shovel day

Can you believe this weather we're having? Well, I don't know how it is where you are, dear reader, but here in NC, it has been just incredibly nice.  Not oppressively hot.  I went out and gardened at noon today.  NOON! And not only did I not want to die, I didn't even think anything of it until I realized what time it was. I think the high was 81, we had a nice breeze, and I foolishly transplanted a couple shrubs that I've had in pots.  I don't know what I was thinking, but hopefully they will do ok.  I moved a Pee Gee Hydrangea to an area that is somewhat shaded, I hope it will get enough sun to get blooms.  May have made the wrong call there... And I moved a little Alberta Spruce, one of the first plants I ever bought, into the ground. right off the deck.   I think it will be a great place for it.  Oh and moved an Amaryllis that I had completely forgotten about all winter, and I'm reasonably sure I didn't even water it.  It started to bloom in my unheated garage, so I brought it up in February, and then moved it outside when the weather warms up.  I sure hope it likes where I put it, because I'd hate to kill anything tough enough to survive being neglected all winter. 

Here's what's blooming for me right now:

 First blooms ever! I thought I had written this down somewhere in the blog, but I can't find it. I thought this was a PDN purchase, but I can't find anything resembling it on their website.  Oh well.  Its a white calla lily! Tell all your friends!

Cherry Verbena, one of my favorites.  I need to buy more of this every year.

 This is another first time bloomer.  I don't love the color.  This was a discount bag o' bulbs from end of season clearance at Lowes.  I will give this plant credit for surviving 2-3 years now with me forgetfully digging it up when planting annuals.  Way to keep on fighting, pumpkin colored calla.

I thiiiiiink this is Nelly Moser Clematis.  It could be a Barbara Jackman.  I have two clematis planted by the deck.  Its one of those.  Lots of blooms on it this year!

Summer slack

Ok, technically its not summer.  But I have been slack about uploading these pictures of my garden.  Here are some from 2 weeks ago, we have had a great spring, and the garden has been looking beautiful!

 Sombreuil rose, so lovely and divine smelling

Superstition Iris with some Salvia and Cherry Verbena

 How excited am I at all the foxgloves this year!? And, all of these seedlings came from a 2$ box store clearance plant.  Not bad!

 Graham Thomas looking sunny. As a Texan, I am obligated to grow yellow roses.

Madame Alfred Carriere in the background.  I have two trained up on my AMAZING arbor that my stepfather built for me as a birthday present.  I absolutely adore it.

Bulbs and new plants!

Well the bulbs are coming up and gorgeous. So glad that I went ahead and planted them and they were so cheap!! That pot of red tulips was only 2 dollars and while it might not be a flashy tulip, I just love looking at it on my deck.

Here is the project I was most excited to finish.  Its a galvanized tub I picked up at Southern States.  I drilled drainage holes in it and added heavy duty casters on it so I can roll it around easily.  I've been using it to block off the exit of the deck when I want to keep the kidlets up top.  I filled it with different herbs, and they are filling in fast.  Here's the planter the day I finished it (mostly, I did add a few more herbs in there after this picture)

Here's it afterwards.  I bought a squash plant and sank it in the soil to keep it happy while I get project #2, my raised bed, complete, but it took off so fast in the tub that I decided just to leave it in there.

I've still got a bunch of plants to get in the ground since I made a weekend trip to Big Bloomers, but that will have to wait for another post.  I'm about halfway done with them, fingers crossed for more great weather this weekend.

Seasonal disorder

I can't be the only gardener who has this problem; come wintertime, I become gardening obsessed, contemplating huge lists of plants to buy in the spring, beds to rearrange or create, the whole nine yards.  I think this is a result of not being able to do anything, but the real problem is I have two "main" hobbies right now.  Gardening and crazy quilting, which are both essentially great seasonal hobbies.  When the weather is nice, I can garden, and when I can't go outside, I can work on my never-ending project backlog.  The problem is, I get amped up about gardening when I can't do it, and then miss the 2-3 week window of "spring" where temperatures are pleasant enough that you can stand to be outside without wanting to find a pool to hunker down in with an iced drink, or in lieu of that, a nice walk in freezer to make your home.

Spring blows by here in a flash, and I always seem to miss it.  I'm going to try and be better about it this year though.  I already planted a ton of bulbs, I got inspired thanks to Helen Yoest saying something about still being able to put pots together, and when I went to Home Depot, everything was 50% off.  You know what that means, twice as many bulbs!

Yes, I'm putting up a picture of bulb packages.  Eat your heart out, Southern Living!

So, other than that, I'm going to try and catalog some of my ideas here, wish lists, etc.  I want to plant some blueberry bushes, and the reading I've done says go with Rabbiteyes and at least two other types for cross polination: Brightwell, Climax, Delite, Tiflblue were all recommended. Will I have room in my yard for 3 blueberry bushes? Probably not.  Maybe I could put them in the front yard if I pulled the boxwoods.

I'm also kind of obsessing over the idea of doing my vegetable gardens in some raised wood beds that I build, harnessing the manic wintertime energy into some hardscaping.  I've got some plans for squash, peppers, cucumbers, some zinnias, maybe even a melon.  I'm still trying to figure out where to squeeze these in to my yard, but right now I'm thinking directly off the deck.  

Speaking of the deck, I've got this idea to get a long galvanized metal feed trough and make all my herbs in one big pot this year.  I think it will neaten up my deck which is really getting overgrown with pots, and make watering them a little easier.  

Lastly, I got the new Plant Delights catalog in the mail, and I think I'll go through it with post its and mark all the plants I'm thinking about getting, and then try and figure out where I can put them.  I need a lot of new ones, I lost almost all the Agastaches I planted a few years ago.  I think the drainage just isn't good enough for them, plus they were super marked down plants from death row at Lowes, so they didn't get the greatest start in life.  

What about everyone else -- any fun plans? Anyone else find they use up all their fire and good ideas while its too cold to plant? 

Dinosaur Trail!

Earlier in December, we went to visit the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, which has a recently revamped dinosaur walking trail.  I was really impressed by how they managed to keep the woods feeling at least somewhat tropical in the dead of the winter.  Unfortunately there weren't any plant labels to identify what they used, and no gardening staff nearby to ask.  That being said, I'm pretty sure this is the Fatsia Japonica I mentioned in a previous post, in front of a backdrop of a magonlia (duh.)

Here is some more plants, not sure on the ferns, and there is a very pretty yellow blooming plant in the background.  My brain keeps saying mahonia, but I'm not sure if that's right, and I certainly don't know the cultivar.

Either way, isn't it neat how they made the appearance of tropical growth? I'm looking forward to coming back in warmer weather and seeing the total package, but I came away with some more ideas for my tropical bed.

Here's what's blooming for me right now, this is my Prunus Mume "Josephine" and I really love the blossoms on it.  Although I wish I had a pink one as well.  I just need a bigger yard.

Warm day for winter sowing

It was a wonderful warm day here in D-town, and I found myself with a spare thirty minutes, can you believe it?  What to do with this glorious excess of freedom?  Get dirty!  I went out  and tried my hand at winter sowing, again.  I have had no luck yet with anything.  This year, I tried Flax and Hungarian Blue California Poppies, in the tropical bed near the elephant ears, Bluebonnets by the rose arbor and Foxgloves in my cottage bed by the butterfly bush.  We'll see if anything turns up...

Duke gardens

We took a trip to the Sarah P. Duke Gardens today, and about halfway through, I realized I could take some pictures and phone in an easy blog post.  Haha, not really, but I took these pictures for myself, to remember some evergreen plants I could use.

This picture is a little hard to read, but its Eucomis "Tugela Jade" according to the tag, but that does NOT look like the picture at Plant Delights.  I'm thinking it must be something else, or mislabeled.

This one is definitely not mislabeled, because they left the actual plant tag on it!  In my mind, they must have just picked it up at Lowes, haha.  Its Pinus thunbergii 'Thunderhead' and I just love how it looks!  Might have to pick this one up...

Darn it if we don't have another misidentified plant.  Maybe they pulled the Mullein, put these new plants in? There were quite a few of them in their beds leading down to the terraced garden.  Mysterious plant, what is your name?! I like your big showy leaves, and you are still alive after our recent frosts.

Update! Erica Glasener happened to post a picture  of this plant in her garden, its a Farfugium japonicum 'Giganteum.'

Well, I don't have to worry about mis-identification here: that's a red bridge. You're welcome, America!

Such a beautiful afternoon for a trip to these gardens, we are so lucky to have them in our town.