One of my favorite things to do is to take a stroll around the garden to see what’s happening.Β Things change so quickly that it’s easy to miss the first coral charm peony finally blooming or to suddenly discover that the sweet peas should have been staked last week.
We’ll start with the Russian sage.Β Maybe you know the old saying about perennials:Β the first year they sleep, the second year they creep, the third year they leap.Β If so, we’re about to have some leaping Russian sage this year.
Most of our foxglove died out this winter, so we ordered more plugs this spring, and they’re just getting ready to take off.Β I’m excited about a rose colored variety we’re trying this year.
One year I started bupleurum from seed and ever after that, it reseeds itself in the fall, stays green all winter, and gives us a bounty of free greens every spring.Β A plucky, generous sort of plant for sure.
The larkspur is looking like itβll make a fair show this year.Β A lot of my little girl memories of Grandma Coblentz have to do with her flowers, and one, in particular, is her larkspur.Β I can still picture the massive bed of it that she had one year.Β It was the most magical thing I had ever seen, and I purposed right then and there to have a sea of larkspur just like that one day.
Iβm not sure quite what the poppies are up to, but they’ve been growing like crazy in the last several weeks.
A handful of orach reseeded itself.Β It’s always fun to try new things and see what comes up in the spring.Β This is a happy accident, since the orach seeds I started indoors this year have had about a 2% germination rate.Β Yeah, not so good.
May is peony season, and I can’t wait for it to start.Β I love so many flowers, but peonies have a special spot on my list of favorites.Β This is the first bud of a deep red kind called ‘Armani’ that we planted two years ago.
The sweet peas are hitting their stride, and it’s true.Β They should have been staked last week, or the week before that.Β Whoops.
I confess to having been a little bit anxious for the roses this year.Β When we went to trim them this spring, they had all died back to within six to twelve inches of the ground.Β But we gave them a trim, spread the fertilizer liberally, and, with the exception of one or two, they are looking pretty good.Β I also think new rose leaves have some fascinating colors.
As we may have moaned about before, this spring has been a little unusual and not in the best way possible.Β LaRonda dubbed this spring as a Wummer: winter run into summer with no time for spring.Β A Wummer Bummer.Β If I was going to wail about anything in this disappointing spring, it would be the ranunculus.Β It doesnβt look like weβll be harvesting a single one.Β We went from snow to eighty degree weather in the blink of an eye, and thatβs not the sort of thing that makes a ranunculus happy.Β Weβll chalk it up to experience and see if we can find a way to circumnavigate that problem next year.Β In the meantime, if any of you zone 5 or 6 gardeners have grown them successfully without a hoop house, please talk to me.Β I’m all ears.
Most of the stock is looking fine in spite of being rooted around in by the most vigorous crop of moles weβve ever had.Β There’s a few obvious spots where the moles have uprooted and killed the stock, but most of it is looking pretty good.Β The main reason we grow this flower is for it’s delicious, spicy scent.
The blackberries are kicking it into gear.
So that’s pretty much what’s happening around here.Β You’ll notice plenty of weeds, grass that needs to be cut, and the occasional bare patch, but altogether, I think we’re shaping up for a fun year.
Rosita
This is my first yr growing ranunculus too. (Or trying I should say) I started them indoor and they sprouted right away. So when I got warm out I transplanted them and they ALL DIED!! π I don’t know if I dis something wrong or if it was just the heat. So sad..
Yes, I know just how you feel! I’ve heard they’re a little harder to grow north of zone 7, but I didn’t know they were so finicky. Try again next year, huh? π
LOVE this! Love knowing you girls are doing the same thing I am… walking around checking on little seedlings and daily growth. Loved seeing what your growing and learning. Wummer lol! Yep. Love, Shyla
Yes! So glad we’re in good company in this flower business. π It’s time to get together again.
That’s so sad about your rannunculus! I live in zone 4 or 5 (in the mountains so hard to tell what my exact zone is). I presprouted mine in trays back in March for a few weeks, planted them out in April under floating row covers in case if a hard frost, and now it’s warm here but they are growing nicly and I expect blooms soon.
That’s great! I’m curious, how did you support the row cover? We still get a fair amount of snow in March, so we used a low tunnel with plastic and I’m wondering if they got too warm under there.
Here where I live we have a flower farm called Bloom Hill Farm(follow them on fb), they had beautiful rinunculis last weekend for Mothers Day, My dau got me a bouquet and they are so beautiful…maybe you could ask how they grew theres…sorry about yours π’
That’s a great idea; I’ll have to look them up. Thanks for sharing!
I hope your ranunculus will still bloom!! I had thought mine weren’t going bloom either but soon after the more feathery leaves started growing, the blooms started showing up… 120 days from planting to 1st blooms. I would think if it’s not too warm for peonies, it’s not too warm for ranunuculus.
That’s encouraging! Maybe we shouldn’t give up on them yet. π