The first crocuses!

Ahhhhhhh. Several of the yellow ones bloomed for the first time today. This is their third season and they are to be applauded for their repeat performances.

A spring day in February

It was 74 degrees out today, so I took the opportunity to clear out all the dead leaves on all the leafy plants in the front. I did leave the foliage on one of the two enormous lavenders, because I am curious what will happen. I can always cut it back later.

Things are looking ready for spring action (hopefully they won't mistake today for spring, as the warmth isn't going to last till tomorrow).

Daffodil (yesterday, before I cleaned up the plants around it)

Note the little shoots on the baptisms

Crocus in front, with a bud no less, and presumably the new perennial tulips in back

Everything tidy

So much tidiness

Look at my lovely poppies in the top left, and top and bottom right!

I continue to chip away at the masses of leaves in the back when the weather cooperates, today included. It's starting to look like the end is in sight. This is a picture that I altered so that you can really see the leaf patterns on the lawn - in other words, it's where the the ground is lower. Could be useful information as we look to relandscape.

The seed doesn't fall far from the plant

I'm now teaching my daughter about gardening, but it goes back at least three generations from her. Here's a 1989 photo of my Grandad, my mother's father, in his small garden in Warrington, England.

Warrington, England

Warrington, England

My paternal grandfather grew prize-winning gladiolas in Maplewood, Minnesota.

Seeds, baby!

Emma and I ordered a bunch of seeds from Select Seeds. She was so excited to pick ones she wanted to grow. It was hard to get her to narrow down the choices, so we got a lot! They include three varieties of zinnia, which I've never liked, but they are good easy plants for kids.

Here's what we got:

• California Poppy 'Alba' (Jennie)
• Cornflower 'Classic Romantic' (Emma)
• Larkspur 'Giant Imperial' (Jennie)
• Pepper 'Shishito' (Emma)
• Poppy 'Lauren's Grape' Organic (Jennie)
• Sweet Pea 'April in Paris' (Jennie)
• Zinnia 'Benary's Giant Carmine' (Emma)
• Zinnia 'Benary's Giant Lilac' (Emma)
• Zinnia 'Raspberry Limeade' (Emma)

When they arrived, I tasked her with taping photos of the flowers to the seed packets, mostly just as a way for her to engage with the seeds before we get to plant them (sneaky parenting). I have to say I love how much info about the plants was on the seed packets.

I also ordered four packets of seeds from Gardens North, and these are a lot more mysterious. Take Allium obliquum, whose packet states "this species sometimes germinates at warm. Sow and keep warm and at high humidity for 2 weeks. If there has been no germination, place at cold for 6-8 weeks before returning to warm." Okayyy.

Digitalis lutea (small yellow foxglove) has the following instructions, which are straightforward enough: "Press into moist mix and keep warm (20C) and at high humidity until germination (within 2 weeks or less)."

But then there are Actaea rubra (red baneberry)'s instructions: "This is a multi-cycle germinator. Best to sow directly where it is to grow, or place pots outdoors over winter. Germination will not occur until the second year, so do not disturb area. Cover with leaf mould to ensure consistency moisture." Germination in the 2nd year?! Definitely did not see that coming from what was on the website:

Gypsophila repens rosea (creeping baby's breath)'s instructions: "Surface sow onto moist soil-less mix and keep at 20C and high humidity until germination (within 4 weeks or less)."

Last note: a couple weeks ago I was at the dump/recycling depot, and was amused by this ENORMOUS PILE of discarded Christmas trees. This is how you know the holidays are REALLY over.

Plants to, um, plant: backyard renovation edition

The time has arrived to start thinking of what to do with the back yard as a whole, as we will need to deal with the collapsing retaining walls, plus we are no longer contending with unemployment-prompted austerity measures.

To begin, here are some planting ideas.

Assuming that I will have a flower plot in the partially shaded realm of the patio as now:

• From current plot:
• Lungwort!
• Digitalis grandiflora
• Artemesia
• Perennial forget-me-nots
• Dead nettles
• New options:
• Actaea rubra (Pink) (seeds ordered from Gardensnorth.com) (height unknown)
• Digitalis lutea (seeds ordered from Gardensnorth.com) (24")
• Primula denticulata (8-12")
• Thalictrum flavum glaucum (3-6')
• Trollius (globeflower; blooms in summer; not deer resistant)
• × cultorum ‘Alabaster’(23-27")
• New Moon (24")
• Phlox divaricata, (woodland phlox; 18", blooms in spring)
• Primula (primrose; 6-12"; blooms in spring). Not deer resistant though.

For under the trees: 

• FERNS FERNS FERNS

Here's one garden expert's recommendation for a mosaic of shade-loving ground cover that looks good throughout a season (https://awaytogarden.com/best-phlox-gardeners-butterflies-mt-cubas-george-coombs/):

The plant pairings for Phlox stolonifera that work really well are foamflower, which is Tiarella cordifolia, Pennsylvania sedge, which is Carex pensylvanica, and then maidenhair fern, which is Adiantum. Together those are just a really nice, they all put on a great show in the spring time with a fresh flush of either foliage or flowers. Then the ferns and the Carex really carry you through the rest of the year with a textural interest too.

For along the fence:

• Sweet peas

Buried in leaves

All fall I stood ready with rake in hand, poised to whisk away the leaves.* When I left town last week, the oak trees were stingily hanging on to their brownery, but when I returned, ALL THE LEAVES HAD DROPPED. So much later than previous years!

Unrelatedly, I keep meaning to make this note about one of the plants I put in this fall: I selected the Hydrangea paniculata Strawberry Sundae from White Flower Farms for my front garden because it was described in their catalog as needing full to partial sun. The label in the plant when it arrived, however, said "Shade or partial shade." Will it live? Will it die? Only time in full sun will tell.

*I wasn't exactly keen or particularly fastidious, but I had a general air of readiness, I'd say.

Fall tasks

I continue to grind away at the fall tasks. Raking and mowing even just a fraction of my yard made me very weary today. It would be more pleasant if it were a little warmer (high around 50 today) and I wasn't subjected to the incessant droning of leafblowers on properties in a who-knows-how-many-blocks radius. Seriously, it's all day long, and it gets to me. Fall is the worst, but it starts around March and doesn't stop till December or so. There was a vicious debate about leafblowers on the neighborhood website a couple weeks ago. People are crazy and cruel on both sides.

I noticed this morning that the anenome in front had white fluff on its stems, and on looking closer, I found the fluff to be covered in tiny delightful seeds. It would be lovely if this plant self-sows!

In addition to some rakin' and mowin' today, I pulled out some dead annuals (we had our first frost last week), and scattered some grass seed in a bald patch by the front door (same spot I planted grass a couple years ago - why did it die this summer?). And I pulled up one of my honey locust transplants in the pots - they looked dead, and sure enough it had not formed roots. Whatevs. Guess it would need some rooting medium were I to try this again. I did read that locusts are very aggressive spreaders, so it probably wouldn't need too much chemical encouragement.

White Flower Farm responded very promptly to my email about the moldy bulb (see last post), and noted that they were sold out of allium so could not offer a replacement, so they refunded me for the allium packet of 3, which I thought was very accommodating of them.

I took all my seeds from the past two years that I never planted - about 7 or so packs - and scattered those in the dirt between the artemesia and the phlox in the front. Don't have much optimism they'll come up in spring, but what do I have to lose? The packets included hot peppers, lavender, basil, portulaca, and parsley, that I remember. I was inspired by this missive from Pinetree Garden Seeds:

Fall is a great time to get a head start on annual and perennial flowers for the next gardening season. Direct sowing flower seeds in the fall can be beneficial to the busy spring gardener; we tend to have more time, weeds are not as much of a nuisance, no need to start them indoors under lights, and the flowers bloom earlier on more robust plants. Here are a few flowers that are best for fall sowing and these ones will often continue self-sowing each season.Sow the seeds when the ground is near frozen, after a killing frost, but before it snows.This keeps them from germinating so they can lay dormant until spring.
Choose a site and prepare soil 1-3 weeks before sowing seeds. Weed, cultivate shallowly and add compost.

​Mixing the seeds with sand can help with a more even distribution or simply sprinkle the seeds from the package over the ground. Water in the seeds or wait until rain is the forecast. Do not forgot to mark your spots so in the spring you can thin them out if needed and keep the weeds down.