Who Knew?

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Some cool things going on this week...

From 35F and pictures of snow in my yard to 84F in the span of three days - Who knew!?
I'm soooo not complaining. It's gorgeous, it's about time, and we deserve it, damn it!

Airborne Adventures is already up and flyin' around our house for the season - Who knew!?


(I didn't get to the camera quick enough before it got away!)

Icicle Pansies really will overwinter in my crappy zone 5 - Who knew!?



Jumping spiders love graham crackers - Who knew!?
Apologies to the squeamish, I like spiders :)



And I didn't get a pic, but I held the first black swallowtail of the year. I think he may have recently emerged because the flight muscles weren't working so well yet and he was in an area where I'd thrown last fall's dead stalks of parsley and fennel. I never even remembered to check in the fall before I cleaned up! (this is why I usually leave my yard such a mess all winter) Sadly, he eventually took flight.
I have never seen Black Swallowtails this early in the year. The first of May? Really? - Who knew!?

Happy (who knew!?) Growing!
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Daff And Tulip Update

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Well, they're still confused.
Poor things.
Most of the daffs are thinking about it.



But the tulips are already way ahead.





Even the azaleas think it's time!



I hope this wackiness sorts itself out. And soon!

Happy (weirdo weather) Growing!
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What's Wrong With This Picture

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This is a very strange year so far.
My daffs are usually opening the very last of their buds when the tulips are still tightly closed and deciding whether it's time to open theirs.

Here is this years situation -
The daffodils are just barely beginning to open their buds:



And the tulips, who should be at least two to three weeks behind total bloom of the daffs, look like this:


I have never, ever had tulips this far along this early in the year. Certainly not trying to beat out the daff blooms! (See the hyacinth tucked in the tulip foliage? Not even thinking of sending up a bloom yet. Say what?)
Honestly, I don't blame the tulips for thinking it must be time. The weather has been complete wackiness for the last month, going from record 80's F temps back down to freezing every night for this coming week.
I think I'd be a tad confused myself.
I sure hope this wackiness doesn't continue through the summer. Three sucky growing years in a row would, well . . . suck!

Happy (bloomin' tulips!) Growing!
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The Bee Banquet

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I put the pot of forced hyacinths outside for a good watering and some sun. A few minutes later, they were smothered with bees:





Those pics are of just a few blooms - there are 16 plants in this pot and there were dozens forcing themselves inside the blooms of each plant. I was delighted to see them, but am a bit worried. I've never seen this many awake this early.
This is probably their first meal of the year since there is nothing blooming yet. The daffodils and tulips have barely poked the tips of their leaves above ground.
Hopefully there will be something else flowering for these hungry bees by the time the hyacinths fade. It's only March for pete sake, even the dandelions won't be blooming for at least another month. I'll keep putting the pot outside daily until the hyacinths are done for. Now I wish I had forced lots more.
The temps went directly from freezing to 50's F. It might be much too early for the bees to be awake yet. I sure hope they have some hive food left!

Happy (for the bees) Growing!
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A 2010 Seed Shortage?

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According to an article in The Baltimore Sun, by Susan Reimer, it's quite possible.

Seed shortage in 2010?

Personally, I'm not buying it.
I think there will be plenty to go around to anyone who wants them. Granted, some varieties might be harder to get your hands on, but that happens almost every year anyway.
I wonder if it will end up being one of those 'the sky is falling' panic episodes? You know, like when the scarcity of rice rumor started flying and the price suddenly hit the ceiling and the shelves were bare? Yeah, like that.

This is exactly why I save 95 percent of my own seed. Wanna bet if rumor starts spreading fast enough the prices start going up? I guess it's as good a reason as any for the seed companies to use to their profit benefit.

Happy Growing!

Grow This, Not That

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With all those helpful 'Eat This, Not That', and 'Cook This, Not That' books out there, shouldn't there be a 'Grow This, Not That' book?
Come on writers, us gardeners know where all the good-for-you food everyone is talking about starts. Don't you?
Noting which vegetables, perennials and annuals are actually the best for certain zones would be ridiculously helpful to, not just newer gardeners but, everyone!

OK, I think someone should get on top of this right now. Any takers? Besides, fellow gardeners have already done tons of research for you: Cornell University Vegetable Ratings

Oh, Colleen? Amy?
;)
And, yeah, I expect at least a mention! lol.

Happy Growing!

Bats And Balloons

Nothing special going on in the garden, except that we still haven't gotten late blight. Fingers crossed!
It has now hit every county in NY, spread across almost all of the north east and wiped out a lot of fields in the south.
Hopefully I'll get to make lots of sauce to freeze again this year. Tomatoes and potatoes are going to be like gold in the US this year.

This is what came directly over our house and scared the crap out of me! lol. I couldn't figure out what the sound was, and by the time my brain caught up that I KNEW what that noise was, it had already passed over the roof. I still got some pretty good pictures as it landed in the field across the road though:









They had to pull it away from the trees it ran in to before they could deflate it (ouch).



The one in the back tried landing three times in the same field before they gave up and made an emergency landing farther down the hill. They had it on the nightly news - apparently, around here, we don't have anything more important to report on. lol.






A friend in the city had a bat invasion the other night. Since he managed to catch one, he brought it up to us to be released. City bat became a country bat! :)
We didn't get very good pictures since we didn't want to stress him out any more than he already was. The girls were oooing and awwwwing that he was so cute . . . until he showed his teeth.





So, that's what has been going on around here.
Hope everyone's gardens are doing well.
Happy growing!

Lightning And Other Stuff

We got hit last Friday. URGH!
It would have been nice if it could have stayed farther away from me than 5 feet -
It hurt! It felt like every muscle in my body had contracted as hard as it could. The muscles around my rib cage still hurt - they feel like they've shrunk 2 sizes. The tingle wasn't too cool either. You know how it feels when you stick your tongue on a brand new 9 volt battery? Times that by about a thousand and add your whole body. I was on the floor for a few minutes deciding if I was still alive. lol. The top of my scalp and my neck still feel weird, but not painful.
The concussion from the crack! when it hit the ground was so loud that it took out my oldest son's hearing for a little while.

This is the hole it left in the ground outside the window where I was sitting (it looks small compared to what it looks like in real life) Sorry it's a little blurry, but I was still shaking when I took the pic:



It blew the iris right out of the ground and pulverized the rocks that ring the tree (threw the rubble all over). There's a huge hole in the pathway and the plastic underneath is gone. There is a long scar mark that shows the path the lightning took up the tree. It swirled around it like a snake right to the top and blew of big chunks of bark. Harumph - the first thing anyone asked was, "Are the fish OK?" What, forget the humans, are the fish all right? lol.

My husband and I lost both our computers, the router, both tv's, the cable box, the modem, S's monitor, D's motherboard got zapped, the phone (I can't remember what else, but it was anything connected to cable or phone lines). It disintegrated the switch on the surge protector. Yeah, that didn't do much good.

Bro-in-law and sis-in-law gave me their old comp. Yay! D is going to use youngest daughter's with messed up motherboard as it can still work for basic stuff and she's getting youngest son's old one since he found a cheap one for himself on Craig's List.

Note to God: D lost his job, we lost Ronnie Tuesday and now the lightning. That's three. Are we done now??!! Please?!

Happier things -

I saw some turkey vultures sunning themselves. They're beautiful birds as long as they stay away from me. (Oh, Lordy, maybe it's another sign. ~sigh~)







I thought this swarm of ants on our front step was cool, but it kind of grossed me out at the same time.



A fabulous cauliflower we pulled out of the garden this year (that's a quarter next to it for size comparison).





OK, I guess that's it for the moment.
If you don't hear from me for a while, well, something else bad has happened and I don't want to think about it!
:(

Roadside Shopping

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People are chucking their spent mums . . . again.
Yay!
I picked up three big mums and a pumpkin large enough for about four loaves of pumpkin bread. I love it when people have money to throw away.
Clearance sales are still on at Lowe's - huge Boston fern and two 'Double Take' Spaths (left outside to get frosted - ugh!) for a buck.
Go me!

The weather looks like I'll be able to get the mums in the ground on Friday.
I got the Iris cut back for winter and did a lot of weed pulling. Most of the flowerbeds are cleaned up. I'm still doing that nit-picky thing I do, though. I can't help it!

Planted the garlic a month ago and they're growing very well. Transplanted the rhubarb into the garden at the same time - I don't know how they'll end up taking it. We'll see.

Collected some more seed - aster and Zebrina Malva. I'm hoping those don't become a thug.
The large pond pump and flow-through pumps have been turned off and the smaller winter pumps turned on. The koi are sulking, but it can't be helped. They'll be fine, as always.

Now comes the real limbo. Too much love for the houseplants while I twiddle my thumbs waiting to start the wintersowing. It won't be as much as previous years as I can't afford the potting soil. Oh, well. I'll just have to pick and choose a little more wisely about what I want most in the flowerbeds next year and use the peat I already have - whether appropriate or not. On a side note: I was a little miffed when someone mentioned that they bought eight bags of potting soil for 8 something a bag and thought that it was no big deal and pretty much petty change. Huh? When your figuring out which bill to pay and which to leave . . . ummmm, 60 something dollars is a lot of money! What the hell is wrong with people saying it's no big deal to just go blow 60 bucks on soil? I could almost see her shrugging her shoulders with the 'what's the big deal' attitude. Grrrr.

I need to sort through my seeds again and get them in order. Maybe I'll wait on that until after Christmas when I'll be ridiculously sick of having nothing gardenish to play in.

Still so far, so good on the rosemary.

I still need to tent my lavender with some burlap.

I found out that my Polka Dots are more of a pain in the ass than I thought they would be.

I can't get the stem rot stopped on those stupid begonias, so have about a thousand cuttings piled everywhere now. If I end up with not one begonia come spring, I'm gonna be hot!

The Majesty Palm is still puttering along and throwing up new spears.

Oh, and the weirdness for the month - a Foxglove and Lupine are flowering! What the frig is up with that? The snaps that are still in full bloom aren't a surprise, but the Lupine certainly is. Also had a Delph just get a very late bloom frozen off. Hmmm . . .

Plans are in the works to widen the garden next spring and plant potatoes again. Yay! We haven't had the room for them in years.

I may do some more roadside shopping this weekend. Hehehe.

Out Of Their Element

I saw an interesting butterfly the other day flitting around the Phlox. I didn't pay much attention, other than to gasp, grin and mumble that he was so pretty.

I couldn't get the thought of him out of my brain since this was one I'd never seen before, and I decided to do a little net hunting.

Interesting - it turned out to be a Papilio palamedes! (another one of those times I wish I had a friggin' camera)

Well, very interesting if you consider that for me to see one, he was way out of his range.

According to the Butterflies and Moths of North America site;

Range: Along Atlantic coast from southern New Jersey (rare) to Florida; west and south along Gulf Coast to central Mexico.

Hmmm ... if it's rare to find one in southern New Jersey, what was he doing way up here?

Another sign of GW and everything moving north?

With the way stranger things have been happening in my own yard lately, I'm keeping an open mind on this one.

The Unknown

I started this begonia from a leaf I snitched off the floor when the landscape crew at a local touristy-like place was ripping them up last fall. The flowers were beautiful, mostly double pinks and yellows from what I saw, but not sure what plant this exact leaf came from. (I wasn't bold enough to ask). The plants must have been a good 2 foot tall and quite bushy. The leaf was a little smaller than my hand and a nice, deep green.

The flowers looked like 'Non-Stop', but the leaves don't look the same. Heck, I don't even know if its a tuberous type or not. Ok, so I don't have any experience with begonias!

Any ideas from what the leaves look like?

I'm not even sure of how to get it through the winter. It's looking ridiculously healthy at this point, and I'd like to keep it that way. I didn't even think it would work when I slit the leaf and plopped it on some soil, but I'm happy it did.

Help. Anyone?

*Edit 8/28 : I posted these same pics on the Begonia forum, and they don't think it's a begonia at all! Hmmm...I used fresh potting soil from a new bag, scored the leaf a few times, layed it on top of the soil and covered it with a ziplock. And this is what popped up! Now, I'm kind of weirded out about what it might be.

Someone suggested geranium, but I don't have any of those anymore (and there aren't any for miles around - I live in the boonies), so doubt it was some sort of errant seed. Especially considering it was a brand new bag of potting soil. Well, then...I hope it lives so I can see what kind of gift plant I got! :)

*Edit 9/3 : Someone guessed it might be a Ranunculus - and they might be right, as the leaves look darn close! Now, where would that have come from?! I better be able to keep this thing going until it blooms. It's driving me nuts...