Nineteen...

degrees. The wind is blowing. Today is going to be a cold one. That once in a generation cold snap the National Weather Service was predicting has arrived. The last one occurred in 1977 and lasted nearly two weeks. Over the next 7-14 days, it's possible that the temperature might remain below freezing for extended periods of time. The wood heater will certainly get a workout trying to keep the house moderately warm. Last year, it was 50 degrees by late afternoon on January 3rd. I built an Adirondack chair that night in the basement while recovering from a cold.

Outside, it's 28 degrees in the hoophouse. The other half of my wireless thermometer is sitting in the middle of the floor, surrounded by all those containers I sowed yesterday. The sun is just starting to top the trees out back. I'm expecting about 60 degrees for the high in there today. Our high will be in the low 30s.



In the basement, three brugmansia seeds have germinated. Originally, I had placed one per 4" pot using Christmas lights for bottom heat. Four of the seeds rotted. Six others survived, so I wrapped them in a damp coffee filter and put them in a plastic bag. They're laying directly over the ballast of one of the lights. I've already transplanted the three sprouting seeds into a single container filled with sterilized soil.



Yesterday, when I came home for lunch, there was a box on the front porch. Someone baked me brownies. She was so happy with the seeds she received in the swap, that she wanted to thank me. They were delicious. Were. Thanks Carol!

Not much planned for today. I'm doing laundry, need to sort a few seeds for someone in Colorado, and will head to work again at 11am. I'm hoping today doesn't last as long as yesterday. It was freezing cold out there when the sun went down.

10:31am - It's 27 degrees and partly sunny. The hoophouse is at 41 degrees. I spent some time this morning potting a few rooted cuttings from the cloner. I potted three Miss Huff lantana, two cotoneaster, a Mystic Spires salvia, and one of the rose knockout cuttings. I still don't know what I intend to do with that thing. I can't sell it. I don't want more of them. It's really just a test to see how to root roses.

I also took cuttings from Miss Sarah's brugmansias. These were bare cuttings she brought to me at the store this fall. She says they are yellow and pink. I have no idea which is which, so I'll just call them Miss Sarah's Brugs. They're in the cloner now.

Heading to work. Still not above freezing. The water hose is in the basement thawing. The water barrel is empty after the marathon sowing session this weekend.

Regarding the cloner.

It's been nearly a year since I built my homemade cloner. I've learned a few things. Green, new growth from almost any plant will root in a matter of weeks. Hardwood cuttings fail. Always.

The last time I cleaned the cloner, I nearly filled it up with late fall cuttings of buddleia, knockout roses, salvias, and lantana. A few cuttings turned brown and died, probably due to lack of sterility than the method overall. Many more rooted and have been potted up into small containers destined to spend the winter under lights in the basement. The lantana previously known as Miss Huff has done the best. It's actively growing under lights. Cotoneaster and buddleia are just sitting there. If they survive til spring, they should become strong, healthy plants with a little care in hardening them off.

I've still got a few things that need to be potted, mostly lantana taken just before the hard, killing frost.



As a test for rooting roses, I took several Knockout rose cuttings. I don't plan to keep these cuttings as I don't need more of these plants. I just wanted to see if the cloner would help to root them. I seem to lose more rose cuttings than anything else using soil. Again, the sterility of the medium is my biggest obstacle. The knockouts have formed large calluses. No roots are visible yet. I'll give them another week to impress me.



Overall, I've been fairly successful with this contraption. In a few weeks, I'll trim the tender new growth from the overwintering brugmansias. It roots in only two weeks in the cloner. I'm also going to try Confederate Rose. The cuttings I rooted in water have been potted up for a few weeks. They've put out some firm growth, but are getting too large under the lights. Pruning them back will keep them in check for the next 3 months.

But before that, I'll need to sterilize everything again. I use a 1:10 bleach solution. The rollers soak overnight in the same mixture. The foam often has algae in the cells after a successful cutting is done. I wish I had a closed cell foam to use for the holders. Maybe I'll take another trip to the dollar store this weekend.

It's currently 27 degrees with a heavy frost covering the yard. The forecast calls for a high of 54. It's 66 degrees in the basement and rising slowly. When I went to bed, it was 81. Upstairs, it was 68 with no electric heat. I'm pleased.

12:02pm - 46 degrees and sunny. It doesn't feel that warm out, even in the sun. There's a definite chill in the air. I've got an hour before I leave for work. I've sorted and printed my wintersowing labels for the first round. I have 116 varieties I'm planning to sow next week. I need 20 more two-liter containers prepared by then.

The sun made a rare appearance today.

It seems that lately, as soon as I walk outside, the sun disappears behind thick clouds. I know it's just my imagination, but with all the rain and even more in the forecast, I miss my shadow's company in the yard. I got a short chance to see my shadow for a few minutes during my lunch break today. I snapped some images as I walked around the yard surveying the damage.



Wine & Roses wigela with the found canna lily. Surrounding it, the purple lantana is still blooming.



Nicotiana



A red knockout is still blooming. More to come.



Sedum and sedum passed.



Next spring's red clover with Bunny Larkspur donated by Janie, the Obsessive/Compulsive Plant Collector.



I spread the love of althea all over the back edge of the perennial bed.



Alstroemeria from the Gaudy Garden's Jim with grape hyacinths



The butterfly weed finally died down. I got no seeds from these plants, but Cameron at Defining Your Home Garden sent me a few and other varieties.



Kris from The Gardens at Melissa Majora will appreciate these perennial aster seeds. I'll collect them in the morning to add to her growing pile.



Nell, the Seedscatterer, had butterfly ginger that bloomed, but mine didn't. Next year, they'll be moved in the spring to a sunnier spot.



Catherine from A Gardener in Progress grows these too. Veronica speedwell. Still blooming. Slowly spreading.



The lantana formerly known as Miss Huff.





That's about it for what's still going in the yard. It's 34 degrees and clear according to AccuWeather. My thermometer reads 42 degrees. It's been saying that for nearly a week. So much for digital accuracy. Tomorrow, I have plans.

Potting up, planting out, and things that bloom.

It's Sunday. Another month and I can create the full year of pictures. The circle bed feels very empty without the Thundercloud Plum.



Oh, what to plant here?



Some pictures were taken yesterday. Like the dianthus pinks maiden that are blooming again.



The "orange" rose.



Mountain bluet



And a camellia. I thought this was C. japonica, but it's got to be sasanqua, right? Where's Nell?



I planted a few plugs of Little Bluestem in the meadow garden. I hope it does take over.



7 lantana cuttings got potted this morning.



Two white, 5 Miss Huff. I'm starting to think the seeds I got were mislabeled. Miss Huff is supposed to be sterile. So maybe this isn't Miss Huff after all, but another lantana. That's fine. I like the flowers.



I've spread some broken bags of mulch on the rear bed where I pulled out ivy yesterday, half price and all. I'll spend most of the day today raking leaves in Larry's yard and shredding them. I'll be mulching the north beds where hosta, ferns, and cherry laurels live. I'll scatter a little here and there around the house too. I think I may just use the lawnmower to collect them into rows. There's a LOT of leaves out there in his yard.

It's 48 degrees with a high of 78 in the forecast. A bagel and coffee before heading out.

1:13pm - I've collected and bagged 3 sacks of leaves from Larry's yard. The sack is a queen sized bed sheet folded in half and sewn together. I put one against the stone wall on the north side of the house. The other two were spread in the back yard behind the upper potager and over the mulch I spread this morning. I just think it's more consistent looking.



While cutting the grass (mulching leaves), I noticed that I have defined edges. I like edges.





The high has been raised to 84 degrees. It's 72 and sunny.

When it rains, it pours.

The rain cleared out overnight, but not after dumping another 2 inches yesterday. Ida gave us nearly 7 inches altogether over the past 3 days. We are still under a wind advisory. By noon, the sun should be out. Our high today should be 60. Tomorrow and Sunday will be very nice, 70 and 74.

In the basement, roots are growing fast on the lantana. In less than 24 hours, they've doubled in size. Several other cuttings are now showing roots too.



It's 50 degrees and cloudy. Sleep didn't come quickly last night, so this afternoon, a nap may be in order after work.

The basement is dry.

For the time being, anyways. Ida has swept a large band of storms south from Virginia. At the moment, the largest cells are moving through the Triad area of NC. They should be here by noon. We've gotten another 2.5" of rain since yesterday morning. A roaring fire and a couple fans dried the basement floor overnight.

There's still some color in The Wild. It's been almost a month since I've seen hummingbirds, but the bees are still clinging to the pineapple sage.



In the cloner, the first roots are appearing. This one is Miss Huff.



This is a Montauk Daisy. I've never tried rooting these before. Looks like it works.



This morning, between rain showers, I hope to take more cuttings from several butterfly bushes. Yesterday I took cuttings of white. I know someone that needs some variety in her life. The new ones will go into the cloner. The white ones were stuck in soil and placed in a zip lock bag on the light rack. We'll see which ones do best.

Off today, no other big plans. Might do something on the kitchen. Might take a mid-morning nap. It's 45 degrees outside. It's windy.

4:03pm - I didn't do much. I planted a pampas grass I had bought a couple weeks ago. I also planted three cotoneasters in their temporary winter spot. I took cuttings, of course, and stuck them in the cloner. I also moved the Leyland Cypress I planted almost two years ago between the driveway and the basement door. It'll get much to large for that area. It now lives with the others behind the orchard. In its place, I put the Hollywood Juniper I bought this spring. I think the randomness of that evergreen will be more interesting in that area.

I also did a little work on the kitchen. I got the last piece of beadboard next to the behemoth done. I also installed the chair rail in the little vestibule that leads outside.



Two more pieces of each and that will be done. Maybe later. I need a nap. Must have been all the chili.



It's 50 degrees and has been raining on and off all day. I've got a fire in the basement and the house is comfortable. I've got to chop some more wood this weekend.

The Snake Pit

I'll get to the snakes later, but first a list of what I did this morning.

I built a compost bin. Sort of.



I put it in an out of the way place. I need two more regular sized pallets instead of those small 3/4 pallets.



I moved the crape myrtle. I know, I just couldn't stand it any longer.



I laid out a rough area for the recycled brick and concrete patio I plan to build this winter. I'm doing it now because I know I'll change my mind a few times during the process. It's inevitable. I can't wait to get rid of that dead oak tree. Three more weeks, we should be chopping it up.



I moved the pink brugmansia to the hydrangea bed. There are more brugs here now than hydrangeas, but that could change any day. They're rooted and ready to plant. Kongmansia has lost all its leaves again. If it survives the winter, good for it.



I planted a couple more white crape myrtles and mowed the front yard. That's where the snakes come in.

The snake pit. It's periwinkle and weeds. I thought I would like it, but this stuff is a thug. It's already 4' into the lawn and is just over a year old. I've got to get rid of it. I mowed it all down today.



The lawnmower claimed another victim. Don't ask me what kind of snake it was. I don't know. I don't care. It was a snake.



I'm looking for suggestions of what to do on this sloped bank. It's shady, gets about 2 hours of summer sun along the driveway and none along the street. It's dry, heavy clay and stone. Against the house, I have hucheras, gardenias, tea olives, knockout roses, lavender, artemesia, some grasses, and bluish salvias. I'm thinking shrubs would work well on this slope, but the mulching...oh the mulching.







Other items worth mentioning today:

Spider lily.



Miss Huff and Yvonne.



Just waiting for the seeds to ripen. It went quick this year.



81, mostly cloudy. A good chance of rain this evening and overnight. Muggy, again.