LittleMousling
@littlemousling
She/her. Lesbian fangirl gardening birdwatcher three years into a ten-year plan to be Swole. If you like a flower photo I’ve posted, odds are my wife @ofateaspoon.bsky.social took it!
Only about a hundred thousand a year 2010-present … Much of it cowritten, but cowriter and I have a good half-million words or more unposted so I think it washes out
Could not be happier with the climbing rose (Westerland) this year. Took some patience but I think from this point forward it’s gonna be a stunner every June 🌱
Saw this label last year and waited a year to get to take this photo. Still makes me laugh 🌱
These Delnashaugh daffodils are a joy every year. We have about sixty little clumps, growing and getting better from spring to spring 🌱
The star of the September garden every year is our Bluebeard. It’s always covered in buzzing bees, and it keeps its show up for weeks when most of the garden is fading It does leave us a LOT of seedlings, but the early ones bloom the first year, so sometimes we wait and yank them afterward! 🌱🫛
We started growing toad lily purely because my wife saw it at the garden centre and really liked it, but it’s turned out to be a star of the shade garden. Blooms all fall, gorgeous bright foliage on this variety (Autumn Glow), and the delicate little flowers are a joy 🌱🫛
Last winter (frighteningly mild and short) the blue de Caen anemones I left in the ground survived. There’s no way that’s happening this winter (very sustained frigid cold and vanishing snow cover) so I’d better buy new corms if I want these beauties in my garden this spring! 🌱🫛
It’s a pity we haven’t been able to keep this euphorbia happy, because this spring combo with the Kunyun tulips was an absolute marvel two springs ago. Alas! Not every combination is both beautiful *and* reliable 🌱🫛
We did not get *anything* like this 2023 show in 2024, so this summer will determine whether it was just too little rain or whether we’ve come to the end of this plant’s useful life—hardy hibiscus aren’t tremendously long-lived, I’m told! 🌱 hmm, what variety would I replace it with …
We planted a serviceberry four years ago and it’s a wonder. Gorgeous blooms, wonderful berries (great for wildlife and tasty for us), bright fall foliage, and honestly? The growing-season leaves are strikingly pretty, a soft and inviting matte green 🌱
To complement all the orange on the garden feed, one of the rare true-blue flowers—the gorgeous California Bluebell. Easy to direct sow, stunningly neon blooms, pretty if easily tattered foliage, and in my garden it does back completely soon after flowering. Very convenient! 🌱
These Miami Sunset tulips have been impressively perennial for us the last few years, but the new small patio is going in right over top of their area. They’re bold and fun but not fully on theme with our other bulb colours, so I’m on the fence about relocating them. Are they too gorg to lose? 🌱
These sidalcea are coming out next year thanks to a “kill your darlings” redesign, but gosh, when they start blooming they’re a wonder. The mini-hollyhock look is a delight! 🌱
Two years ago I started violas in January, because I wanted to plant them out in April and the packet said to sow in February for “May sales.” So I was *very* surprised by blooms before Valentine’s Day. Now that I know, though, they’re the perfect plant to start in January to enjoy in the house! 🌱
Coming up on the fourth anniversary of starting this garden bed, which looked Not Great the first couple of years but has really been gorgeous the last two. And this doesn’t even show the true star, the Bluebeard, which peaks in mid-September and is covered with blue-purple blooms and happy bees! 🌱
Sorting this year’s garden photos and I was pleased to see how well the bright pinks of the tall phlox on one side of the yard match the bright pink coneflowers on the other. It would be difficult to take a photo with both but easy to admire irl—I probably noted this in the summer and forgot 🌱
I have so much enthusiasm for gardening in January (planning) through June, but from July onward I generally run out. But the late summer garden is a marvel and does deserve my care and attention! 🌱
First I tortured her (clippers), then my wife tortured her (bath), and now we’re imprisoning her (keeping her outside in the pleasant warmth to dry off). Alexa, play Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel”
As expected, the Downy Skullcap is flowering its little butt off! 🌱
We planted Downy Skullcap, Scutellaria incana, this year. It’s a widespread North American northeast native perennial, and so far we’re SO pleased with it! Lovely form and foliage, and the flowers are gorgeous—and *lots* of them appear to be on the way 🌱
The remarkable daily colour change of Phlox “Blue Paradise,” in two photos—one from this morning and one from this afternoon And this doesn’t even show the extremes—a near-true blue and an even brighter magenta pink! 🌱
The softer oranges are out—Lily “Pearl Justien” and butterfly weed 🌱
A big part of my planning for this border this year was in hopes that I’d have the experience of stunning Blue Paradise Phlox that I’ve seen in other (instagram) gardens. They do change colour, so this intense blue-violet is only morning and evening, but when it happens—my god, it’s a showstopper 🌱
My wife handles most of the containers we plant—this year’s are particularly stunning! 🌱