Pictured: Sun coming through an old Hawthorn shrub the size of a tree.
| Happy Mother’s Day! Flowers are blooming, hanging baskets are about to get planted, and patio is starting to look so much better! Enjoy! Amy | Table of Contents: ~ Garden Guides! ~ ~ Mother’s Day Flowers! ~ ~ Phenology: The Seasons Through Blooms! ~ ~ Spying on Nature! ~ ~ Livestock News ~ ~ Thank You! ~ |
~ Garden Guides! ~
The first blooms of the Hawthorn means it’s time to start planting the summer crops as the danger of hard frost is mostly past. The waning crescent moon (Last Quarter moon through the New Moon) is always a good time to let the garden rest (no planting or pruning) and just do maintenance type jobs (such as mulching, sharpening tools, fixing water lines, etc). The waxing crescent moon (New Moon through the First Quarter moon) is a good time to plant leaf crop annuals/vegetables such as lettuce, spinach, etc.
I’ve compiled a list of planting dates for 2026 based on the moon phases:
2026 Planting Guide – Zones 7/8
Here is the advice for this week:
After 2:11am May 10th to before 1:02am May 16th (waning crescent moon) – Let the garden rest, prepare irrigation systems for summer. Mulch perennial beds to preserve water.
After 1:02am May 17th to before 4:12pm May 22nd (waxing crescent moon) – Sow Outdoors: Brussels sprouts, spinach
~ Mother’s Day Flowers! ~
My daughter, Ember, and I went plant shopping on Friday after she got home from school. I didn’t tell her where we were going, just that we were going on an adventure haha. We got to Fessler’s Nursery in Woodburn and proceeded to buy enough Geraniums, Petunias and Calibrachoa for 8 hanging baskets! It’s always cheaper to buy the small plants and plant your own than to buy pre-made baskets. Now this coming week I have my work cut out for me!
Another part of Mother’s day is “spring cleaning” the patio! I had to go through all the pots we overwinter, weed them and the planters, place kiddie pool for the pots to get watered until we decide where they are getting planted, etc. Here are the results:
This is the mess I have left to deal with. Mostly some weed infested pots with nothing alive except the weeds, a rotten planter full of creeping charlie and creeping jenny. I may take some of the creeping stuff and put it in my hanging baskets then give away the rest. I still need to weed the patio itself too!
~ Phenology: The Seasons Through Blooms! ~
The morning of May 4th mom and I could swear we were seeing Cottonwood tree cotton floating on the breeze around the house! This is usually a late May/early June thing! According to folklore this is indicative of summer beginning. We are a full month early!
Plants blooming this week: Sweet William (Dianthus barbatus), Hybrid Tea Rose Unknown Variety (Rosa x hybrida), Hairy Locust (Robinia hispida), Mock Orange (Philadelphus lewisii), Blue Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium bellum), Fragrant Fringecup (Tellima grandiflora), Cow Parsnip (Heracleum maximum), Pacific Blackberry (Rubus ursinus).
~ Spying on Nature! ~
I misplaced an SD card and found it a little late for last blog. Here is more of that young bobcat in a different area on May 1st and 3rd! I also took a video of the trees near the creek. I could just hear the hum of millions of bees in the Hawthorn flowers, birds were singing and the creek was babbling.
~ Livestock News ~
Don’t forget the monthly Homestead Happenings: Livestock Edition that goes out the first of each month!
The latest:
Homestead Happenings April 2026: Livestock Edition
~ Thank You! ~
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The blog is a sampling of all the photos I’ve taken this month.
Please head over to our social media to see the photo dumps!
We’ll see you all again May 18th for the next Homestead Happenings: Flowers & Nature, where there will be even more Garden guidance as planting starts to amp up and more will be blooming in the woods! Don’t forget, the next Homestead Happenings: Livestock Edition for May will come out June 1st, where lambs will get their final weights before finding new homes!
Hollow Hills Ranch 