Seedling Update Week 3

Radish sprouts are 22 days old today. Just 8-13 days from being harvested. They are taking quite well to the bright sunshine through our south facing living room window.

Lettuce Little Gem is also 22 days old, just 23 days from harvest. Plenty of time to pick out a nice vinaigrette. Topped with a few homemade toasted croutons and shredded parmesan-reggiano and, oh my goodness my mouth is watering already.

Here’s a delight I wasn’t quite sure was going to work out. King Edward Tulips I had discovered hanging in a bag in the garage mid-January. I thought I would give them a try instead of letting them hang around. I didn’t really notice the markings when they were in the ground last year. This is the first time I have ever forced bulbs. I am pleasantly surprised.

Discovered some Crocus Four Color growing beside a stepping stone. This is a complete surprise. I planted these a couple of years ago about 12 feet from where they sprouted. I am at a total loss as to how they got here but they are very welcomed. If memory serves there should be some dark blue, lavender striped and a mixed lavender and yellow also.

Truly a day full of pleasant surprises.

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Popping up and Ready for Spring

Just took some photos of bulbs poking through the snow and winter mulch.

Tulip Saxatilis, planted 10 last October 15 and now 8 have come up so far. They actually first sprouted two weeks ago on Feb 2, but I just got around to photographing them. These came from John Scheepers and are supposed to be the earliest tulips of the season. They certainly have a big head start over all the other tulips in this bed.




Hyacinth Woodstock, planted 10 of these on Nov 10, 2006 and right now I can count 18. This year, after blooms die back, they will need to be dug up and separated. I have a couple places in mind for some of these beauties so they won’t get so crowded.




Aster Snowdrift is a groundcover that was planted in October 2007 and stayed green all winter, even under 15” of snow at one point. Pretty hardy, I’d say. There are two here, even though I started with four. Two didn’t make it through the first summer.




These Dianthus Desmond have done real well here in the front of the house. They were planted in October 2007 and stayed green over winter too.
Photo: Dianthus Desmond 09-02-16.JPG

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How Old is Your Garden?

As I read through all of the wonderful garden blogs, admiring all the beautiful flowers already in bloom, I look out at my garden, which is just starting its second year and lament its status as a mere toddler.

I know one day the garden will start spring with the bold blooms I so look forward to but I haven’t seen many yet. It is mostly green, except for the few new shrubs I just put in that already have flowers, like this Weigela My Monet (on the left) and this Potentilla Frosty. Tulips and Daffodils were pretty lack luster too, so I’m going to dig them up and see if they need to be divided.

Our spring here in Utah has been very wet and a bit on the chilly side, as springs go, with a lot of cloud cover. I guess I should be grateful that the usual high heat has not yet visited us but I can’t help think that this is why my plants are growing so slowly. So for now I’ll accept weather as one of the excuses my plants are a little behind in their development. The other excuse is that the garden is still quite young.

Am I expecting too much too soon? I’m following the most reasonable formula for having a full lush garden, i.e., watering and fertilizing regularly. I suffer through the smell of fish emulsion so I think I deserve to be rewarded with more blooms than what I now have.

Okay, so Mother Nature cannot be cajoled into giving up her goods until she is ready, but seeing other people’s gardens so lush and beautiful borders on being disappointingly painful.

Yesterday, I discovered these Allium Alpine Rosy Bells blooming. I’m pretty sure they should have started blooming about mid-May.

Dianthus Desmond opened up about three days ago but the Dianthus Zing Rose hadn’t started budding yet.

This Lavender Devon Camp is showing some color. I just planted this one two weeks ago. The Hardy Lavender I put here last fall has proven to be not so hardy.

Salvia East Friesland (left) and Nepeta Walkers’ Low (below) opened up over a week ago so they look like they should be pretty reliable every year.

My Echinacea Bravado and one of the Echinacea Magnus have set up flower buds, seemingly right on time because they should be blooming in early June.

What I am trying to determine is whether or not age plays a major role in how early in the season plants start blooming? When this garden is, say five years old, will it be blooming by now or is it just because of the weather this year that most things seem to be about two weeks behind?

I know experience will teach me how things will grow here and maybe I should not expect so much from such a young garden but patience is just so over rated.

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Flower Blasting

A new term to add to my ever increasing garden vocabulary.

It seems that if a bulb sends up a flower stalk that results in a misshapen flower or an aborted flower, then flower “blasting” may be the reason. These two examples, the daffodil on the left and the daylily below, illustrate deformities that could be caused by any of several reasons. Improper storage of the bulbs, late planting, inadequate or excessive moisture, sudden temperature changes, or viruses.

I have had bulbs send up leaves without any flowers, but that is because the bulbs have multiplied and the space has become too crowded for them. Simply dig them up and divide them and they will all bloom next year. Providing, of course, they don’t get “blasted” in some way.

In daffodils, bud blast is most common in late-blooming and double-flowered cultivars. There are blast-resistant double-flowered daffodils such as 'Meeting', 'Sir Winston Churchill', and 'Tahiti'. In addition, 'Baby Moon', 'Grace Note', 'Geranium', and most of the poeticus varieties are late-blooming daffodils that are also blast resistant, according to the American Daffodil Society.

I have read about studies involving irrigation, mulching, and shading to either prove or disprove that late freezes, inadequate moisture, and wet autumns are responsible, but they have all come up as inconclusive.

Late planting is probably has the most likely reason because bulbs don’t have enough time to form an adequate root system before they bloom.

You can more easily tell if a virus is causing the problem because color streaking occurs in both the flower and the leaves. These bulbs should be lifted and discarded immediately.

I had never thought to investigate why this happens, I just wrote it off as a probability factor given so many flowers bloom without problem. It just seems you will eventually have a mutation.

Now as to why this daisy freak happened, it is probably a virus or bacteria. It does look pretty cool though.

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Next Winter, I’m growing color

Color in winter. Sounds like a nice change to the usual white, brown, black, and grey. After seeing this all winter I’m planning on adding some plants that actually produce color in the snow.

One of my favorite flowers is Iris, so naturally, I thought I would start here. After consulting the mother of all search engines, Google, I find that Iris reticulata is the earliest of all Iris, blooming in January in some gardens. Great, might be what I’m looking for.

It’s a beautiful blue, shorter than all the other Iris at 5”-6” tall, but that’s okay as long as its colorful, and it blooms it winter. But does it actually bloom in the snow? Despite what some reports say, I only found this one photo of it in snow. I searched through ten pages of photos on Flickr to find this one, thanks to Green Destiny. I am not told what zone the plant was grown in or when it bloomed but since there is snow there is hope that I can have some color in my part of the world.

This Iris goes by several names: Dwarf Wild Iris, Rockgarden Iris, and Netted Iris.

According to Paghat’s Garden, “Iris reticulata blooms late winter or early spring, in shades of blue & purple. In some gardens they bloom as early as January, but for us, this wild natural form begins flowering at the start of the second week of February & is done by mid-March”. Paghat, for those of you who don’t know, is Paghat the Ratgirl of Puget Sound in “old Charlestown” overlooking Sinclair Inlet Washington State. Paghat’s garden is USDA zone 8 and I am USDA zone 5 or 6 (I still haven’t gotten a definitive answer). I’m not sure how useful this information will be for me, so I think I will keep searching.

Here’s another dwarf Iris, Iris danfordiae. Wouldn’t this bright canary yellow go great with a bunch of deep blue Crocus? One caution I learned from the plant expert is that if left in the ground the bulbs will break up into tiny bulblets which may not bloom the next year. Disappointing. I’ll probably shy away from these unless I want to dig them up each year. Doesn’t sound very “low maintenance” to me. And I’m definitely into low maintenance. I found this beauty at van Bourgondien.

I know that there are several bulbs that will come up in the snow, such as snowdrop, glory of the snow, winter aconite and crocus, but these come up as winters snow is leaving us and I want to try some plants instead of bulbs.

Hellebore is one of the most popular perennial winter flowers and depending on the variety, can bloom anytime from December through March, or later. The flowers are various shades of green or cream to bright white or rose-pink. Not much of the color I’m looking for. I chose this photo because it looks more like its namesake ‘Christmas Rose’ and actually is colorful. These grow 18”-24” tall so they stand right up and broadcast their color very well. But, no pictures of Hellebores actually in the snow.

Pansies are early bloomers. Usually purple, blue, yellow, white and various shades and mixtures of any or all these colors. No photos of pansies in snow either. I find articles saying they grow in winter, but where is the proof? ‘Universal’ pansies were bred to flower in the short days of winter; they are tolerant of cold, wet and windy weather and they have the ability to stay compact and not stretch and flop over when mild weather eventually arrives. ‘Icicle Pansies’ were developed for northern and Canadian gardeners, bloom until winter's deep freeze, but don't die. They'll lie dormant until very early spring, when they bloom again! (Whisper: where are the photos of pansies in snow?)

Finally, a flower in the snow! A Primrose! I never would have guessed that primroses bloom this early. This photo was taken by lorelei and posted on the weather site I start every day off with, Wunderground. Primroses are nice looking plants with their thick almost leather-like leaves more like a succulent or cactus without the thorns. They are usually blue but can be found in yellow, too.

There are other flowering plants claiming to bring color to the winter garden, but I’m beginning to think there aren’t any flowers that actually grow in the snow. Maybe gardeners, in their haste to get away from the dreariness of winter, are stretching it a bit when they say we can have color in winter. We have plants that herald the arrival of spring by popping up as the snow recedes, but I don’t find many that grow in the snow.

Plants like lungwort, moss phlox, heartleaf brunnera are early bloomers. There are early-blooming shrubs: February daphne (March-April), Vernal witch hazel (January-March), Spring heath (March), and Winter jasmine (March-April). One site, the Independent, gave me a list of early bloomers that I had never heard of but none of them bloom in the snow.

I guess I got my hopes up too high. I’ll just have to resign myself to seeing only white, brown, black and grey next winter too.

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Bulbs are up, oops, wrong season

While weeding yesterday I discovered that the Irises and Grape Hyacinths having broken ground! I don’t recall this happening last year but it seems odd that they didn’t wait through the cold first. Do they have to have that cold spell before they come up? and will this affect them coming up next spring?

Grape Hyacinths


Iris


It is possible that I did not plant them deep enough. But what I have read says they should be planted shallower in heavy clay soil. I worked this soil to about 8” deep before planting the bulbs and put them in about 4”-6”.

My research shows me that a little top growth is to be expected as bulbs settle in for winter; flowers now are unlikely. Once the weather cools off, this growth will subside; don't expect it to continue too much longer.

The bulbs were planted in November 2006 and came up this past spring.

I also discovered that established grape hyacinths put up top growth in late summer which can stay evergreen through winter. I did not know that.

This top growth should not affect the spring flowering, so I guess they are okay.

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May Recap

This is the first year I have grown allium of any kind and I planted two different kinds that bloomed this month. The Rosy Bells bloomed a bright reddish pink
and the the Sunny Twinkles bloomed a bright yellow, both very nice looking bulbs. They bloomed later than I thought they would. Still, it is nice to have the bulb blooming season extended in this way.

Carrots are coming along nicely, I planted two kinds, 'Danvers Half Long' and 'Thumbelina'. Both were chosen for their short roots due to our clay soil. The Danvers were put into one of the raised beds and the Thumbelina was put into a container on the deck. I wanted to see if I could grow a salad garden on the deck in containers since I have never grown plants in containers before.

The Clematis 'Jackmanii' has set some beautiful deep blue flowers on the last day of the month.

Coreopsis 'Early Sunrise' has begun to show signs of color. This is surprising since I just planted these one month ago.

Dianthus 'Agatha' bloomed weakly, but again was surprised it bloomed at all since it was one of those planted just one month ago.

Dianthus 'Zing Rose' bloomed a deep red. This one was planted last month, so I guess they are going to be prolific bloomer. I can only hope.

One of the Echinacea 'Magnus' sent out a bloom. This one is commonly called the Purple Coneflower. The plant itself is still short, as it was planted last month, and has one flower on the very top.

One of my very favorite and most anticipated bulbs is the Iris. I planted 12 and several have bloomed this month. They are yellow and blue and look very nice.

Lamium 'White Nancy', groundcover, bloomed.

Set out a bunch of Marigolds, hoping to attract beneficial insects to combat caterpillars, etc that would mean destruction of my other plants, such as tomatoes and beans. None have bloomed yet.

Primrose 'Firecracker' opened a bright yellow flower on the last day of the month.

Deadheaded roses for the first time this year.

Salvia 'East friesland' bloomed.

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New growth is everywhere

Spring is really beginning to speed up. With the warmer temperatures, freaky as it may be, everything is beginning to green up. We can expect a few more frost days and I hope nothing gets killed by it but for now I'll take the welcome reprieve from winter's harshness.

The rose leaves are dark red and about an inch long,

the Hyacinth is open and fragrant,

Early Stardrift bulbs are open and bright white in their shady spot next to the front steps,

and the forsythia is a beautiful glowing yellow on long, graceful branches.

Today, I doused the few bindweed plants I could find with Round-up. Even though I know it won't make a dent in their numbers that will come next month, it is still satisfying to kill off a few when I can. There is about 10 plants sending up their first leaves. Some of the weeds have three and four sets of leaves already. Hopefully, the leaves will take the spray down to their roots and stop their growth. One can only hope.

Here’s what I know about Roundup, it's only present in the soil for 7-10 days (then you can replant the area), and you only need to worry about keeping your children and pets away while the foliage is still wet after application. The temps need to warm up, to at least 60F, and the plants need to be actively growing for it to be effective. It's only absorbed through the leaves (not the roots), so is safe to use at the base of trees, etc

I pulled the mulch away from the roses to allow the soil to warm up and to dry out a bit.

I trimmed a few low branches from the Dogwood tree and Catalpa tree so I don't get dinged any more when I cut the lawn.

The Starlings are watching me from afar because the suet feeder is in the Dogwood tree and they are usually all over it this time of day.

Next, I plan on putting fertilizer down in the brown spot in the back lawn and then sprinkle some grass seed over the area, and then sprinkle it good with water. I think I will cover the area with some newspaper to help it stay moist. New grass should be up in a few days and by the end of two weeks the area will be turning green.

I went to a bulletin board to see what was going on around the country as far as gardening and saw these problems/questions.
'Dirty fingers' in Northern California said they have aphids on their Iris in their pond. They have Iris already?
'Chryse' suggested using soapy water, away from the pond. That’s a good idea, on both counts.
'Jason T' of Houston wrote to say that large red boils are popping up on his oak tree.
Several people wrote to tell him that this is caused by scale. I never realized that scale would have this affect on trees. He included pictures and it really surprised me to see this. He actually chose to pick them off and squash them! This seems to me to leave open wounds in the tree that may not be very healthy.

'Joey MacDougall' of Florida wrote in to say that his/her Gardenias have a black sooty mold on them.
'AuntBee' wrote in with an article stating it is caused by scale. Here is the link: http://lee.ifas.ufl.edu/horticulturearchive/sootymoldongardenia.htm
'Dane79' of Washington says he/she has a problem with morning glory (bindweed) and tried everything to get rid of it. Everyone suggests Roundup repeatedly and lots of patience. Don't I know this to be true!)

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First bulbs of the year

I planted a bunch of bulbs in a temporary spot last Fall, because their permanent spot has not been worked yet. This would be Allium 'Sunny Twinkle', Allium 'Alpine Rosy Bells', Iris 'Beauty Dutch Mix', some Daffodils, Grape Hyacinth, and Crocus. One of the Allium ‘Sunny Twinkles’ has sent up shoots.

Tulips and Daffodils are coming up as well.

The larger of the three Lilac bushes is blooming! Flower buds are about ½”. This is especially exciting because this is the first year it has bloomed, the other two were purchased and planted at the same time and they have not yet bloomed. It is from Stark Brothers Nursery and called 'Fragrant Purple' which is a bit peculiar because I cannot find anything about it anywhere online except for Stark Brothers and then only in the catalog I first ordered it from two years ago. I can only guess that it is a hybrid that only they have. The flower color is dark purple.

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