Remember last summer when one of the utility companies dug a deep hole in the ground between the sidewalk and the street? They covered their tracks pretty well, with the grass seed they put down filling in quite quickly.
You thought my vinca cleanup and trimming project last week was the last you'd see of this vigorous groundcover for a while, right?
With spring fast approaching (or not so fast depending upon where you live), late-winter cleanup is well under way in my garden.
I decided to start cleaning some of the leaves and excess oxygenator plants out of the pond last weekend while the weather was still somewhat warm, before the colder air and snow hit us this past week.
There are things I forget every year in the garden. Late winter is when I usually notice them: things I should have done last year, plants I've forgotten about.
In a post a few weeks ago I mentioned taking Euphorbia tirucalli 'Sticks on fire' cuttings, and Loree at Danger Garden wondered what I did to get good success when propagating this plant.
If you have any doubt about what today's post is about, let me make it clear: vinca. Vinca major 'variegata' to be exact. I write about this almost every year, as it needs to be explained as often as it needs to be tended.
I gave you warning a few weeks back: it's moss season here, and I cannot resist getting down on the ground for some mossy macro shots.
No, it's not looking good at all. This could be one of the ugliest posts I've done for quite a while...
Yesterday I showed you some of the new plants I should be growing this year, that is if I can get the seeds to germinate. Sometimes it's tricky, you know.
If you've been reading my posts for a while (thanks!) you probably know that I like to try a few new plants every year, whether in the veggie garden or in the ornamental beds.
One of the great and unexpected things I've found about late winter (or very early spring if you're quite optimistic) is the way that many plants turn unusual colors. Unusual and wonderful!
Unlike earlier in the week when I photographed the depths of the pond, the fish weren't hiding the other day:
I think I've got a few rose-themed posts coming in the next month or so, with pruning that needs to be done, and a transplant/salvage project, but I'm starting things off today with something that required much less effort.
It's finally time to start growing new plants! It's a bit early still for the warm weather stuff like tomatoes, but for the cool-season edibles it's time.
I wanted to show you the pond right now, as it's pretty incredible.
If you ask me what my weakest area in the garden is, where I show the least amount of skill, I'd have to say that's the veggie garden. I'm just not too good with edibles for whatever reason. Perhaps some of it is out of my hands as the trees limit the amount of sunlight in my small veggie patch. A good part of it is down to me though, in the form of soil prep, watering, and general diligence.
To those of us who are obsessed with growing bamboo in our gardens, there's nothing like a thick, beautiful bamboo culm.
Some of the most exciting things about gardening for me are emergences. (Not emergencies, although they are exciting too.) So much anticipation followed by satisfaction, surprise, sometimes disappointment, but seeing something where before there was nothing.
Last summer was the first for the new beds along the driveway. This is where I had lots of spring-flowering bulbs, and once their blooms faded I planted several different annuals. It was a big success both in terms of spring blooms and summer interest, and I'm excited to see what happens this year.
I did some repotting of succulents recently. Confronted with the often overwhelming task of getting seeds started, I sometimes just do something else as a warm-up -- this was the task I chose.
With no sign of the colder side of February expected at least for another week (hopefully forever?), I decided to do something about my almost-uncluttered driveway.
I'm not very good with houseplants, mainly because I tend to ignore them for much of the year. In winter they end up looking pretty sad, as the normally low amounts of light they get dip even lower, the dry air does them no favors, and they don't get to go outside for a nice rain shower once in a while.
Besides taking cuttings as part of my yearly overwintering strategy, I also overwinter some grass divisions, mainly purple fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum'). I did the same thing this year, but in a different way.
There was a chance of snow last night, with accumulations of up to 1" (2.5cm) expected -- in St. Louis that really means "it's not going to snow". They were a little off in their estimate.
A somewhat stylized look at one of my favorite birds: the Black-capped Chickadee.
I happened to snap a photo of something exciting last week:
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