Vacation is Over!

Winter is vacation for me...since ALL THE STUFF I do doesn't include gardening in the winter! But that's coming to an end now :) ...and WHAT a winter we've had. I don't need to elaborate, except to say that I was able to get my perennial seeds "winter sowed" in between giant snowstorms. Hooray! I'm assuming that even without ANY sunlight, they are blissfully germinating under all that snow...or at least thinking about it! (The snow was above the hand rail right after the snowfall!)
Next couple of weeks will find me starting annuals like crazy.

So I go to a nursery on Monday--ostensibly looking for a patchouli...and find this awesome different kind of centaurea montana (perennial cornflower) called Amethyst in Snow...which I just HAD to have. So I justified the purchase by giving it to Dave as part of his birthday the next day. He was too smart for me...he figured out that it was mostly for me, but he graciously accepted it and we planted it today. I love it!!

TA DAAAHHH!!!

So now you can finally tell it's a rose. It's enjoying 24 hour a day fake lighting while waiting for spring to arrive. The other picture is of my new crop of clematis (I killed the first ones by removing the tent too quickly so I'm trying to be more patient with these). Hopefully, they'll make it...

THE ROSE GROWS!

So, for all you skeptics out there...it IS getting bigger. I'm going on vacation for a week, so hopefully it will be much bigger and not all dried out when I return...

A Rose!

So "winter sowing" isn't the only way to survive winter while still keeping your hands in the dirt a bit. There's also refrigerator sowing!! It works great for things like daylilys and roses which I've both done successfully in the past. This year, I don't have any daylily seeds, but was able to harvest some rose hips at a sports car race back in the fall. Rose germination takes a while, but I just keep mine in the vegetable compartment in the refrigerator and check them occasionally for signs of life. So far, only one has sprouted and here it is!! Doesn't look like much yet, but it has survived the critical first few days of transfer to dirt and is hanging in there. More photos will follow.

SNOW---FINALLY!!!

I was beginning to wonder if it would ever happen. And as you can see it wasn't all that much. I like the way all the winter sowing containers look with just a dusting of snow on them. The best part is knowing that inside those jars...things are happening!!