Out of the Frying Pan

"Easter" rose

It's actually Helleborus orientalis -- Lenten Rose -- but it's Alleluia season, so I'll briefly rechristen this lovely plant.

Listening for Spring?

It has been many years since I've had this much color in the garden in March. Iris reticulata used to show up in January in my Oswego garden, which sort of calibrates where we are in seasons here on the Front Range.

Help for kitchen gardens

Via a comment on the Picturing Plants blog, I found a blog that offers a lot of good information about kitchen gardens, Kitchen Garden Help.com. In particular, I was glad to get more information about thymes. We have some that creep into a stone path, but the sand has settled. I now have the idea that I'd better lift the thyme, add sand, and then replant the thyme. Thanks for that, Sonica! ;)

Feeling like ferns

Today over at Picturing Plants I have a drawing of a carpet design, ferns. I love ferns, even when they're shimmery and out of focus.

In what is surely one of the largest labors of love on the Web, the Connecticut Botanical Society has indexed, photographed, and described the ferns of Connecticut. You won't believe how many there are.

Pandering to pansies

From mid-April until the middle of June, pansies love the front porch. Before mid-April, they freeze; after the middle of June they roast. But for a few months, I enjoy some of the most floriferous plants of the garden.

Here's a page that has no pictures, but purports to know "Practically everything!" about pansies -- and it just might. The extension service at West Virginia University also has a page full of technical information about growing pansies, and the American Violet Society has a page of historical information, complete with Redouté's 1827 illustration of pansies.

Ready to give them a try from seed? Check out Thompson and Morgan's offerings: today, a total of 17!

Caught cold again

Last weekend when the temperature floated up near -- not quite touching -- 70F, it would have been possible to wonder whether the Front Range might be headed for an early Spring.

Possible, but not wise: I've seen the scene outside my window this morning in March, April, and May. We've been here only ten years, not yet long enough to see it in June, although I've no doubt it's possible.

Seed and plant catalogs are the time honored comfort. I'm partial to Thompson and Morgan and a new one to me, McClure and Zimmerman. The latter catalog has something of interest to me: a passionflower with roots hardy to -20F. With a little winter protection, that might be almost hardy enough to make it here.

In praise of supermarket flowers

In our climate, for about half the year flowers do not bloom outside. For someone accustomed to picking roses on Christmas day, this is a shock from which I have not yet recovered -- and my poor gardening in Colorado shows it.

Here, an inexpensive but spirit-lifting treat is supermarket flowers. At our local Kroger, there are always big "I'm sorry" bouquets, but there are also little bunches of flowers I would have overlooked in Oregon. Here, an orange carnation can make my day

The orange might not be natural and there is little scent. Maybe it is the idea of a flower as much as the flower, itself, that makes me smile.

Consider the lilies of the living room

Alstroemeria -- Peruvian lilies -- are one of my favorite flowers. They come in many colors and they last forever. Sometimes I'm more careful about arranging them, but just slouched in a vase, they're lovely.

In the right climate, i.e. not below the mid-20sF, they grow in American gardens. When I was gardening in such a climate, I never succeeded, but I never had instructions as specific as these.

As an aside, Weidners has informative articles on a number of topics, including begonias, cyclamen, pansies (another one of my favorite flowers), and more.

Why do I even bother calling out favorites? I'm hard pressed to think of a flower I do not love. Gladiolas might make that extremely short list, but that would be snobby. No one who adores alstroes should be snobby.

Something pretty in the kitchen

With Mr OotFP away this morning, I was given charge of the misting. My hand was a little heavy on the mister trigger, but these are two of the pretty blossoms we are enjoying right now.

Blue skies and thorny twigs

Blue skies and a temperature of 68F send some of us to the backyard. I heard my neighbor beating a rug and I, too, was immersed in housekeeping of the outdoor kind.

It is definitely not time for pruning in these climes. My mission was simply to deal severely with some of the errant canes that attack Mr OotFP as he goes about his business in the backyard. There's tension between cover for the birds and safety for Mr OotFP. I hope you know which side I favor.

There's much more to do in the simple "knock it back and don't care if this cane dies all the back" task. For now, though, I'm out of steam and tired of being attacked, myself. I am more wily than the canes intertwined with berberis, but they do not let go without a struggle.

How thuggish are these canes? The thorny berberis lets them go with nary a constraining whimper.

When to prune is a subject undertaken with much seriousness by rosarians. To get a rise out of one, simply mention the old saw of pruning when the daffodils bloom. For true rosarians, it is far more nuanced. Here's what the All-America Rose Selection site says.

Apropos absolutely nothing, take a look at this Ikea hack: the decoupage of a plain cabinet. Wow.

Temptations of a rainy day

Today we have Oregon-style rain, not a monsoon but the steady stuff that soaks right through. The grey sky puts me in mind of green things, especially those I'd like to have in the garden. In no particular order:

• Concord grapes
• rosa 'Little White Pet' - although I'm waffling and wondering if some kind of light pink polyantha (same class as LWP) would be better in our hot summers. White tends to look washed out here, imho, so although LWP is a hands down sentimental favorite, maybe The Fairy is a better choice. But I don't think it's as floriferous.
• rhubarb - that link is the genius of the Internet; some guy is totally fascinated by rhubarb; it's a nifty site

Those are the main things. Asparagus, though a nice idea, seems like a lot of trouble. Also, the soil ph might not be right.

At right, some flowers at Kew, September 2008. Sometimes I worry that 40 years from now, I'll still be blogging flowers from England, 2008.

Oops. Scrub those thoughts of Spring: now it's snowing heavily. Here we are, at home in the Springtime of the Front Range.

Pretty things in San Antonio

Something I loved on my first visit to San Antonio was the assortment of beautiful flowers. During a visit a few days ago, I spied these lovely things in my sister-in-law's garden. I don't know what any of them are. If you know botanical or common names, it would be great if you'd chime in.

Although these look like the most gorgeous sweet peas, it's actually a rather large bush. The bush got lost, though, in my enchantment with the bee.

These flowers remind me of monarda (one common name is "bee balm"), but again this is a shrub, and not a diminutive one.

Another shrub with beguiling blossoms. Any ideas?

Seven reasons that bailiffs' notices and sore feet are annoying, but not truly upsetting

This afternoon at Kew

First look at Kew

There are tons of greenhouse photos, of course. Seeing again how drawn I am by line and texture, it seems that although I have not sewn in many, many years, a captivation with fabric remains.