Winter flowers

Normally by the end of January I'm suffering serious gardening withdrawal. I get very cranky, and Henry knows that it's time once again, to surprise me with my midwinter flower bouquet.
Last week I realized that he hadn't bought one this year.
When questioned he replied." Why would you need more flowers? There are flowers all over the house!"
As I looked around I realized that it was true!
I also realized that I hadn't had my annual cranky bout either. (Well. . . a cranky bout connected to gardening. The weather is another story!)
So here's a look at what's been keeping me going.
The amaryllis at the top is from a bulb my dad bought for me three years ago. It's flowered every year since!

I bought this plant for myself. I hate to admit it, but my mind is blanking on what it's called. And I call myself a gardener!

Tamara, care to let us all know what this is? These are what you started with in the greenhouse all those years ago isn't it?

This is the beautiful rose Holly bought me for Valentine's day. It lasted a long time!

This amaryllis is the third stem on the bulb Jesse bought me for Christmas. It's quite something isn't it?

And we can't forget my favorite flowers as we head into spring. Primroses. I love primroses.

Cyclamen! That's what the mystery plant is! Cyclamen! Whoo Hoo! It looks like I might be a gardener after all!

Whew!!. . . I was getting a little worried there!

It's melting!

Overheard on my school bus this morning.

Grade four student to kids around him, ( all involved in a card game at the time)

"Guys, I'm dead! You've got to operate on my brain!"

His younger brother, "Okay!"

I laughed, I chuckled, I grinned all the way to school while basking in the warm sun as it streamed through the window.

Which brings us to the topic of today's post.

For those of you still buried under snow and/or battling frigid temperatures. . .

I'm so sorry!

Please. . . just. . .look away!

Whew! Now that they are taken care of , here it is. . .

It's melting.

Yeah! I hadn't really looked at the back yard closely for a while, which you'd understand if I had taken a picture of the entire back yard.

But if I did that, you'd see that dirt is not the only thing that's being uncovered as the snow melts.

If you know what I mean.

This is the hole Jada is digging to China.

We are not quite sure why she's digging a hole to China, but we think she's hoping that Chinese dogs like to play non stop.

Unlike Canadian dogs who generally poop out long before she's finished!

We'll get back to you once the hole gets a little closer to it's destination.

Garden Help

A son who gardens. What could be better?

Especially when there's a slimy, stinky pond to empty!

And please. . .

Don't let on that I showed you pictures of him wearing yellow rubber gloves and using a (ahem!) chamber pot to bail out the pond.

It'll just be our little secret. . .

I wonder what I'll find for him to do this year? ( evil chuckle.)

Mistake number one

Well, as promised here is the story of my first mistake regarding my seedlings. ( And if past experience is any thing to go by, it is just the first of many!)


These are the seedlings in question.

As you can see I had planted these Datura in a smaller six pack. I planted in the smaller six pack for only one reason. . .

Pure laziness. The smaller pot was brand new and didn't need washing and sterilizing. The larger pot did.

So I choose the smaller one.

And this is the result of my laziness. . .




That's right, flowers! The very small plants have already started flowering. Why you ask?

This is why. The plant has already become a little root bound which is it's signal to flower! If I had transplanted it into a bigger pot earlier it would have just kept growing bigger. Now it's energy is going into the flower.

One of the plants is not as far along as the other so hopefully all is not lost with that one.

Of course the solution is to transplant them now.

Which I did.

But still.

The fact is , is that they won't get as big as they should have!

I hate that.

Time for a bigger pot. Notice how I went quite a bit bigger? This will not happen again! (well. . . yes it will. But I can hope!)

The trick here is to break the roots apart so that they will be forced to grow into the new surrounding soil. If you just leave them they way they are they'll keep circling around, which often causes it to dry out faster, and will it never get as big as it should.

Into the pot it goes.

Add your soil .

Press soil in firmly.

Add water and put back under the lights and that's it.

Really. . .

That's all there is to it!

What else could there be?

Oh all right! You remember the flower buds? Well. . . I have to take them off.

I know, I know, it will be painful. After all who wouldn't want to see the first flower of the season?

But you want the growth to go to the roots, so the plant will get bigger, rather than wasting energy on flowering.

And I'll do it.

But it's going to hurt. . .

Computers, Arghhhh!

Okay, what is it about computers?

Mine is making me crazy!

Morgan had shown me a quick way to download my pictures from the memory card.

Wonderful!

Now all I had to do this morning, was to download the pictures onto my side. Only, it doesn't work. After some serious work on figuring out what the problem was, I discovered that the program needed to do this was on Morgan's side of the computer but not mine.

No problem , I'll just install it on my side. Only, the computer can't seem to find the program and I have run out of time to fiddle with it.

I had promised to have a garden design done by the end of the month which is coming up fast. And I need to get it done so. . .

I'll leave you with more pictures of my front garden last July, to keep you going until tommorow.

At which time I will show you the result of mistake number one , which has occured with my seedlings.

Until tomorrow. . .

Quiet Sundays

Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians v16-18

Camera glitch

Well. . . For some reason my pictures won't download onto the computer. I've been having a little trouble with the program for the last week or so.
Unfortunately I don't have time to fiddle with it . I have a field trip today and I'm going to be planting pots of dianthus seed with the girls from our church's Gems program tonight.
Then there's the ham that's been waiting to be baked for dinner, more seeds to be planted, and Jada's staring at me right now, wondering when we are going for a walk!
So. . . I hope you all have a great weekend. I know I will.

I've been shopping again!

I visited my father-inlaw in the hospital yesterday morning. He was not having a very good day as he had to shower (with a lot of help) and this caused considerable pain in his back. He spent most of the time sleeping while I visited with my mother-inlaw. Thankfully she says he was feeling a lot better after supper that evening. We are keeping them both in our prayers.

On the way home I had to drive past Hole's, http://www.holesonline.com/ an awesome garden center in St Albert.

I was not going to stop.

I really have to watch my pennies right now.

I told myself that I would just get out and get some inspiration for the garden I'm designing.

The first thing I saw when I stepped in the door was a display of primroses. (Uh Oh!)

Then there was an Easter display. . .

I was doing very well.

Until I crossed the threshold into the greenhouse area.

A beautiful scent filled the air. There were flowers every where.

I'll bet none of you could have left empty handed either!

The loot.

Oh the anticipation. . .

Ooooh. . .

Ahhhhh. . .

Ohhhhhh. . .

I love primroses!

Don't they look nice? The yellow one smells great too.

What's this?

A begonia tuber.

I've never started a begonia from a tuber. I've always found them a little too expensive and then when spring rolls around and I want to buy potted begonias they are even more expensive and I end up not buying any at all! This year I told myself I needed to buy one so we could figure out how to do it together. Thanks for the excuse. (Ahem! I mean reason.)

You're wondering what's in the white bag?

Well now. . .

You are going to have to wonder a little longer. . . (evil grin.)

Friends

Jada love her floppy bunny. . .

She makes a great pillow.

Time to fertilize!

How exciting is this?

Take a look at how quickly my plants have grown. . .

These plants have already sent out their second set of leaves. (The rudbeckia has just the one large one to start)

I use 14-14-14 to fertilize my seedlings and I place one pellet in each corner of the plant cell.

Sunshine, warmer temperatures, and new green growth. . .

Spring is on it's way.

What was I thinking?

I don't know what I was thinking this morning!

I had taken some pictures of a beautiful arrangement I had in the living room. My sea lavender had grown huge last year. It also stayed upright, due to the pots right beside it in the garden. What a lovely bouquet is was. . .

I decided to bring it into the house for the winter.

As a reminder of summer.

I was the only person in the house who appreciated it. Everybody complained the it was too big.

I said it was abundant and who could have a problem with that!

Everybody said they hit their heads on it as they walked through the doorway.

I didn't. . . Really! Ok, not very often anyway. You just had to turn sideways whe you walked throught the door. How hard is that?

The other day Henry informed me, that, as the weather had warmed up , the next fire we had, would hold my sea lavender.

What!?

It had been decided. Everyone had had enough. The sea lavender's time had come.

Look at it this way," he said, "now you can display something else in it."

Sob.

So I took pictures.

To remember.

And then I erased them.

What was I thinking?

To many things at once apparently.

Well I can still show you pictures of is end. That I saved!

But I wanted you to see my sea lavender in all it's glory.

You would have loved it as much as I did.

YOU wouldn't have thought it was too big. You would, like me, have thought it abundant. I'm sure of it!

We'll never know now.

Because I erased it.