A little late on the Sweet Peas

I usually boldly plant my sweet pea seeds March 1st or so. Yes, you read correctly: Here, in my zone 5a garden, I plant seeds, outside, in the freezing snow and cold, in March. I plant lettuce and garden peas then, too, and have incredible yields. I never protect them, and they always thrive. I urge you to try it!! This year, I did the usual hoarding of sweet pea varieties when the seed packets hit the store shelves, but it ocured to me that I won't be living here by the time they bloom... so I hesistated to plant them all. I know May 30th, when we arrive at our new house in Minnesota it will be too late to plant sweet peas, so I just stared at the packets trying to decide what to do. This week I made a decision. Containers it is. So a few nights ago I soaked my seeds overnight, tucking the plant labels I made under the cups so as not to confuse the varieties. I have 6 or so varieties here. I put one packet in the ground for our home buyers to enjoy on the trellises on the back of the garage (I will be taking the clematis from there, so I thought I'd leave something pretty to look at). I bought these uber-cheap pots from Walmart and put one packet in each one- I plan on adding some little bamboo sticks tied into tripods with jute for them to grow on. the pots are on my back porch in the cold now. I just have to stay on top of the moisture- sweet peas do not like to dry out. Hopefully, when garden move day comes, I'm able to just throw these in the truck, and take em' right along with me. You can bet there will be pictures of the madness then! Happy gardening!

New Succulent Container

My local garden center just jumped on the fairy garden bandwagon, and have been receiving huge shipments of all sorts of goodies for the fairies, including pint sized gazebos, benches, hardscaping... all very hard to resist for my fairy garden! I got a few accessories, but I jumped for joy when I walked in to find a shipment of colorful succulents! To say their selection of succulents has been, um, lacking, was an understatement. I have had to get my goodies on road trips to California, or at nursery about an hour and half away, until now. So, for my birthday this week (I guess I turned 32, I thought I was turning 33 until the day after when my husband corrected my always terrible math), I made myself a new succulent container. I've had this great wall hanging basket for years. I bought it at a flea market and filled with it ivy geraniums, overwintering it indoors. They gernaiums outgrew the pot, and graduated to a larger hanging basket, and the poor planter sat in the basement empty all of last year. I took it outside, sprayed it clean with a hose, and went to work. Ta Da! In the first pot we have Sempervivum 'Maria Laach,' Graptoveria 'Titubans,' Aeonium 'Silver Edge,' and some lavender hens and chicks I plucked out of my front yard. In the middle we have more aeonium 'Silver Edge' and an unnamed large silvery beauty (I think an aeonium, also), plus a tiny cutting of sedum 'red dragon,'' which I think will bring out the red in the Sempervivum even more.

Finally, in the third pot, I placed Pachyveria 'Royal Flush,' Echeveria 'Black Prince,' some cuttings from the another silvery aeonium I have, and some bronze hens and chicks from the garden.

I can't wait t hang this beauty up on a sunny wall outside our new house!

Happy Gardening!

Pray I Can Still Have a Garden

I have to apologize for the uncharacteristically personal post here, but with some confusing turns of events in the process of selling our home, and there is a very good chance I will not be able to garden anymore. More than likely, my family and I will have to rent, and I'm not so sure anyone will want my ripping out all their grass and planting a couple hundred flowers. Of course, the end result remains to be seen, so everyone please pray I can still have a garden for my flowers. This is so hard for me, and I'd like to share an snippet of the story I shared with my friends and family on my family blog regarding my garden, and possibly losing it:

I'm not a one bed of flowers kind of gardener, but more of a massive rip up all the lawn type. I'm unwilling to budge on the gardening thing... it's as much a part of me as my hair, or my kids. I know how childish and unnreal this sounds, but gardening is a part of me, and if I can't have my own patch a dirt, I don't want anything at all. Period. And I don't want to just keep my plants alive until we get a house in a few years, it's not that, I want to tend to them every day I want to kneal down and watch God's miracles as they evolve and grow, and share their beauty with me. I live for my garden- for the physical aspect, the teaching, the wildlife. Some people watch TV at night, I garden with my headlamp until I can't see. I spend a 100 hours a week, however I need to come by them, in my garden come spring. My kids grow their own stuff and are always out there with me. Dirt runs through my veins, and my kid's veins now, too. I feel like this- this not having a garden after having a massive, extensive garden with thousands of hours of labor and love, hundreds of roses, hundreds of perennials (most raised from seed), and shrubs- I feel like someone has stabbed me in the heart and left me bleeding. I feel like I'm drowning.

A few pictures from last May 18th 2010. I can barely look at them now, it hurts.

Spring Growth

Had the most relaxing time looking closely at the ground this afternoon- after a long, hard, enjoyable, day of yard work yesterday, many signs of new growth were revealed. There's some real beauty when the first leaves emerge- colors you don't see in foliage come July. I enjoy the whole lifecycle of a perennial- right from the very get-go. This is only one that has me stumped? Anyone know what this could be? I don't recall... Heart shaped leaves of Ligularia 'Britt Marie Crawford' Tiny tip tops of 'delft blue' hyacinth. Sedum 'kamtschticum' Agastache 'bee's jubilee' is eventually yellow leaved, but right now, a stunning plum. Catmint's fuzzy leaves range from mint to blueish purple. Allium's promise of early blooms, always. Artemesia 'powis castle' is touchably soft, and so pretty. Salvia 'Caradonna's' b;ack stems steal the show in summer, but in spring, the foliage is a stunning olive and berry hue. A gift from an unforgetable neighbor, ths fern leaf peony's about to send out's first leaves. I love how the little red bud looks like it's about to pop. And 'Orange Scarlet' poppies are well on their way! So excited to see this good friends, 'Morning Light' delphinium, looking wider and stronger then last year. How gorgeous are the red tips on the leaves of this hadry geranium? Wow. A native wildflower, names escapes me, had burgandy leaves carpeting the ground. And, ah, columbine- most of which I winter sowed last year, are a variety of hues when the emerge, but this purple is magical. Reminds me of mini-cabbages. Also a gift from a neighbor, this is surprise lily. They've never bloomed for me- this is their 3rd year, and I plan on plucking them up and taking them to MN with me... perhaps next year they'll bloom. If you've never picked up Lamb's Ear and touched it- go do it this spring. You will want it in your garden, for sure. All the hens and chicks are stunning, but this dark red one is my favorite right now. Lady's Mantle even found a water droplet for me!

Happy Spring!

First Flowers of the Season! Finally!

There may be a such thing as too many pictures of a purple crocus, but I simply don't care! These are our first flowers of the season, and I'm quite smitten with them. The first one opened on my birthday this week, and today, dozens of them popped. So beautiful.

And what a treat- bees already! I bet they are glad I planted these crocus. ;)

Oh, how I love bees.

Happy spring!

My Bare Root Rose Addiction

I am sucker for a body bag rose. Everything about them gets me- the price, the timing when they hit the stores, just when nothing in the yard has leafed out yet the body bag roses arrive on the shelves, taunting me with their bright green leaves. I didn't end up with over a hundred roses by full price for them- that's for sure. But it wasn't always as easy as it is now- years of trial and error, and a few dead plants, have led me to be pretty darn good at bare root roses. Here are a few of my tips and tricks. First: Get em' while they are fresh. The day you see them on the shelves, buy them. The longer they sit on the shelves or in barrels in the stores, the more dried out they get- the more they suffer, and become weaker. Chose stores that keep the roses outside or in a cool greenhouse. If you simly have to have the body bag roses that are inside the stores, make sure they've arrived within 1-2 days of the purchase time. Second: Pick a winner. Look for a heavy bag, which is a sign of moisture still in the packaging. Count the healthy green canes. Look for roses with 3-4+ thick healthy green canes that have not started growing too much- don't but one reaching 2 feet up and all leafed out, it's been in the bag for a long time, and may already be too stressed to survive transition into a cold spring garden. Third: Do not bring them inside your house. Even if it is 25 F degrees outside. Set them on a porch, or better yet... Fourth: Soak em' right away. I have this huge galvanized tub I fill with water and a dose of Super Thrive. A few great rose growers suggested this magic elixir, and I've had so much more success with bare root roses since I started using it. I took this picture last spring just after I got home with these new beauties. I paid for them, drove home, poked holes in the bags for drainage with a small knife, removed the paper labels under the plastic and wrote the names of them on the bags with sharpie, and submerged them just after I shot this picture. I planned on planting them the next morning, so I didn't even take the labels or bags off- You can soak them for up 3 days. You should soak them at least 12 hours before planting. Fifth: Prepare a good hole. I like to dig a nice wide hole, breaking up the soil in the immediate area at least 1-2 feet around and deep, even for a small body bag rose. I toss in a handful of bone meal, and a serving of fertilizer. Use the package directions for an individual plant, which will vary depending on the type of fertilizer you use. I never stick with one kind of plant food. Ideally, I like to find a Miracle Grow for Roses at a good price, but I've used generic "Plant Food" for $2 a box, or Rose Tone I found on clearance- it really doesn't seem to matter in the end. Sixth: Plant em'. If you live in zone 5 or lower you plant roses deep. Where I grew up in California we learned to plant roses so the bud union (or the swollen place where all the branches begin) was above the ground- in zone 5 or lower you plant the bud union at least 4 inches below the soil surface. Trust me, this one bit of information is the difference between a dead or thriving rose the following spring. I have not lost a rose to winter in years! Seventh: Remove any dead wood that may have been left on the rose. Finally: Water. I use the water from the galvanized tub for the first watering because it has the Super Thrive in it. Water at least once a week unless it's been rainy, and fertilize often according to package directions. I like to do every 4 weeks in spring starting about April 1st. * If a deep freeze comes along, where night time temps drop below approximately 19-16 F degrees and your roses are in any way leafed out, you can cover them. I've done this once or twice- I just run out before sunset and put a old used nursery pot upside down over the plant, and remove it about an hour after the sun comes up. A towel or sheet would be okay, too. Here are some of the beauties I've saved from eminent body bag death: Happy gardening!

Echinacea 'Secret Desire'

I promised I would not make a plant wish list this year. With the move, the last thing I need it more new plants... you know where this is going. I found this one in a magazine and simply feel like I have to get it! So in love! Anyone tried Echinacea 'Secret Desire' yet? I'm also in love with Secret Passion, and could use a good pink double! Wow, right? I have several Echinacea, including: Harvest Moon, Tiki Torch, White Swan, Hot Papaya, Green Envy, Tomato Soup, Sundown (Evan Saul), Summer Sky, and Magnus. I love them all, but Hot Papaya and Tomato Soup are my favorites!