Seed catalogues

Ahh - the siren's lure of the seed catalogue.
When the snow is snowing and the wind is blowing, ther's nothing like a pile of seed catalogues to keep a frustrated gardener warm.
I get catalogues from McFayden's, Veseys, Stokes, Brecks, Spring Garden, Henry Field's, and more. I don't get Botanus, but I'd love to.
I doesn't matter that I realize, deep down, that the beautiful pictures don't always translate into reality. Last year, the purple bells that I was hoping would grace my planters didn't even come up. And what looked like a very pretty plant, the sun berry, turned out to be a weedy magnet for potato bugs and flea beetles, with berries that were inedible. We gardeners are a hardy lot, and we never give up hope.

This year I'm trying something else new - the Livingstone Daisy, also called Ice Plant. The pictures are amazing - daisy-like flowers in white, pink, and yellow. I remember getting a flat of those plants a few years ago. The best part was the foliage - somehow the leaves look like they are covered with shiny crystals of ice. I bought the seeds from Veseys a few weeks ago. I planted them right away, followed the directions of giving them bottom heat, and presto - within 4 days, the tiny seeds sprouted. The leaves are already shiny, sturdy little guys. I'm hoping for great things!

first signs of spring

It's been a rough winter. Snow and more snow, with no thaws in between. And it's been very cold, with high winds. But just this past week, miraculously, a few days of rain and plus-zero temperatures have reminded me that our deck is made of wood, not snow. The drifts have gone down surprizingly fast. And because of the heavy snow cover, there was no frost in the ground. So now that the snow is melting, fresh green shoots are already poking through the soil. Imagine my delight to find the first snowdrops in my front
flower bed.




As I walked around inspecting other signs of spring around my yard, I was drawn to a big hole in the snow around a rose bush. In two piles around the rose were the pathetic corpses of at least 2 dozen crocus bulbs. Each bulb has a bite out of it, and the severed shoots from the bulbs even show signs of the flowers that will never bloom. It must be squirrels. One pair of tiny red squirrels has been sharing seeds with the birds, and I didn't really mind because they really are cute. But this is different. This is not cute. They dug under at least 3 feet of snow and smelled dinner under the soil, which wasn't frozen. I am not impressed. I can only hope that some crocus bulbs escaped detection. In my many years of gardening, I have never seen this before, and I hope I never see it again. I know that crocus bulbs are like candy to a squirrel. Daffodils are a better choice. The bulbs are poisonous. I know what I'm planting next fall!

And to top it all off, I found a live earwig in the sink this morning! I'm afraid we are going to have a year of fighting off the pests.