern Market early Saturday morning. My sister and her friend Parul joined us and Brecque met up with us in front of the J. Hirt Jr. building where I bought cream and cheese and returned my bottle for a new bottle of milk. I think I am living in farm heaven.

We recommended a pot of geraniums and a spike with some trailing ivy for Parul’s front porch. Also two hanging pots of wave petunias. She wanted plants that would look good all summer on a west facing porch that gets full sun. Hopefully we did a good job advising her and she won’t complain about those two garden ladies who don’t know anything.

Brecque bought two big tomato plants which she already has planted. My seedlings are still sitting on the deck. Amongst other plants. Isn’t that how it always goes? Hopefully they will get in the ground before summer says goodbye.

Janet and I bought some fresh food-lettuce, spinach, radishes and asparagus. All of it was homegrown in Michigan. I also bought some bread from Hampshire Farms-the three seed bread they sell is absolutely the best bread. The best bread ever! My sister was the only non-spender Saturday. One of us had to be good.

We ate at Traffic Jam afterwards and settled in for a good meal and a nice chat. Just what good friends are for!



Better late than never I say. Here comes the Joe Pye Weed and the Butterfly Weed. I always wonder if they are really going to come up, but they do seem to manage eventually.




And now the lupines are blooming. They don’t last long, but are so gorgeous while they do last.


So what is a garden good for? Well, according to Mr. Frog, it is those lazy hazy days of summer time. And the garden is a great place to do it in. Good friends, good food, good plants. One doesn’t need a whole lot to be happy on this earth. Fortunately I have all the things I need.

Why I like Columbine

Columbine (Aquilegia) is probably one of my favorite perennials. It is a reliable plant that has never failed me. I planted some babies I got at the Master Gardener plant exchange here in Saginaw, Michigan several years ago and I have had this wonderful plant ever since. No matter what I do wrong, this plant does not seem to care and keeps on coming back for me. Sun or shade, I can plant it just about anywhere and it doesn't seem to mind.

It reliably self seeds without being weedy and taking over everything. I can dig up the babies and give them away or plant them somewhere else. The colors it comes in range from purple to yellow and everything in between since they are not picky about who they mate with. I have many in bloom now and they will probably stay in bloom the rest of the month into June. I love having a plant I can count on!

My greenhouses are up and put to work housing my plants while they harden off. So far so good, no more wind catastrophes. I guess I have them anchored pretty well. Everything except the basil is outside now and soon the basil will be joining the rest of my plant menagerie.

Within the greenhouse I have some milkweed I started from seed. I had to keep it in the refrigerator for 10 days. Imagine that! The seeds did germinate and now I am hopeful of being able to give the monarch butterflies what they want. Since I saw a couple of monarchs in the backyard yesterday I think this milkweed will be just the thing to keep them happy.



The Saginaw Vally Master Gardener Association holds its plant exchange at the end of this month. We are going to see the gardens at Frankenmuth Mutual Insurance Company which I am really looking forward to. I was there a few years ago and enjoyed it thoroughly. I have many plants potted up for the exchange including (you guessed it) columbine, golden oregano and Doone Vallye thyme.

The Johnson's Blue geraniums are starting to bloom. They have taken over the area where the tulips were quite showy just a couple of weeks ago. And none too soon as they are hiding the decaying leaves of the tulips which I leave to turn yellow to feed the bulbs.

And I have removed the netting I put down to protect the onions as they seem to be doing fine now and I no longer have to worry about some curious critter digging them up. Fortunately for onions the smell keeps many critters away once the onions get big enough.

What a beautiful day yesterday was here in Saginaw. I just love May. The days are longer, I have the entire summer to look forward to and yes, I am still eating asparagus. What more could a person ask for?

Oatmeal Rhubarb Crunch

Soon I will be making rhubarb crisp for the ladies at work who tend to like this recipe. Right now I am content to enjoy just seeing this plant as it always looks tropical to me, even though I know it isn’t.

Oatmeal Rhubarb Crunch
1 cup sifted flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
½ cup melted butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 cups diced rhubarb
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, melted butter and cinnamon until crumbly. Press half the mixture in a 9 inch baking pan. Cover crumb mixture with diced rhubarb. Combine sugar, cornstarch, water and vanilla. Cook until thick. Pour this sauce over the rhubarb. Top with the remaining crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Serve warm, plain or topped with whipped cream.

Almost Anything Will Do

Or just about anything. Want to start some tomato seeds but don’t have any pots to grow them in? Here are some fine tomatoes growing in some old yogurt containers. I just used a drill to put some holes in the bottom and these handy dandy pots were ready to use. Soon I will be getting them outside for some outdoors time, otherwise known as hardening off. Not for too long the first time, but eventually they will stay out for good. It’s been a bit cool here though the last few days so I won’t get them out quite yet. At least I can be grateful that we didn’t get snow like I hear some places in Michigan got last night.




These plants will join broccoli and kohlrabi in the greenhouse on my deck. Unfortunately the wind tends to kick up in the afternoon and since my greenhouse was not anchored well enough the wind blew it partly over so I lost some of the plants I had sitting inside it. This seems to happen to me every year. I always hope to anchor it better the next year, but fail. I think the memory cells deteriorate the older I get and hopefully this blog will help remind me what I need to do.

My asparagus patch is just about done and now I get to look at the nice ferny leaves for the rest of the summer. They look so elegant swaying in the wind.

Indian hyacinths are in bloom now. I have planted them many places in my garden as I split the bulbs a couple of years ago since they were proliferating. The tulips are almost done for the season and the daffodils are long gone. I leave the leaves though since they need to turn yellow to feed the bulbs for next year. Planting them in amongst other plants helps to hide the decaying leaves. I hardly notice them among the geraniums that are starting to fill in and even bloom.




I don’t have a bottle tree, but I figured I could use these blue bottles as a border instead.




I also found a use for an old mirror that I no longer have in the bathroom. My neighbor assures me that the birds enjoy seeing themselves in it. I think it gives the garden a nice touch. Any reuse of old items I can find is good. Saves throwing them in a land fill and is a cheap way to decorate my yard.




Yes, the sticks I planted last fall are actually still alive. I wasn’t sure this witch hazel and redbud were going to make it, but so far, so good.





The lilac bush is in bloom right now, although it took a beating from inclement weather these past few days. Once the blooms are done I intend to cut out a third of the stalks from the bottom. I look forward to having this done since them I will be able to get onto the deck without brushing it and getting wet after it rains.


And yes, the cat enjoys her usual perch again as I have finished using the top of the microwave for seedlings. She can now look out at her favorite site again, a garden filled with color and delight.