They say it’s spring, I don’t agree.

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.

First day of spring?

Mar12

The sun was out and temperatures crept up to the fifty plus range, so I did what every self respecting suburban boy does when the bad weather breaks. I washed the cars. Donna was pleased, clean cars and an industrious husband are far more respectable than a spouse who shuffles around the yard looking for crocus sprouts, but I couldn’t avoid poking around in the crusty flower beds. Here’s the one right next to the front walk.

The ugly reality

It was time for the trash and dead banana plant carcass to disappear so that there will be room for spring sprouts. Sure it’s early, but I think everything there will be fine even with a couple more freezes. I feel much better now.

A fresh new look

Sorry, but I can’t help putting in one more winter aconite and snowdrop photo. Sure it’s the same two inch plant from an earlier post, but in case you didn’t notice, the subtitle for this blog is “more than you ever wanted to know about my garden”, so to keep it honest I go for the overkill.

Shoots and flowers coming up to make spring a thing

A low of 20F is forecast for later in the week and winter hasn’t been completely crushed, but I’m going to call this past weekend spring (even if it’s just really really early spring).

Next I should consider cleaning the hellebore bed, it could use some attention too.

More of the ugly reality

The pussywillow at the end isn’t waiting so I better get on it, but at least for now the winter grime is off the cars and a couple plants have some breathing room.

Hope for spring

Philadelphia Flower Show Time

Mar9

The signs of spring keep building. A major one from last week was the return of turkey vultures to the skies above the valley. I never really gave it much thought, but they are migratory and they do head back up north when things start to thaw out, so I guess they are a good sign of higher thermometer readings. Them being vultures you can figure out on your own what it is that draws them back, but it’s not just flowers that appear when the snow recedes.
For a different dose of spring, a friend and I made a mid-week road trip down to the flower show. This was the 185th show held by the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society and this year’s theme was “Brilliant” and had a British flair to it.

There was a music video show every hour on the Big Ben screen. It was funky and modern and not what I was expecting, but its been a couple years since I was last to this show. I was also surprised by all the cash bars (there’s one in the front left of the above photo) and snack stands sprinkled throughout the show. Maybe it was geared for the evening visitors, but I saw plenty of afternoon beverages being served. Made me wish for summer garden tours with a favorite beverage in hand, but being on a hard-core tour schedule, we opted out.

Florist displays were popular, table settings galore. I do like a green/white theme.

or a nice flower thicket looming over the dinner table.

This one makes me think late night party with way too much wine.

I think this one was a bronze manufacturer out of England (not a florist). Their display was a “Wonderland” theme. I liked it!

That’s enough table settings, I prefer the little yardscapes much more. Here are a couple I could see inspiring someone to do the same to their own place…. not me of course, I can barely keep up with the weeding and planting.

This is also take home worthy, even though there’s a bit too much “stuff” laying around (crap maybe?)… but to be honest I love having a bunch of interesting crap around!

I wish I could take better pictures, mine just doesn’t do this display justice. View for this display goes through the gate, down a flower lined grass path, and continues through a brick potting shed, and out to another garden. Nice plan and plants!

This one also appealed to me. Probably not much to take home, although I do have a pair of disfunctional wheelbarrows, but I liked it. There’s a nice wall-o-cabbage and other brassicas for a backdrop.

There were other great displays, but I won’t bore you with photos that get a little too far into the out of focus. Last one for the post is a mailbox entry from under the sea. The kids were impressed when they saw this picture, lets hope they don’t expect a mailbox overhaul at our own house.

Now it’s off to the ‘Horticourt” for individual plant entries!

sorta like suburbia

more than you ever wanted to know about my garden

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