Tuesday, March 22, 2005

22 March 2005, Hosta, Pepper, Tomato, Baby Blue Eues, Shasta Daisy, Rudbeckia, Heliopsis, Monarda, Mrs. Kendal Clark Geranium

22 March 2005
There it is, sunshine. We all felt better for some of it. Our furnace was out last night. The sun was so bright today and reached into so many new crannies that the house was almost colder inside than out.
I got the soil I'd put in the garage last fall out and filled some flats with soil. then I put in some seeds in neat, well marked rows. Some of the plants on the porch that looked dead from too much cold, were alive inside and I trimmed them up and tried to find space for everything. In a few weeks a lot of plants can go out, as the landscape outside greens up. Right now there are plants all over the porch waiting more patiently than I am for warmer weather.
I planted;
-Pinetree New American Hosta Mix (Hybrid) in the white plastic tub. There had been Lobilia in this tub, I transplanted that to a wetter spot that gets more light.
-Into the 1st flat went the seeds I'd saved from the white, fall flowering Hosta, then Tri-Fetti pepper, Sauce Tomato, Small Cherry Tomato, Pinetree Fooled You Pepper, Italian roasting, Ancho 101.
-2ond flat Nemophila or Baby Blue Eyes, I could have sewn it directly into the soil, but it looked too brown to me outside. Also Shasta Daisy -Chrysanthemum x superba, Baby Sun Coreopsis, Indian Summer Rudbeckia, Chocolate Orange Rudbeckia, Heliopsis, Monarda Panorama mix, and Mrs. Kendal Clark Geranium that is a pale blue.

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

2 March 2005 Lobilia, concrete pots, pruning, cold

2 March 2005
It is cold. Outside, snowflakes lazily head toward white earth. The garage door is frozen shut so that I can't reach the soil there to start plants. Frustrated, I mow the tops of every plant I can and find places in pots for them to root. It is good to get into the swing of pruning. These plants will grow, it being March, but they will be more compact now with their haircuts.
With the pelargoniums, I enjoy unusual shapes as they lean toward the light, or tumble over the side of the pot. Many of the geraniums will find their way to pots when frost free days come in May. Big plans to make reenforced concrete pots are hatching. I'll need wire mesh and concrete mixing gloves and a concrete trowel and concrete. Maybe I'll try to make a slurry of paper and use that instead of gravel, making the pots lighter. Maybe I'll get really expansive and use moss or old leaves, or maybe just unadulterated concrete like they used to make boats of in the 70's. Those old concrete boats sunk when they got leaky. Holes in pots are good for drainage and I hope it will work out.
Lobilia are so blue. In my eastern window in a pot with the Blue Geranium I started last spring that hasn't bloomed yet, some Lobilia grew this winter. The Blue Geranium flowers are over late, as I started them for P2's graduation party last June. The Lobilia, unlooked for and uninvited, rewarded my winter weary self with a deep and compelling violet. What a peasant and timely surprise.