Monday, February 06, 2012

Spring flowers... Disjointed thoughts on winter and spring.

A quick note... I've planted my spring flowers, a couple weeks early... Typically I wait until late February to start messing with tender annuals, but I'm going to bet on a continued very mild winter, and hope for no cold spells. (I might have to deal with fungus issues if it's cool and cloudy.)

Anyway, I already had zinnias and snapdragons planted, and so yesterday I added the following (some direct-sown, some in nursery pots): Zinnias, marigold (yellow and red), California poppies, and some new cosmos. (Most of these are from my recent Parks seed order.) I've already got pansy seedlings (still small), geraniums, and tons of calendula in full bloom. (All of those started from seeds back in the fall.) I "over-summered" some snapdragons, and they are in magnificent bloom right now. Oh, and borage--not yet flowering, but getting there.

If we don't have any cold snaps my garden should be in full bloom in six or seven weeks, so mid-March, with lots of flowers coming into bloom through the end of spring (more or less the end of April/early May). The zinnias and marigolds will bloom through June along with the gaura, phlox, and roses; for late summer, the cosmos will reseed and continue to bloom, though the orange and yellow cosmos will crowd out and outlast the other colors.The cosmos will mix it up with milkweed, cannas and alternanthera and see me meagerly through until early fall...

I'm always struck by calendula and pansies. They bloom from November until the end of April, and don't give a hoot about frosts. Tough little plants!

Oh, the vegetables in the front bed are up--I noticed today carrots, mache, cabbage, beets, chard, and potatoes... The back bed is in overproduction mode with broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and cool-weather herbs.

I need to find some space to plant peas...

1 comment:

Garden seeds said...

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