Early Spring Nursery Visit: Sherwood's Forest

I made a promise to myself to not only visit more local nurseries this year, but to post about the visits too. I was inspired to do this by Peter, The Outlaw Gardener, who seemingly visits at least one garden center every day of the year in the nursery-dense Pacific Northwest.

It's still quite early in the season here in St. Louis so the nurseries are only half-stocked or not open yet -- we have one seasonal nursery/grower that will be opening soon -- but I decided to stop in and take a look at Sherwood's Forest on my way home last Saturday.

It's a start...

I was at Home Depot this past weekend picking up some supplies for a house repair, and as I always do I took a swing through the garden center just to see what was happening. At this time of year the majority of plants are left on their rolling shipping racks, which allows them to be rolled into the store if the temperatures dip below freezing for a night.

I don't think it actually got that cold Saturday night, but Sunday morning all of the plants were indoors. I'm looking for some groundcover thyme this year, and I've already bought some from a local nursery but was interested in these flats that I saw. Strange that there would be plant tags on these, especially since the tag shows a completely different plant with large leaves.

Indoor seedlings

Although it snowed a bit last night and the next couple of days will be chilly, I think I've timed my edible plants seed starting quite well this year. I say that as if it's really in my control...

...but the truth is that spring in St. Louis is quite unpredictable, and some years the spring temperatures last for just a couple of weeks before we bolt into the 80's and early summer. So it's not just a question of starting the seedlings on the right calendar date -- luck has a lot to do with it.

What excites me about Spring

Sure I love seeing the early spring blooms of crocus, daffodils, tulips and such, and those flowering trees and shrubs on a sunny day -- wow! But to be honest what really gets me excited when spring finally arrives is a lot more.

First of all it's the happiness I feel at seeing the fresh foliage of perennials cautiously poking through the soil or mulch.

More early Spring at MBG

Yesterday I showed you some cactus eye-candy and the amazing crocus field at the Missouri Botanical Garden. I had never visited at this time of year before, so there were surprises.

It happened to be the last day of the Orchid Show, so we took a quick look around. I was drawn to some of the blooms for sure, but only took a few photos (didn't have the right camera with me). If you want to see more orchid blooms I visited specifically for the Orchid Show a couple of years ago.

Cactus and Crocus

This weekend my wife and I made an impromptu decision to visit the Missouri Botanical Garden after meeting with our accountant, a way to end the day on a fun note. Neither of us has been to the garden at this time of year, so we weren't sure what to expect in the outdoor beds.

There was a lot more going on outdoors than we expected, but I'll cover most of that in another post. Today I start with cactus and Euphorbias. Big bowls of them grow in the Linnean House, the building closest to the main entry building. The sweet scent of Jasmine filled the air as I bent over bowl after bowl of prickly beauty.

Hawk

I was doing more cleanup in the front garden this weekend, and between wheelbarrow loads of spreading community pile mulch I saw a hawk land in the tree across the street.

Whenever I'm covered in garden dirt and debris and see a possible photo opportunity, I mentally weigh the advantages: what's the subject? How common is it? Is the lighting good? What are the chances that the opportunity will be gone by the time I remove my tightly-laced muddy boots to go inside, grab my camera, fit my long lens (vintage screw-on type) then get back outside?

The Pot of Soil Game

Cats love Agave?

You already knew that I have cats right? They don't venture outdoors after we adopt them, but that doesn't mean that I haven't learned some things about cats and plants. One thing I learned when Kumo wasn't yet ours...

...is that cats really love bamboo. Not just rubbing against it, but eating it too. I love how cut bamboo looks in vases indoors, but that look doesn't last long because the branches immediately turn into a cat salad bar.

Looking better?

Warmer days have come and although we've taken a step back into slightly cooler air this week, it's time for me to start cleaning up the planting beds.

There are some crocus poking through the debris, and the daffodil foliage is making a good push through now, so it's time to get rid of the debris from last year. Thus begins my most conflicted time of year in the garden: I love the arrival of warmer weather and watching the plants awaken, but hate the barrenness of the perennial beds.

Slow water

A bit how I feel today, like slow water collecting sediments.

It caught my eye the other day when we were looking at the caves.

Look up: spring is here!

I was on the road between Chicago and St. Louis again this past weekend, and saw something that amazed me and said to me "Spring Is Here!":

The largest flock of migrating birds I have ever seen. Just HUGE. They crossed the highway just as I was arriving.

Ice to art

On Saturday there was still a good deal of ice left in the pond. My wife pulled some out and we were surprised at how thick it was.

These photos came from just a couple of shots of that ice. I love the results!

Pond Update

The pond is not looking great, but with temperatures around 70ºF the last few days I just had to take a look and see how many fish made it through the winter.

As you can see, there are quite a few! I'm always surprised, as just last week there was a thick layer of ice over this and it had been there for a few weeks. So glad to see the orange!

Rockwoods Reservation

We seem to have rather abruptly transitioned into spring here in the St. Louis area, and last weekend my wife and I decided to go for a hike -- but where? We knew that Queeny Park would be packed, as would the nearby bike trail, so we had to think a bit. Castlewood? We've been there many times. Shaw Nature Reserve? Same there -- have visited quite often. What about Rockwoods? Neither of us has ever been there, so it was decided!

Rockwoods Reservation is an 1880-acre conservation area on the western edge of the St. Louis metro area. We decided to take the long way there, driving down 44 until we hit 109 -- that stretch of Interstate 44 is really quite beautiful at almost any time of year -- and about 30 minutes later we reached the conservation area.

Basic Math...

The results: my new Agaves

A week ago I went to local nursery Greenscape Gardens to buy some kale seed, but instead spent a lot of time looking at Agaves and other succulents. After getting some questions answered here and thinking about it for a week, I went back this weekend and made my choices.

That's not to say that I just walked in, grabbed the plants I had decided upon, and purchased. No, this was a shopping trip that included much more debate, side-by-side comparison, putting plants into the cart then taking them back out again until the final decisions were made. For instance the Agave impressa 'Impressive' above was in the cart for a while then out again before I finally decided upon a smaller specimen.

Last cold day?

Cold this morning, around 10ºF (-12ºC). I've been taking photos through the window using my longest lens, which is quite old and not of the best quality.

Which means I had to get a bit artsy and do some post processing to hide some of the imperfections. Will this be the last time I'm restricted to inside-looking-out photos this year? The forecast calls for high temperatures of between 55ºF (13ºC) and 65ºF (18ºC) starting tomorrow and continuing for the next week -- or longer?

Five-year anniversary: best of INWIG 2014

According to Blogger I made my first blog post on March 5, 2010 which means today is my five-year anniversary!  One of the main reasons for creating this blog was so I'd document everything I did in the garden, and I have to admit I've done a pretty good job of that. Did I list every detail of every task I did? No, certainly not. I missed lots of stuff, including some important details such as what exact varieties of veggies I planted, spacings, fertilization schedules, etc. but I also shared a lot of things that I would normally have just observed and enjoyed for myself, and have hopefully given some entertainment and knowledge to you, my readers.

Today, as I've done every March 5 since I started, I'm going to take a look back over the past year and list my favorite posts in chronological order. If you haven't seen them before please take a look. If you have seen them already, then take another look -- it's still fun! I did this type of post on my previous anniversaries too, and I really like the way they turned out. Expect it every year.

A few more things...

This past weekend when I visited local nursery Greenscape Gardens looking for seeds but finding a pretty nice although unhelpfully-labeled collection of Agaves, I looked at a few more things too.

Like this little lizard sculpture. I'm not a big fan of garden figurines (especially small ones), but this one was quite nice and I wonder if adding it to my garden would attract some of the real thing? I so want to have lizards and snakes in my garden!

Impressive! Or is it?

I've been feeling a bit envious of my gardening friends in milder west coast climates, who live where nurseries and garden centers stay open and inviting all winter long. Weekend shopping trip for new plants? It's not something I get to enjoy here in St. Louis. The end of February is when they start ramping up though, and this past weekend a quest for some specific kale seeds gave me an excuse to visit a couple.

The first one didn't hold my interest with its limited selection of houseplants (they'll soon be buzzing though and I'll post about them), but the second -- Greenscape Gardens -- has a pretty great selection of things I'd need to grow indoors, including Agaves. The one above caught my eye first, with its crazy markings and white leaf margins.

Winter and Spring

Outdoors it's mostly winter, with more snow this past weekend, and some cold temperatures.

It gave me what was hopefully the last look this year at snow-dusted bamboo, which is so beautiful.