First year.....sleep.

     There is an expression in perennial gardening, "First year sleep, second year creep, third year leap." Someone, somewhere, contrived this saying to give the gardener realistic expectations, and perhaps to give the impatient gardener patience.  Reduced to simplest terms, "Don't expect great things until the third  year.  So many times this has proven to be true.  My garden offers Knautia as an example.

First year knautia (snoooooze)

Second year knautia (not in blossom, but creeping to a real clump of foliage)

 

Third year knautia - Leap Year!  The foliage is in the foreground; the wine red blossoms  suspended way above the greenery are difficult to see  in this picture.  I like to pair it with Penstemon Husker Red (behind it) because they just go so well together.  Its size is lush and perfect.  And I wish it had stopped here!  Scroll down....

Is there a rhyming word for what happens the fourth year?  Sleep, creep, leap................I'm at a loss.   Officially taller than I am, it has become unruly, out of proportion, towering over everything else, even the spruce tree.  While I am grateful to have healthy soil, I'm not sure I have the space or imagination to divide and re-locate this basket-ball player of the garden.  This, my fourth Autumn here, will be a big season for division.

Compatibility in the Garden

     Heuchera Brizoides (my favorite coral bell),  Amsonia Blue Ice and Veronica White Alpine a combination that made my heart light and merry today!

     

Lethargic Little Sweet Peas

Silly me.  I was hopeful that the sweet peas would be accepting of last year's sorrowful, sagging network of strings.  They just weren't having it..........  their lack of enthusiasm was visible, their whimperings nearly audible.

And so yesterday I attempted to bring myself back into their good graces.  I disassembled the old strings and gave them a fresh weave for 2012.  They look happier already, don't they?  Hopefully they will reward me with abundant blossoms of white, pink, lavender, purple, red and will release to me their heavenly aroma.

In My Father's Footsteps

Morning Glory Seeds

I've been planting morning glory seeds for decades and have always followed the "nicking" advice.  There are a few variations on this advice gleaned from magazine articles as well as the back of the seed packet.  Because the seed has such a hard coat, it is suggested that one should make a small cut in the seed with a paring knife, or rub each seed with an emery board, then soak them overnight in water.  Because I love the morning glories, I have done this faithfully each year.   It's not my favorite chore.  It is tedious to apply the right amount of pressure to the knife.  Sometimes I cut the seed in half by mistake. Often the seed go airborne across the cutting board into points unknown. Sometimes I get busy and soak the seed a few hours longer than I should.  But there I am every year, with due diligence, preparing the seeds.  And what do I get for my labors? Probably 10% germination.  This year it was growing late and I was feeling lazy.  I looked at that seed package and said, "You are going directly into the soil this year - no knife, no soaking.  I'm done with that."  Granted, it was a risk.  Four days later the seeds had sprouted at the base of the trellis and I had nearly 100% germination.  My new-found freedom today comes from knowing that I will never nick another morning glory seed as long as I live!

Seeding box

 

     Adding annual seeds to my perennial beds just became easier!  Prior to this year I sowed flower seeds directly into a few spots here and there where I wanted sustained color to carry my garden through the season. That method was rife with challenges and disappointments.  This year Hank constructed a seeding box for me and filled it with good soil.  I tilled in a couple of extra ingredients for success and it was ready to go.  I sowed my seeds on Memorial Day Week-end and now, nearly two weeks later, all varieties have germinated and I am giddy with delight. In a week or two my seedlings will be transplanted to locations in the beds.  It did not take me long to discover the advantages of the "box" over direct sowing.

1.  I never have to step in the box, so seedings are no longer vulnerable to my garden trompings.
2.  So easy to map!
3.  One watering can a day to ONE spot and the seeds are kept evenly moist until germination.
4.  Weeding is minimal and manageable.
5.  I can check on everyone's progress in a single destination walk.

     From seed packets, I have sown: cleome, bachelor buttons, 4 o'clocks, small pulcina zinnias and pinwheel rose zinnias.  I've also sown a few varieties I harvested from favorite blossoms in last year's garden: bronze red marigold, moonlight (lemon yellow) nasturtium, salmon zinnia and an unusual zinnia blossom boasting two shades of yellow in the same blossom .  
     The only seed in which I did direct sowing is morning glory and that is going to be the subject of my next post.  Stay tuned.