Summer … at last!

Finally, after the long wet winter and long wet spring, the first day of summer arrived. About time, huh?

There is one good thing about so much cool weather and that’s how much longer the flowers last than they do in warmer temperatures. Think about it. Why else would florists keep their cut flowers in refrigerators before they’re sold?

A lot of the hummingbirds seem to be off nesting now. At least they’ve been making themselves pretty scarce at my feeders. I do, however, have a surprise visitor who’s enjoying their absence. A little pygmy nuthatch has developed a real taste for sugar water and is slurping it down several times a day. Too cute.

While on the subject of birds, you may have robins nesting in your yard. We had a nest up high on our front porch. The parents ran themselves ragged raising four babies. They had to be fed every 15 minutes from morning until dark. Once the babies outgrow the nest and flutter down, the parents continue feeding them on the ground for several days until they learn to fly. This is when they are most vulnerable to marauding house cats. Please keep yours indoors, at least until nesting season has run its course. All bird lovers will thank you.

Now let’s move on to something else; like butterflies. I’ve been seeing quite a few of the big ones, which are yellow tiger swallowtails. These are our largest butterfly and are quite tame. It’s fun to slowly sneak up on one as it sips nectar out of a flower and take a nice close-up picture.

While you’re purchasing bedding plants for your yard, keep in mind what will put on the best display. That is to buy at least three to five of each small plant in the same color. Set them into the beds less than a foot apart. Don’t be tempted to buy just one of these and one of those, etc. The overall effect won’t be pleasing to the eye.

One of the hardiest and longest blooming perennials is the dianthus, commonly called “pinks.” They come through the winter year after year and start blooming very early, continuing for months. These plants can be found in every combination of pink and white, red and white and just plain white. They all sport fringed edges. Give them a try if you haven’t already. You won’t be disappointed.

If your yard is less than an acre, and most of them are, don’t EVER plant a quaking aspen tree. Most homeowners associations have rules against them. And for good reason. They have a completely different way of growing and baby trees will continually pop up all over your yard…sometimes 30 feet or more away from the trunk. Going under the fence into the neighbor’s lawn is child’s play for them and infuriating for the neighbor. Killing them is quite difficult as cutting down the original tree only encourages more shoots to pop up from the roots.

The “mother” and her baby trees share the same root system making it all one organism. The largest known aspen clump is in Utah and spans 107 acres! Do you really want to start something like that in your neighborhood?

Now, back to flowers. This is a great time to plant the first batch of gladiolas. If you divide your bulbs into three batches and plant these two weeks apart, you will enjoy a much longer bloom period once that begins.

Remember the old adage concerning drugs? “The MIND is a terrible thing to waste. For gardeners working on creating a nice compost heap, we can put it this way, “A RIND is a terrible thing to waste.”

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Elaine Cerny has gardened most of her life, starting in 4-H. She has belonged to garden clubs in three states and is currently serving as secretary for the River City Gardeners Club in Post Falls. Her column appears in The Press every other Sunday from early March until late October.