Proof of Life

Every spring I wait patiently for the hardy hibiscus to show signs of life. As spring creeps into summer, I become more and more convinced that they have succumbed to the previous winter's challenges and have died on me once and for all. And then one day (usually in June!), they start popping through! It's an exciting day!

I planted four new hardy hibiscus last year in front of the house (behind some rose bushes as you can see in my terrible photo). Three of the four have made an appearance. There's really no reason to believe the fourth won't appear, but I'm a little anxious as I bought these at Linder's and they're no longer around to guarantee their perennials. The fact that Linder's doesn't exist anymore still really bums me out!

I've got a few other plants that seem to be in their early glory. This geum was also a new addition last year.

It's kind of sweet. It's well covered in small orange flowers. It could definitely benefit from some companion plants, but I haven't decided what those should be. It's planted next to the Hope for Humanity rose bush, but that's not quite in bloom.

Hoku likes to pee on the irises, so I don't have many left in the yard, but this bunch seems to be thriving despite their horrible treatment by the beast!

One Down!

I had four raised beds delivered last fall just before the snow started to fly. I managed to get them in place with many layers of cardboard/paper on the ground, and a thin layer of peat (it was all I had time for!).  And now it's spring and I still find myself short of time.

I got one bed planted this weekend with kohlrabi, lettuce, carrots, kale, chard, radish, etc. I really wanted to plant cabbage, but couldn't find any seed in my stash! If you could see my seed stash, you'd find that nearly as impossible as I do. I usually have 3 different seed packets of everything under the sun. Guess I'll have to make another trip to the garden center - like I need another excuse!

It might be the only bed I get planted this year.

I also managed to get a dozen other things planted up (see the milk cartons between the beds). There are some flowers in those jugs - mostly annuals - and a few others. Honestly, I can't remember what I planted - but I did remember to write it on the jugs in paint pen, so I should be OK! Moon flower, lemon grass, echinacea, rudbeckia ...

It's currently 37F, so I probably have a little more time than I thought to get things in the ground. Tomatoes, peppers, and beans would certainly not be happy with this weather!

In the Garden

The Hardy Hibiscus has finally made an appearance! I really thought it was dead. The woman at Linder's warned me that they come up really late - sometimes not until June. I had no reason to doubt her, but until last week, I was certain these things were dead. Must have faith. ;)

The poppies in the hellstrip are blooming, too. Based on how they seem to stretch for the afternoon sun,  it seems that they're not in a very good spot. The blossoms tend to flop onto the ground. I will collect the seed heads and try to seed them in some other spots this winter.

The Hope for Humanity is gorgeous right now. The pictures don't even come close to doing those roses justice. Work has been pretty difficult lately, and I often wonder about whether or not there is hope for humanity. Dramatic, I know.

The pink peonies are in their glory right now. The white ones will be opening soon. My living room and office both smell wonderful as I've brought many in to enjoy. I decided after they all got flattened in a storm last year that I should just cut them and enjoy them - I spend more time in my office than I do in the garden anyway.

In the Garden

I'm so behind! I missed posting the tulip pictures - they were quite nice this year. Awfully late, but they were pretty. By this point in June, the leaves have usually withered to nothing and it's easy to plant around/on top of them. Not so this year. I've got a tomato planted smack in the middle of a tulip patch because I had no where else to put it!

I'm excited about the lovage this year. It finally appears to be reaching it's full height - almost as tall as me. And it looks like it's going to bloom. I'm planning on harvesting the seed for planting in other places around the garden and to make celery salt.

The baptisia is finally blooming! I planted this from seed 3-4 years ago and while it has always survived the winter, this year it's finally worthy of stopping to look at! It's still quite small, but the sweet pea-like blossoms are lovely. It's planted the hellstrip, so the soil (if you can call it that) isn't great, and it's usually hot and dry. I'm hoping next year it becomes the standout of the spring.

Grandma Z's rose bush has a couple of blossoms. I think it bloomed once all of last year, so it's already surpassed last year's performance. This is also planted in the hellstrip, but that's sort of where it got it's origins. It used to grow in the ditch by Grandma's house. We dug up a patch and planted it at Dad's house. He's done nothing with it for 20+ years and it has practically taken over the hill on which it was planted. I dug up a bit a few years ago for the boulevard. It's comforting to have a piece of Grandma just outside the front door. I don't really know what it is... some kind of rugosa. The hips are big and hopefully I'll have enough some day to make rosehip jelly or some other little treat.

If you look closely at the Jacruwhi rose leaves, you can see that the leaf cutter bees have been at work. They get all my rose bushes at some point, but do seem to prefer some to others. They don't really harm the rosebush and with all the news about declining bee populations, I'm happy to provide them with nesting material.

Quick ... Before it Snows!

No, that's not a typo. And not an April Fool's joke, either. It's May 1, and the forecast calls for snow.

We had a glorious stretch of 70-80F days and now we're back to this. Before it gets covered up, here's what's popping up in the yard as of yesterday:

Of course, I'm thrilled to see all of them, but if I had to choose, I'd say I'm most excited about the Lupine. I've been trying for years to get lupine established somewhere on my property. I've tried sunny spots, shady spots, wet spots, dry spots ... they always just fizzles away on me. Last year when I did the boulevard project, I threw a couple of lupine in there - mostly because they had been sitting around and needed to get in the ground. There wasn't a lot of thinking involved - in fact, once I started thinking about it, I was pretty sure they would fry in that dry sunny hot spot. But it's the first time any have successfully made it through an entire season and the winter! Clearly I should think less when I garden!

Hopefully, they'll all still be there when today's snow melts!

There is Life Out There!

The front of my house has brick about five feet up the wall, and with a southern exposure, it gets really warm out there. These little cuties popped up about a week ago, and started flowering about three days after that.

I also got around to doing some winter-sowing. It's not really winter anymore (although it kind of feels like it), so clearly I'm behind schedule. I did a few things like tomatoes, eggplant and peppers to keep in the house until it warms up a bit. I've heard that you can do them outside, but I wanted to guarantee germination. I'm trying to germinate some Hawaiian Chili Peppers - I started some a couple of weeks ago, and so far - nothing. I tried some more using the milk cartons - let's hope these take!

And I'm happy to report that my Hope for Humanity rose appears to have made it through winter. I do love this rose. It's not terribly fragrant, but it's a lovely color and seems to be a reliable bloomer in other people's gardens (I only planted it late last year, so can't really comment on how it does in my garden). If it proves to be a good performer, I'm considering getting another one to put on the other side of the front steps.

One Year Ago Today

Sadly, this is not the case in 2013. We're still measuring snow in the ground in feet. :( I'm thinking the crocus are still weeks away.

Today's Garden - June 9, 2012

I have been totally inspired by You Grow Girl and her awesome "Herbaria" series. It seems like a great way to keep track of what's blooming at the same time, so when it comes time to move things around, you can better assemble a collection of plants that give you all-season color (or food!) in whatever area you're planting. I don't think I captured it as artfully as she did, but I'll keep working on it. 

Today's Garden - June 9, 2012, a photo by Ictero1 on Flickr.

Many of the plants in this photo were rescued from "that lady's house." It's a bit of an inside joke as "that lady" has an actual name. She's a friend of a friend. She and her husband bought a house without a square inch of grass anywhere on the property. They are not plant people. And I imagine the whole scene was more than a little overwhelming. Even for an experienced gardener, it would have been overwhelming. It was becoming overgrown and desperately needed to be managed. Not knowing what to do, the decided they might just need to spray Round Up on everything. My friend asked if she minded if people dug some things up before the rain of poison started. She kindly agreed.

I brought a few friends from work and we started digging. It was mid-October, so many things had already died back and were very difficult to identify. We managed to put a general name to most things - rose, lily, peony, etc, but had no idea what color things were or how tall/short (for the lilies especially, as they had died back and all that was left was the dried up stalk). After 3 hours, we all left with our cars full. Completely full.

Over the next few days, I worked furiously to get things in the ground. Given that it was already the middle of October, I was worried that things wouldn't have a chance to take root before the cold and I'd lose everything over the winter. Amazingly, nearly everything popped up in the spring. The down side is that not knowing what most of it was, I now have a hodge-podge of onesie-twosies with tall things in front of short things and otherwise misplaced items. As things bloom and I figure out what they are and how they grow, I'm slowly moving them around to more appropriate spots in the garden. There are still quite a few lilies that haven't bloomed yet (although I think they all have buds on them this year), so it's a daily adventure to see what's out there!

Tomato Blooming!

Look very closely ... that's the first tomato blossom of the season! It's a Japanese Black Trifele. I've never grown this variety before, so I'm very curious to taste it and compare to last year's favorite, Black Krim (also growing again this year).

The First Peas

Grown from seed saved from last year's crop. Gobbled up long before reaching the back door. ;)

Another Lovely Iris

This lovely opened up before all of the rain we had this weekend. I don't know who I got it from, but just like this one, I wish I had a dozen more!

With all of the rain this week, the garden looks a little beaten down. The areas that haven't been mulched are muddy and the plants look like they're covered in dirt. The mulched areas look a lot better, but I'm afraid to walk through the yard to get to them for a closer look. We definitely need a few days of dry, sunny weather to get things back on track!

(see full image)

Iris

This iris was planted nearly four years ago. It did absolutely nothing. No blooms. Didn't even grow a new leaf. So I moved it last year and it seems to be much happier now! I hope it's twice as happy next year.

Potatoes

Do not underestimate the will to reproduce.

Fun with Instagram

Winter Sowing: Part 4

There's a little more snow on the ground than last time I posted pictures - actually, I'm not sure there's more snow, but there's definitely been some much needed moisture.

Rudbeckia - Cherry Brandy: I winter-sowed some of these last year. They seemed more cherry-cola colored than cherry-brandy, but I thought I'd give them another shot and see if I like them more this year.

Bachelor Buttons - Black Magic and Tall Blend

Zinnia - Pastel Sunset and Giant Fantasy: I tried to winter sow these last year without success.

Zinnia - Fruit Smoothie: I successfully winter sowed these last year and quite liked them. They were over 3 feet tall. I only got orange and purple flowers, but that suited me just fine.

Scabiosa - Burgundy and Vanilla & Giant Imperial: I've never grown these before. In fact, I'm not sure I've even seen them growing anywhere, but they looked interesting on the package. Now that I think about it, I've probably seen them but just taken no notice. That may not bode well.

Aubrieta - Whitewell Gem: I've never grown this either, but I needed something to add to the rock garden area on the side of the house. We'll see how these do.

Agastache - Lavender Hyssop: These are new to me, too, but I've seen it in other people's gardens and thought they were interesting looking.

Winter Sowing: Part 3

The Pot Farm has only grown by three this week: 

Red Leaf Lettuce

Bull's Blood Beets

Cleome - the seeds were generously donated to the cause by a friend who has gorgeous cleome growing in her purple-themed garden.

And in a totally different kind of winter sowing, these are fenugreek sprouts! I was rumbling through the spice drawer one night this week, looking for the ground cumin, and came across a little bag full of fenugreek. Fenugreek is a bit of a mystery to me, but I bought them to make this Georgian Pork Stew (as in the Republic of Georgia, not the State of Georgia). It was yummy, in case you were wondering.

Fenugreek seeds are hard and sort of triangular-shaped. And they have the faint odor of maple syrup. Or carmel. Or something sweet. Seriously. Fenugreek is used to make fragrances and a processing plant in New Jersey had everyone smelling maple syrup. 

Back to the little bag of fenugreek in my spice drawer ... 

Seeing the seeds made me wonder what kind of plant they came from. I dug around on the web and learned that not only are the seeds used for cooking, but the greens are also an important part of Indian cuisine (called Methi). It's a pretty plant. And a member of the legume family, so it's a nitrogen-fixer and an excellent soil conditioner.

I started wondering how I could get my hands on some seeds to try to grow in the garden. And then I realized I might already have them in my hands. Many spices are irradiated before being sold at retail, so I wasn't sure the ones in my spice drawer were viable. So before placing an online order for new seeds, I did a little sprouting experiment. I just put a couple dozen seeds in a wet paper towel in a plastic bag and let it sit on the counter. Two days later, I could tell they were starting to sprout! The picture above is after 4-5 days. Very exciting. I haven't tasted them yet, but I've read that they are often sprouted right along with mung bean and other sprouts for fresh eating.

Winter Sowing: Part 2

The winter sowing continues...

Today's additions include:

Poppy - Mission Bells and Pizzicato

Lupine - Dwarf Minarette and Tutti Frutti

Carrot - Royal Chanteney - I'm not sure why I did these as there should be no trouble direct sowing them early in the spring. Oh well ... I'll just consider it an experiment.

Monarda - Some of my neighbor's Monarda was creeping through the fence last year, so I dug it and transplanted it to a more favorable location. I didn't think it would transplant very well, but it did just fine. I'm hoping for several patches of it this year in various places around the garden. If the winter sown doesn't take, I'm sure there will be more creeping through the fence this year, too.

Sea Holly - I think I tried to winter sow these last year, too. I don't remember planting any of them, so I'm guessing it was a failed experiment last year. Here's hoping for better luck in 2012.

The Winter Sowing Has Begun!

I've only managed nine containers so far, but I plan on doing about this many each week until I get through all of them.

This batch includes:

Penstemon - Chocolate Drop

Lead Plant - I tried - unsuccessfully - to wintersow this one last year.

Lupine - Wuthering Heights - I'm determined to get lupine to grow in my yard! I did have a few that seemed to survive the summer last year (no blossoms, though), so I'm curious to see if they come back this spring. And hopefully this batch will take. I have seed for two additional kinds of lupine - maybe one will be more successful than the rest.

Poppy - Shirley 

Poppy - Venus

Poppy - Giant Peony

I have some Oriental poppies that are doing marvelously well, so hope I can get a stand of different types going. I think they are my favorite flowers.

Arctic Iris - I got these seeds in Alaska a couple of years ago. I think they are some type of Siberian iris.

Fireweed - I also picked up these seeds in Alaska. They haven't been treated very well, so I'm not even sure if they're viable.

Dinosaur Kale - I have a large stand of Red Russian Kale and only a few of the Dinosaurs. I think it's lovely, so I will probably plant this amongst the flowers.

The Calendar Says It's October

But the garden (or part of it, anyway) is pretending it's August.

We're Being Robbed!

This does not bode well for the moon flower or my tomatoes.