Pretty Weeds

Bluebells. I have so many of those in my garden. I have to treat them like weeds. They are beautiful, though, especially at this time.

Happy Spring!

As I write this, there are only a couple hours or so left until the cosmic event spring equinox. All around the world at this time there are 12 hours between sunrise and sunset. For us in the Northern hemisphere from now on the days will become longer and nights shorter. Welcome spring!

Another nice day today in Arlington and again I worked for quite some time in the garden:

• seeded spinach, dill and cilantro
• planted eight broccoli, four kohlrabi and four asparagus seedlings (we all like broccoli, kohlrabi is an experiment and asparagus harvest might happen next spring, but most likely in two years)
• planted six forget-me-not plants in the side yard
• in between prepped the soil, i.e. dug in some compost in the veggie patch
• mulched a little bit more

• planted a bulb of this calla lily on a big terra cotta container. The bulb is kind of weird looking, I presumed this is the top...

• and finally, I seeded some yellow bell pepper as well as yellow and orange tomatoes in two smaller terra cotta pots. These pots will stay inside. The tomato seeds I saved last year from store-bought tomatoes. Later I read that saving tomato seeds involves fermenting process. Oh well, if they do not come up, no big loss.

Winter Blooms

Some of my houseplants are blooming right now. I bought this cyclamen more than a year ago to decorate my house for New Year's. Typically it is hard to get cyclamen to bloom again the following year, but this gal might have liked my cold and shady laundry room where I kept it from spring to late fall.This amaryllis--also from a grocery store--was supposed to be white and I was hoping it would bloom around Christmas. Oh well. I hope to add this one to my collection of amaryllis bulbs.
This is how my coffee table and mantel looks right now. The orchid on the coffee table was an unexpected gift from a neighbor recently.
Beautiful!
With all the blooming houseplants around, there's really no need for cut flowers. Besides, the branches that I'm forcing are about to come into bloom... I'd never guess I would have more blooms in my house in February than at any other time when it's warm outside.

Gladiolus

Yesterday I dug up some of my gladiolus bulbs. The stalks were getting too yellow and unsightly for the front yard... it was time. I'll air dry them for a few more days, then store in a paper bag in cool, dry place until spring.

100 Muscari

$12 for 100 muscari bulbs at Costco. Planted them all today, most in the front yard. Now the challenge will be to remember exactly where and not plant something else on top.