Hi Paghat where abouts does your garden grow that it is so far along. We
will have to wait until May to have our plants starting in Calgary. We have
a Chinook wind happening and it got to about 55 F.

Derryl



"paghat" wrote in message
news
The bloodroot blooming this week is such a delight. Two days ago it was
just some buds sticking straight up, yesterday it was one open flower,
today it's a whole raft of flowers. The oddly "rolled" leaves are already
beginning to unroll.

The Trillium sessiles are poking up their green heads, one already has a
bud showing in its three leaves. Trillium chloropetalum is already a foot
tall, no bud though. Two Taiwan jack in the pulpits are big horns
sticking out of the ground (they'll become largish umbrellas each with a
black cobra-head spathe underneath). The Dracunculus vulgaris already have
pretty wrinkly coiling leaves on snake-skinned stalks; these will ater
get aweseomely enormous stinky dark purple spathes on them.

The dogtooth lilies now have fat leaves & tiny flower buds well up; all
with only one flower each last year look like they're going to have
multiple flowers this.

The brunnera had tiny blue flowers on it already in early February before
the leaves were returning, but now the cream-&-green leaves are getting
nice.

Most of the perennials that will bloom much later are becoming nice clumps
of foliage, all the monkshoods for instance are pretty just as mounds of
deep-cut leaves, & the columbines' ferny leaves likewise so pleasant. And
speaking of ferns, fiddleheads everywhere. I emboldened myself to clip off
a lot of remaining evergreen fronds so as to highlight the fiddleheads,
but I couldn't bare quite yet to take off more than one of the Tasmanian
tree fern's last year's leaves, as they don't look at all beat-up.

The hepaticas are in full bloom though new leaves aren't yet erupting.
Pulmonarias have been blooming a couple weeks or so; now many of the
spotted leaves are reaching maturity. Tiarellas are blooming already
though the leaves are still winter-ruined. The mouse-plant aroid is a
mound of arrow-shaped leaves, & Korean campanula leaves are returning. A
"shooting star" is now showing its pale green leaves, I feel like I have
to watch it closely as it blooms so fast then is gone, but no sign of
bloom yet. Paeonea masculata is a bushy clump of burgundy-blushed shiny
green leaves -- if peonies had no flowers people would still grow this one
for those leaves.

Native woodland shrubs are mostly not yet re-leafed, &amp most of the
deciduous trees have only tiny leaf buds; but the White Icicle Current is
now in full extravagant bloom with little leaves also appearing. The
Young's Birch still has brown catkin-flowers from late last year, crumbly
if you touch them, but still very decorative. Deciduous azaleas &
vacciniums have enlarging buds, not terribly overt in appearance, but
interesting to me.

The evergreen clematis out on the alley-side of the garage is in full
beautiful-smelling flower. Akebia blooms galore. Pink jasmine still
abloom. The Moonlight Vine's leaves are emerging most prettily.

Among rhodies "Milestone" has been in full bloom for two weeks, which is a
week or so earlier than it bloomed last year. Others now blooming are the
PJM Elite which opened about fifty buds today. Karen Seliger has had one
or two flowers each day for almost two weeks, but today it opened many.
One of the Hino Crimsons that gets the most sun has had bright red buds
for several days, & today it just burst into bloom (last year it bloomed
in April so it has gotten ahead of itself).

Cyclamens not yet slowing down in colorful leaves & flowers. Hellebores
going gung-ho. Kaffir lilies been blooming since autumn, bloomed all
through winter cuz it was so mild this year, I thought they were finally
done in February but now all but the Alba are in bloom again. Crocuses
are approaching their end, but various miniature daffodils are picking up
stream, & the grape hyacinths which were tiny budded flowers last week are
now swollen huge & blue. White scillas just starting their blooms (blues
will follow a bit later in the month). Corydalis flexuosa in two locations
have had a few blue fish-shaped flowers for a several weeks, but now they
are just loaded (some other corydalis species are still not doing much, &
the Dicentra eximia are just little returning parsley-sprigs so far).

Species-tulips have leaves up all about the place, though only the
Kaufmanianas are in bloom this early. The heavy rain that lasted three
days knocked them flat & I went out & lifted their blossoms upright this
morning & they seem nearly okay again. It was quite a sunny morning &
early afternoon, just what the garden loves after such an excessive period
of overcast soaking weather. The crocuses are beat to death though & not
many will have much to show again this year, but were such a thrill while
they lasted.

Butternut winterhazel still leafless but full of yellow flowers, ditto
forsythia. Contorted hazel catkins maximumly lengthened into soft fuzzy
chains. This was also the first year the Turkish filbert produced catkins,
those are long brown chains now. Though the witchhazel's winter blooms
are long gone, it still has bright purple sepals all over it, like
miniature blooms. A black pussywillow is in full pussy-flower, the bigger
male pusses are turning yellow with pollen.

Fritillaria pudica is blooming. I tried to photograph it today, but it may
be difficult, it's only two inches tall, & the dangling-bell bright yellow
flowers are smaller than a newborn baby's fingernail.

I use very little fertilizer in my gardens (of the liquid, powdered, or
pelletted kind that is). Most everything gets recycled back into the
garden, & most of the gardens get leafmold mulch by nature's hand, some
areas get manure-compost topcoatings for winter. I sometimes worry I
should be adding more nitrogen like everyone I know does -- I have never
in my life bought any of that Miracle Gro everyone uses in great gobbets,
& I have never used fish fertilizer because it smells bad & I love the
natural smell of the garden. In the bloomiest time of year I
spot-fertilize the heaviest bloomers like clematis, but not nearly as
often as recommended, & some expanses of the garden I never fertilize at
all, other than composts. Nothing seems annoyed by the lack of chemical
fertilizers. Last year I pounded fertilizer sticks at the dripline of many
shrubs & trees, wondering if even that was at all necessary. Everything
does so well on its own I hate to tinker over much. I was thinking last
week, "Maybe I'll get some of that miracle gro stuff for a change & hose
it onto every corner of everything like the neighbors do, & see if it gets
even greener around here," but then this week everything is growing so
madly I can't imagine how it could be boosted to better performance, it's
already at the max.

I suppose if someone without a practiced eye walked through it wouldn't
look all that flowery yet, except for the few already-blooming rhodies &
the forsythia & the icicle currant & the hoop petticoat daffodils & that
alleyside evergreen clematis -- a few things like that which are
in-yr-face flowers -- but most is subtler. Most folks wouldn't notice one
early-appearing green bud on a T. sessile, or care that pulpit horns have
appeared, or that the majority of perennials are fresh leafy clumps. But
to me it's clearly already just bursting out all over, very exciting.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

In article , "Derryl
Killan" wrote:

Hi Paghat where abouts does your garden grow that it is so far along.

The micro-climate of Puget Sound, gotta be one of the best year-round
gardening spots on earth. My partner makes noises of us moving inland
someday. I'd adjust, but it would be weird at first not to garden in
December cuz there's three feet of snow.
-paghat

We
will have to wait until May to have our plants starting in Calgary. We have
a Chinook wind happening and it got to about 55 F.

Derryl



"paghat" wrote in message
news
The bloodroot blooming this week is such a delight. Two days ago it was
just some buds sticking straight up, yesterday it was one open flower,
today it's a whole raft of flowers. The oddly "rolled" leaves are already
beginning to unroll.

The Trillium sessiles are poking up their green heads, one already has a
bud showing in its three leaves. Trillium chloropetalum is already a foot
tall, no bud though. Two Taiwan jack in the pulpits are big horns
sticking out of the ground (they'll become largish umbrellas each with a
black cobra-head spathe underneath). The Dracunculus vulgaris already have
pretty wrinkly coiling leaves on snake-skinned stalks; these will ater
get aweseomely enormous stinky dark purple spathes on them.

The dogtooth lilies now have fat leaves & tiny flower buds well up; all
with only one flower each last year look like they're going to have
multiple flowers this.

The brunnera had tiny blue flowers on it already in early February before
the leaves were returning, but now the cream-&-green leaves are getting
nice.

Most of the perennials that will bloom much later are becoming nice clumps
of foliage, all the monkshoods for instance are pretty just as mounds of
deep-cut leaves, & the columbines' ferny leaves likewise so pleasant. And
speaking of ferns, fiddleheads everywhere. I emboldened myself to clip off
a lot of remaining evergreen fronds so as to highlight the fiddleheads,
but I couldn't bare quite yet to take off more than one of the Tasmanian
tree fern's last year's leaves, as they don't look at all beat-up.

The hepaticas are in full bloom though new leaves aren't yet erupting.
Pulmonarias have been blooming a couple weeks or so; now many of the
spotted leaves are reaching maturity. Tiarellas are blooming already
though the leaves are still winter-ruined. The mouse-plant aroid is a
mound of arrow-shaped leaves, & Korean campanula leaves are returning. A
"shooting star" is now showing its pale green leaves, I feel like I have
to watch it closely as it blooms so fast then is gone, but no sign of
bloom yet. Paeonea masculata is a bushy clump of burgundy-blushed shiny
green leaves -- if peonies had no flowers people would still grow this one
for those leaves.

Native woodland shrubs are mostly not yet re-leafed, &amp most of the
deciduous trees have only tiny leaf buds; but the White Icicle Current is
now in full extravagant bloom with little leaves also appearing. The
Young's Birch still has brown catkin-flowers from late last year, crumbly
if you touch them, but still very decorative. Deciduous azaleas &
vacciniums have enlarging buds, not terribly overt in appearance, but
interesting to me.

The evergreen clematis out on the alley-side of the garage is in full
beautiful-smelling flower. Akebia blooms galore. Pink jasmine still
abloom. The Moonlight Vine's leaves are emerging most prettily.

Among rhodies "Milestone" has been in full bloom for two weeks, which is a
week or so earlier than it bloomed last year. Others now blooming are the
PJM Elite which opened about fifty buds today. Karen Seliger has had one
or two flowers each day for almost two weeks, but today it opened many.
One of the Hino Crimsons that gets the most sun has had bright red buds
for several days, & today it just burst into bloom (last year it bloomed
in April so it has gotten ahead of itself).

Cyclamens not yet slowing down in colorful leaves & flowers. Hellebores
going gung-ho. Kaffir lilies been blooming since autumn, bloomed all
through winter cuz it was so mild this year, I thought they were finally
done in February but now all but the Alba are in bloom again. Crocuses
are approaching their end, but various miniature daffodils are picking up
stream, & the grape hyacinths which were tiny budded flowers last week are
now swollen huge & blue. White scillas just starting their blooms (blues
will follow a bit later in the month). Corydalis flexuosa in two locations
have had a few blue fish-shaped flowers for a several weeks, but now they
are just loaded (some other corydalis species are still not doing much, &
the Dicentra eximia are just little returning parsley-sprigs so far).

Species-tulips have leaves up all about the place, though only the
Kaufmanianas are in bloom this early. The heavy rain that lasted three
days knocked them flat & I went out & lifted their blossoms upright this
morning & they seem nearly okay again. It was quite a sunny morning &
early afternoon, just what the garden loves after such an excessive period
of overcast soaking weather. The crocuses are beat to death though & not
many will have much to show again this year, but were such a thrill while
they lasted.

Butternut winterhazel still leafless but full of yellow flowers, ditto
forsythia. Contorted hazel catkins maximumly lengthened into soft fuzzy
chains. This was also the first year the Turkish filbert produced catkins,
those are long brown chains now. Though the witchhazel's winter blooms
are long gone, it still has bright purple sepals all over it, like
miniature blooms. A black pussywillow is in full pussy-flower, the bigger
male pusses are turning yellow with pollen.

Fritillaria pudica is blooming. I tried to photograph it today, but it may
be difficult, it's only two inches tall, & the dangling-bell bright yellow
flowers are smaller than a newborn baby's fingernail.

I use very little fertilizer in my gardens (of the liquid, powdered, or
pelletted kind that is). Most everything gets recycled back into the
garden, & most of the gardens get leafmold mulch by nature's hand, some
areas get manure-compost topcoatings for winter. I sometimes worry I
should be adding more nitrogen like everyone I know does -- I have never
in my life bought any of that Miracle Gro everyone uses in great gobbets,
& I have never used fish fertilizer because it smells bad & I love the
natural smell of the garden. In the bloomiest time of year I
spot-fertilize the heaviest bloomers like clematis, but not nearly as
often as recommended, & some expanses of the garden I never fertilize at
all, other than composts. Nothing seems annoyed by the lack of chemical
fertilizers. Last year I pounded fertilizer sticks at the dripline of many
shrubs & trees, wondering if even that was at all necessary. Everything
does so well on its own I hate to tinker over much. I was thinking last
week, "Maybe I'll get some of that miracle gro stuff for a change & hose
it onto every corner of everything like the neighbors do, & see if it gets
even greener around here," but then this week everything is growing so
madly I can't imagine how it could be boosted to better performance, it's
already at the max.

I suppose if someone without a practiced eye walked through it wouldn't
look all that flowery yet, except for the few already-blooming rhodies &
the forsythia & the icicle currant & the hoop petticoat daffodils & that
alleyside evergreen clematis -- a few things like that which are
in-yr-face flowers -- but most is subtler. Most folks wouldn't notice one
early-appearing green bud on a T. sessile, or care that pulpit horns have
appeared, or that the majority of perennials are fresh leafy clumps. But
to me it's clearly already just bursting out all over, very exciting.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/