Back From Key West

We returned late last night from a week in Key West, and there is still snow on the ground! That was not supposed to be -- I thought we could get away for a week at the beginning of March and come back to the start of mud season and thawing soil as mid March approached.

I expected promises of garden awakenings, and was ready to start clean up tasks outside to get ready for spring.

But it's still deep snowy winter here, although it is sunny and in the high 30s today. The yard is not walkable, the driveway is still surrounded by tall banks of icky snow.

Key West was great. We did every touristy thing we wanted to: a gorgeous sunset sail, the Hemingway house, the Audubon house and garden, a morning at the butterfly conservancy, a day at the beach.

We toured the Truman little White House, and the Mel Fisher Atocha treasure wreck museum.

We drank mojitos, ate fish and stood on the seawall to watch the sun fall into the sea to the sounds of a conch blowing.

Our condo was right in Old Town, so we could walk to everything, including a convenience store for food and supplies. We walked and ate and got too hot, then napped in the afternoons. Our condo was a second floor unit with a small deck, comfortable enough.

As we always do, we had a great time with our travel friends -- always good to see them and experience new adventures with them!

The contrast is so startling. Yesterday it was hot and somewhat humid and palm trees rustled all around us. Today at home the heat is on, the windows closed tight and bright white snow blinds us when we look outside.

Winter's Grip

3 degrees this morning when I got up, and as usual this winter, the day warmed only to mid 20s.

It has been cold, the snow persists in big ugly banks and is spread deep across the yard. The back door to the deck still doesn't open.

Salt and gritty sand coat the driveway.

I missed any chance this winter to get out and cut branches for forcing.

The very few days when the ground was bare enough or the temps were in the 30s or 40s, I was busy with other things, and then we got snow covered and too cold again.

I did want to force branches. I really loved it when they graced the living room half-wall last year.

I have not yet seen the sugar pails on the maples along Duncaster Road. They usually appear the first week in March when nights are freezing and days are above freezing.

This is what it is supposed to look like on Duncaster on March 1.

Not this year, though. All next week it will continue to be in the single digits at night, and 32 or below in the daytime.

The sun sets noticeably later now, about quarter of 6 in the evening.

The sky gets pink in the east, as it usually does here. It's not a reflection from red sunsets in the west -- when I look out the west windows the sky is colorless.

But the other side of the sky is a gentle pink, sometimes magenta. For some reason it is the eastern horizon here that tells us the sun is setting.

March arrives on Saturday, and winter holds on.

• Seed packets have arrived, to start indoors in March.

• Catalog plant orders have been placed, to ship in late spring.

• I never did order the sentry shed that I wanted so much.

• And I didn't get to force any branches this winter. Maybe in March.

Daunted

Mild today, in the mid to high 40s. The polar vortex returns next week, but today the air is still, and not terribly cold.

We went to the Connecticut Garden & Flower Show yesterday. At the Hort Society exhibit I saw a lovely witch hazel 'Diane' in bloom.

Hamamelis x intermedia 'Diane' blooms a deep brick red, offset nicely with evergreens in the background and a wine red painted fence. In open sunlight the color is clearer and brighter red, but in the terrible indoor lighting at the Convention Center it was darker and rustier.

But so lovely.

Of course they force all the plants on exhibit at winter shows like this, but seeing it made me want to check out my witch hazels, which should be blooming now, in late winter on a warmish day.

So I went outside, excited to see and perhaps smell the blooms on my witch hazel 'Diane'.

I was immediately daunted by the giant snowbank piled up in front of both the witch hazels -- 'Diane' and a spring blooming Hamamelis vernalis next to it. The wall of snow was high and I couldn't get past it to go look at the tiny flowers.

And where were they anyway? The brown leaves are still hanging on to both of these witch hazels, obscuring any blooms. It's ugly.

The only way I could get close enough to see any flowers was to stand on the driveway and use the zoom on the camera lens. Yep, there are flowers, kind of. Buds, at least.

So I gave up on the witch hazels and decided to start the project I mentioned of sanding and painting the rusted black trough planters. I brought them inside, put them on a tarp in the basement and was immediately daunted by the task of dumping out soil and cleaning them.

Without a hose or faucet there is no way to wash them out. The compost pile isn't reachable, so the soil will have to sit on the tarp. I went out to the back porch to see if I could find empty containers to repot what is in the planters now, but the pots are stacked on the patio by the potting bench, under snow.

I was daunted even getting out the back door. It won't open, there is too much snow on the deck.

So that project will have to wait til spring, like everything else.

I ended up on the couch looking at Pinterest pictures.

There are so many pins of witch hazel 'Diane' in people's gardens, looking gloriously coppery red, and blooming without any persistent brown foliage hiding everything . . .  sigh.

Trailing Nasturtiums

The giant threatening icicles hanging from the eaves have melted finally. It was 38 degrees today, overcast and spitting drizzle, but warm enough to melt some of the ice.

This year I am going to try two kinds of trailing nasturtiums on the twig towers that flank one entrance to the gravel garden.

I liked 'Gleam' orange nasturtiums in 2012. I did not have them climb the twig towers, I actually had some nice blue plumbagos there, but 'Gleam' nasturtiums were planted nearby and some of the trailing vines rose up into the inkberry hollies and onto the tower supports.

Last year I tried 'Variegated Queen' nasturtiums climbing the towers, rather than the plumbago, but the effect wasn't what I wanted. They were supposed to trail to 6 feet, but grew so slowly, got bushy and did not bloom until very late in the season, in September and October.

The leaves of 'Variegated Queen' were very large and splashed with cream. I think these are grown more for the foliage. I liked the shy, smaller leaves of the orange 'Gleam' and I liked its trailing habit better.

             'Gleam' in 2012 -- smaller leaves                              'Variegated Queen' in 2013 -- larger, mottled leaves

So this spring I got nasturtium seeds from Summerhill Seeds for a yellow 'Gleam' variety to grow on the twig pyramids. I am hoping it is as flowery and nice as the orange one, with small leaves and vining habit. It vines to 15 feet. I'll plant some under the inkberry hollies, let them climb through, and then onto the twig towers.

And . . . how cool is this . . .  I am going to combine the yellow nasturtiums with a blue one on each tower. I have never seen a blue nasturtium. It looks deep blue, almost purple in the seed catalog. It vines to 7 feet. We'll see how this does. It intrigued me.

What I would really love to see some day are the trailing nasturtiums at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. I want to see the fabulous art collection, but I'd also like to see the over the top nasturtiums in the museum courtyard.  Makes my 5 foot high twig towers look a little puny.

Really, nasturtiums in any setting should be orange!
What am I thinking with blue ones?

It's Snowing Here Again

A Mob of Robins

It has been cold, and we are still buried under feet of snow. Yesterday was windy and loose snow was blowing about in 25 degree gusts.

The bobcat was seen at dinnertime, moving away on the east side of the house, down toward the pond. Seemed to be in a hurry.

For the past several days robins have been mobbing the aronia shrubs. There are dozens, but the camera, shooting through the bedroom window, captured only a few of the frenzied hungry birds.

The robins are heavy and they weigh the bendy branches down. In the white and brown world out there, their red tummies flash as they bounce up and down on the bobbing branches.

They are after the aronia berries. No animal or bird will touch aronia fruits until everything else is gone. They are apparently not tasty at all. But in the depth of winter they either have sweetened in the freezing weather or the birds are starving and not so fussy.

They are such pretty berries, but not on the top of anyone's winter menu. Until now.

My Order

It's snowing again today.  Coming down hard. Pretty, but so tiresome at this point.

Here is my order for the North Central Conservation District plant and seedling sale. I pick up the plants on April 11th at Auer Farm.

Broadleaved mountain mint -- Pycnanthemum muticum. 
That was already on my list as I mentioned yesterday. I'll put it behind the witch hazels.

from a commenter at Garden Web -- Link here

Dwarf Joe Pye Weed 'Phantom' -- Eupatorium dubium.
Although it is advertised to about 3 feet tall, it can get pretty big, so chop it by half in June for control (like that ever worked with the tall sedums that flop, but do it anyway.)

A meadowy plant. It is supposed to be dwarf but a thread at Garden Web says it gets to 4 or 5 feet in moist soil. One commenter said it was a tidy 2 foot plant the first year, 5 feet tall the second.

I'll put it in Meadow's Edge at the back.

Coreopsis 'Sweet Marmalade' --  Coreopsis verticillata.
I have had a lot of trouble with coreopsis cultivars in the past. Only the big tall weedy yellow species plant grows for me. But we'll try this and see how it goes.

(After I ordered it I found this exhaustive coreopsis trial from Mt. Cuba Center. 'Sweet Marmalade' in their trials ranks poorly, with overwintering problems and mildew and floppiness. Eeesh.)

Orange (or sort of terra cotta) flowers on a foot tall plant. I'll put this with the asters in the gravel garden, or maybe in a pot to see how it does, since the Mt. Cuba data is so iffy. I may have simply repeated my issues with coreopsis, as in "I can't grow those".


Vinca -- a bundle of 50 bareroot stems to get a ground cover started under the dappled willows.

The willows are so big now that Jim can't mow under them and the area looks unkempt in summer. I'll dig the grass out this spring and make an island area for the three willows so he won't need to mow between or under them.

I debated all winter what to put under them rather than bare mulch. I have always liked vinca, and even grew it in a pot for its sweet blue flowers for a while.

It's a spreader and can overtake a garden, but this area will be mowed around on all sides, and I do want something to spread under this difficult area. It's glossy and pretty and for $25 I can get a good area covered.

I also ordered 5 bareroot red oak seedlings ($8 total) to put in the meadow, just because. And some compost in bags.

No container trees or shrubs this year, although they had some great choices. I should call them to see if they still have any more Carpinus caroliniana -- ironwood trees.

NCCD

We got hammered on Thursday and snow has buried every detail of my garden. Huge mountains plowed up by the truck greet us at the top of the driveway. More snow is coming Saturday.

So it continues to be catalog gardening and spring planning in my comfy chair indoors. That's all I can do.

The flyer arrived from North Central Conservation Distrcit today. They are a state non-profit organization that promotes ecology education, native landscaping, ag services, wetland reviews, etc.

I had a great experience ordering plants from them last year. I got nice sized carpinus caroliniana trees, and six blueberries and gray dogwoods, and so much more.

This year I had hoped to add to the mini-grove of carpinus (ironwood) trees, but they are not offered.

But the one plant I do see that I'd like to order is Pycnanthemum muticum. That has been on my list of wants, and they offer it, so it's a deal.

They deliver the plants for pick up at Auer Farm in town, as easy for me as possible. The NCCD volunteers were wonderful last year when I went to pick up plants, and the plants were big and healthy. A great experience all around.

Pycnanthemum muticum is mountain mint. I saw lovely big stands of it in James Golden's garden at Federal Twist. It is silvery and light and fills the space. The flowers are tiny and white, and the foliage is interesting.

mountain mint in James Golden's garden at Federal Twist

from North Creek Nursery

I want to put it at the back of the Drive By garden in the empty spot where I had zinnias last year.

There aren't too many other plants offered this year by NCCD that I want. I already have comptonia and redbud and eastern red cedars and bayberry and many other native plants they are selling.

But I might get some bareroot red oak seedlings and put them in the meadow. And they offer compost in bags, I might get some. And some blazing stars and early blooming rudbeckias and a dwarf Joe Pye Weed and a coreopsis that looked different and . . . .

My order is growing.

Rusted Planters

Another huge snowstorm is on its way. Tomorrow it will snow all day, and we are expecting 8 inches or more.  It is still only getting into the 20s in the daytime.

One thing I noticed that needs attention this winter is some rust. Quite a bit, actually.

The two black planter stands are in pretty bad shape. They were probably not meant to be outside, and they certainly were not meant to hold dirt. I had to drill holes in the metal to allow drainage.

There are two of these planters and I always liked the shape of them and the elevated height. I had them in various locations, and used an orange rectangular plastic liner to plant annuals in. The liner drained, but without holes in the planter itself, there was too much standing water in the metal trough.

So I drilled holes at the bottom edge of the metal sides, put potting soil directly into the trough and planted them up. Probably not a good idea. Obviously not a good idea. They rusted.

The troughs simply sit on the stands, so one option is to get rid of them and just use the stands to put smaller flowerpots on.

Or should I sand the metal down this winter, paint them with black rustoleum and get some more years of use out of them?

Sanding and painting sounds like a good project for a winter's day. I'll first need to dump out the plants and soil that are in there now, and since the potting bench and compost pile are completely snowed in, that will have to take place in the basement. A mess, for sure. But why not.

Another Indigo Dilemma

Still cold, a little snow last night, more snow coming later this week. For days it has not gotten out of the 20s during the daytime.

Dilemma #1

I mused earlier this winter about the pink dwarf weigela not playing nicely with the false indigo
'Twilite Prairiebues' near it.

When the smoky purple baptisia blooms it is an odd color combination. I've been thinking this winter I ought to move the weigela in spring. (Baptisias do not move, being tap rooted and fixed in place. And big.)

Now I'm back with exactly the same dilemma but this time it's the false indigo in the Birch Garden.

The white flowered baptisia alba pendula is a striking plant, strongly vase shaped and covered in white flowers. The branches arch and the flowers are frilly, and it is overall a much more attractive plant than 'Twilite Prairieblues'.

But here is dilemma #2 -- it blooms at the same time as the equally pretty and frilly 'Husker's Red' penstemons below it. The combination of small white flower spikes, one in clear white and the other in pinkish mauve-white seems odd.

Dilemma #2

It is compounded by the fact that the delicate white spikes of itea, just behind the baptisia, are starting to bloom too, and they mimic the arching form, the white delicacy, and the overall smallness of the penstemons and the baptisia, but in a completely different shade of creamy white.

It's all too much.

Too much sameness, too much of the same color but off.

I think I want to move the penstemons. They dig up and transplant easily. I could put something with more saturated color and bolder form at the foot of the baptisia.

Where to move the penstemons? Last year I tried a different penstemon, 'Elfin Pink', at the back of the Drive By garden and it was awful. I thought their wild hot pink would go nicely with the dark foliage of the ninebark and the moody dark foliage of the rosa glauca.

But it was too much eye-hurting pink. I took them all out.

No, no, no. This was bad.

But the 'Husker's Red' penstemons are much more refined, have a cooler white hue mixed with complex dark tones and dark foliage--- wouldn't they look nice with the maroon ninebark (the rosa glauca has been moved).

I think that's what I'll do in spring.

I'll move the penstemons to the back side of the Drive By garden, and put something bolder and brighter below the baptisia in the Birch Garden (more of the deep purple 'May Night' salvias? Another pop of bright red 'Drift' rose?)

Then the white arching false indigo in the Birch Garden can have pride of place.