Monday, March 12, 2007

Church Ladies (unidentified place and date)

Probably Quincy, Illinois, 1920's or 30's. I'm only guessing that it's a church.
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"Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most" - Mark Twain, via thinkexist.com

Sunday, March 11, 2007

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.


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Thursday, March 08, 2007

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.Posted by Picasa

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).Posted by Picasa