Flowers Everywhere

This is one of the last Siberian iris purchased here.  The catalog picture displayed this plant as having dirty white flowers.  For several years no purchase was made since we enjoy pure white flowers.  Imagine our surprise when the new purchase first opened its blossoms here.  Over the years the mail order scraps have taken hold and are now impressive.  We want to divide our clump and will once again put it on the to do list.

Nearby our Unadilla home, an older woman lived in a very small building.  She was an excellent neighbor allowing us to tap her maple trees and engage us in pleasant conversation.  This plant was one that she carefully tended.  It was given to us by her daughter.  These plant to people connections bring to the surface pleasant memories.  This written record will help us remember since we would now be accurately classified as elderly.

 

This is another of our self planted treasures.  Digitalis is classified as a poisonous plant but only adults live here.  A former student has pleasant memories of her interaction with these flowers when she was a child.  She placed two potted plants outside of her door so that her daughter could have a similar experience.  We also find the shrinking tunnel wildly marked with colored dots magical.  Its chance occurrence close to our stone wall only increases the magic. 

This Woodland sedum has no flowers yet but its light bright leaves are beautiful in their own right.  Growing close to the sizeable stone placed to make the slope manageable adds to the appeal but that one weed needs to go.  In the not too distant past I used hand power to move this stone to its final resting place.  Repeated similar actions may be part of the reason why back ache pain is now nearly a constant companion.  The lichen covered grain of the stone and its companion plants looks great.

These Dianthus flowers look totally magical as they seem to float in the air.  Their scent is so compelling that we violated our do not pick the flowers rule with two flowers in a bowl on the kitchen counter.  These are truly a wonder.

 

 

These are the remains of an early flower named Prairie smoke.  It has been twice featured in earlier posts.  Most flowers leave nothing behind after their work making the next generation's seed is formed.  These look fragile but remain intact. 

An Exciting Spring Walk In The Garden

Oh Yippee, I finally got to walk around in the garden today.  Yesterday was special because I saw my first bluebird and that always makes me ecstatic, but today it was actually warm enough to walk around in the garden a bit.  I know my old photography teacher would say this is a picture of dirt.  You're darn right it is! I had to look for awhile to find a nice bare patch of garden dirt that wasn't under water or snow.  This one had the bonus of Siberian squill breaking through the surface.  It won't be long until magnificent blue flowers will appear.

Most of the garden looks  more like this.  The great majority of our plants are still covered in white icy snow  and water.  This dianthus looks pretty terrific to me even surrounded in icy white.

The very tips of the first of my daffodils can be seen here.  I was hoping to see my snow drops or lovely little Dutch iris that are in this bed making an appearance, but they are still under the snow.

Ed's lettuce that he planted in the basement is coming up. Just the idea of having my own lettuce makes me salivate in expectation.  I'm glad we can buy lettuce in the store through the winter, but the price is steep and the quality poor when compared to fresh lettuce from the garden.  Ed's lettuce came up in just 3 days!  Not every pot has the four plants he hoped for, but it is still early.

Just feast your eyes on these four gorgeous, if tiny, lettuce plants.  Three days ago they were a tiny seed. Imagine the changes a week will bring.  There's a lot of dirt in this post, but there's a lot of  great promise for the future too!

Growing Under the Snow

Yesterday's sun and warm air overnight left some of the garden plants uncovered. It was only natural that I would get out there and check things out. The perennial flax is having a bad hair day, but the plant looks very healthy and happy at this point. Unfortunately the tricolor sage has a rather gray unhealthy look. It's unlikely to be alive in the spring. It really is too tender to make it here in zone 4, but there's always a small chance.

Ed's 'Autumn Joy" sedum looks fantastic at the base. New shoots are ready and waiting for spring to arrive. Being on ice doesn't seem to bother them a bit.

Here two feverfew plants are doing very well. The snow cover was much to their liking. There are several others looking green and perky as well. This plant is one that dislikes a freeze then thaw winter, but for now it's doing great. It would be best for all the plants if snow cover returns quickly.

I was pleased and surprised to find a flower in the garden on this first day of 2011. I know it's a pretty pathetic looking Johnny jump up , but it is a flower. Just yesterday it was under the snow. It won't be stopped by a thick mat of Dianthus foliage or a patch of granulated ice.

I spent some time this morning watching the red squirrel and three crows from the living room window. For a time the squirrel tolerated the crows presence, but eventually his red headed temper got the best of him. He dropped down from the bird feeder, ran up the locust tree trunk,and  streaked headlong out the branch where the crow perched. The crow didn't flinch.  Unsuccessful at his first attempt, he dropped to the ground and repeated the process. This time the crow flew away, his rowdy friends joining him. But the crows returned. Ed and I moved to the window to get a better look at the next round, but the crows felt our presence and flew away leaving the red squirrel triumphant.

With the patchouli plant in the compost, a perfectly good pot of soil awaited planting. Ed used to plant leeks on New Years' Day, but we don't (BURP) plant those any more. January 1 is a bit early, but Ed planted 12 of his "Iris enstata" seeds instead. They have been chilling in the refrigerator in a plastic bag. Now is a fine time to begin!

A Bigger Cage

I sometimes talk to my plants.  If this Dianthus could talk to me, it would say "Excuse me, I think I need a bigger cage here!".  Now it tells me!  The ground may be too hard to make the change.  We have to cage Dianthus in this garden because they stay so beautiful through the winter even under the snow, that the deer and the rabbits really enjoy eating them.




It's easy to see that the trimming has already begun.  By spring this plant will likely be trimmed right back to the wire cage.  Our weather has warmed somewhat.  It's in the high thirties today, but it's cloudy and drizzly.  Our snow has been reduced to little balls of ice.  In some places like the south facing bed in front of the house and the driveway, it is gone altogether.  Perhaps tomorrow we can get some mulch on the Madonna Lilies and cut back the chrysanthemums using the stems to mulch the new green growth at the base.

Garden Tribbles?

Forgive the Star Trek reference, but these clove pinks are so cute and round and fuzzy looking, I just couldn't resist. I love Dianthus even though they usually make you wait to see flowers until the year after you buy them. The cage you see around the plant is to discourage the deer who find the fragrant plant yummy.

Now to the trouble with my Tribbles. I went to the garden to find my stone label that identifies this plant. I'm afraid this time there was no stone. The stone in the picture is for the mahogany Monarda next door. This plant is a clove pink, but it could be 'Pheasants Eye' or ' Old Vermont'. I won't know until next year when I see the flowers. My permanent marker on flat stones system works great, when I do it. It's a habit that needs some cultivation.

The plan is to write the name of the plant on a flat stone with a permanent marker.If I received the plant from a friend, I add that name too. Next turn the stone over and repeat the process on the other side. Place the stone next to the plant and you are done. The sun does fade permanent marker so if you write the information on both sides, you can just turn the stone over and your label is still there. It's really a perfect system. It's easy, it's cheap and it works IF YOU DO IT!

Perfume on the Breeze

If you are not familiar with dianthus, I have to say they are delightful flowers. These lacy beauties were planted from seed last year. We had a few blossoms then but this year they have outdone themselves. The aroma of these flowers floats on the breeze making working anywhere in the area a delight. I wish you could get a whiff!

We are hoping to divide them and keep them going. I have a special interest in fragrant flowers. I look for old varieties that still retain their perfume. It's so disappointing to have a rose or carnation or any flower that no longer has its fragrance. They look pretty, but something important is missing.