Gerbera and Catalog Pet Peeves

I had been wondering when my Gerbera daisy would re-bloom. Resident-lawnmower-man bought it (in full bloom) for me last summer and I repotted it once over winter. It looked like an over-exuberant spinach until it popped out a nice red flower a few days ago.

Well Gerbera, take a look outside today. Did you see all that solid-phase moisture falling from the sky? I suppose I won't be putting the sprinkler out on the lawn today. We'll have to wait for the snow to melt to find the garden hose again.

In the non-gardening moments of my life, I have been critically reviewing the latest garden catalog to show up in my mail. Veseys sent a "Fall 2009 Advance Sale" catalog along with my spring plant order. (Though I think it would be more effective marketing tool in locations where people are already enjoying tulips and daffodils vs. snow and poor winter driving conditions.)

They tempt the reader with a sale offer and plenty of color pictures of beautiful spring flowers, yet they frustrate me with the lack of accurate descriptions of the bulbs. I like to buy particular varieties of tulips so as to know (1) when they will bloom and (2) how many years they will last. Unfortunately, their tulips descriptions mostly lack reference to the tulip divisions though you can identify some of the obvious ones (parrots) from the pictures. Are those double tulips early or late types? Also, that "Low Growing Tulip violacea Pallida" doesn't mention that it is a species/botanical tulip that naturalizes well. Honestly, this is like selling cars as "nice red ones" and "small blue ones".

Enough with my botanical nitpicking!

These are morning glory seeds ready to plant later today. Lupines and morning glories germinate better if their hard black seed coats are chipped with a sharp knife or nail clippers (or sanded down in one area) and soaked overnight. This allows the seeds to take up water and expand to kickstart the germination process. As you can see, this one is pushing out its little insides already!