Spring Daffodils

No such thing as too many daffodils to tell us Spring is here.

Church Ladies (unidentified place and date)

Probably Quincy, Illinois, 1920's or 30's. I'm only guessing that it's a church.

"Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most" - Mark Twain, via thinkexist.com

Overwintered Geraniums and Spring Gardening

Here's the geranium as it came out of the pot. This one was left in the garage without watering. Most of the scented-leaf ones look REALLY dead-looking, brown and crunchy. One, a "pine scented" (more like turpentine) does continue to have green leaves. They were all cleaned up and watered. We'll see if they grow.

In another container, a wooden planter, was a zonal geranium , a geranium called "Vancouver Centennial", the pine scented geranium, some sweet alyssum, and a Tradescantia pallida. I cleaned this up as well, but left them all in the original container. I watered it and will leave it outside. The zonal and the Tradescantia look alive, in addtion to the pine scented geranium.
Planted.
Pruned, watered. Since it's in the 60s today, I think it is OK to leave outside now.

Other gardening:
Ning planted a short growing cattail for his pond.
Ning planted seeds for ornamental grasses, in flower pots.
A rose (Golden Showers)was moved.
A large bunch of Miscanthus sinensis zebrinus was moved from the back yard to the front, where it will have more room. Last year it grew to about 8 feet tall (the label stated 4-5 feet). It went into the spot vacated by the Golden Showers rose.
A new rose was added, this one a David Austin rose, variety "Fair Bianca". As with hybrid teas, I like some English roses, and others just didn't perform. I hope this one does, since I haven't had a lot of luck with white roses (JFK, a hybrid tea, was a fungus magnet and died, Glamis Castle, another English rose, didn't perform well at all. There wasn't room for the old garden rose, Mme Hardy, and anyway it only blooms one yearly (although I would have kept it in a larger yard).
An Anigozanthos (Kanga red and green) was potted up. I didn't want to yhet but it kept drying out too fast and wilting.

Spring Flowers

Daffodils are starting to bloom.

The amaryllus might seem out of place, but it chose the time more than I did. This is its second or third year.

Thursday at home

Today was a "day off" onmy new schedule.
I hauled a truck load of leaf compost from H+H Recycling ($9.00 for 1/2 yard, which for me is a truckload). This was enough for about 1 inch layer on the "tomato beds". Planted some left-over multiplier onions at the edges. They were left in a cool room over winter. I forgot to eat them.
Dormancy update. Some geraniums are alive, but some look dead. Not ready to go out yet. The brugmansia looks OK. This method of overwintering might be "Darwinian" - those that don't survive - don't survive. Those that do, do.

Soon there will be rhubarb. It was given some fresh compost too (on top of scattered coffee grounds).

Unknown Soldier Phillipine-American War 1907

Poodles Love Spring Weather

Other weekend garden tasks -

The 'winter sow' letttuce didn't come up. So I replanted the container with cilantro.

The Chinese Apricot was planted (from Lowes, "Prunus armeniaca "Chinese").

Picked up a back of used coffee grounds from Starbucks.

That's about all.

Interesting web site on gardening by nature's signs: phenology. This will be a topic to develop.

Harbingers of Spring. Chinese chives. Asparagus. Anigozanthos #3

These were planted about 3 years ago. Each cluster was one bulb. I keep thinking of the old Carly Simon song, "Anticipation".
The Chines chives are one of the first plants to start growing. They are also one of the first to produce an edible crop in the Spring. I did have some scallions today from a multiplier onion.
Despite the problem of not enough space, I planted some asparagus today. This was a tomato patch this year, but the tomatoes did not do well in this location. The asparagus should at least provide some wispy greenery, and maybe some vegetables in 2 or 3 years.
It's a good thing that I dont drink or gamble. Here is another anigozanthos. The purpose of the trip to Lowe's was to buy new light fixtures for the bathroom project. That led to a stroll into the garden section. This (variety "Kanga red") and a Chinese apricot (for Ning, it was planted in a too-small location but with pruning might do OK) were the result.

Early Spring. No Daffodil blossoms yet.

Today was beatiful, into the 50s. The bathroom remodel took most of my "spare" time. Can't soak into the tub until there is a fully installed to soak in. Today I framed the new wall, with the exception of the supports for the pedestal sink.

In the yard -

No fruit or bulb blossoms yet. The lilac buds are swelling. The daffodils had nice fat buds, just not in bloom yet.

I planted a lily bulb the size of an artichoke. It was purchased last week at the yard and garden show. I forgot to record the variety - an "orienpet" which was listed as being very fragrant.

Hedychiums were planted in potting soil and will be kept in a cool room until they start to grow.

Some Zantedeschias were added to the borders.

That's about all for today.

Weather Statistics February 2007

There were 23 days with at least a few drops of precipitation.

Total precipitation for the month was 7.7 inches.

Two days had less than 0.05 inches.

High temperature was 60 F

Low temperature was 20 F

There were 2 days with snow, but no ground coverage of snow on either day.