Coming up...

Not too long after we moved here, I bought tulip bulbs and daffodil bulbs. I had read that the moles will eat the tulip bulbs, but not the daffodils and that if you plant tulip bulbs inside a ring of daffodils, it will deter the moles. So I tried it. I created an oblong circle of red tulips surrounded by two types of daffodils. That spring we had pretty red tulips and cheerful yellow daffodils. The next year, some tulip plants came up, but didn't bloom and the daffodils came up and did bloom. Then the next year, of course, no tulips. Not because of moles but because these tulips don't naturalize. By this time, I wasn't maintaining that area, so grass grew back over it. Every spring, the daffodils come up through the grass and every spring I tell myself that I will dig up the daffodils and put them in a true flower bed amongst my perennials. And every spring the daffodils come up yet again through the grass. Well, maybe this is the year I actually will get them dug up and put where I want them.





As pathetic as my peony bed looks, red leaf buds are starting to form. This is another set of plants that need to be dug up and spread around. I would like to have my peonies scattered among my perennials and not in just one area as they are now. There is a story behind my peonies, too, but I will share it another time.




These daffodils were on the property when we moved, just in a different location. I put them here under a buddlea last year with a sedum ground cover so there will be something interesting when the buddlea has been cut back.




Poor hyacinth. It got stepped on before I realized that it had come up. I hope it will forgive me and continue to produce a beautiful pink fragrant bloom.




You might notice the sunflower seeds among my irises. Right after it snowed several weeks ago, I threw sunflower seeds out in the snow for the birds. I guess the birds didn't find them.


Have a beautiful day!

Bloom Day January 2010...

Quite honestly, the only plants that are truly blooming are my beloved, cheerful Johnnies. Maybe that is cheating because if not tricked into blooming in the fall, they wouldn’t bloom until the spring.



But I am so thankful to have them. And they don’t seem to complain about being persuaded to flower throughout the winter for me.




The African violet my sister-in-law brought me at Thanksgiving is still blooming, so I think it is probably o.k. for me to take credit for keeping it going. Although, now that I have said that, it will probably stop blooming and then die.

{Saintpaulia}

I am starting to see leaf buds on many of my plants which gives me hope that spring actually will come this year. But there aren’t many flower buds yet. My camellia is one of the ones with flower buds.

{Camellia - I don't know the rest; I've lost the plant tag.}

The buds on this daphne will soon open to their fragrant white blooms.

{Daphne odora 'Alba'}

And you can already see the pink forming on this daphne.

{Daphne odora}

My Purple Rain pansies look a bit bedraggled, but they continue to struggle on. I guess winter is taking its toll on them as it is on me.

{Viola x wittrockiana 'Purple Rain'}

It finally warmed up enough that I was able to look into my greenhouse without fear of heat escaping and I was absolutely thrilled to find that everything is doing well. It was such a relief to know that my plants stayed warm enough not to be damaged while it was so cold outside. And I found a tiny pink bud!

{Erodium reichardii 'Charm'}

One of my pitcher plants has a bud on it. I think that is the bud I am most excited about right now.

{Sarracenia flava}

But my Johnnies continue to be my favorites as they unabashedly cheer me on through winter.


Have a beautiful day!

A visit to New Garden...

Since my own garden is so grey and desolate right now, I went to my favorite local nursery, New Garden, to see what might be going on.




It wasn’t quite in hibernation, but almost. There weren’t as many plants as usual because preparations were being made for spring. In the greenhouse, boxes were being unloaded and new displays of accessories were being designed.




I love these little benches.




New Garden sells the most beautiful potted arrangements. Every time I go in there, I admire them.



As I went outside, many of the perennials were still under wraps to protect them from the cold. But there was this collection of pots that caught my eye.

(Imagine celestial music playing as I discover the pots.)

Could it be because there were blue ones? Or was it the 75% off sign?




Yes, one came home with me. I’ll probably put it in my seating area under the oak. You know, the one I don’t have yet; the one I am obsessed with.




Later in my visit, they were uncovering the plants as the days and nights will be getting a little warmer now. That is when I discovered my next treasure.

{Vinca minor and Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens'}

I have wanted to grow black mondo grass for some time now and was thrilled to find that it, too, was 75% off. Maybe I will grow it, along with Creeping Jenny, in my new pot.


Have a beautiful day!

Pruning Ballerina rose...

Look what I found yesterday! Can you see them? This Ballerina rose has tiny, red leaf buds!



I have read that one is supposed to prune in late winter, before new growth appears. Well, what if new growth appears before late winter? If I don’t prune, then the plant puts all this work into growth that I will then come along later and cut off. So, if I prune now, then it can work on producing the growth it gets to keep. That makes sense, right? My pruning isn’t causing it to start the new growth; it has already started it on its own. I guess it might be argued that somehow the growth I just loped off could protect the plant for the rest of the winter. Maybe. But if it needs to be protected still, then why is it putting out tender new growth? This was so much easier in California.

(Can you actually see the rose in this mess? Ah, the reality of gardening. Definitely not a magazine picture!)

I did prune it. And I will just have to see what happens. After I finished pruning, I tucked non-rose leaves back around it and tugged some of the catmint back over it to maybe add to its protection and covered it for the night as it is still dipping below freezing for a couple of more nights. I wonder if the catmint might help deter the mites that carry rose rosette disease.




Of course, this rose may already have rose rosette disease, since it grows fairly close to where Madame Alfred Carriere grew. She had rose rosette disease and had to be taken out and burnt. As a precaution, I am burning what I pruned from Ballerina. And disinfecting the pruners.




I’ll keep watching it as the new growth comes along, checking for signs of the disease. I sure hope it doesn’t have it, but I realize that the odds are pretty good that it will have it. So sad.

{Rosa 'Ballerina'}

I discovered something else as I worked around my rose. New shoots of chives are starting! They smelled SO good! Well, in an oniony, chivey sort of way. Which is good in my book.


Have a beautiful day!

Winter...

Tell me again why we have winter. Why the ground gets so cold and hard that you can’t work in it if you want to. Why the sun goes away and everything dies and turns shades of brown and grey. Why there are no flowers to cheer me up.


It is so depressing. And please don’t tell me to play with my houseplants in an effort to assuage my desire to be in a garden. That is like offering, oh, I don’t know, a carrot to someone who is craving deep, rich chocolate. It is just cruel. Not that I don’t like houseplants. I do. But it is simply not the same.

{Salvia officinalis}

Winter is cruel, too, to deprive me of color and consolation. To leave me cold and desolate and longing.

{Juncus}

Yes, I have my Johnnies. Without them, I would go completely crazy. But, you know, if left to themselves and not tricked into it, they, too, wouldn’t bloom until spring.

{Quercus laurifolia}

Spring. Ah, spring. Maybe that is why we have winter.

Tiger

Have a beautiful day!

Dischidia geri...

The other day I obtained a cutting of Dischidia geri. It looked like an interesting plant and I have never grown it before so I thought I would give it a try.



I took it home and put it in water. It sat in water for a day until I put it in damp sand. Then I got to thinking, maybe it wouldn’t like damp sand to root in. So I started searching.

{Dischidia geri}

Well, it wasn’t as easy to find an answer as I thought, but what I came up with is that it likes humidity and damp, well-drained medium to grow in. Hhhmmm. That doesn’t sound like sand to me.



So, once again, the poor little cutting got moved. I kind of cheated. I just used a fairly porous potting soil instead of the recommended peat moss and perlite. I did put it in a container with a lid to make a little humid terrarium for it, though. I hope it works.



Maybe it will live outside in the shade in the summer. On the table in my seating area under the oak? You know, the one I don’t have yet. I read that it can vine 6’ to 8’ so I am curious to see what it does. If it survives my feeble attempt to root it.

Have a beautiful day!
P.S. How many photos can you take of one little cutting!?!

My front porch...

Now, I ask you. Would you call this a front porch? A veranda? A loggia? Do you see any stately columns? Any vine-covered pillars? Any stylish railing or fancy fretwork or enchanting arches? There is no comforting ceiling fan. There are no low, wide, double-hung windows looking out onto it. Nor elegant French doors opening out to it. No rocking chairs. Not charming seating areas with tables and glasses of lemonade. Nor mint julep. I cannot believe that I live in the South and have no front porch.



There is plenty of room on the front of the house. Someone could have made a nice-sized, adorable porch. But, no. It looks like an after thought. “Oh, yeah, huh. Maybe we should make an outside door going into the living room.”

I’ve tried. Really, I have tried. There just is not much that can be done. There simply is no room. After all, we’re talking not even 2 ½’ by 6’ here. I have managed to put matching pots on either side of the door. I’ve even put them on stands to make them taller. And I do fill the pots with friendly, seasonally appropriate plants.


O.K., so I am being pretty mean to my poor little alcove. It does its best. And it has made a good back ground for some of my photographs. I do like to sit on it, sans a chair, dreaming of what my garden will one day be. The kitties love to congregate on it, soaking up the warm sun in the winter, and napping in the shade in the summer. But, still, no mint julep. Oh, well.

Have a beautiful day!