A WInter's Tale

The garden is still very tan and brown.
Only this bright blue ceramic fish platter provides
a splash of color in this part of the garden.

Here, these last few days of March, winter is holding tight.  There is a board game called a Winter's Tale where the players write their own story lines.  Winter or Spring wins based on the strength of the story (and the number of inspiration cards one has to play).

I can't help but think a gardener's life is similar to this epic battle of the land caught in the grip of Winter.  It all depends on the cards we are given to play and the stories we can tell.  In the short dark days of Winter, our cards and stories revolve around seed and plant catalogs, garden plans and catching up on our garden reading, whether it is a book, blog, or increasingly these days, online.  Later we play cards like grow rooms with light stands and greenhouses.  On those rare balmy days we do winter pruning and attend gardening talks and seminars.

It is all Prologue to "The Gardening Season".  This year, as last, prologue seems to need a bit of editing and could do with a bit more brevity to my mind.

An interesting piece of garden art  I came across at hayneedle.com.
The photo is theirs. Actually, there was a lot to be interested in on their website,
although I wasn't sure this was a single piece or a assemblage of three similar pieces.

So, while we continue to sit in prologue, do you have your garden story written for the season?

Garden Silliness Using Word 2013 Picture Tools

No, my window boxes do not look this nice. not yet, anyway. Using Word 2013 though with a bit of cut paste and shaping, I can get an idea what a particular garden element might look like in my garden. It's a great way to mock up an idea.

Now, the challenge as a gardener is to transmit that idea into reality. Gardening is more a performance art than anything else.  It is not like adding new hardware to your kitchen cabinets.

Yeah, and I think I am so done with coir liners. The birds have a great time attempting to nest in them or make off with the bits as nesting materials. This year I am going to use burlap liners to hid my black plastic pots. I realize they will rot in a season, but hopefully will look a bit neater over all.

Back into Gardening

Jung's Warm Double Date (Photo: Jung's)  A combo I have been considering for my window boxes

I've been spending a couple hours here and there in the garden, cutting back, taking stock.  It seems we have had a mild winter, little evergreen burn, no casualties so far, although it is very early days yet.  Last winter every step was a struggle; this year, not so much.

I am appreciating the bones of my garden.  We have had little moisture, neither snow nor spring rains.  The garden is holding, not really in winter, but without moisture not really breaking dormancy.

Inside I have started tomatoes and peppers.  I have taken a few cuttings of coleus, fuchsia, geranium and begonia.  I have started some cannas and dahlias in pots.  I have planted, late, some petunias which have yet to sprout.

I saw my first robins today, although I have heard them for a week or more.  Morning doves likewise have been cooing to me, sitting on the neighbor's garage.

Plant tags are more evident than plants.

I have goals, this year, more of these than anxieties about whether I can do the work my garden demands.  And I will hunt some new and replacement plants for the drought of 2012 and the brutal winter of 2013-2014.

Creeping phlox 'North Hills' (Photo; Jung's) Another plant I have been considering.

I can use my shovel.  It will be a good year.

The Snow Has Gone!

The bones of beebalm

The snow has gone.  I search for that sweet spot to rake up dog poo while still frozen and remove pine needles from my barked hosta beds before the bark comes up as well.  Our village snow prognosticator indicates there are still 15 snowfalls due us this year.  I am not getting too excited about the beautiful weather.

I have begun cleaning up my beds as I leave the perennials stand through the winter for the birds. Already I can see the rabbits have pruned my 'Cameo' quince for me.  I can hear finches and robins, but have only seen the finches.

I know the ground is frozen pretty deep at this point, but I have a lot of work "up top" to do.

Signs of Spring

My sweet autumn clematis in 2013.

One of the more frequent signs of Spring in my area is the sudden burst of "For Sale" signs.  This Spring I can't help but notice two of the nearby independent garden centers, although "OPEN" are also advertising they are for sale.  (They won't be carrying live goods for another couple months.) One sells the typical garden plants and home goods and collectibles; the other is a double header as well with florist services.

Gardening has had a difficult sell with drought and brutal winters here.  An aging population with a declining number of first time home owner taking up the spade has probably also had an impact.

My sweet autumn clematis did not make it through the winter last year.  I gave it until mid-July before I started looking for one.  Although I did not make this a priority, I kept my eyes open.  I never came across one.  I like to buy plants in person when I can.  This aspect of garden will probably be changing as fewer and fewer choice perennials will be offered locally.  That colorful basket of annuals has a lot more fans and will sell a lot quicker than that perennial when it is not in bloom.

The Law of Unintended Consequences strikes again.

Talking About the Garden

Turns out daffodils and blue muscari are top of the list for the Gardening Nephews.  I try to explain how they are bulbs and will have to be planted in the late fall.  " In winter?' they are incredulous. "No, fall," I repeat.  "Aunt 'Chelle, what is this fall?  We have summer and winter!"  Hmmm... a bit of wisdom there, I think.

There are days when I am finally feeling more like the normal me.  Up the stairs and walking around the rambling historic home my nephews are calling home, I can keep up going down the stairs; going up, my nephews are waiting for me at the top, even the next to youngest.

The boys know spring (AKA warm weather) is coming,  The topic turned to gardening initiated by the twin I think of as the "lead" gardener among them.

"Aunt 'Chelle, we need to talk about our garden this year," he states in a very serious tone.  "It needs to be smaller."

"Yes, smaller, " the other twin chimes in, "so we can weed it! Our sweet corn did not turn out so good."

"It needs to be gooder," lead twin adds.

"Better..." I correct.

"I don't know where you learned 'better'.  Here 'gooder' is a word," lead twin, 5, admonishes me.

(Sounds like something his Papa decreed.)