Even before the snow has completely receded from the garden I start my ritual of "taking attendance." Each day in April I take my pencil and clipboard with garden maps outside to see what perennials survived the winter conditions to greet me in the Spring. I try not to be too aggressive, but in my enthusiasm I poke down a bit with my weeder to find the tiniest bit of green to proclaim SURVIVAL. If I see no sign of life, a tiny question mark is entered at that spot on the map, in hopes that I'll be able to erase it in another few days. Thanks to excellent snow cover, this year has had the fewest losses ever. So few that I can itemize them here. Pictured is Flax Linum. The picture should show a bare spot. Had two, lost two. Not surprising. They are fragile little things who sometimes imagines themselves to be annuals. Easy to replace with a $4.39 pot, and I will. I put in a Mertensia (Virginia Bluebell) last year and it caved in to whatever condition I failed to provide. I won't replace that until I can figure out how to right the wrong. One Platycodon made it, the other didn't. But my most sorrowful loss was a Japanese Painted Fern given to me by a dear friend who moved to Tucson and asked me to be the guardian of this plant from her garden. I haven't given up. It was on the cold North side near the last of the snow. Tomorrow will find me out there again, poking with my weeder for a sign of its life. I hope I can erase that little question mark.......and tell my friend her gift is safe with me.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Taking Attendance
Even before the snow has completely receded from the garden I start my ritual of "taking attendance." Each day in April I take my pencil and clipboard with garden maps outside to see what perennials survived the winter conditions to greet me in the Spring. I try not to be too aggressive, but in my enthusiasm I poke down a bit with my weeder to find the tiniest bit of green to proclaim SURVIVAL. If I see no sign of life, a tiny question mark is entered at that spot on the map, in hopes that I'll be able to erase it in another few days. Thanks to excellent snow cover, this year has had the fewest losses ever. So few that I can itemize them here. Pictured is Flax Linum. The picture should show a bare spot. Had two, lost two. Not surprising. They are fragile little things who sometimes imagines themselves to be annuals. Easy to replace with a $4.39 pot, and I will. I put in a Mertensia (Virginia Bluebell) last year and it caved in to whatever condition I failed to provide. I won't replace that until I can figure out how to right the wrong. One Platycodon made it, the other didn't. But my most sorrowful loss was a Japanese Painted Fern given to me by a dear friend who moved to Tucson and asked me to be the guardian of this plant from her garden. I haven't given up. It was on the cold North side near the last of the snow. Tomorrow will find me out there again, poking with my weeder for a sign of its life. I hope I can erase that little question mark.......and tell my friend her gift is safe with me.
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Ferns are some of the last plants to come up in the spring. They need a certain number of successful days of temps above 60-65. You may not have had that, especially if they are on the north side. Last week I had no sign of my ferns at all. After the warm weather we had this past week and weekend they suddenly shot out of the ground and are now a foot tall. My Japanese ferns are a little farther behind. They are out of the ground but are much smaller and growing more slowly. Keep looking!
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