in the snow and wind of the last few days my century old apple tree which had become a sculpture of cream and olive needlepoint ivy split and fell, now it lays in the garden almost as ornamental as when it was upright, it fell in such a considerate manner that almost nothing was damaged, even the eight foot wide daphne carol mackie which it neatly bisected seems not too disturbed-it is one of those things where i may do more damage in the cleanup than in the fall itself
spring tantaliizes. yesterday it was 72 F with cloudless skies. today it is in the 30's with snow blowing on a cold north wind, the mountains hidden in the blizzard. alliums are above ground, giganteum-not my favorite-grows and seeds only in the dry shade garden, purple sensation is at home everywhere except dry shade, as spring accompaniment to almost everything it is peerless if perhaps too enthusiastic-every spring i pull them out by the hundreds. colchicums and autumn crocus are up, here in reno when it seems that there will only be random blossoms of this and that before winter closes in suddenly that wonderful tender lavender pink in all shades lighting up the grpund and fpr a few weeks i think i will never like anything better
yesterday the temp high was 37F today it will be in the mid sixties, next week we may have rain instead of snow and spring she is a-cummin. tree peonies have budded-they are such an extravaganr plant-so much space for such a short bloom time-but worth it. i have come to the conclusion that it is wind they need most protection from, a very large peony that grows out of a magnolia gets very little direct sun but is completely sheltered from the wind and is splendid for several weeks every year the ones in exposed sites sometimes bloom for only a day-the first terrible windstorm of spring can be counted on for the day they open
do you know dianthus cholmondeley farrand? i don 't know if the name is quite as wonderful in britain as in the u.s.(i recently saw it offered as chumly ferran, which gives the sound but loses the spelling) . it is one of the oldest dianthus in cultivation rose and dusty purple ruffled petals, long stems and a fine clovey scent well worth looking for i think. it is rather daringly putting on new growth, as seems to happen every year some clumps of dianthus brilliant bloomed themselves to death last summer-oh well, there will be seedlings to move which will quickly fill the spaces
despite very cold nights(last night 14F) spring is coming fast. the crocus tommasanianus is at its peak thousands in bloom. the dutch crocus are just starting and at a friends i saw chionodoxa-very early the tops of the colchicum foliage has blackened but they recover quickly-rose leaves are beginning to expand probably only to be frozen off-in the house aloes and dudleyas are coming in to bloom-the aloes like penstemon, the dudleyas like stars and i have convinced myself the cactus are showing buds-well, we will see
the odd season-but aren't they all-has caused all the bulbs to come at once-wonderfully impressive. the first day of spring is a wonderful spring day-mid 60s-garden cleanup all morning in my pajama bottoms which is a true sign of spring. phlox davidii, asters, verbascums, leucanthemums, glaucium, alliums-all must be dealt with firmly lest the garden consist of just those things- i find the most difficulty in pulling hesperis and lunaria -i love those colors in mid spring they seem to weave everything together but ten thousand is certainly too many
somethings that are pleasant- the washoe zephyr roaring thru the tops of the sequiadendron, magnolia stellata coming into full bloom in just a day-something that is not so pleasant , discovering that i have finally managed to kill the aralia elata aureovariegata-why oh why do i keep moving things when they are fine(but not perfectly fine)where they are?
cool and cloudy today-the compost heap ismade although there is still more to add-there always seems to be more-the heap is all dry brown material so it is heating slowly-only 100 in 2 days-in the next few days i will add green stuff to speed it up disturbing mortality in some of the alpines-temps and precip should not have bothered them-on the other hand tender sedums and sempervivems that i decided to chance outside have all come thru fine-what a wonderful time of year everywhere we look more things are up and growing
Posts
how beautiful
in the snow and wind of the last few days my century old apple tree which had become a sculpture of cream and olive needlepoint ivy split and fell, now it lays in the garden almost as ornamental as when it was upright, it fell in such a considerate manner that almost nothing was damaged, even the eight foot wide daphne carol mackie which it neatly bisected seems not too disturbed-it is one of those things where i may do more damage in the cleanup than in the fall itself
spring tantaliizes. yesterday it was 72 F with cloudless skies. today it is in the 30's with snow blowing on a cold north wind, the mountains hidden in the blizzard. alliums are above ground, giganteum-not my favorite-grows and seeds only in the dry shade garden, purple sensation is at home everywhere except dry shade, as spring accompaniment to almost everything it is peerless if perhaps too enthusiastic-every spring i pull them out by the hundreds. colchicums and autumn crocus are up, here in reno when it seems that there will only be random blossoms of this and that before winter closes in suddenly that wonderful tender lavender pink in all shades lighting up the grpund and fpr a few weeks i think i will never like anything better
yesterday the temp high was 37F today it will be in the mid sixties, next week we may have rain instead of snow and spring she is a-cummin. tree peonies have budded-they are such an extravaganr plant-so much space for such a short bloom time-but worth it. i have come to the conclusion that it is wind they need most protection from, a very large peony that grows out of a magnolia gets very little direct sun but is completely sheltered from the wind and is splendid for several weeks every year the ones in exposed sites sometimes bloom for only a day-the first terrible windstorm of spring can be counted on for the day they open
do you know dianthus cholmondeley farrand? i don 't know if the name is quite as wonderful in britain as in the u.s.(i recently saw it offered as chumly ferran, which gives the sound but loses the spelling) . it is one of the oldest dianthus in cultivation rose and dusty purple ruffled petals, long stems and a fine clovey scent well worth looking for i think. it is rather daringly putting on new growth, as seems to happen every year some clumps of dianthus brilliant bloomed themselves to death last summer-oh well, there will be seedlings to move which will quickly fill the spaces
despite very cold nights(last night 14F) spring is coming fast. the crocus tommasanianus is at its peak thousands in bloom. the dutch crocus are just starting and at a friends i saw chionodoxa-very early the tops of the colchicum foliage has blackened but they recover quickly-rose leaves are beginning to expand probably only to be frozen off-in the house aloes and dudleyas are coming in to bloom-the aloes like penstemon, the dudleyas like stars and i have convinced myself the cactus are showing buds-well, we will see
the odd season-but aren't they all-has caused all the bulbs to come at once-wonderfully impressive. the first day of spring is a wonderful spring day-mid 60s-garden cleanup all morning in my pajama bottoms which is a true sign of spring. phlox davidii, asters, verbascums, leucanthemums, glaucium, alliums-all must be dealt with firmly lest the garden consist of just those things- i find the most difficulty in pulling hesperis and lunaria -i love those colors in mid spring they seem to weave everything together but ten thousand is certainly too many
dicentra aurea with brunnera jack frost underplanted with asarum europaeum-sweet
somethings that are pleasant- the washoe zephyr roaring thru the tops of the sequiadendron, magnolia stellata coming into full bloom in just a day-something that is not so pleasant , discovering that i have finally managed to kill the aralia elata aureovariegata-why oh why do i keep moving things when they are fine(but not perfectly fine)where they are?
cool and cloudy today-the compost heap ismade although there is still more to add-there always seems to be more-the heap is all dry brown material so it is heating slowly-only 100 in 2 days-in the next few days i will add green stuff to speed it up disturbing mortality in some of the alpines-temps and precip should not have bothered them-on the other hand tender sedums and sempervivems that i decided to chance outside have all come thru fine-what a wonderful time of year everywhere we look more things are up and growing