Loving our Lady Bugs

With warmed temperatures ahead, I pulled up my brussels sprouts to make room for some spring vegetables.  I was pleased to see the entire life cycle of lady bug on them!

Lady Bug Eggs

Lady Bug Larvae

Lady Bug Pupa 

Blackberries

A little late, but better late than never, right?  Today I finally got in and weeded the blackberries (which had gotten totally overgrown since I weeded them a few months ago.  I put down Happy Frog fertilizer around each of the stalks, and covered the area with our homegrown (sown, made?) compost.

I counted 17 stalks in all - down from the 20 I coutned in November, so it look like I lost a few to the freeze.  Most stalks have just a wee bit of new growth on the tips

Peter's Purple Bee Balm and a new Jerusalem Sage

I picked up two new plants for the front bed today. 

Jerusalem sage

The Jerusalem sage has done so well in the back yard, and it has filled the space so nicely, that I wanted to try it in the front yard. I placed it in the center of where the Artemesia was for the last two years.  

Peter's Purple Bee Balm

I was looking for something that would be drought tolerant for the front of the bed. What I really wanted was Globe Mallow, but NG did not have any. I saw a pot of Bee Balm, and picked it up instead.  We have tried growing this from seed, for the bees, with no luck, and I think I even planted some in the back side bed, but I thought I'd give it one more try in the front bed.  Hopefully it will grow and keep the bees happy!

Front Garden Bed

With the mild winter and decent amount of rain, the bluebonnets in the front year have never looked better!  Here is a quick inventory of all the plants in the front garden bed - so I can compare in future years... assuming they live!