Winter cheer

[Atash Hagmahani]

I thought it might get frosty tonight, and it did. Had to bring in pots of Ullucos as a precaution, and had to cover up rooted cuttings of other stuff to protect them.

These, which actually started blooming last month (pix shot on the 20th and the 29th of January), are still blooming, and should be OK as they can take a light frost:

Lousy picture due to poor contrast:



Snow Buntings (Crocus chrysanthus):

[Beeherder]

just great to see the crocus breaking through the snow as the first real sign of spring here. Not yet, not yet, but the days are noticeably longer.

 

[Dame]

Gorgeous pics.

I planted tobacco, celery(leaf & stalk), artichoke (globe) and basil yesterday.  Spent this morning going through seeds and contemplating how much of what where and when.  I am hoping to grow most of my own seed for next year.  Perhaps some for shoots, sprouts and micro greens next winter as well

DH is constructing a small custom light garden.  This is intended to be cat proof, kid proof, draft proof, take advantage of natural light as well as artificial, and fit in the washroom.   

[Atash Hagmahani]

Globe artichokes?! Growing them as annuals? Something like Imperial Star maybe?

Have fun with the seeds. I'm starting a few myself but I have to be careful not to overload my capacity.

[Dame]

Rumor up here has it that globe artichokes will grow as perennials if sufficiently mulched over the winter.  Starting in Feb gives them the lead time to bloom the first year.  I am wanting to through a couple of straw bales on them next winter and see if the rumor is correct.

[Atash Hagmahani]

Unprotected, they normally croak at 20F, and guess what, it hit 19F this year in Seattle. I am not utterly sure mine are dead, but I don't see any shoots coming up. Normally they are evergreen, and with relatively mild winter temps AFTER the killer freeze, they should have shown up by now.

Yerba Stella, supposedly extremely hardy, also MIA.

One thing that went wrong was that there was no snow cover and the ground actually froze. Killed a lot of things not used to that. Another thing that goes wrong is that our winters are normally damp, and freezing weather followed by mild damp weather makes a lot of things ROT. Sometimes things will survive at first only to be killed as the rot goes down into the ground and kills the bulb/root/tuber/crown.

I have a variety claimed to be coldhardy to 0F, which does not sound credible, but if it is any coldhardier than other varieties, I'll give it a shot. Also supposed to not require "vernalization", meaning that it can bear the first year from seed if started early. I've got 3 seedlings sitting in the hoophouse. The variety is called "Emerald". It's an F1 hybrid, supposed to be vigorous and productive.

Artichokes by the way are quite attractive plants, like gigantic blue-flowered, "architectural"-looking thistles. Some people here grow them as ornamentals in their perennial borders.

[Lady Lilya]

You planted yesterday?  We can't even see the ground yet. 

I saw on FaceBook yesterday that some of my friends were having difficulty identifying their cars under all the snow, and were hesitant to start digging until they were sure they had the right one.

[Dame]

LL,  Planted, as in bedding plant flats in a temporary light garden currently in my great room on the corner of my desk and sitting on a heated surface.  Some of these things will be transplanted a couple of times into larger pots as they grow, before being set out in the garden.

The celery can be set out much earlier than the more tender plants.  Celery can be frozen right off a couple of times and come back from the roots without any apparent delay in production.  I have had this happen a couple of times in the past so I like to get them out in April and make space inside for the less hardy things.  Most of the tender plants will not be put into the garden until early June.   

March/April sometime, the weather will moderate sufficiently that these plants can be moved to an outbuilding greenhouse, however even then it is occasionally necessary to run them back into the house if the weather is going to be severe for a short period. This is particularly true if we get weather such as reported in New York this week and there is potential for the power to go out.  I am not set up for wood heat in a greenhouse.

[The Future]

Planted my Imperial Stars a few months ago and they have held up well in the high winds.  Any ideas on the other end of the spectrum - how they manage in warm humid places?  Got my seed fro Peters Seed Research.

[Atash Hagmahani]

Heat and humidity will make them disease-prone. They like mild, equable, slightly dryish but not too much (not xeric) climates. Your soil is fast-draining though, isn't it? And somewhat alkaline? That might actually help.

[Lady Lilya]

This thread was started 2 and a half weeks ago.  We still have more than a foot of snow on the ground.  We had to dig out our car today.

[Atash Hagmahani]

Well, at our house, Hyacinths have been blooming for about a week or so.

I'm surprised they haven't been stolen like the Daffodils were.

Daphne odora is blooming all over town (including my yard), and it has a wonderful scent, fairly common among late-winter-blooming plants. Some roses have the same scent: very sweet, lemony, with slightly musky overtones.

[Atash Hagmahani]

Oh, come to think of it, Camellias are blooming too. I took some pix a few days ago, maybe if I have time this evening I'll post.

[The Future]

Heat and humidity will make them disease-prone. They like mild, equable, slightly dryish but not too much (not xeric) climates. Your soil is fast-draining though, isn't it? And somewhat alkaline? That might actually help.

drainage is pretty good.  there are in raised beds.  I'll save seed and see if I can develop a winner for my climate.  We stay below 90F mostly and winters can get down as far as 50F (average low is more like 60- 68F).  I have about 5 plants that survived so far.  We'll see how they do.