October 11, 2012 by Born To Organize

Blooming Thursday: Global Gardeners

Pansies

As many of my readers put their gardens to bed for the winter, I stopped by a local garden center for some annuals. It’s easy taking our moderate California weather for granted having lived here so long. I do remember the frigid winter days in Ontario, Canada, but as a child, not an adult.

I enjoy reading gardening adventures from around the globe. It’s enriching. My friends in the Southern Hemisphere are busy planning spring gardens. To the far north, snow is already falling, and seasonal clean-up is under way. In the warmer climates, things are fuzzier around the edges, but the four seasons prevail.

In gardens everywhere, nature and nurture duke it out. Tiny little seeds arrive with imbedded DNA. Tuck one under some healthy soil, add water and sun and the seed will take it from there.

Sometimes, it is that simple. Often, it’s not. Birds vie for those seeds while small critters eat the seedlings. Insects take a bite out of leaves or host on tender stems. This can kill a young plant before it gets a foothold on life. Mold, fungus or unwanted pesticides from a neighbor’s yard can wreak havoc on a garden life.

Yet year after year, we gardeners garden. Like the tiny seed, we too have our own gardening DNA. I know gardening is in my genes. How about you?

Chrysanthemums

Halloween Countdown

Today’s pumpkin is brought to you by the letter “B”

October 9, 2012 by Born To Organize

Spring Bulbs: My Flowery Future Awaits

Photo Credit: White Flower Farm

I lovingly perused the Fall Netherlands Bulb Company catalog, then cast it aside. The pages, filled with promise and spring blooms, made my heart ache. Wouldn’t it be glorious having a spring garden filled with exotic blooms? Nothing shouts spring, like a garden filled with crocus, daffodils and tulips. I wrote about my bulb-planting failures in August: Spring Bulbs: To Plant or not to Plant, and received the following encouragement:

Bob J. wrote:

Bulbs are so forgiving, even upside down you will get SOME to twist around and come up. I don’t even bother to refrigerate, and most of mine come up anyway. Maybe you are planting too deep, but you would have to drop them in a well for all of them to fail. My feeling is that something has dug yours up. Probably you are going to have to protect them from critters. I stick with Costco and Ace hardware cheapies and plant a few new ones each year.

So, I’m giving them a second try. Following Bob’s advice, I stopped at our local hardware store, and picked up a few bags. Since early frost is uncommon here, I’m popping the tulip bulbs in the fridge for good measure. Bob’s climate is a bit cooler than ours, and he occasionally sees snow.

Tulip Bulb Assortment
Van Zyverden

Then Boomdeeada wrote:

I’ve had mixed success with fall bulbs. My favorite was a tulip called Angelique. Shorter, blush pink, frilly. It worked well in my spring garden (Our house was Burgundy in color). I also planted a mass of yellow & pink, late bloomers on the lake front, they’d bloom along with the mauve lilac. But I was always adding more every fall. I don’t know why they fail, but sometimes there wasn’t anything to dig up. Like you, I do love the scent of Hyacinth, but even though you link indicates Zone 2, they never came back the next year. Don’t give up!

So…guess what made it into my cart? 15 Tulip Angélique. I’m so excited!

Recommended planting months for our zone are October through December. The tulips have a few weeks to chill before heading outdoors. I also bought Tulip Attila and Tulip Passionale as well as Snowdrop Galanthus nivalis. Next up: where to plant my assorted bulbs and how to keep them under wraps till spring. Suggestions welcome!

Resources:

Dig, Drop, Done: Ready to learn, ready to plant.
Keukenhauf flower bulb weekend, October 18 – 21. Spectacular!
Canada hardiness zones
American Horticultural Society

Halloween Countdown

Rock, paper, scissors Pumpkin

May 3, 2012 by Born To Organize

Blooming Thursday: Random Gifts and Neighborhood Rifts

For all the time I spend in the garden, complete surprises are rare. With my nose down close to the dirt, or my camera directed at flowers and trees, it feels as comfortable and familiar as a good marriage.

That said, my husband still surprises me with flowers “just because” and this week my garden did the same. After an hour of planting and the requisite cleanup, I turned to go inside and spotted something flowering behind our fruit tree. I climbed over the rock wall and shrubs, rounded the tree, and there it was! The flowering bulb has roots under the fence line, so perhaps the bulb divided from the neighbor’s side.

It would be nice to think of the flower as a gift, or more appropriately a peace-offering, for in this community of otherwise incredible neighbors, this unhappy soul stands out. He once trapped my cat and dropped him off at the Humane Society without a word. He calls the authorities when someone’s dog barks. He asked us to lie when our shared fence fell down and had to be replaced. We declined.

Perhaps this random gift is not the flower, but the opportunity to let go of the angst I feel when I pass his house. All these years later the anger and hurt are gone, but the angst lingers on.