I've got a crinum too.

Nell Jean started it, then Janie blogged about hers. I've got one too.



It came in a package from San Antonio, TX that arrived in late May 2009. Kathy had mentioned on GardenWeb that she had a pink brug she could send me cuttings of. As it happens so often in these kinds of trades, she also had two pink crinum bulbs and some Eastern redbud seedlings. You're not supposed to say no to free plants when they're offered, so I accepted. In return, she got a cutting of Kongmansia and a couple of Sweet Shrub seedlings from my wintersown batch. I don't have the greatest memory, so I had to search for the emails documenting this trade.

My crinum is planted near the brick chimney on the Southern side of the house. It's a sunny spot in winter, moderately shady in summer, and the soil is fast draining since it's on a bit of a slope. Crinums aren't completely cold hardy here in my zone, but this one still hasn't died back. It hasn't bloomed yet, planted only this past June. After seeing Nell Jean and Janie's flowers, I'm suddenly curious about this bulb again. It's been ignored since the day it was planted.

There are gardeners that spend oodles of money on new plants. There are others who only grow from seed. Still others add to their gardens by propagating through cuttings. There's a customer at the store who brought me a few twigs of various plants this summer. She handed them to me and said, "Stick that where you want it to grow." I did. And some have. I love trading with other gardeners. I love to propagate plants. I'm a sucker for a clearance rack at the garden center, but nothing compares to plants passed down to you from others who have grown them. They can provide knowledge and insight far beyond what those generic little tags tell you on the plants you buy.

Today, Carla and I are taking a trip to her former house. It's a few miles away in Norwood. When she lived there, she planted a Black Mission fig. I'm going to be bringing back a few branches to root later this winter. I'll be sure to give one of the new plants to her as a thank you gift for helping me acquire the cuttings. It's the least I can do.

It's 28 degrees and cloudy this morning. When I opened my eyes, the sky from my bedroom window had the most beautiful streaks of pink and orange. By the time I was dressed and outside, the light had mostly faded.



Other plans today include preparing more containers for wintersowing, making more tags for those containers, and hauling more of the split firewood into the basement. Rain is likely tomorrow. I need to get it inside to dry.

12:56pm - Lunch is done. I spent the morning at Carla's helping her plant 100 daffodils and 60 muscari. She hit the same clearance rack sale I did a few weeks ago. We took a ride to her former house in Norwood. There, I got some fig branches to turn into cuttings and a few cuttings from a very fragrant pink rose. It's still blooming. I'm hoping to get at least one or two rooted plants from 8 cuttings.

The rose. Lots of thorns, very fragrant.



The fig branches, most likely a black mission. It was there when she moved in. She says it's a heavy bearer. Of course, delicious.



I've already cut the majority of the branches into cutting sized lengths. The smallest pieces will be potted into 3 gallon containers and stuck in the hoophouse. I'm giving them a couple hours to dry out. The sap is flowing heavily. The rest will be refrigerated for sticking later in the winter.



The excess branches will be stuck in the ground where I want this fig to grow. If they root, great. If not, I have these for a backup. The bushes I took from were huge, easily 8-10' across and tall.

Now it's time to haul firewood into the basement. I've already stuck the rose cuttings in the cloner using the same method as the knockouts I did earlier. I'm just going to ignore them from here on out. This evening, I'll take down the Christmas lights on the outside of the house and pack away all the indoor ornaments. The window boxes will remain empty for a month or so.

It's 37 degrees and sunny. The hoophouse is 68.

3:55pm - Christmas has been returned to the attic for another 11 months. The basement has been reconfigured using a few extension cords for lights. The fluorescent lighting that used to illuminate my work tables when I had a business of my own are spread out to provide good coverage for the whole space. Even the garage area has a light. It looks so different with every nook and cranny visible. Laura would be so proud.

I'm pretty much done for the day aside from a few dishes and some groceries. Deciding what to have for dinner will be the hardest decision I've made all day. There's a chance of wintry precipitation overnight. 70-100% chance of rain with temperatures falling to near freezing by 2am. Maybe I'll wake up to a white yard tomorrow.

It's 43 outside. 53 in the hoophouse. It's been cloudy for a couple hours.

Christmas Day and I am alone.

Finally. When the whole clan gets together, it's a little much sometimes. I'm more accustomed, living alone, to a quieter nature than my family allows. The barking dog, the screaming nephew, the loud voices of my mother and sister, the snoring from the recliner in the corner where my dad sleeps the day away, it's just too much sometimes.

There was lots of food, some of which I brought back in Tupperware containers for the next couple of days. There were gifts, greatly appreciated because I needed or wanted them. There was a lot of rain. One and a half inches fell while I was away. The wood heater is getting fired up again to dry the water that collected in the basement from the leaking concrete walls.

When I got home, the second thing I did was to take a quiet walk through the backyard. I clipped a few butterfly bushes and stuck them where I want them to grow. I did the same thing last year with great results. I also collected the seed pods from the Gomphocarpus. Inside, lots of brown seeds were found. I hope they're viable. I'll wintersow them in a couple months. It's a host plant for the Monarch.

Tomorrow is a work day. I'm sure we won't be busy. 66 Christmas trees need to be sold at $1 each to fishermen who place them in their ponds or favorite spots in area lakes for Crappies to raise their young. I've got a couple seed trades to get out now that things are getting back to normal. Next week, I'll cut some more firewood and get it split for two coldest months ahead.

What started out as a cold Christmas has turned into a pleasant day. It's 57 degrees and cloudy. I'm beat.

Christmas Eve

Another heavy frost is covering the yard this morning. The basement wood heater went out completely over night. I thought I had filled it with enough wood to last. I was wrong. That's the first time it's gone out completely since it was installed on Saturday. I'm working on getting it going again now.

I'll be working this afternoon at the store. Last minute shoppers are frantically searching for meaningless gifts for their friends and family. Most of the Christmas items are gone. We still have some fresh cut trees left. I doubt we will sell any today. A few sad poinsettias remain too. There are about 100 Christmas cacti on one shelf. I didn't order them. The grower shipped them to us on a day when I was off. We're stuck with these things. Even at $1, we can't get rid of them.

After work, I'll drive to my parents' house. I'll get to bed around midnight, up again at 6 thanks to my nephew. I'll eat too much, open a few gifts, and drive back Christmas Day so I can be back at work on Saturday. Retail is hell. But it does pay the mortgage.

Here's to hoping everyone has a Merry Christmas. It's 27 degrees and clear. The first rays of sunlight are appearing among the trees out back. The nights are a minute shorter with each passing day. 85 days til Spring 2010.

Saturday morning seed sorting.

I finally got my seeds organized last night. It was an exciting Friday night, let me tell you. I use a plastic filing box with hanging file folders to alphabetize my seeds. I'll sort through them after the swap seeds are mailed out, pulling the best candidates for wintersowing first. Direct sown seeds will be divided up based on the beds they'll go in, when they'll be sown, and varieties. I've been given lots of cosmos and zinnias from the swap. There's already a bag of poppy seeds I plan to sow today ahead of the rain/frozen stuff we're expecting tonight.

With all my seeds sorted, it's scary how many different kinds of plants I'm intending to grow this winter and next spring. I started counting with the A's and stopped when I got through the C folder. I had already reached 200 packs. I can't possibly sow all these seeds in containers like I did last year. I thought I was going overboard then. Turns out I sowed over 800 individual containers from 9 ounce styrofoam cups to lasagna pans. This year, I plan to try something different. Carla's returning my bandsaw on Sunday. I've got my parents and sister saving 2-liter bottles. I've got an idea.

In the garden, I plan to sow the seeds directly. I'll make a new hole, fill it with potting mix, and sow the seeds. They'll be covered using a cloche made from the top of the two liter containers. Yes, it will look tacky for the next couple of months as the seeds are protected by the bottle tops. No, I don't care. By mid June, I'll have forgotten all about that as the seeds turn into blooming flowers. It's the only way I can imagine getting all these new plants in the garden without having to transplant. Cutting out two steps in the process seems the most logical.

It's 34 degrees now, up from an overnight low of 24. On my way to the mailbox this morning, I noticed the Black and Blue salvia finally bit the dust. I hope it comes back. I've been told not to cut it down until spring. Water can get into the stems and cause the crown to rot.

I'm going to see a man about an old wood heater today on my way to the family Christmas dinner. It's a little over an hour's drive each way. I'm hoping the rain and slush holds off until I get home. I need to pick up coffee and cat food on the way too.

12:25pm - The kitchen is caulked. Aside from wiping down all the walls, it's ready to be painted as far as I am concerned. It's not perfect, nor will anything in this 63 year old house be. I've still got some details to finish, some quarter round to install, etc. I'll get to that in my own time just like everything else. I doubt I'll do any painting this weekend. I've got to finish other things first.

Also potted up two Honeycomb buddleia, a couple rooted lavender cuttings, some more lantana (either white or purple), and one Salvia leucantha cutting that had grown one long stringy root. Various other buddleia also got potted. I watered with transplant solution and will hope for the best.

If the rain holds off tomorrow, I'll be installing the plastic on the hoophouse and finishing the seed swap. I've run out of room on the light rack. Some things like rosemary and well rooted Miss Huff lantana can handle being outside for the winter. I may lose some foliage on those really cold nights, but overall, they should survive. Cotoneaster can also be moved out there freeing up a lot of space.

Lazy Sunday Morning.

I slept in this morning. I went to bed around 10pm. I woke up this morning about 7, like I normally do. I watched the clouds move across the sky. The colors were pink, orange, a little yellow, lots of blues and some gray. I closed my eyes and opened them again shortly after 8:45am. I'm having coffee. It's completely sunny now at 36 degrees.

The 10 day forecast. 70 is our high for the day.



After work, I moved the swing in the previous post and finished my Christmas decorations. Through the trees, I can see others in the neighborhood are decorating too.



I have to be at work in less than 2 hours. I'll finish my coffee, shower, and maybe pull a few frost killed annuals from the perennial bed. If not, there's plenty of time next week.

Time Marches On.

Thanksgiving Day is coming to a close. It's raining and 46 degrees. It was clear when I got home from the parents' house. Another spectacular sunset happened while I unloaded the truck. I brought back a lot of stuff. I'll discuss those things later.

Thanks to Trevor, again, for a new banner image. Spring and summer are gone. Fall is at its end. Winter is on the way. Friday night's forecast will bring a frost, finally.

Red, white, and green are my colors. More to come as it happens.



This year's Christmas tree is a Ficus benjamina.