Hyacinths have arrived

Apr12

It’s not hard to find hyacinth bulbs in the fall. They’re one of the “big four” (a term I just made up) that describes them and the tulips, daffodils and crocus that show up every fall in garden centers around the country. They’re easy, fragrant, come back reliably and run the whole range of colors with the exception of green and true red. What’s not to like? There must be something, because even though they’re good enough to buy forced to celebrate Easter and other springtime celebrations, they’re not always the first choice for planting.
I say go ahead and plant them this next fall. I think you’ll like them.

A couple warm days have brought all the hyacinths into bloom. They’re remarkably color coordinated considering I originally planted just $7 worth of no name clearance bulbs from SAMs club. This would be year 5 for them and I think over that time they’ve actually gotten bigger each season, especially the pinks and whites. Some push up two stalks of fat blooms, and if there’s one fault to these flowers this might be it. Sometimes the blooms are so heavy they flop.

A newer “retro” hyacinth that avoids the flopping problems are the multiflowering types. Each bulb can push up a less dense, often multiple, flower stalk. I say they’re a retro version because people commonly compare them to the old roman hyacinths, which were an older (less hardy) version with a similar, wilder look. I’ve got “Blue Festival”, which doesn’t make much of an impression in the garden, but even so I’d like to add the pink and white versions too. Close up the blue looks great. I need to get mulch down around these bulbs. Maybe it will be the weekend project, but with daffdil season starting any day now who knows?

Spring is Official

Apr10

Two warm days and spring has exploded into full force. The trees don’t have leaves yet but 70°F brings up all the bulbs, opens the hyacinths, and starts the daffodils. It also brings out the neighbors. I saw more people around the block yesterday than I had in all the last three months combined, and everyone was out raking, fertilizing, aerating, blowing….. all the good things that responsible subdivision inhabitants fill their sunny days with. In the front bed we have our first dose of flower sunshine, good old “tete a tete” daffodil. It’s the Stella D’Oro of daffodils and gives nice early color.

I have to confess I broke the camera last weekend. It’s a Nikon D3000 with a Nikkor 18-55mm 3.5-5.6GII lens……. I have no idea what any of that means but I’m sure it has something to do with expensive and something to do with even more expensive to fix. The camera met the floor and the plastic tabs that hold the lens snapped off. Apparently it’s a common break and after several hours of moping and cursing (silently of course, away from the kids) I went online and found the fix. It was a generic lens bayonet piece which I ordered as well as the tiny screwdrivers needed to replace it. Two days ago I replaced it and am now back in business. There was one more final blip in the road, it was the crappy, non-functional, cheap (more cursing) screwdrivers. I gave them to the boy, who has a talent for disposing of small tools, and then made a trip to Home Depot and got a Husky set (for less money btw). The camera came back on line just in time. Here’s a picture of the front border with blue scilla siberica and the reds of corydalis solida. Corydalis might just be one of my new favorite spring bulbs.

I’m not 100% sure if they really are true to their names, but I bought the darker red corydalis as “George Baker” and the lighter, almost pink as “Beth Evans” (both from Brent and Becky’s Bulbs). Most of the time I can’t tell the difference between the two, but I don’t entirely care. Both are nice and I need more. There are whites, purples, pale pinks…… but they’re hard to find and not exactly cheap. Maybe I’ll treat myself this fall to two or three affordable ones….. I just won’t buy any more new work ties for a year or two.

Not blooming yet are some I bought as the generic corydalis solida, it’s a murky mauve color, shorter, wimpier looking, and I’m not crazy about it. I’ll bore you with a picture of it when the blooms open.

The blue of the scilla siberica and the violet stars of the chiondoxa are nice enough too, but if you look closely you’ll see a bunch of seedlings coming up. I’m not sure I want that many and wonder if they’re going to be a pest some day. But on the other hand a weed with a bright blue or violet color might not be the worst problem to have, so for now they are welcome reseeders.

The hellebores have come up too, these survived spending the winter buried in kids toys and trash and are now looking all dark and moody.

They look better in the picture than in the garden, the colors are too dark to show up well, but the dark one is cool. Originally these were bought as “sunshine strain” from Barry Glick’s nursery maybe 5 years ago. I expected a nicer range and bigger blooms but I guess you get what you get…. also the plants were kind of tiny when I got them…. I should probably stop there.

Here’s a lighter one, an “Ashwood strain” from Santa Rosa Gardens. I like it.

That’s enough for now. Daffodils are coming up and I need to save my energy for that.

Feelin’ Rich

Apr8

I’ve been on a buying spree lately. After months of doubtful back and forth it looks like my job will be around for another year, so I’ve finally cracked open the wallet to treat myself to a few extras on my wish list. The first was last weeks’ $100 trip to Lowes. A new 4 light T8 shop light with timer, light bulbs, and a bag of potting soil all got a spot in the cart. I eyed the seed potatoes for a while (they had a nice selection, reasonably priced) but didn’t bite. After years of sitting on my wallet it’s hard to go all out.

I’ve got the lights set up in a corner of the basement close to the furnace, so I’m hoping this will be a good spot for the warm growers like tomatoes and peppers. Of course space under the new the light is already filled up with nonsense like coleus cuttings and geraniums, but I did fit a bunch of new seedling pots in. Hopefully by the time I need more space a few of the cool weather things can already go outside.

It’s a crappy picture but it shows about all you want to see of the spindly coleus cuttings that have spent all winter on the windowsill. I should have potted them up earlier but….. you know…. hopefully they will grow fast enough to give me a few additional cuttings as I pinch them back.

Nothing fancy about the light set up. It’s a basic T8 shop light with generic 5000K “sunlight” light bulbs rated for laundry rooms and closets. I may be feeling rich but I’m not going crazy with special (aka expensive) growlights, and based on the success of the first light setup this one should be fine.

My credit card got a little more excersise over the next couple days. Not much, but I’ll wait a few days before fessing up to my other purchases.

The crocus meadow

Apr4

Calling it a crocus meadow might be overselling things a bit, but I like to think of my little plantings last fall as the start of something bigger…. even though right now its main function seems to be rabbit buffet.

Of course a green background of lush grass would make a nicer setting than the current dried tan, but even this little burst of early spring color is most welcome at a time when everything else is still on the sidelines, waiting for the weather to make up its mind.

The meadow wasn’t much of an investment. All the bulbs were purchased for around $30 with shipping from Van Engelen during their post-Thanksgiving clearance sale (an awesome sale btw). I chose the species grand collection which included (50) Blue Pearl, (50)Cream Beauty, (50)Goldilocks, (50)Purity and (50)Ruby Giant. A pack of 100 Crocus tommasinianus also ended up in the shopping cart. I got some great clearance prices but even pre-sale they still would have been a good deal. You just have to be able to meet their minimum order since they are a bulk seller.

Cold weather and 350 small bulbs in need of planting doesn’t sound like a good combination but I tried a new (to me) planting method. Someone on the bulbs forum on Gardenweb suggested using a masonary hammer for planting and I figured I’d give it a shot. Using the sharp end you swing it into the ground, pull back, drop in a bulb or two, hit the hole closed with the hammer end and you’re done. Repeat 300 times. It only took me a couple minutes and only cost me one blister on my hammer hand. I like the results!

An early Easter and late spring worked out perfect for hiding eggs among the flowers. I don’t know if the kids were impressed but I thought it worked out nicely.

One problem has been the rabbits, they love the fresh crocus blooms and every now and then mow down part of the display. Oh well, as long as the crocus live to bloom another day. Another crocus bloom killer is the little girl who lives here and her playmates. Once the fun of the egg hunts ended the kids spent a good hour making bouquets and delivering them to the neighbors. How could I say no to that?

I didn’t plant any of the big purple and blue hybrid crocus, I was trying for a species look and I suppose I got that. For now they’re out, but I’ve seen lawns with the bigger types naturalized and they do look great.

I did sneak in a couple spare snowdrops.

I plan on adding other bulbs this fall. Maybe a few of the early (short) daffodils, possibly a few alliums that will bloom amongst the uncut grass, maybe a couple other things. Right now the only bulb on the definitely transplant list is this scilla mischtschenkoana (trust me I googled that spelling). It’s another early bloomer that I hope will do well in the grass.

Crocus!

Apr1

Finally some springtime weather. The crocus jumped at the chance to soak up a little sun and warmth and give the bees a chance to do their thing. These are in a warm spot near the house, but even in the open garden stuff is starting to show up.We were all home for an extended Easter weekend and I was determined to get the yard ready for spring. Thursday was a warmup day with a little cleaning out front, Friday the big bed along the street, and Saturday I spent most of the afternoon cleaning the backyard. It still looks a bit grey and dreary but there sprouts showing all over.

One plant that looks better than ever is cyclamen coum. It’s been blooming through snow and ice, rain and frost. They’ve been giving color since late February. These are just two year old seedlings, but I bet they’ll outlast the crocus.

New bird sighting

Mar24

Redpoll at the feeder

These have probably been to the feeder before, but yesterday after a closer look I saw we had a small flock of redpolls sampling the sunflowerseed. Cool, I’ve never seen one before. It’s a bird of the tundra and boreal forest, so not exactly a hopeful sign for spring, but a new bird is always something. They were followed later in the day by a swarm of starlings searching out grubs and worms in the lawn and then a flock of grackles eating the cracked corn. Even though grackles are listed as year round residents here I only notice them in the spring. With that in mind I’ll count them as a sign of warmer weather.

Indoors I planted the next bunch of seed. These were the 4-6 weeks before frost bunch and although I’m on the late side once things go outside they will hopefully catch up.

They say it’s spring, I don’t agree.

Mar23

Easter decorations

All the signs are there, the calendar, the birds, the rabbits, the plants, but one thing is missing. It’s still crappy grey windy weather and I don’t feel like spring at all. In fact after a snow day this week, I’m expecting another on Monday when another 2-4 inches comes our way. Hardly the weather of egg hunts and daffodils, but there’s not much you can do about it. I suppose the silver lining is once things start going it will be so late the threat from late freezes shouldn’t exist…. but you never know.

Every time the snow receeds (the sun when it does come out is pretty strong) the plants that reappear seem to have grown a little more. The cyclamen coum is really taking off now in spite of the cold, and the winter aconite wins the distinction of being a flower so early it’s actually now over for the year. My cyclamen picture doesn’t really capture the glow these early cottoncandy colored flowers give off on a grey day.

A few hardy Cyclamen coum in the garden

Crocus are trying, and on the first warm day will burst out fully opened. It amazes me how these flowers seem to explode into bloom when the temperature rises. The snow crocus are first with yellows and creams and smaller flowers, the bigger dutch hybrids are a little later with dark purples.

Yellow species crocus

We will see this spring how my crocus lawn is developing, it’s a bit sparse right now but I see lots of sprouts and I’m hoping more will show. Here’s the only lawn picture I got before the rabbits nibbled off every single bloom.

Purple dutch crocus hybrids

A sheltered spot near the house has the first hybrid crocus ready to bloom. The other ones planted in the open garden are barely just appearing through the mulch.

For all the complaining, spring is not much later than average. My less than scientific investigation puts us maybe a week behind a normal year. I’ve kept records of bloom dates for a couple years and like looking back to see what’s up and what’s missing. My records should be more organized and I should plan a little better but this is about all my procrastinating self can handle. Right now I feel like I’m already behind and should have more seeds started and more cuttings rooted, but you know how it goes, you’re either much too early or (for me at least) much too late.

seed exchange packets

I guess it would help if I stuck with the plan and didn’t take advantage of the surplus round of the North American Rock Garden Society’s seed exchange. Here are 40 more packets waiting for me to do something with them. Did I need them? Of course not, but who can resist giving excess seeds a home and only spending $10 dollars doing it?

So in the meantime I’ll start the peppers and tomatoes and stick with the indoor gardening. Under lights the onions are coming along, the snowdrops are starting to yellow and the cyclamen coum is still showy. Two months of indoor color during the dullest time of the year is pretty good in my book!

Onion seedlings coming along under the shop lights

More snowdrops from the Temple Nursery

Mar19

Here’s the second installment of photos from our visit to Hitch Lyman’s garden. These pictures are all taken on the bank of earth that lined the one side of the driveway leading up to the house. The drops (and a few other things such as cyclamen coum) seemed happy on the slope, even though there didn’t seem to be much in the way of soil improvement or mulching or any other tinkering with the planting area. But I don’t know that for sure, all I know is there were plenty of nice looking galanthus and even in the cold weather they were a hopeful sign of spring.

Cyclamen coum and Galanthus ‘Sickle’ looking somewhat chilly

Galanthus ‘Warham’

I’ve always been a big fan of snowdrops. When the first warm days of spring rolled around I’d always make a point of swinging by the yards and parks where I knew there were a couple growing. Although they were one of my favorite flowers, when I tried growing them in my parent’s garden they never really settled in. They just hung on.

The ones at the Temple Nursery seem to be doing much better. If you’re curious as to snowdrop names, a mouse hovering over the photo will hopefully show their identity. In this photo, the one on the right is galanthus “Sophie North” and it was one of my favorites. The blooms were big and fat and at this point when they’re still tucked in by the foliage I think they’re perfect.

Galanthus ‘Sophie North’ on the right and ‘Sentinel’ to the left

This was my first opportunity to see a lot of named snowdrops in the flesh, and it may have made a snowdrop snob out of me. I’m beginning to pick up on the variations and differences. Here’s “Spindlestone Surprise” which even an amateur like me can pick out as being different from the usual green-whiteness.

Galanthus ‘Spindlestone Surprise’

Yellow snowdrop

But I still can’t tell too many of them apart (and never with any certainty unless there’s a label stuck right next to it). Here’s another yellow, and although there was a “Wendy’s Gold” label nearby, I don’t see much of a difference between this and the other yellow.

I may be drifting into snowdrop-snobbery but I still think I’ll be fine with just a couple. Fyi they’re on order for shipment this spring.

Here are the last few pictures. “Lodestar” shows a little green even when closed, and the blooms splay out a bit instead of having the round drop shape.

Galanthus ‘Lodestar’

Wasp has a longer narrow bloom, looking a little sad in the cold.

The long wing-like petals of Galanthus ‘Wasp’

Galanthus ‘Naughton’

I think this is Naughton. I really like the fat blooms, no green showing, and the curled Pedicle (or at least I think that’s what you call the green thing over the bloom.

Not to leave things on a down note, but some snowdrops looked like they took a hit from the cold. Here’s “Lord Monosticus”, and it appears the blooms got more than their fair share of winter cold. I’ve had this happen in my garden with some of the earliest ones, and they recover fine for next season, but it’s sad to see. This one was actually on my short list for ordering. I’d like a real early one, but maybe it’s not worth the stress.

Galanthus ‘Lord Monostictus’ after a rough spring

So that’s it for the snowdrops, I guess they’re not everyone’s “thing” but I kinda like them. Also there’s not much else going on here as another 4 inches of snow comes down……

Snowdrops and snow

Mar17

First days of spring come and go but for me a major turning point is the first garden tour. Saturday was the day, and a friend and I headed up to Trumansburg NY to visit Hitch Lyman’s garden and his collection of snowdrops and other early bloomers. I won’t bore you with the details of the “should be a 2hr drive” but the clock put it at closer to 4 hours and I’m sure that was due in a large part to not having a map, not really paying attention to directions, and having a co-pilot with a lot of new stories to share. So we got there a bit later than planned, got to see a little more of the country side, and got to see a few more cities than we should have. At least we didn’t end up in Canada is all I’ll add.

A snowdrop visit to upstate New York in below freezing weather and amidst snow qualls isn’t everyone’s idea of a good time. Most of the garden is still asleep and when you pull up it’s more the house you notice, and less so the gardens.

The house at Temple Gardens

This open day was organized by the Garden Conservancy and according to their description the 1848 farmhouse was moved to the site in 1990. What a job that must have been, and I’m going to guess it needed a bit of restoration when it got here. On our side trip to reach Trumansburg, we came down rte 414 from Geneva Falls and experienced first-hand some other “in need of renovating” historical houses. Some fascinating buildings, almost kind of ghost-towny in spots, and I’m going to make another guess that the local economy can’t support the upkeep on these grand old houses. So they sit and slowly decay.

Back to the garden. As you can see from the house photo most of the front acreage is naturalized fields with a few specimen plantings here and there. The drive up to the house is also a mix of naturalized shrubs and trees, but along both sides are banks of earth spotted with all kinds of treasures.

A sloped bank of hardy cyclamen and various snowdrops

The snow and cold had many of them lying down but there was still plenty to see. We checked in for our visit and headed around the house. Plantings close to the building were pretty subdued and actually the direct opposite of what most gardeners do. I put all the little stuff right up around the house, but here the only plantings were a raised terrace with a planted fieldstone sitting area.

The terrace out back

I’ve seen springtime pictures from this vantage point, and the white wisteria and crabapples make for a much more lush view than the current frozen winter aconite among the paving.

Around back is the namesake temple for Mr. Lyman’s Temple Nursery…. snowdrops are the specialty in case you missed that.

Behind the temple you can make out the dark green of the yew and boxwood that surround the formal garden. I didn’t get any pictures inside the garden, but it’s a formal layout of geometric planting beds filled with lilac, peonies, colchicums, hellebores, and of course snowdrops and other spring bulbs.

The formal garden entrance

Deer seemed to be a problem outside the hedge and protective fence, with plenty of nibbled and buck rubbed shrubs, but once inside there were many signs of spring… in spite of my freezing fingers and cold toes.

Some early Lenten roses (Helleborus niger) in the formal garden beds

Galanthus ‘Jade’

Of course there were snowdrops(here’s “Jade”), but the bulk of the snowdrops were in the next (and last) section of the garden. The woodland garden was furthest from the house and consisted of a narrow path that wound its way through the secondary growth of trees and shrubs that lined the back field.

Here’s how the path looked.

The carefully marked woodland path, lined with snowdrops.

There were small clumps of drops everywhere and I was nervous to even use the outer edges of the trail since many clumps edged up to the path. For a snowdrop fan there was interest galore…. for a non-snowdrop person I suspect they would want someone to widen the path, throw down some mulch, and pick up a few of the fallen twigs.

An authentic snowdrop woodland peppered with clumps of named snowdrop varieties

Here are a few clump closeups from the woodland area.

Galanthus nivalis sandersii

Galanthus ‘Diggory’

Galanthus ‘Lapwing’

Galanthus ‘R D Nutt’

Unlabeled double snowdrop

I’ve got a few more pictures taken of the bank along the driveway but I think I’ll save them for another post. For now I’ll leave you with some interior shots of the temple (it’s not just for show!). After losing all sensation in my fingertips, we allowed ourselves a break inside by the temple fire.

Warming up in front of the fireplace at the Lyman garden.

I hope we weren’t crossing any poor-garden-conduct boundaries by going inside, but the door was slightly ajar and the fire was so inviting. Plus by then we were freezing, and a passing snow squall wasn’t helping matters much. As we were looking around and considering building our own garden temples, I saw this above the door and had the feeling we were just as welcome here as we had been in the rest of the garden.

Inside details of the temple

Thanks for having us Mr. Lyman.

A day late and a dollar short

Mar15

I go back and forth on overwintering tropicals and summer bulbs. Last year was an up year. I planted a bunch of cannas, elephant ears, dahlias, and banana plants in a new bed over at my mother in law’s. The tropicals plus a number of tasteless, gaudy, bright annuals were all right up my alley.

A little bit of tropicalismo in my Pennsylvania garden

The annuals were all seed grown and the tropicals were all little bits and sprigs that I keep over from year to year. I overwinter the lazy way and some are ok with that while others…..

In short, the good gardener will check up on them around early February, add water to the dry ones, remove the rotted ones, air out the damp ones, just give them a general once over to carry them through the rest of the winter. If you are not of the good gardener type you can still save most of your tropicals if you check on them around March 13th and give them a once over. I think the yellow, crispy asparagus ferns may still pull through, now that they got a bit of water.

Tropicals hiding from the cold

The aloes and jade plant snuggled up against the dim (slightly heated) garage window are troopers and don’t need a drop all winter.

These are the bulbs and roots and tubers that I threw into bags and buckets. I’m hoping for the best, but it’s tricky to walk the line between keeping them dry and cool enough to keep them dormant vs everything else that could go wrong. Too wet, they rot. Too dry, they crisp. Too warm, they sprout. Too cold, they freeze……

The ugly truth of my overwintering process

I guess I do just kinda throw them in a pile and hope for the best. To do otherwise would go against my natural laziness.

Here are a few bigger pots, just rolled into the garage and allowed to go dry. You wouldn’t think it but many tropicals will just “hang out” in the dim, cool garage until spring (I did throw some water on these about a month ago). The only one giving real problems is the fig which decided to sprout once it got water. I really should have left that one outside.

Geraniums….. probably shouldn’t have bothered.

I won’t make you look at the coleus cuttings. They’ve been in water on the windowsill since October and look worse than the geraniums. In a week or so I’ll pot them up, take some geraniums cuttings and see what we can do with them. It should have been done now, but I’m always running a day late and a dollar short.

sorta like suburbia

more than you ever wanted to know about my garden