Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve. It's almost 50 degrees and sunny. I took advantage of the warmer weather to move my rooted cuttings into the hoop house. The roses, tea olives, pyracantha, gardenias, confederate jasmine, and others were stuck in August - October of this fall in sand with bottom heat in the basement. I potted them into plastic cups 3 weeks ago.

Let's hope they make it through the winter. The next few days should be warm enough to get them acclimated to being outdoors.

The hoop house



Inside, nice and toasty.



A makeshift cold frame. I built this as an outdoor propagation chamber in the spring. It's a Sterlite sweater box on a bed of soil in a 1x6 frame. It's roughly 16" x 30". Right now, I have shasta daisies, two kinds of rudbeckia, and some Dianthus "Sweet William" inside. I'm hoping they grow enough to bloom this summer.





While I was taking pictures, I got a shot of the wintersown containers that were done on solstice. The larger containers were done this fall. They contain tree and shrub seeds that needed cold stratification or warm/cold cycles. The brown container holds about 200 Japanese Maple seeds. I need to move these to the north side of the house on Friday. I don't want them germinating too soon. January and February are very unpredictable months for us.



The wintersown containers ready to be filled. There's at least another 100 left to do in February and March. Mostly annuals and tender perennials.



My propagation rack in the basement.



Now, with my babies taken care of, the cats fed, litter box emptied, laundry done, gifts wrapped, and blog updated, I'm off to see the parents and sister's family. Merry Christmas.