Keeping warm inside with the plants

We've braved a week of bone-breaking cold and the car only failed to start once! I left it unplugged for just 20 minutes at -34 Celsius and it punished me for being so cruel. The coldest it got (not factoring in the windchill) was -34 Celsius. That's enough to persuade me to buy some heavy boots at the local trading post this week. My toes will thank me.

Resident-lawnmower-man shovels snow off the decks:

You have to live somewhere cold to understand why the Cree name for January is "Moon of the Tree Exploding Month". I haven't seen the trees explode myself, but I wouldn't doubt it if someone told me they saw an exploding tree in this severe cold. My own descriptive name for this month might be "Moon of the nostrils freezing together".

Here is my phalenopsis Brother Mirage "Brother" orchid in (almost) full bloom:
Seedlings in humidity dome:

I have limited myself to a few perennials for now, including Euphorbia myrsinites, whose seed packet made it sound like only sorcerers and advanced horticulturalists could make this seed germinate. It sounded like a good challenge for January, when I am over-eager to plant things. Strangely, they germinated easily in warm conditions. I also am growing some Gentiana acaulis and Arabis blepharophylla Spring Charm.

The January Seed Itch

Have you got it too? Do you have a burning desire to sow seeds in potting mix and then revel in the exhilaration of small green things sprouting? Do you want to assemble a colorful mix of pansies in a shiny new ceramic pot? I'm trying to restrain myself, but the January Seed Itch has definitely taken hold.

The peppers, tomatoes, herbs, lemongrass and orchid shelf of the indoor basement-garden:


I just finished putting away the Christmas decorations and I resolve to replace them with something symbolic of an impending spring. Yes, I'm inviting spring to my home with centerpieces and pastel ribbons. I'll be searching out the Michael's craft store for a replacement for the silk poinsettia arrangement. RLM will find that pretty thrilling, I'm sure.

If you are looking for a wide variety of herbs, the Richters Seed Catalogue is pretty spectacular. It contains everything from Ephedra sinica (with small print reminding us that sale of purified ephedrine is illegal, but growing Ephedra is NOT) to our local native plant, the "ratroot" (Acorus calamus) which is touted for treatment of "flatulent colic" and fleas. I counted no less than 31 different mint varieties sold as seed or plants. This includes "Mojito Mint", apparently liberated from Cuba in 2006 by Toronto's "mojito enthusiast" Catherine Nasmith. Did anyone tell Fidel about this? Should the American public be drinking communist mint? Hmmm.

Here is an amaryllis plant given to me by a colleague at the office. Thanks, Jeff!
I've started a few annuals and perennial seeds in pots and enclosed them in ziploc baggies. I spray the planted pots with some "no damp" solution, to prevent the seedlings from rotting and dying.

If I am lucky, I won't end up with pots that look like this -- a fabulous example of lush moss with no seedlings to be found:

I hope you have luck in seed-starting. Just remember to avoid starting fast-growing or large plants too soon. I say that from frequent and apparently fruitless past personal "learning experiences".

Sunrise

Here is a beautiful morning sunrise, which now occurs between 9:00 and 9:30. Thank-goodness the sunrise is getting earlier each day.

In contrast to much of southern Saskatchewan, La Ronge is not in the middle of flat prairie. We do not have road networks that resemble graph paper when mapped. The terrain is too rocky and irregular for any of that neat and tidy north-and-south stuff. Thus, our house sits at an irregular angle, looking out onto the lake over our neighbour's house. Using Google Earth and the location of the sunrise, I'd say we face southeast. Who needs a compass? Well, we do have a GPS. You never know when you might get lost in your own garden.