My Vinca minor is blooming pretty well now. I need to get in that area and weed out some grass and weeds real soon, but at a close-up level like this it looks pretty good. I transplanted some of the creeping phlox from my front yard to the back last year, and it’s doing well and spreading now. I wish all of these groundcovers would bloom for a longer season! This is Candytuft, or Iberis sempervirens. It was slow to take hold in this area, but after four years, it finally started spreading well last year. The deer nibble on…
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Last fall, I planted an unknown mix of tulips that I got from the final clearance sale of Thanksgiving Point’s tulip bulbs. They were just in baskets, without any sorting of the bulbs for color or flower form, and since it was the last day, I got something like 200 bulbs (including daffodils) for $10. I should count and see how many flowers I actually got, because I wonder how many of the 200 didn’t work. They were the small leftovers, so they weren’t in the best shape. Anyway, I also planted these pansies in the fall. I don’t know…
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I wasn’t having any luck with the Lavatera seeds I harvested from my garden, so I thought I’d try again. This time, I soaked them for one or two days (can’t remember how long!), and then I put them in the moist paper towel in a little ziploc baggie. Good news! It’s working. Well, one of them sprouted after only one day in the baggie. I think others will follow shortly. Also, I wasn’t completely sure which part of the seed was really the germ — the seeds kind of split into two parts: a crescent shaped outer part around…
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My Forsythia started blooming about four days ago and really got full in the past two days. I love this shrub! It really brightens up the earliest spring. I hope its blossoms do OK in the freezing weather we’re having for the next few days. It hailed a little today and is expected to snow tonight in the valleys. This will last through Thursday. I hope it doesn’t kill all the apricot blossoms I’ve noticed this past week (I don’t have an apricot, but there are plenty around). My flowering plum is just starting to open its blossoms, so hopefully this…
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After months of doubt my three clematis cuttings have proven they’re alive! I’m really excited about this! These are the ones I put in a cup of water last summer, and they eventually sprouted roots in the water. Last fall, I planted them in little pots, and they quickly went dormant. I was worried that I either gave them too much or too little water, but I kept hoping that they were just going dormant for the winter. So yesterday, I took one of the pots and pushed the dirt out into my hand and slowly started crumbling away the…
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Yesterday, I received a bunch of seeds from a guy in New York I corresponded with through GardenWeb. I noticed he mentioned on the perennial forum about having seeds from his large white-flowered perennial hibiscus, so I asked if he wanted to trade. I sent him him some Lavatera, Salvia, and Japanese Maple seeds, and he sent me: Heliotrope arborescens Hibiscus moscheutos ‘Blue River’ Verbena x hybrida ‘Imagination’ Thymus serpyllum Delosperma cooperi Dianthus deltoides ‘Brilliancy’ Vitex agnus castus (Chaste tree) Syringa reticulata ‘Mandschurica’ (Lilac tree) Erigeron glaucus ‘Elstead Pink’ (a hardier Erigeron than the one I grew in California) I…
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I just ordered two things from Park’s Seed today. Their description of a new sweet white corn really caught my attention. It’s called Mirai, and they were almost breathless describing how people in Japan drive 100 miles to buy it at roadside stands. Here’s a quote: Our Director of Seeds, Stephanie Turner, had the opportunity to sample Mirai last summer, and began negotiating to buy the seed that same day. “I have never tasted anything like it in my life,” Stephanie tells us. “I sampled it raw in the field, and it was all I could do not to eat…
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Blackfoot Daisy is mentioned on the GardenWeb thread linked in the article below. It’s got small white flowers and blooms spring to fall. I might need to try this out! It is drought tolerant with a deep taproot.