Selection: Gardening

All my annuals froze last night/this morning.

October 10th was officially the last day of my growing season.

Even though we still get frost at night, the daylilies and tulips are poking their noses above ground. Soon summer will be here and I will enjoy the warm weather again.

Sights like these are a good reminder!  

First, for me there is the joy of outdoor gardening, but I can only do that for a few months in the year. Over the past few years I have gone from "almost everything" to "almost just lilies." The hybridizing bug got me, I must admit. Asiatic crosses can produce flowers the second year and most results are unexpected due to the gene pool. I like surprises. :)

My indoor gardening grew out of a need to keep doing something with plants in the winter (beating the winter blahs). I started out with Christmas cacti and a bit later with orchid cacti after someone gave me some cuttings. The orchid cacti take at least 3 years from cutting to bloom, so the Christmas cacti had most of my attention the first couple of years. I quickly learned that pink and red are not the only colours. I now have various pinks, red, white, yellow/salmon and orange. I take my CC's and OC's outside in the middle of June and bring them back inside toward the end of August. My red OC was blooming when I took it outside, bloomed again early August, and is now (mid September) in bud for what I imagine the final show for the year.

My CC's started blooming in August, but not profusely. Right now though, I have several hundreds of buds and that's no exaggeration. As long as I keep watering them well, I should have a wonderful show of flowers the next month. The pinks in the south window are already starting. I have some theories why I have so many buds/flowers. First, I only fertilize once, in the spring, and second, before I bring them in, they get some real cool nights...close to freezing. I read somewhere that if a plant thinks it is going to die, it will try to reproduce. Maybe they are just being panicked into flowering...

And yeah, some bugs come in with them. Most are taken care of by the spiders that come in also.

I also have several spring cacti (Hatiora). The red one out-did itself this year. The pink one did nothing... So go figure...

African violets are useful because I can start new plants by leaf cuttings, so there is work (gardening) involved. I'm not that fanatical about removing dead flowers and leaves, or fertilizing to a schedule. Yet my babies do fine, mostly anyway...

This past week I added an "AeroGarden" to grow herbs over the winter. They call it aeroponic, but it's like hydroponic. Check out their website. http://www.aerogrow.com/ or http://www.interwood.com/a/p/aero/AeroDetails.shtml for Canadians. Not cheap, but interesting...

So why do YOU grow what you grow? 

Spotted a White-breasted Nuthatch in the backyard today, but it was gone before I could get the camera. Four chickadees were buzzing the bird feeder and must have scared it off.

The chickadees must have thought it is THEIR feeder... Mind you, they chase each other away also.

As I am writing this, she is back, so perhaps I can get some photos.

Well, got some photos and this one is the best. From googling the web for information, this appears to be a female with the grayish cap. Cornell Lab of Ornithology has very detailed information.

I am fed up with the idiot neighbours' cats who walk the fence and crap in my garden. The last beast knocked over a number of cacti (not the ones with needles) when I spotted him.

These creeps will have a lot more difficult time from now on, with chicken wire protecting my Christmas/spring/orchid cacti.

I wonder if I can legally use paint ball guns on these guys...  

Planted all my containers with annual flowers yesterday and today. For a change I did not buy too much.

This year the primary colour is red/pink, Was not planned, just turned out that way...

I think some Impatients for the shady corner and that's it! 

Spent an enjoyable day outside. Planted some Impatients and Lobelias just for fun. I hope they don't freeze...

Also planted a few lily seedlings from Jan de Vries and Joe Halinar. If there is a chance of frost, I can bring them inside as they are in planters. Last year putting them in planters worked very well. Produced nice bulbs.  

Spent several hours outside today, enjoying the nice weather. It's windy and sunny, and the plants (and weeds) are growing like mad.

All the martagon lilies are up, except the species. L. Henryii citrinum and some asiatics are up too.

Walking outside, getting a sense of peace, I focus on things I have not completed lately. Have not finished my tax return yet, just found items I needed to send out last year, some web updates have not been done... Hmm......

Finally... We're getting some snow, much needed both for insulation and moisture this spring. So far not a lot, but it's a start.

I see daylilies and garlic chives coming up already. This is the most unnatural weather I've seen in 32 years in Edmonton.

Is it time for gardening yet? While we enjoy unseasonably warm temperatures, we have about four more months of winter. Here is a site that shows weather data: weatherbase.com. Note that you can choose Fahrenheit or Celsius, and you can also search for your own city.

I follow a Usenet newsgroup called alt.binaries.pictures.gardens and every so often there is a "discussion" about how large or small the photos should be. This time there was a link to the FAQ from alt.binaries.photos.original. Checking that out on ABPO.net I found some other interesting things, such as a recipe for chicken feet. Something I always wanted... ;-)

Today was the official first day of Fall, and I woke up to our first frost. I did not seem to be a killing frost, but I'm reserving judgment until tomorrow.

With 27 degree temps (80F) one tends to slow down. Yet I had to pay another visit to my son. We were copying files via two methods back to the new hard drive, but one method made it so secure, I could not access the files. So those had to be redone. Everything is honky-dory now, some $800 later for the new external drive plus the replacement for the crashed unit...
But back on topic. I'm looking at mostly yellow tulips and a dozen red ones, and a good crop of daffodils. All the species lilies are above ground, and so are the martagons. I'd say 60 to 70% of the Asiatics are up, and even some OT's and LA's. I hope the severe thunderstorms with hail don't materialize. I can replace the coleus and pansies, but I hate to see the lilies damaged. One iris has been blooming for a few days already and others have buds. I think the cold spell killed the allium buds, they are turning yellow.
Planted some perennials yesterday, in between file copying sessions. Just some filler stuff for where the pond used to be. I am also going to plant herbs and see how they over-winter. Greek orageno is coming back great. I bet it's going to creep all over the place. I just hope it's not as invasive as mint.
Got some geraniums, herbs and tomatoes ready to plant but I'll wait another week.

I'm sitting in the backyard with the laptop and a glass of wine... Only about 15 degrees C (69F), much nicer than the forecasted day of rain. :)

So, what's blooming? Tulips, daffodils, grape hyacinths. Crocuses and scillas are finishing. Two different anemones (pasque and wind flower) are also blooming but these are not as showy.

The crab apple is starting and it looks like the lilacs survived last week's cold period. Saskatoons are just about ready to start blooming.

Martagon lilies are way up. We'll have to see how they do after last year's no-show. Some of my 2003/2004 martagon seedlings are up, and so is Darm's seedling from 2002/2003.

Henryi, Tsingtauense, Black Beauty, and several Asiatic lilies are poking their noses up. I planted Yelloween and Iceberg last year and they are up too.

I think all daylilies are back, and some irises are budding already.

Oriental poppies are getting quite large, and the Icelandic poppies are budding.

As I no longer have a proper pond, I have made my barrel the pond for this year. Got to get a pump in it for circulation, some fish and some plants and the birds should enjoy it.

Was out at Salisbury Greenhouses but too busy to my liking. Did not buy anything--can you believe that? I can't... :)

Oh, clematis. Did not lose a single one this year. Even the two I bought late last summer are doing great.

Hardy herbs... I asked a question about that last year. It looks like Greek oregano is hardy. The @%$@#% neighbour's mint is hardy, of course, and now growing in my garden. Thyme is coming back but not great. This year I'm going to try chives.

Over-wintered two coleuses and bought a few more, so my shade planter should look nice. Over-wintered a nice geranium also, and bought another nice-looking one. Or should I say, pelargonium?

It was another cold day. I noticed the leaves on the lilacs wilted, a fern turned to mush, tulips struggling. So different from a week ago.

Today I spotted the first robin. They have probably been around already, but working during the day has prevented me from seeing them. Crocuses and snowdrops have been blooming this past week, as I started to remove the straw from my garden. Did a little bit every day, as my back got better (week before this was a bad back week).

So all that straw was in one corner of the garden, and today I bagged it all. Ten bags took me two hours. Yeah, I'm a slow-poke, but it got all done. :-) I enjoyed being outside, doing spring-cleaning, but I suspect I'll pay for it. But that won't stop me! I'm done living my life expecting negative things and then avoiding the experience. If I like doing it, I'll do it. Carpe Diem!

ARLS Annual Fall Lily Bulb Sale at Muttart Conservatory. I was planning to go, but just did not feel up to it. Greetings from Lynnette W. to the gang...

Weather was nice enough for a little fall cleaning in the garden. Also caught a mouse...

Got up at 8am, had breakfast, and went back to bed until 11:30am.

Got some herb seeds to grow indoors. I'll plant those tomorrow, after the potting soil warms up. I keep the soil outside, and it's only 10°C today.

Another fine gardening day, although we had some rain after supper. I guess I won't be as tired today...

What's up with the snow forecast tomorrow?

Last of the fishies went to their new home, along with my last water lily.

Spent a lot of time putzing in the garden, getting ready to plant lilies. Totally wore me out...

Lovely day today, as far as the weather is concerned. Bugs were bugging me a bit outside. After the mosquitoes and aphids, now we have flying ants. Started packing the new "pond" flower bed. I guess I need some more soil now...

Another month finished... Six and a half more weeks of treatments...

Did some lily pruning today, cutting off spent flowers to make sure only the ones I hybridized would produce seed pods. The rest of the plant's energy can then go into the bulb.

Darn, those "skeeters" are bad. Thank goodness for DEET!

Joke: One good deet deserves another. OK, it's a lame joke. :)

Yikes, I've seen 34°C at 3pm but spikes up to 37°C. Did some lily pollination with pollen saved from last year.

Otherwise, inside was better than outside with mosquitoes just going crazy.

Got some more plants to make new planters. It'll be two weeks before they look nice but that's ok.

Another 9 hours of sleep. I like!!!

The No-Stoop Grass Shears arrived today, so I did a bit of grass cutting. I'll be cutting some more tomorrow.

More rain today. I think we're making up for the early part of May's lack of rain. Good thing I ordered some No-Stoop Grass Shears from Lee Valley.

Dull looking morning. Trying to track down a bastard who is linking to my photos without my permission.

Last night my first red orchid cactus bloom opened up and it's bigger than the width of my hand. The cuttings were planted in 2001, so predictions that it takes three years to bloom are true. I don't know if this is Ray's or the ones I got at Kuhlmann's. Oh well, I enjoy it anyway, and I noticed a second bud too...

Robert Schuller had a good message today but one illustration about hidden treasure touched me.

Cecile is putting in veggies today in her community garden plot, which is just two minutes walking. I went along, but quickly came home, as we disagreed on how she was measuring plots for other people. She's in charge of the community garden. One plot is 2 rake lengths by 4 rake lengths. Very professional... I'm removing myself from that discussion. Now that my blood pressure is normal, I'd like to keep it that way.

Planted one flower box yesterday. That was enough. I'll try another one tomorrow. Good thing I started my seedlings.

Nice iris in bloom today.

A lot of snow has melted, except where the sun does not shine. That will likely change tomorrow when it's supposed to warm up to "normal" temps.

I think the moisture from the snow kick-started the martagon lilies. Other flowers I see are scilla, snowdrops, and puschkinia. And then there's a mystery bud. I'm sure I put a lily in that area, but it does not look like a lily nose...

Continued the transplanting. A number of seeds had not germinated so this was a good time to "weed" those out.

Waterlilies are in the pond today. Later than last year and I hope they still get their cool period. They need that in order to flower. I keep them in my 6 ft aquarium during the winter, along with my koi and goldfish. The fish don't go outside until late May or early June.

Fairly cool today. Yellow crocuses are blooming. That's a nice pick-me-upper. :)

Another gorgeous day for spending outside. I'll have to watch and not overdo staying in the sun too long.

Did some more yard cleaning today. Collected 4 bags of straw and leaves.

Well, I'll be... Snow this morning! Glad it was all gone by noon.
My largest koi died today. Was just floating on his side. This guy started out as a red and white fish, but turned almost completely white last summer in the pond. He measured 18 inches long (46cm).
Received a get-well card and some lily seeds from Libby today: L. Canadense rubrum. Thanks much! Do I plant them now, or wait?

Sleep was again a problem... Wide awake at 2AM and just dozed here and there a bit, but really did not get any sleep to speak off. I figure a total of about 3 hours...

Got a 3-tier "flora-light" system at Lee-Valley today. Now I can start planting stuff for spring!

Lovely day today to be outside. Shovelled some snow, although I feel pooped in very short time, at least I'm getting some exercise. With my birdfeeders, there's a bunch of songbirds with a red chest and a red hat, a bit smaller than a sparrow.

Time to start hacking away at some ice in the backyard. If I do a little every day, I hope that in two or three weeks I will be able to bring my waterlilies outside.
Good piece of reflection from Phil. Sorry I did not get to it sooner, Phil!