Green Seedlings

Last week, I planted the last six daylily seeds-- the late sprouters.  One of them still hadn't sprouted, but I stuck it in the pot anyway, just in case. (Can't do any harm to try.)

Many of the already planted seeds have put up their first green shoots.  (Exciting!)  I counted over 90 this morning.  At this point, they seem to grow before your eyes!  They're bigger by mid-day or evening than they were in the morning. 

Now I'm just waiting for the weather to warm enough that they can be moved outside.  They're making do on our breakfast room table, for the time being.  There, they get the full benefit of the bay window and are beyond the reach of a curious Luna.  Fortunately, we eat on the couch, in front of the TV ;o) so they're not in our way.

Here are the daylily seedlings on Thursday-- just a few barely poking up:

And here they were Sunday night:

On Friday, I planted a few more envelopes of seeds.

We're waiting for signs of growth of blanket flower, butterfly flower, salvia (blue bedder sage), purple coneflower, cupid's dart, achillea/yarrow, and snow-in-summer.  I'm skeptical of a couple of them, but we'll see what happens!  There are more to plant, but by the time I stopped, the table was almost full!  Time to set up a couple of TV trays by the windows, maybe...

...The table, crowded with potted seeds:

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There aren't many things blooming, this time of the year.  (Not in our yard, at least.)

A pink camellia:

These, I thought were called "summer snowflakes", but they always bloom in spring, and now I've read that there's such a thing as "spring snowflakes", too, so maybe that's what these are:

New growth from the "wild" iris (yellow flag)... These bloomed so prettily last year-- the first time I remember ours ever blooming.  I hope they'll repeat the performance, but even if they don't, their leaves are nice-- especially in early summer. 

The ivy is slowly conquering its trellis:

This is what it looked like in September, so it really has grown over the winter:

I'm considering putting a few containers of ivy along the lattice wall of our covered patio.  I'd like to cover the lattice in something that flowers, but that spot doesn't get much sun, so options are limited...  We did get some cardinal climber (cypress vine) to grow there, but I'm trying to avoid that plant.  It's a little too invasive for my tastes-- for that particular place, at least. 

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I still haven't done the mulching that needs to be done, and weeds are already beginning to take over some of the flower beds.  (*sigh* I mean, really?  It's only the beginning of March.  Stupid weeds.  Also stupid rabbits that are sneaking in and snipping off the leaves of my poor daylilies!  Anyone hungry for rabbit stew?) 

Today's been overcast, but warm.  The catch is that it's also humid.  Yuck.  Tomorrow will be a repeat-- but by Thursday and Friday, we're expecting highs in the mid 40s.  Crazy weather, but however crazy it is, I need to get out and work in the yard this week. 

Oh, and the reptiles and insects are beginning to emerge.  One of the nice, warm days we had recently, I spotted a wasp and a couple of those dratted carpenter bees out and about-- already scouting for wood to destroy.  (We need to get our bee traps in working order!)

The green anoles are showing themselves again after a month or two of the disappearing act.  We've seen garter snakes twice in the past month.  While I was down on my hands and knees, pruning branches in a tight spot under some crape myrtles, I looked down, saw a snake wriggling right below me, and divided my energies between shrieking and scrambling backwards.  ;o)  Fortunately it was just a garter snake, but not a very pleasant way of finding one!  Then this weekend, Donald found one right on our kitchen doorstep.  It was an aggressive little thing, striking at Donald as he relocated it with a shovel.

While we're out getting started on springtime yard work, it's good to remember that we're not the only ones taking note of the warming weather.  ;o)

Seeds Here, Seeds There

Yesterday afternoon, I checked the daylily seeds to see if any had sprouted.  Yes, they had!

(I didn't remember to take a photo until after I'd potted some of the seeds, so this isn't all of them...)

Over the weekend, I'd prepared some little pots for the seeds, so I brought some of them inside and began planting.  (It's too cold, yet, to leave the delicate little things outside, so they're staying in the breakfast room, by the bay window, until milder weather returns.)  So far, 44 of the 125 have been potted.  The rest have gone back into their warm, humid ziploc bag.  (I'd show you the planted pots, but they're pretty boring to look at right now.)

Here are the envelopes of the other seeds I mentioned last time.  It's probably not too soon to plant some of them, also-- at least the ones that I'm not planting directly into the ground.  (The yogurt cup holds morning glory seeds harvested from one of last year's Grandpa Ott vines.  None of last year's morning glories did that well, but I'll still at least scatter these seeds somewhere.) 

Last year, I saved a lot of cardboard tubes from used paper towel rolls-- particularly during Luna's puppy months.  Now they're cut and folded into free seed starters.  Just add potting soil!

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In other garden/outdoor news...

Donald's been bringing home the stones for our fire pit/fire ring, several at a time.  It shouldn't take long to get that set up, and then we can have an inaugural "campfire", one of these chilly early-spring evenings.  (Photos when it's done.) 

While clearing the fire ring area, we set aside some of the small trees.  The idea is to make two or three very simple, rustic obelisks to support annual vines.  I don't know what they'll end up looking like or how sturdy they'll be (or how long they'll last), but since they'll be almost completely composed of things we'd have no other use for, anyway, it's worth trying. 

We've started figuring out where, exactly, we want to place the raised vegetable beds, in their new location behind the garage.  (It's thanks to Donald.  I wouldn't have gotten that far, yet, if left to my own devices...)  Right now, we're thinking three beds perpendicular to the west-facing garage wall.  Enough room to mow between the garage and the beds (and enough room to keep the beds out of the garage's shade).  Narrower walking/kneeling spaces between the beds (where the weed-eater will come into play, since the mower won't fit).  ...We'll see how it goes.

Preparing for Spring

It's hard to believe, but spring is nearly here, so we're trying to get a few more things done outside.

We still have plans to put in a gravel parking area right in front of the garage and a gravel path through part of the yard/garden.  It's the part of the yard that gets the most traffic, and I think it'll cut down on the dirt and grass that gets tracked into the house.

Our idea is to have the gravel pathways roughly where the edging pavers are in place, then turn the rest of this area into a cottage-style flower garden with shrubs, perennials, and annuals.

This will be my main flower garden.  There may be flowers here and there, elsewhere about the yard, but I'm trying to focus on getting this one area as nice as possible.  It's where we spend most of our outdoor time-- and anyway, I'm not interested in maintaining many more flower beds than this. 

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Other outdoor projects:

-- Replace part of the fence (the part nearest the garage/the flower garden area) with something different/nicer than our current ranch-style fencing.  (This will probably be a long time coming...)

-- Build an arbor over the path at the main gate.  (We have a climbing rose already in place, so getting the arbor up should be a sooner-rather-than-later project.)

--  Move the raised vegetable beds from their current location to a new spot directly behind the garage.  (They'll be closer to the water, there, and also inside the fence and out of sight from the front of the house/garage.)

-- Finish clearing our path(s) through the woods.  We've made a lot of progress there, already, but there's still work to be done.  (Trees to be pulled out of the way.  Limbs to be trimmed.  A few small stumps that are tripping hazards.)

-- Put a fire pit in the little clearing we're currently working on, nestled into the woods on the north side of the garage/parking area.

-- Transfer the pavers currently leading from the gate to the covered patio to a smaller patio area off the back porch (once we put in the gravel path).  The smaller patio area will be behind the passionflower trellis, and I'll extend the cottage-garden flowerbeds to surround that area, too.

-- Build some sort of trellis for the jasmine to climb.  (Not sure what we'll do for that, but it needs some sort of support...)

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The cottage garden area should be overflowing with plants, so to jump-start it, I'll try to grow some perennials from seed, this spring.

Last year, we grew daylilies from seed, and we had such success with the second batch that I've decided to do it again this year.  That second batch I ordered was 50+ seeds.  This time, I decided to go really crazy and went for the package of 100+ seeds.  I counted them when they arrived-- 125!  Some of them were already starting to sprout!

Here they are getting ready to go into the damp paper towels...

And here they are in their cozy ziplocked bag...

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More seeds we'll be starting soon...

Perennials:
-- Blanketflower (Gaillardia aristata)
-- Snow-in-Summer (Cerastium)
-- Cupid's Dart, blue (Catanache caerulea)
-- Chinese Lantern (Physalis franchetti)
-- Yarrow (Achillea)
-- Purple Coneflower (Echinacea)
-- Salvia (Blue Bedder / Sage)
-- Butterfly Flower (Asclepias tuberosa)
-- Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)

Annuals:
-- Black-Eyed Susan Vine (Thunbergia)
-- Morning Glory (Heavenly Blue)
-- Moonflower (Giant White)
-- Spanish Flag (Mina lobata)
-- Nasturtium (Fordhook Favorites Mix)
-- Marigold (French dwarf double & Crackerjack, mixed colors)
-- Cosmos (Single Sensation, mixed colors)
-- Moss Rose (double mixed colors)
-- Zinnia (Violet Queen, Giants of California, Giant Cactus, Semi Dwarf Pumila)

Some of these may not succeed, but seeds are relatively cheap entertainment.  It's worth a try!

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I haven't blogged consistently here for quite some time.  (My craft and reading blogs have been more active.)  However, I'll probably start updating regularly again, with the approach of spring.  I hope you like garden-themed photos and blog posts.  ;o)

Farewell for Now

Ann Lassitter
(my "Granny Lassitter")

May 31st, 1941 - January 16th, 2015

“Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it.”

-- L.M. Montgomery, The Story Girl

Scary Donald (and More!)

We recently bought a chainsaw, so Donald ordered some protective gear to wear while using it:

Luna wasn't too sure about that creepy helmet with the face shield...

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I've sniffed out a few more stinkhorn mushrooms since the first one, but so far, it's not too bad.  Maybe we did a good job removing them last year, and this season won't be as stinky as feared!

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Psst!
I'm not blogging here much, these days, as you may have noticed.
The more active blog, at the moment, is over here.  Be warned, it's mostly crafts-oriented.