Germination!
Stuff is happening in our basement that’s got me excited. The very first seeds of my very first attempt to start plants inside have germinated. So teeny, with their two cotyledons barely visible, but so cute!
gardeninacity
Notes from a wildlife-friendly cottage garden
Thanks a Million
A few days ago the Chicago Tribune ran a story about how 14,000 Chicago gardens had been registered with the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge, contributing to the total of 1,040,000 gardens registered since 2015 when the challenge was launched. Actually, the press release announcing this achievement came out on February 26th, so it’s not exactly breaking news.
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A Tulip is a Terrible Thing to Waste
So I brought my Tulip pots from the garage today. Everything is frozen solid, true, but still: it’s March. I don’t mind telling you, though, I’m worried about this year’s Tulips.
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The Great Backyard Bird Count, 2019
The Great Backyard Bird Count was held February 15-18th, and as usual Judy and I were happy to participate. All you have to do is choose a spot and spend a few minutes or a couple of hours counting birds.
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Prairie Nursery: Another Favorite Native Plant Catalog
Recently I’ve written about a couple of my most beloved plant catalogs, and I can’t turn away from this subject without mentioning Prairie Nursery.
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Flowers for the Kitchen
We fixed up our kitchen about a year ago, and ever since then I’ve wanted to write a post about it. The process was lengthy and painful but necessary – the cabinets were falling apart, and you can glue things back together only so many times.
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Which Native Milkweeds Are Best For Monarch Butterflies?
Monarch Butterflies need Milkweeds (Asclepias sp.), right? Because Monarchs lay their eggs on Milkweeds and only Milkweeds. But when it comes to attracting and supporting Monarchs, are some Milkweeds better than others?
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Hummingbird Wars
A few days ago there was a short but eye-opening New York Times article concerning recent research on hummingbirds. The research indicates that Hummingbird beaks evolved primarily for fighting, not for feeding.
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My Seeds Have Arrived!
For the first time ever, I’m starting some tender annuals inside this year. As of now the letter carrier has delivered them all to our home from Johnny’s Selected Seeds and Burpee. (I like the name Burpee. You’ve got to admit it’s a funny name.)
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A Single Amaryllis
That’s all we’ve got so far in terms of indoor winter blooms. And I can’t even tell you what variety it is, because I lost the tag.
I do think it’s a pretty nice one, though. I bought for Judy’s Christmas stocking, though it was actually too large to fit. The flower color is a nice creamy white, with a hint of pink near the tips.
I also appreciate that the stem is sturdy and upright, even though we let the bulb lean rather far to one side.
We did attempt to force some Crocus bulbs, but that was a flop. They weren’t given enough time to chill, and so most of the bulbs yielded only leaves, the blooms that did emerge looked rather sickly. The odd thing is that I brought the Crocus bulbs inside because they started to come out of dormancy. You’d think they wouldn’t do that if they hadn’t been chilled sufficiently.
On the other hand, I still have a small sack of double Daffodils sitting in our unheated garage. They were sent to me as part of some kind of promotion. The Daffodils have been chilling since before Thanksgiving. Maybe next weekend I’ll bring some in and try to force them.
And we could always bring in some Forsythia branches. So our indoor winter blooms may end up not being so meager.
What about you – have you been happy with your indoor blooms this winter?
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