They Have a Name!

I have just discovered that the violas that I got, years ago, from an old, old garden, are Bowle’s Black. These little darlings aren’t quite as black as the modern black pansies, but they are dark, rich purple except for a very small eye. I like them much, much better than the regular Johnny-Jump-Ups. They suit my dark sensibilities better. But they are every bit as prolific as the JJUs- the entire garden is a carpet of their cotyledons. I wish full size pansies would spread like this!

Baby Bird Update

Time for pictures of baby birds!

First up, the older chicks have been moved out to the hen house, where they have a light to go under when they get cold, which doesn't really seem to be that often, even though it's in the 30s at night:

You can see they are almost fully feathered. And, no, I didn't do any fancy photoshopping- I have no idea why it looks like a painting of birds instead of a photo.

Next, the 2 week old peeps:

And now, the gigantic ducklings, who eat, drink and shit continually, and have at least quadrupled in size in two weeks- they were the same size as the chick when they arrived and they now tower over them like Godzilla over Tokyo.

In Which I Manage to Kill Heucheras

I honestly didn’t know it was possible to kill heucheras. They seem to survive cold, heat, not much water, too much water and cats laying on them. So I was quite surprised to find that it looks like two of mine aren’t coming back this year.

One, a Tiramisu I bought late last summer, was probably put into the ground too late for our early freezes. And then we had an open winter, with low temperatures and no snow to protect the plants. So that one isn’t a huge mystery. But the other, a Peach Melba that went into the ground in 2008, has me wondering. It was there last year. True, it didn’t grow a great deal and certainly didn’t seem as happy as the other varieties around it (Amber Waves, Lime Rickey, Plum Pudding), but it didn’t look like there was anything really wrong. I have no idea why this one died; it’s still firm in the ground so it wasn’t our usual culprits, the pocket gophers.

Given that I refuse to give up completely on a plant until it completely composts, I’ll be leaving these corpses in the ground, hoping that some spark of life remains. It’s happened before, having a dead looking plant come back to life midsummer, zombie-like. If these beauties do make it back, I’ll be happy to feed them braaaaiiinnnssss. (It’s Zombie Awareness Month, what can I say)

One of the fun things about running a plant nursery is that you get a chance to literally change the local landscape. If you sell the usual run of common plants, like the big box stores do, you don’t get to see this effect. But it you’re selling things that are more unusual, you get to see your influence around town. At least you do if you’re in a rural area/small town like I am.

A number of years ago I was given cuttings of “Mozart” rose. It’s an unusual looking rose; it has a mounding shape and has tiny, tiny five petaled flowers that are brilliant dark pink with white at the base. It stays covered with these blooms for much of summer. Many people do not recognize this plant as a rose when the first see it, but they find it attractive. This is a rose that is available some places online, but you don’t see it in garden centers. I grew out those cuttings, and took cuttings from those bushes, and started selling them at the farmer’s market.

You see them around the county now. In someone’s front yard, in a row of shrubs in a dirt road. This gives me a thrill, to see something that I grew and that the person probably wouldn’t have found and put in their yard if I hadn’t put it out there. There are other plants out there like that; things I’ve grown from seeds purchased out of some of the lower circulation catalogs. Things like polemoniums with flowers that start out peach and age to mauve. Lavenders with pale pink flowers.

It’s fun to be able to offer something different, and to see it making people happy.

Silver wasn't too sure about today's mail:

But the contents proved pleasing:

I think our house has officially reached it's maximum number of lifeforms. Two humans, four cats, six fish, six ducklings, 21 chicks, hundreds of seedlings and the usual houseplants. And that's not counting the spiders that live everywhere.

The view of the ski hill when I went out to take pictures in the yard:

About five minutes later, the heavens opened with rain and hail blowing almost sideways.
Then 30 minutes later:

We went to Home Despot yesterday, and so of course I came home with plants. How could it be otherwise? So of course I spent most of today planting them!

First was Phlox divaricata, the woodland phlox. I put it behind the Golden Curls willow, because it likes some shade. It's on the east side of the house anyway, so it should be happy. It's in the area with the bleeding heart and some ferns and hostas. It'll fit right in.

Phlox divaricata

Next I put some Golden Scotch Moss between the slate pieces in the walk to the front door. Hopefully it will grow quickly so I can divide it and fill in; I only have four little plants now and they look like polkadots in the path.

Golden Scotch Moss

I bought an azalea, "Elsie Lee", not knowing at the time that it was an evergreen one. I hope it's hardy enough and makes it here, but it's iffy. The ones that drop their leaves in winter are much hardier than the evergreens.  It's so pretty; light lavender-pink with  a bit of a dark blotch!

Azalea 'Elsie Lee'

I also got an Endless Summer hydrangea. That was pricey, but I think it'll be worth it. The mopheads and lacecaps aren't reliable bloomers in our area because they usually die back to the ground, and they bloom only on old wood, which means- no blooms. I've had two plants of a beautiful lacecap variety for years now and have never had them bloom. The last couple of years I've found myself hoping they wouldn't survive the winter, but they continue to come up from the ground every year. 'Endless Summer' blooms on both old and new wood, so we should get nice blue blooms every year now.

The best place I could see for it was already occupied by a 'Bayse's Purple' rose, which has never liked the spot. A rose almost as tall as I am. And considerably wider. So I dug that up, cleared a new spot for it, replanted it and pruned it. Then I could plant the hydrangea. All (hopefully) without stepping on the hostas that haven't come up yet. And then I forgot to take a picture of the hydrangea. 

We also got four inexpensive bagged roses, older varieties that are, of course, grafted. I don't like grafted roses, but these come cheaply and I can take cuttings later in summer and hopefully get some going on their own roots. We got 'Angel Face', 'Nearly Wild', 'Sunsprite' and 'Climbing Golden Showers'. 

Since I didn't take pictures of the stick roses or the hydrangea, have a picture of the bergenia in full bloom:

Bergenia

I grew that one from a seed. It's many years old.

Also did the first of the seedling transplanting today. Some of the morning glories, sweet peas, hollyhocks, lupins and artichokes were ready to move up into four packs. Everything else is still too small.

Artichoke seedlings

Now I'm ready to drop into bed.