Garden Update - first week of April, part 1
Spring arrived, took a look around, didn't like what she saw, and left.
At least that's the way the weather seems. It's not cold, which is nice, but it's so, so very wet.
The dam* puddles are back.
As in every year past, the grass grows at an alarming rate in early spring, and is a royal pain in the behind to mow.
The mystery tulips in the pluot bed are opening.
Some exciting things were discovered over the weekend!
The wisteria is going to bloom!
I hope, a lot can go wrong between buds like on mine, and the full flowers.
But, it's the first time this plant has made buds at all! I planted it two years ago, so it's very young.
The Russell lupine is too! It's really early. Last year I grew it from seed (in a winter sown milk jug), it had a really hard early spring being chewed on by earwigs, and had one teeny flower. It has grown an incredible amount in the past two weeks!
That's volunteer bachelor buttons in front of it. Which are also forming premature buds.
Two very exciting things for me are the identification of two of my mystery seedlings!
The very healthy ones from a milk jug that lost it's number are sweet William.
Free seeds, not something I'd have grown otherwise. Usually biennial, sweet William seeds were included in the mix of butterfly garden seeds, planted when I first build the beds in 2017. They were big plants, and I didn't want to devote that much space to them again. So, I'll keep one or two of the seedlings and give the rest away. My last seedlings and divisions went right away when posted to Craigslist a few days ago.
Turns out these rather oakleaf shaped seedlings (a pollinator mix from the Dollar Tree) in the Pollinator Garden are something I should have recognized...
godetia, or Clarkia, Farewell to Spring. I'm glad there are so many, I loved them in 2017, last year they didn't do very well.
By the way, the Dollar Tree 25 cent seed packets have all germinated, better in some cases than more expensive seeds!
There are still several mystery seedlings in the Pollinator Garden.
Also, I have yet to figure out what is growing in the new Herb Garden bed.
The leaves are rather heart-shaped, similar to violets. I do have wild violets, but they have never seeded, only spread via rhizomes. These are growing as if someone (me) scattered seed "just so," but I don't remember sowing anything here but California poppies, of which only a few are sprouting.
Any ideas?
To be continued...
(more seedlings, weeds, propagation "table," and a Winter Sowing update)
Oh, I planted a Chinese dragon wisteria years ago. All it managed to do was topple my arbor. :( Local garden centers are not very honest, sad to say, selling plants that won't bloom in our area, and some that even flat-out die after a season. My former neighbor, passed away over a decade now, used to plant azaleas every spring and they'd be dead the following year. We just don't have acidic soil to support such plants. Your gardens are awesome. I hope it dries up for you. Ugh...
ReplyDeleteThe previous owners of my house left containers of azaleas when I moved in, so I could control the acidity with plant food. What they couldn't take was a harder freeze than usual. I don't know much about them, so many there are kinds that put up with the colder weather you get. Here geraniums are grown as annuals. I don't bother. They don't have time to get big and lush! They were year-round plants in CA. We are just a little bit colder, but that little bit is all it takes to kill.
DeleteA wet spring is a mixed blessing. Your seedlings look good, especially the Clarkia! I bet your Lupines will be gorgeous! They don't grow well here, I think they need acidic soil.
ReplyDeleteThe soil where the lupines are planted is probably acidic. It's a bed filled with purchased soil, heavy on "recycled forest products," which are acidic.
DeleteI am just holding my breath, hoping not to get the devastation the earwigs brought last June. I already notice some seedlings getting small bites out at night, and a baby snail (rare here, I have seen only a handful in years) on new Shasta daisy growth.