Well, Almost Daily

This was meant to be a daily blog, but I do tend to let other things get in the way sometimes.
Yesterday morning following a couple of days of rain was a real treat because the weeds came up so super easily. This was a big change from the past month of incredibly dry soil.  Unfortunately, I couldn't stay out there for very long because I had a class starting at 8:30 AM.  However, the class was a real treat. I did finally take the time to look up the butterfly I have been seeing in the garden.
They are a beautiful orange color and really stand out .  I believe that they are gulf fritillaries ( and I probably spelled that wrong).

It was a class at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens on ferns and lycophytes taught by Dan Jones.  His sweet wife also furnished delicious cookies and punch.  We spent the first part of the class learning the parts of the ferns and then the reproductive cycles.  The second half of the class was of course spent in the gardens actually seeing and touching the plants we'd just learned about.  The Birmingham Botanical Gardens has an absolutely astounding fern glade , plus, the Kaul wildflower garden is filled with native ferns as well.  We spent time in both. 

We got to see a sample specimen of the Asplenium tutwilerae which is a rare fern found only in Alabama and has so far been seen only at one place. It is so rare that the site where they grow is kept protected.  There are only about 120 plants existing at that site.  Very exciting to be able to see one.

Mr. Jones said the the best way to plant ferns is to get very cheap top soil in bags and  mix it with 30% clay soil, then plant shallow.

He did tell us about a fern which might be suitable for my sloped area, .  The Dryopteris marginalis or marginal woodfern.  It is an evergreen fern  that likes well drained hillsides.  After I put the rest of my shrubs in this fall, I will find some  marginal woodfern to plant near them on the hill.

Thelypteris kunthii will be another good one.  It can take wet to dry soil and quite a bit of sun, so I could plant those  a little further out from the shrubs. Nice to have a plan.

We had lots of information thrown at us pretty quickly in the 4 hour class, so now I will be reading  a few books on ferns to reinforce what I learned.


Today in the garden I worked for a couple of hours before I went to Sunday school.  The yellow finches were back.  They look so beautiful sitting on the seed heads of the purple coneflowers.

I got a lot of weeding done and also pruned back the old canes of the blackberries. It seems to be time to get my loppers sharpened as well as my pruning shears.  Neither did a good job, and I got out my handy pruning saw to finish the job. It is also time to get taller stakes and some wire so that I can tie up the new canes.

We may have a rain free day today, but then scattered afternoon storms are expected the rest of the week.  I hope they scatter our way!

Happy gardening.