The snowdrops that are still blooming at the End of the Road give you some hint of the weather here. Temperatures did get over 70 the other day, but this morning we are back to frost. This is not an impressive photo and neither is the plant, but I am just thrilled that it survived the arid Summer of 2010. I chose this particular witch hazel because I love the color of the twirly blossoms and because my…
Temperatures soared above 60 degrees and this was the first weekend we could actually work outside, so let me give you a brief tour to set the scene. The snow is still melting and revealing that the winter has been kind to the rhodies. No breakage. Lots of buds. The "Limelight" hydrangea was not so lucky. The snow plow dumped a lot of our enormous snowfall at the edge of the lawn and broke more than half this…
I don't have any unusual foliage, but I had to participate in Foliage Follow-Up this time because of all the vigorous growth I have seen over the past month. The days are longer and the plants have woken up. My scented geraniums are full of new foliage. This pelargonium is from a cutting I took. I think I'll move it to a regular pot in a couple of weeks. This jade tree is over 20 years old, but…
You must all know that the abutilon is blooming this Bloom Day, as it always is. The only other blooms I have are Narcissus bulbocodium conspicuus, and Baby Moon miniature daffodils from Brent and Becky's bulbs. I brought the more floriferous pot to church on Sunday and left them there in the hopes that there would still be a good amount of bloom for next Sunday. It is wonderful to have such a sign of spring to share…
Why do we garden? Each gardener will have her own list that might include loving flowers, wanting a beautiful yard, loving to eat sun warmed tomatoes, wanting to save money, liking the exercise, wanting to care for the environment, wanting specialty vegetables for gourmet cooking, wanting to save money on the food bill or just plain liking to play in the dirt. Michele Owens lays out her reasons in the title of her new book, Grow the Good…
After Bloom Day, wanting to preserve the tulip blossoms as much as possible in order to use them Sunday at church, I moved the pot of Pieter de Leur into the sitting room which is very cool. This is where my few houseplants live all winter. The jasmine dries up slowly over the season, but when I cut it back it always revives with the arrival of warm weather. I have been fascinated watching these forced bulbs as…
On this Bloom Day I have slightly more to show than usual. The large tulip blossom in the photo is just about ready to fall apart, but you can see three more blossoms will carry on. These grape hyacinths are sharing a pot with the little hoop daffodil. The revelation for me is how much foliage comes along with the grape hyacinths. I have another tiny pot of muscari on the windowsill by my bed. All the bulbs…
This tulip has changed even since I took the photo on Friday but Frank and the tulip look so pretty in the sun I had to include it here. The grassy shoots have no buds that I can see but that pan of Baby Moon daffodils should bloom soon. I hope. When I complained last week about the bulbs I was forcing not responding to the force I kept sending their way I did not menton this Apricot…
My records have failed me once again. I know I potted up the tulip bulbs for forcing sometime in December. Brent and Becky sent pre-cooled tulips and I thought they would start to sprout almost immediately, but I am still waiting for most of them to get beyond this stage. Although they were planted earlier than the tulips, this little pot of Muscari armeniacum "Christmas Pearl", chosen because it was listed as a good bulb for forcing…
And naturally I have the ever dependable abutilon or parlor maple in bloom. Can you see how many buds are coming along? The Christmas cactus is almost gone by. But not quite. This year I am forcing a lot of bulbs. I haven't done much of this before and my timing seems to be off. These are mostly miniature daffodills I think. I know that is what is in the rectangular pot, at least. I have pots and pots…