The Sweet Peas have germinated!! And the cabbages, kale, and onions too! Of all the Sweet Peas only ‘Lilac Ripple’, ‘Chocolate Streamer’ and ‘Blue Streamer’ are lagging behind still snuggly sub-surface.

Beverly, one of the Rockettes, came in this morning to start some more seeds - in earnest now - and Gail was back and forth and up and down like a shooting gallery bear moving plants and trays to make room for all the newbies. Today Bev seeded things like snapdragons, Delphinium, Ammi majus, Lavandula angustifolia ‘Ellagance Sky Blue’ (a dwarf that’s supposed to bloom the first year from seed - we’ll see…), and digitalis, laurentia, limnanthus, asperula and glaucium - most of which I have no memory of ordering but Gail said a lot of them were my must-haves. hmmm…

I still have roses on the brain and am getting really excited about everyone’s suggestions. We’ll be ordering from Heirloom Roses because they have ‘Morning Has Broken’ and I’ve added a couple of Buck’s roses to the list as well as ‘Robusta’, ‘Stanwell Perpetual’ (both recommended by Jodi), ‘Autumn Sunset’ because it’s beeeautiful, and maybe ‘Silver Jubilee’ for the same reason. I also got a very nice email back from Alex Withrow who answered my question about AARS winners being sprayed with fungicide. She said the rule allowing for fungicidal spraying was changed in 2005 but they haven’t yet had any winners under the new conditions. Soon, she says and I hope for all our sakes and the rose growers’ that those winners are well publicized for being extra super-duper. In the meantime she sent this list of roses that she says perform well in the north east:

* Carefree Delight
* Crimson Bouquet
* Julia Child (my personal favorite!) - says Alex
* Knock Out
* Lady Elsie May
* Living Easy
* Rainbow Sorbet
* Memorial Day

Alex ought to know because she grew up in Providence. She said, “[I] have many wonderful memories of Blithewold from my childhood. Thank you for maintaining such a wonderful place!” - That’s just what we love to hear! Thanks, Alex and thank you all for sending your suggestions. (If anyone has more thoughts to share, I’m still listening - always!)

Let’s start at the very beginning
A very good place to start

Now that you are all enjoying a Rodgers and Hammerstein earworm like me, I can tell you spring has officially sprung at Blithewold. There’s something that happens in the 3rd week of February - have you noticed a change? We mark it in our calendars every year. The sun is a certain smidge higher in the sky so when it’s out - even if there’s a frigid wind like there’s been this week, the greenhouse toasts right up. The birds have noticed the change too and I’ve noticed them - just this week. There’s a guy outside the potting shed right now singing and chattering away all about how cool he is. (I agree that he’s a studmuffin but he does go on and on…)

And - drum roll please - it’s spring because we started sowing seeds! I think gardeners know the answer to the chicken/egg conundrum - what comes first, the plants or the seeds? - it’s the seeds, obviously -duh! Gail and Lilah (who - three cheers! - will be our intern this summer) did a bench full of 17 varieties of sweet peas. We don’t knick or soak our sweet pea seeds because we’re not in a rush for them to germinate. We sow 2 seeds per peat pot in damp potting soil (Metro mix 360 with coir) and we water them in and keep them in one of the cool greenhouses (night temps around 50 degrees F). Knock wood, most germinate within a couple of weeks - the red varieties are sometimes slower . No matter when sweet peas get their start, they’ll bloom around the same time because they’re day length dependent.

Dick (vegetable garden volunteer extraordinaire) also came in to go through his seeds and he couldn’t wait a moment more to start leeks, onions, strawberries and artichokes. Did you know artichokes need a period of vernalization - temperatures in the mid 30’s to 50’s in order to produce tasty flowers late summer?

During the flurry of seeding activity, Julie (Blithewold’s director of horticulture) and Tara (the princess) came to prune the 40 year old Calamondin Orange. Every year around this time, Julie gives the tree her trained eye and a trim and every three years or so she root prunes as well. It has gotten to the size and age now that we really should root prune more often. It didn’t just pop out of the pot like we thought it might and we had to ask the Men to work their muscle magic. (They used a saw. I gotta get me one of those.)

Julie cut away not quite a third of the roots altogether (a third is the general rule of greenthumb). She cut away from the top edge, scored triangle chunks out of the sides and sliced through the dead feeders that had been up against the pot. She trimmed a good 5 inches off the bottom as well. Early spring is the time for root pruning because that’s when the plants are programmed to put on new growth. For some plants, root pruning in the fall can induce permanent dormancy (call it death).

Anyone else out there who couldn’t wait another minute to start some seeds or do spring chores?

Seed catalog shopping is a dangerous business. Even for us. Even with a greenhouse for early spring sowing and 5 good sized gardens to fill we have to be careful to not buy more than we can realistically find space for. And like most home gardeners who are not independently fabulously wealthy, we have a tight budget. So as Gail and I go through the catalogs we also mentally scan the gardens and every time we find something - or are lured by artful photography with a blaze across that shouts NEW! - that we weren’t looking for, we have to figure out exactly where it will fit in the garden. (And that will help justify creating room for the seedlings in the already packed to the gills greenhouse.)

The Rock Garden was short shrifted last year and the Rockettes might be pleased to know that we have been keeping our eyes peeled for diminutive annuals to spark and brighten the midsummer “holes”. The plant we’re most jazzed about so far for the Rock is a teeny Eschscholzia caespitosa (California poppy) called ‘Sundew‘ from Thompson & Morgan.

Last year was the first year the Rose Garden saw much annuals action - this year we’ll branch out there too. (We know there’s more to life than Zinnia ‘Profusion Orange’.) It’s always a challenge to find new things for the Cutting Garden - it’s got to be long-stemmed, prolific, clean, pretty in vase and out - but our list of favorites and good-for-cut worthies is getting longer by the year. Is anyone -besides Julie!- tired of seeing Asclepias physocarpus ‘Oscar’ aka ‘Hairy Balls’ yet? New changes in the Display Garden mean new room for experiment there too.

We like to justify impulse purchases by reminding ourselves that we really have an obligation to try new plants/varieties so we can tell/show people if it’s worth the hype. What do you think about that? Do you want to see new things at your favorite public garden that are possibly difficult to find or grow yourself? Garden bloggers, are you letting yourself budget for things you might not have tried before “going public”?

was the catalog photo…

There is something about browsing seed and plant catalogs that doesn’t feel like work to me and without Gail here to say “it’s ok!” and “we need to get the orders in by the end of the month!” I’m inclined to put it off until the “real” work is done. (That only gets more complicated when I enjoy the “real” work so much that I put it off too.) It’s like waiting to have dessert until after dinner. Eat dessert first; browse catalogs now! Or first thing when Gail is back. For me it’s less productive to shop alone and a lot less enjoyable. I love settling into the quiet, chilly potting shed companionship of a browse with Gail. She’s always got the more interesting catalog in front of her and I’m forever craning over the table to see what she sees. And I need her to bounce off my “what about this’s?”. Half the time whatever I’m taken in by was tried before I got here with disatrous results (ie. infestation and/or “Julie doesn’t like it”) and the other half of the time Gail rewards me with a “ooh! I love it - put it on the list.” Guess what I live for! We haven’t gotten all of the catalogs in yet - the stack is usually at least 6″ thick and so slippery we’re constantly chasing landslides. I’m going to wait (maybe I’ll sneak a peek and dogear a page or two during lunch) but I promise to get right on task (and tell all about it) as soon as Gail is back at work. Do you browse catalogs alone or with a friend/partner?

Meanwhile, for those of you who took Julie’s bulb forcing class last October - and anyone else who started bulbs this past fall, have you checked on them lately? The Iris (Iris reticulata ‘Clairette’) that Julie has been keeping in the cold dark of her bulkhead steps are ready for the light and we brought them home to the greenhouse this morning. For the first 3-4 days they need to adapt and should be keep cool (55-60 degrees F. - we put ours in the coldest house which can dip to the 40’s) and in indirect light. After that they can be given a warmer, full sun spot. It can take another 10 days to 3 weeks for them to start blooming. Keep in mind that temps of less than 65 degrees F. are best for prolonged bloom and they prefer to be kept even cooler than that at night. In a couple of weeks we’ll think about bringing the tulips up into the light…