What's blooming?

This violet was started from my parents' lawn in Illinois. Is's later than the other violets here.

Leukojum. They continue to multiply.

A test of climate zone. These paperwhites have survived 3 years.

The Pink Cherry. This is how I know it's Spring.

First Rhubarb Pie of the Season

Victoria Rhubarb

Canola based crust, organically grown rhubarb. I only used 1 cup of sugar, so it's slightly on the sour side but that's how I like it.


This is "Glaskin's Perpetual". It was started from seeds 3 years ago. This is much slower growing than Victoria. True, the stalks are deeper red, but if it doesnt make majoer stides this year, it'll soon be "Glaskin's compost".

What's Blooming?

"White cherry in bloom, with dogs" photo.

These hyacinths not only persist, they multiply here.

These narcissus were rescued from lawn grass 7 years ago. They continue to multiply. Better for part shade -they tend to fade in sunlight.

Not in bloom, but the buds are definitely swelling. This lilac is about 10 feet tall now.

Tomato update

Germination. Even without a heating pad, so far the following tomatoes have sprouted:
Black Krim
Supersweet 100
Better Boy
Lemon Boy
Cherokee Purple (from 07)
Supersweet 100 (from 07) - this is just showing a tiny root.

The other older seeds have not sprouted, including
Celebrity

None of the peppers have sprouted yet.

Tomatoes are starting to sprout

Actually, these were visible 2 days ago.

First to sprout: Lemon Boy, Better Boy, Supersweet 100, Black Krim.

Some dried out. None are on a heated mat, just room temp on window sill.

Burnt Bridge Creek Trail

Ning and Baigou. And a glimpse of Charlie.
Trillium are blooming all along the trail.

Dogs in Spring

It looks vicious but it's all in play. They had a great time.
Practically in flight. I wish that I had that energy!

Snow

According to the news, yesterday was the latest that is has EVER snowed here in the Portland area.

All day, snow, sleet, heavy rain

It's difficult to photograph snow. It moves.

Clivia

First flower. Grown from seed taken from a "Belgian Hybrid" clivia. It took 6 years to first flower. In person, the color has more red tones.

I played honey bee and applied pollen from the Yellow Sahin's to these flowers. And vice versa - pollen from these flowers was added to the Yellow Sahin's. We'll have our own hybrids now, in about 7 years!

Compost and earthworms

Stirred up the compost. This is probably 1/3 chicken droppings + straw bedding, with generous amounts of poodle wool, yard trimmings, kitchen scraps, and coffee grounds.

This compost will need a couple more months before it is ready. Right now it's not 'done' enough.

No worms were added - these find their way up from the soil.

When I remember, I've been bringing home coffee grounds from work. I weighed them, it's about 1 pound 7 ounces daiy. Over a month, that's a lot of garden supplement.