Must Be Sprung, Stuff Growing Like Mad
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, & 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/ |
Must Be Sprung, Stuff Growing Like Mad
& I have never used fish fertilizer because it smells bad & I love the
natural smell of the garden. Last year my dog got hold of the bottle, chewed through and ate it. I sent a note to the company about it. This year I was delighted to find a DEODORIZED version, and it really doesn't smell. Karen |
Must Be Sprung, Stuff Growing Like Mad
On Sat, 15 Mar 2003 08:19:55 -0800, "NewsUser"
wrote: & I have never used fish fertilizer because it smells bad & I love the natural smell of the garden. Last year my dog got hold of the bottle, chewed through and ate it. I sent a note to the company about it. This year I was delighted to find a DEODORIZED version, and it really doesn't smell. ??? How can they deodorize fish fertilizer? Has it surrendered some of its potency in exchange? -- Polar |
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