Not much of a blog tonite. Tough to get motivated. We hauled out 15,000 annuals that we hope to plant tomorrow at our Saturday workday. I'll need about 50 people and hope we get that number. It was a strange dance today with the weather. The wind was unreal all day. We have over 100 large cottonwoods around the gardens and along the periphery of our 20 acre property. They are currently producing their "cotton" which normally floats around the gardens like light snow flurries. Today, it was a blizzard blowing sideways, finding its way into most orifices. The troubling, looming issue that we contend with annually is dealing with the 300 billion cottonwood seedlings that germinate in every square foot of exposed garden soil. Ugh. We also had to duck inside on occasion due to heavy rains and some were soaked. Regardless, we all kept busy and had a productive day. I forgot to email my photos from today back home, but will post more tomorrow. Hyacinth lilac (
Syringa hyacinthiflora) above with beautiful, semi-arching blooms (delightfully fragrant). The flower clusters are normally more upright but have been pummeled with the rains. Mediterranean bells (
Nectaroscordum siculum) below. This allium relative, while marginally hardy, is planted in October as a bulb. I love the arching bells, which have a different coloration if you're looking at the inside or outside of the petals. This plant will go dormant in a couple weeks and tops out around 30" or so. As a humorous side note, Janice has been doing our cutting display over the past couple of months. Three times a week she cuts flower, foliage, stem, etc. samples of interest out in the gardens and sets up a nice display inside to give visitors an idea of what might be worth looking for out in the gardens. She had samples of a climbing hydrangea and mockorange for fragrance and put a 'SMELL ME' sign on them. She then put a "DON'T SMELL ME' sign on a sample of a hawthorn (
Crataegus) blossom. They smell like rotting carrion (my description) but of course, that sign is all it takes for everyone to come and check it out. Janice had multiple visitors stop by and go directly to the stinky ones. Funny and educational!
Not much of a blog tonite. Tough to get motivated. We hauled out 15,000 annuals that we hope to plant tomorrow at our Saturday workday. I'll need about 50 people and hope we get that number. It was a strange dance today with the weather. The wind was unreal all day. We have over 100 large cottonwoods around the gardens and along the periphery of our 20 acre property. They are currently producing their "cotton" which normally floats around the gardens like light snow flurries. Today, it was a blizzard blowing sideways, finding its way into most orifices. The troubling, looming issue that we contend with annually is dealing with the 300 billion cottonwood seedlings that germinate in every square foot of exposed garden soil. Ugh. We also had to duck inside on occasion due to heavy rains and some were soaked. Regardless, we all kept busy and had a productive day. I forgot to email my photos from today back home, but will post more tomorrow. Hyacinth lilac (Syringa hyacinthiflora) above with beautiful, semi-arching blooms (delightfully fragrant). The flower clusters are normally more upright but have been pummeled with the rains. Mediterranean bells (Nectaroscordum siculum) below. This allium relative, while marginally hardy, is planted in October as a bulb. I love the arching bells, which have a different coloration if you're looking at the inside or outside of the petals. This plant will go dormant in a couple weeks and tops out around 30" or so. As a humorous side note, Janice has been doing our cutting display over the past couple of months. Three times a week she cuts flower, foliage, stem, etc. samples of interest out in the gardens and sets up a nice display inside to give visitors an idea of what might be worth looking for out in the gardens. She had samples of a climbing hydrangea and mockorange for fragrance and put a 'SMELL ME' sign on them. She then put a "DON'T SMELL ME' sign on a sample of a hawthorn (Crataegus) blossom. They smell like rotting carrion (my description) but of course, that sign is all it takes for everyone to come and check it out. Janice had multiple visitors stop by and go directly to the stinky ones. Funny and educational!
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