New Orchids in my house

I visited the Metropolitan Lawn and Garden show again in February. This time I spent nearly the entire time with the orchid vendors. And, again, I was jazzed. It's really kind of strange how fascinated I am by flowers!

So I walked away with two orchids and here they are.

Paphiopedilum

This one is a lady slipper orchid. I love the deep maroon color. But possibly the best part is the foliage. the mottled leave are gorgeous. And, since this orchid will only bloom about once every nine months or so, enjoying the foliage might be important. I heard it has nearly the same requirements as my two Phalaenopsis. All I know is that it looks really nice sitting in the tray of pebbles with them.

Epidendrum

My other new addition is this interesting beauty. It loves the outdoors and I hear grows new shoots like crazy. I already have one showing up since bringing it home. And each new shoot will bear a spray of these pink and white flowers. Compared to most other orchids the individual flowers look upside-down.
















Look closely here and you can see what I mean. And besides that, isn't it awesome that you get so many!  I placed the plant where I can see it through the window when I walk up to my front door. It just makes me smile to see them. The plant itself is really tall, the stalks are held up by a hoop that wraps around a stake. According to the grower, if I repot this in a heavy enough pot, it would flop over and be pretty trailing from a shelf. I'm planning to give that a try.

Happy nearly spring wishes - my crocus are blooming already :-)

Begonias in my sunroom

The begonias in my sunroom are thriving this winter. The one on the left is a gift I received from a friend last summer. She called it a watermelon begonia. I assume it got it's name because the leaves are a glossy green with a lighter green vein. It has been blooming now for about a month and, with more stalks forming, looks like I'll have blooms to enjoy all winter.

The begonia on the right is called The Fairy. It was an impulse purchase at my favorite local garden center, Colonial Nursery. I nearly killed it with lack of water over the summer. But I think it has recovered.

In November I saw wild begonias growing in Costa Rica and these remind me of them. The wild ones were growing on a rocky outcrop near the ocean and their flowers were almost exactly like those of the Watermelon begonia.

So with the position and culture the wild begonias enjoyed in mind, I planted these two begonias very high in a light, peaty medium and I water them sparingly.

I think it's working!

Tomato seedlings

Pink Brandywine and Pineapple tomato seedlings

Here is a quick snapshot of my first try at starting tomatoes from seed. I have one flat of an heirloom variety called Pink Brandywine and another of my favorite from last summer called Pineapple (it was incredibly sweet). It took them about 5 days to come up and I left them covered for about a week. They have been uncovered now for a few days.

Next weekend the plan is to move them to individual jiffy pots. They should be easy to share with my friends and neighbors that way. Truly, I wasn't expecting the seed packets I purchased would contain so many. But if they all live and grow well, it will be a lot of fun to have something to share.

Next weekend I'll also attempt to start some peppers. I've collected some seeds from the bright yellow and red peppers I bought at the store. It should be a fun experiment.

Revival

Ah, the dead of winter. The cold and dry, the bright and bitter, here again to make us wait. And this, a warm day, the whisper of Spring to melt the snow and blow it's moist breath through my bare garden. I am happy to walk in the mud and to see again into my pond, to fill my birdfeeders in my pajamas without risking frostbite.

I've been away for a while. Life has changed, so has my garden. But, whatever changes, whatever comes or goes, I keep watching and my garden is still with me. The squirrels still nest in my maple, the white throated sparrows still like the yew outside the window by my desk.

My sunroom is finally the haven it was intended to be. It's warmth has been a comfort, through the Fall and Winter, through the changes. It's nearly time to grow again.

The beauty of time spent gardening

Last weekend was nearly perfect. Yes, it was hot and humid, because it's Missouri. But I found reasons to be outside nearly the whole time. On top of that, I got to visit and work in a very beautiful garden in Leawood, KS, another suburb of Kansas City, but this one is south of the city. I live on the eastern edge of KC.

This is the front of the home surrounded by the garden that I visited. You get a sense even here that it is lush and full, spilling out of it's borders.

A walk around one side of the home takes you past large terraced dogwoods and an immense oakleaf hydrangea bearing it's beautiful blooms that are just now fading to pink. You can see in this photo how much this gardener loves hostas. This is a tiny sampling of the never-ending variety that thrive here. The gardens behind the home are edged in this lovely red brick forming a neat edge that a mower's wheels can ride along easily.

Through this arch there is a shade garden filled, not only with hostas, but also with many varieties of Japanese maples and other shade-tolerant shrubs. A small patio in this space is surrounded by a large and obviously thriving variety of shade-loving perennials. The space was cool and inviting.

I came to this garden to help a long-time gardener/owner who felt she'd gotten a little behind in her planting and weeding. As you can see, the garden still looks lovely, there being very little that seems untended. I think  that's because this gardener is truly a lover of beautiful plants and over many years has amassed a collection of them that gives a visitor like me an eyeful of beauty everywhere she looks. With so many plants a weed has little chance of being noticed - and to be honest, there just weren't a lot of weeds.

We spent most of our time working around this area, exposing the brick edging. Behind these large, established plants is a terrace with two archways covered with climbing roses and other vines. One of these arches led to steps made of railroad ties. Standing beneath the arch I could hear birds playing in the vines entwined above me, very comfortable that this was their space. It was near midday when I was there and in the shade of the vines the air was cool. I succeeded in spending a lot of time making sure those steps in the shade were as clean as possible. It was nice under there and now there should be very few weeds obscuring the path.

In this photo the tall arching hydrangeas and the flowing grasses create a beautiful contrast to the lawn. And look at the canvas cart sitting in the grass. This belongs to this garden's owner. I love this gardener's tool cart. She has everything in there - even a skinny retractable rake. I'd never seen one of those.

This, I think, is my favorite spot. Behind the Ming house is a circular pond. The pond was constructed many years before by sinking a stock tank into the ground. There is a waterfall, but it isn't running. You can see on the left a threadleaf Japanese maple and a young ginkgo biloba that edge the pond. I remember what looked like a miniature juniper and other pretty ground covers helping to create an oriental feel. It's a very pretty space.

I enjoyed my visit to this garden. It was inspiring. I'm impressed by this gardener's love of plants which is obvious in the variety she has collected. I'm hoping to return and explore more soon. Maybe I can help get the waterfall going again?? I'd like that.

The definition of friendship

I think I've figured it out. A friend is someone who will spend two afternoons (basically, his whole weekend) in the hot sun pulling weeds with you in your garden and...  make you think he's enjoyed himself.

Here is the vegetable garden after we finished work on Sunday. So it really didn't take two more weeks of frustration to get my grabgrass-overrun vegetable garden back into some semblance of neatness at all. It just took one very nice friend with time to share with me. 

The weather even liked me last weekend. It rained a bunch on Friday night, so the soil was soft but not soaked. Ah, to pull a weed and get the roots, too, on the first try - that makes me happy.

I think pulling weeds is very, very good for me (and friends are even better). 

Gardening therapy

My life has been pretty much a mess lately. A lot is changing, people going and coming, plans that fall through, things that break, and there never seems to be enough time to adjust. Even in the best of times life can be crazy. Right now I've got a bunch of both the best and the worst.

And, of course, my garden - especially the vegetable garden - is suffering from my lack of time and attention. In this photo you can see that the crab grass has officially overtaken the space. 

Yep, it's basically mostly grass.

But here's the great thing. When I get overwhelmed and overwrought - just so frustrated I don't know what to do - pulling weeds is great therapy. There is something very soothing about yanking a huge ugly clump of crabgrass out, roots and all. It helped that we had a nice rain the night before. That way I didn't have the added frustration of leaving roots behind. It all came out relatively easy. On top of that I spent some quiet time listening to birds and bugs. There's nothing more soothing than that.

And, not only did I feel a whole bunch better, but I also rescued some pepper plants. About 2 more weeks of frustration and I might just have the whole thing cleaned up :-)