Round and Round.

I don't remember what prompted me to check on the eight Foster Holly plants I bought this winter for 1 penny each. They were mostly dead from the cold we experienced in January. I didn't expect them to survive. They're putting out new growth. I pruned all the dead stuff away yesterday before work. I really have no idea where to plant eight shrubs that can reach 25' tall and 15' wide.



Only one of the tea olives survived. It's planted in the crook of the driveway under the oak tree.



Wintersown in 2008, sweetshrub has returned. Down the street, the flowers are holding tight, nearly ready to burst into bloom.



May Night salvia is blooming already.



The lilac at the end of the driveway is just starting.



Scattered clumps of pink dianthus from Jim at the Gaudy Garden are tossing up little blooms here and there.



Sunflowers have germinated. These are the mammoth variety. They were over 10' tall last year. I'll plant them behind the potager in the upper meadow.



It's 45 degrees. Sunny and 84 is the forecast.

The Shortest Month.

It's February. January passed by pretty quick. Seems it was only yesterday that I was sitting here sowing seeds on New Year's Day. The real test for those seeds comes tomorrow. Did the sprouted seedlings survive? I won't know until the temperatures rise above freezing. Tomorrow, I'll spend some time peeking through the holes in the two-liter containers hoping for the best, not expecting the worst.



It's 19 degrees this morning. The sky is clear. The sun is coming up. In the driveway are purchased plants from the last day of the fiscal year. My boss told me I could have them all for a penny a piece again. The tea olives and Foster hollies are probably dead. That's 15 cents. The nandinas will probably come back from the roots. These were plants damaged by our unusual cold spell in early January. I also got a dwarf Alberta Spruce and a 7gallon Arborvitae in this batch. Both have cold damage, but should survive. I'll look into planting them in the near future.



There are more cold damaged pansies in the basement. I'll be using that soil to sow my annuals later and to amend the two smaller raised beds for veggies. I need more soil for those two beds. I also have to finish hammering the rebar on the bed furthest from the house. If I can talk Carla into culling some more warped landscape timbers this week, I'd like to build a third bed out there before spring.

Today's high should reach 48. The birds are still feeding from the seeds I tossed out in the yard. They're drinking from the stream that's still flowing freely in the gully. I've got three days off when I finish work today. I plan to make the most of them.

1:36pm - Lunch. Busy day at the store putting freight on the shelves. No new plants this week so far. We've got some houseplants coming Wednesday. It's 45 degrees and sunny.

The Robins are here. When I pulled into the driveway, they scattered. I just counted 18 in the backyard through the window. They seem hungry.