Hooray for roses!

The roses are still going!  We have some gorgeous Maiden Blush roses still blooming.  The Madame Hardy's are about gone, but the plants themselves look terrific still.

Check out the blog Hedgegrow Rose for some wonderful rose pictures and lovely varieties!

Roses and more roses!

It's been a rainy June, but the roses are still gorgeous!

More springtime...

The pear trees are even in bloom this year!

The tarp even matches!

We are so excited for the unveiling of the sundial in all its repaired glory!  Hooray for Matt, our Eagle Scout volunteer!   In the meantime, the tarp matches the grape hyacinths just perfectly.

Eagle Scout Project

Matt Roach has completed his Eagle Scout project with a fine job with the sundial.  The sundial has been at the Quincy Homestead as a memorial since 1913.

Plant Sales not to miss

The Elm Bank Plant Sale out in Wellesley, MA, Saturday, May 11th

The Long Hill Plant Sale in Beverly, MA, Saturday, May 18

Early Spring

Winter Sowing Part 2

So here's what we've got so far:

12 milk jugs planted in January that my in-laws plant-sat for me.
Out of those twelve, we've got sweet peas up, calendula, and a few mysteries....

Why mysteries?  Well, did you know that a sharpie marker will not be permanent on some kinds of plastic?   The ink wore off of all the milk jugs, and, once again, we're just guessing by the bits of seed coatings on top of the dirt!

Also, 10 milk jugs planted that have been at Dorothy's this spring.
Out of those, we already have calendula up.  We'll see what else appears!  Same sharpie problem, of course.

Winston, my husband, recommended a "lab marker" which can write permanently on these kinds of plastic.   Better living through chemistry!   We'll have to try this next year.

Daffodil Hill

What a lot of catching up there is to do!  It's ridiculous that the past post is of snow, but grad school creates a certain tunnel vision.  Oh well, it's spring!!

There are so many pictures to post, from the wonderful crocus lawn at Easter to the splendid blooming pear trees right now.  Little by little, we'll get them all up.

But most importantly, let's give three cheers and one cheer more for the wonderful Master Gardeners who have come to help during the past few weeks!  What a difference it makes!

This picture isn't even from Dorothy's - it's from another garden I've been playing with in Beverly, MA.  What a good deed Home Depot did when they put their bulbs on 75% off at Thanksgiving!

Snow!

This is Brighton, not Quincy, but, gracious sakes!  What a lot of snow!

Amaryllis bliss

It's been a good year for Amaryllis.  We were able to buy really good bulbs this time (I'd been too cheap before and gotten no blooms last year) and this has made all the difference!   A lovely red one for Christmas and pink now.  Considering we planted them all at the same time, and that I didn't remember to label the colors, what a lovely coincidence for color schemes!  I always binge on red during Christmas and need a break from it in January.  The pink one had 8 blooms until this morning, when one started looking like it needed to be snapped off.



Notes about Amaryllis:
1.  Have a planting party in October so that they're ready for Christmas.
2.  Get all your containers ready because you'll buy more bulbs than you planned on!
3.  Use dirt, not stones, for amaryllis, because the roots got too wet this year, and the stones didn't really support the full weight of the stems and flowers.

As you can see from our window, I'm in heaven.  We've got three hyacinths forced, and two more almost ready, two primroses, one huge amaryllis, and one ready in a week or two.  Bliss!

Winter sowing!

Winter sowing has begun!

Today I planted, in milk jug containers:

Hollyhocks
Thyme
Rudbeckia
Larkspur
Campanula
Joe Pye weed
Echinacea
Strawflowers
2 mystery mixes of seeds from walks around gardens ( I think there's some nigella).
Morning glories
Wild sweet peas

We'll see what happens, but I'm ridiculously pleased already. And I have another 12 milk jugs left!

First sprout

The calendula is up!

First order

SUMMER CARNIVAL HOLLYHOCK
INDIAN SUMMER RUDBECKIA
MEDIUM CANTERBURY BELLS CAMPAN
SENSATION MIX NICOTIANA
COMMON THYME
GIANT IMPERIAL MIX LARKSPUR
RUEGEN STRAWBERRY

I'm especially excited about the alpine strawberries, but I'm excited about everything!

I found some potting soil, a tray, and some calendula seeds.  I couldn't resist!  I planted on Tuesday morning, kept them in the dark, and already I see tiny sprouts!

Greedy

I am getting so greedy for seeds!

The wishlist so far:

Primula Japonica

Cowslips

Verbena bonariensis

some kind of cosmos

more Johnny jump ups

oh dear...

More seeds

This seed thing seems to be on the way to an obsession!

My favorite seed sources so far...

Pinetree Seeds

Monticello - has seeds!  And interesting varieties too.  The pink spiced celosia really is striking.

Cherry Gal has cowslips!

Seeds

I am currently going through all the messy piles of seeds that I snipped from the fall and salivating over online seed catalogues. Hopefully playing with the seeds I already have will help me be moderate...maybe.

I've got
Wild sweet peas from our neighborhood
Yellow strawflowers
Joe pye weed
Echinacea
Morning glories
Calendula
Musk mallow
Blackberry lily
And one labelled "who knows what"

I'm hoping to try winter sowing from the garden for the house blog http://www.agardenforthehouse.com/2012/11/winter-sowing-101-6/

And I'm addicted to Tovah Martin's new book. Oh January!