Good morning, and here's to another year! Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging, Fifth Anniversary Edition.
Last weekend's snow storm delivered to Denver an extended period of gloom. Although we didn't get a lot of snow — only 5" or so total — it fell in spits and spats over five days. We didn't break freezing until Tuesday, got a touch more snow on Thursday evening, and temperatures have stubbornly stuck in the 40s.
A similar storm is forecast to roll in over the weekend — but on Wednesday we may finally break into the mid-50s, much like that late-February Saturday five years ago when I sat down and wrote the very first Saturday Morning Garden Blogging. Well, except this year I'm still waiting for the crocus to bloom!
Today I'm reprising my favorite photos from the last year; this poppy is from May.
This morning, as well as waiting out weather, I'm also waiting for my back to recover. I very stupidly wore a skirt and heeled boots to work on Thursday, then dug in to purging archived files — including lifting boxes. I don't wear heels — not even 2" heels — very often; it threw my lifting technique off and I wrenched my lower back. It's gradually improving, although bending, standing and turning leads to some holy shit that hurts moments. But I'm happy to report that the boots looked really, really hot with the 1940s wool suit I bought on eBay.
I've bought more of these pretty little glads from Old House Gardens. I do adore the old-style "painted" glads — and I'm also very happy that I discovered that I can use a Sharpie to mark the leaves of glads and bearded iris to keep track of what's what when it's time to dig and move them. No more guessing — or at least less guessing. I've greatly restrained myself from ordering more flowers this year — the exception are antique bulbs from Old House Gardens, some miniature glads, three types of lacinated dahlias, and chocolate cosmos.
One of the reasons I'm throwing out most of the gardening catalogs without even looking (and being tempted) is that I need to see how the new planter boxes in the front yard fill in from last year's plantings. I put in a boatload of oriental poppies, salvias, agastache and other xerics last year, and I won't get a good idea of the size of the survivors until this year — or next year. I'll likely fill in some areas with purchased annuals, and of course I'll have self-seeding from California poppies and nicotiana, but this year will largely be a "sit and watch" year.
I still haven't gotten the snap pea seeds sprouting, although I had planned to do that last weekend. I keep looking at the long-term forecasts, and I'm not seeing any significant breaks in the weather which will allow the veggie patch to dry out and be prepped for planting. But we are heading into March, so (back permitting) I'll get down into the storage area to get my sprouting trays out.
I did get the roman chamomile transferred to Dixie cups, and they are very happy and growing rapidly. If I don't kill any of them (like I did last year, when I forgot to bring them in from the porch and they froze solid) I'll have plenty to finish the job of inter-planting with the grass patch in the back yard. I really do like the effect of the ferny, apple-smelling chamomile combined with grass blades where I have roman chamomile established. It will be a loooong while before I can get the chamomile planted in the grass though; the back yard is stubbornly encased in snow.
But, alas, I did not get the tomatoes, eggplant, peppers or cauliflower started. At least I don't need to go down to the basement to get supplies to do that — I just need to get off my ass, fill the egg cartons with starter mix, and put the damned seeds in the pots. And the Mister did get a hanging frame — with a supplemental fluorescent light — installed in our east kitchen window, so I need to move my hanging plants into that area. Who knows — I may be able to keep a fuchsia blooming in that window year round (and wouldn't that be an accomplishment!).
And I do hope the coming year brings more hummingbirds to my neighborhood. At least 75% of the plants I put in last year were selected as hummingbird attractants (including the bright-red Atom gladiolus from Old House Gardens). I also planted some red rockrose (if they survived), to provide a larger mass of early-spring red for the hummers to spy as they fly overhead. And I am hoping that others in my neighborhood saw the pictures of "my" hummer in the neighborhood newsletter, and will also plan hummingbird-friendly plantings.
SMGB has been nominated as "Best Environmental Series" for "kOscars". Although I'm not sure the category is appropriate (but there isn't a "best coffee klatch" category), I think we should win because we're ancient, and punctual. Shouldn't punctuality count?
That's what's happening here. What's going on in your gardens?