Lots of Northern Blooms

We've had some nice sunny weather and mild biting bug levels this week. The raised beds are finally looking more green than brown, and the flowering bulbs are showing themselves. I had these grape hyacinths marked as daffodils, but they look great there nonetheless:

Primula auricula in the shaded flowerbed, a dainty yet striking hardy perennial flower:

I planted up my Escheverias in their concrete pot last night. I remade my monochromatic container planting of last year from the leaf cuttings of last summer's plants:

A wild shrub just behind our house produced these interesting flowers. It looks like a wild berry by the foliage (we have various wild Ribes and Rubus shrubs around here), but I'm not sure what it is:

My Fritillaria meleagris is still showing its artsy checkered flowers. This plant nevered flowered after 2009's horrendous winter, but clearly is still alive and well.

My rugosa rose suffered major damage in the winter of 2009 and now seems to be producing only new growth from near the ground. If it looks embarrassingly unattractive at the end of this season, I might think of replacing it.

Dryas octopetala "Alpine Carpet" is one the nicest plants in the alpine bed. It has glossy evergreen leaves, and creeps slowly, forming a nice low mat between the rocks:

We took a little drive around some newer properties in town last night. One large and very attractive house was for sale, with a yard consisting of dirt, weeds, and rocks interspersed with junk. Resident-lawnmower-man pointed out how some modest landscaping could add a significant value to the house, and why hadn't the homeowner thought of this? Sometimes I feel that "landscaping deficiency" is a new epidemic. I wonder if more and more younger folks just have no interest in landscaping their yards or spending time in the upkeep of a yard. Only marginally better are the houses with only a lawn that extends from road to the house, with nary a shrub or perennial or flower bed of any sort in sight. I could understand that older folks might not have the ability to maintain a yard, but I know that a lot of these places are inhabited by young people in our town. RLM is hoping that landscaping is somehow infectious, and that our yard is inspiring other folks to enhance their own properties. I'd even donate divided perennials to anyone who wants them! Here's to a beautiful town this summer.

Delicate Blooms

The forecast calls for cooler weather and a steady light rain for the next few days. This is good for gardeners and their gardens, but not so good for campers. I don't plan on doing any camping anytime soon, so this is fine for me. Actually, it's also good for pulling out dandelions, since the wet soil makes it easier to get that strong taproot out with my Jekyll weeder.

Here are the rose-like blooms of the double-flowered Primula auricula "Shalford's double". The dark color of the bloom and small stature of the plant require that you get close to the ground to appreciate it.

This short, blue-flowered columbine is Aquilegia glandulosa, a perennial of Chinese origin. It must be a fabulous addition to my garden as it is listed as "rare" on several plant websites. Now I like this plant even more! It was gifted to me last year by another gardener.

The flowering crabapple tree has put on its party clothes this week:

Gardening Failures and Lessons Learned

A good gardener shares her failures, so here are my recent "learning opportunities":

#1. My solitary Primula auricula seedling germinated quite nicely, then promptly died in a limp heap atop a generous topping of vermiculite. I discussed this with BB, pre-eminent local garden sage, who pointed out that vermiculite retains water and that P. auricula does not like excessively damp conditions. Perlite would have been better.

Aha. Perlite purchased. New P. auricula seeds sown.

#2. Curry leaf tree cuttings also looked initially promising then succumbed to fungal fuzz. The root stimulating gel didn't have time to act in the face of aggressive fungus that attacked the stem in the glass of water. I suppose there wasn't much circulation around the cutting (I read that high humidity would help, so put it in a humidity dome). Hmmm.

Besides, I've noticed a few of the impatiens seedlings falling over despite the "No Damp" spray. I've re-installed the oscillating fan in the basement, which did wonders with previous year's plants.

Silene saxifraga - One of several seedlings destined for my new rock garden.

I'm speaking of the rock garden currently in my imagination, but hopefully to be constructed by RLM this spring. We recently stayed up late one night discussing the essential features of my rock garden and the exact definition of an "alpine" plant. I presented 3 fantastic books on the topic. RLM just wanted to look at pictures, without listening to "drainage needs" and "gritty topdressing".

Osteospermum sinuata "African Sun" -- they don't look like they need pinching yet.

Rogue compost worm - escapee from the tomato plant pot.

Micro Tom Miniature Tomato -- fully grown and nearly done producing fruit. Its fruits are getting smaller, nearly the size of a pea. There's not much juice or flavour, not suprisingly.

More seeds in ziploc bags -- my germination method of choice.

Having failed at these small gardening projects, I am even more determined to try again. I bought P. auricula seeds from a gentleman in England (on eBay) and those seeds went into soil (with LOTS of perlite) last night.