Spring’s not all Rainbows!
On March 29, 2009 we had a day which wasn’t great, weather wise but nice enough to plant some peas. I made a little bamboo tripod for them to grow on.
Then about an hour later it got very dark and started to thunder and then hail!
Here is another image of the hail from my front porch.
It’s the end of February and I’m starting to think of spring. We had a very warm fall. The holidays weren’t very cold—in fact the weekend after new years people were out in their shirt sleeves—but now it’s cold and has been for a while. Been wearing turtlenecks almost every day,
Starting to think about my garden. Thought I’d check it out daily and record the change of seasons. So here are images of the first day and the latest day. Yesterday was cold and crisp with a bright, blue sky. Today it has started to snow. (In the summer the sheep lives under some false Indigo and looks across at the lamb’s ears—some people get it some don’t and that’s ok.)
Check here for day by day Spring 2007 images.
Plants in the Haupt Conservatory of the New York Botanical Garden
This week I went on my garden trip with Jane and Jane, Mike, Pam, Marge, and Sally. This year we went to New York City! and it rained and rained and rained but we still had fun, Jane brought everyone yo-yos, talked a lot, ate good food – lots of chocolate – and saw gardens! Pam had made arrangements for a hotel with a great location, (she gave us each a purple geranium to brighten our rooms), made reservations at a terrific restaurant, Artisanal, and suggested lots to see. The lots to see kept being switched about to accommodate the weather but on Tues we took the bus up Fifth Ave. to 105th street to see the NY Conservatory.
It was pretty misty but the plants were happy. The gardeners working there were so helpful and friendly – stopping what they were doing to answer our constant stream of questions. In one of the more formal areas, surrounded by a hedge, a young mother was blowing bubbles for her child and they floated over the garden. With Central Park in the background it was out of a movie!
The next day we drove to The New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. It poured—forget misty. So we made a beeline to The Haupt Conservatory, a wonderful Victorian glass building full of tropical plants; then the Mertz Library which had an amazing exhibit, Dutch Watercolors with paintings and other botanical drawings etc from the National Herbarium of the Netherlands at Leiden and their own collections. Many prints and drawings from the 16 and 1700’s. Don’t forget we were all art students once upon a time so we were excited—gardens and art! We grabbed lunch at their cafe and hit one of the best garden gift shops I’ve seen.
Then, due to the rain we all split up and headed our separate ways, some stayed on, Jane and I hit the Jersey Turnpike back to Philly.
The sun has been shining ever since!
Hanging Herb Basket
Yesterday Bob and I went to Chanticleer. Bob had never been there and I had been there only the once. We stopped in Wayne at a sweet little coffee shop, Cream and Sugar Café, and had a quick lunch and then on to the garden. We mainly took a over view tour as he hadn’t seen it before and it is pretty special.
I was very interested in seeing the hanging herb baskets in the kitchen garden that I remembered from my previous visit. They were there, smaller than I remembered, but still pretty spectacular with herbs jammed tightly—including growing through the sides of the basket itself.
Well, it’s spring and yesterday we played hooky and made a run to Lancaster, PA to buy plants.
Several weeks ago we cleaned out a large over grown area in our front yard to the left of the walk as you face the house. It was infested with vines and ivy and no matter how we weeded each year it quickly got out of control. So it was dug out, save the rose bushes, and covered with mulch – hence the need for new plants.
We went to Black Creek Gardens, for lots of plants; Briar Rose Greenhouse, for hanging baskets; Sauder’s Nursery, for a plant for cousin Susan; and Hoover’s Farm Market where we bought cookies and shoe fly pie!
I re planted my hanging baskets off the deck with a tight mix of Lettuce, Rosemary, Oregano, Dill, Italian Parsley, Nasturtiums, Coriander, 2 Sages, French Thyme, and 2 Basils. Looking forward to grabbing a few herbs as I’m cooking this summer!
In front, where we dug things up, we have planted, so far, Verbena, Salvia, Coral Bells and Lambs Ears.
Well I missed last Fri but here’s my photo for this week.
Reminds me that summer is on the way!