Sunday, March 29, 2015

First Flowers of 2015!

Today the first flowers of 2015 (outside) have bloomed. Not surprisingly they're crocuses.




This does not herald the arrival of spring in all her glory but it does show that winter is (finally!) in retreat.



Yes, that's today. At least I can see some patches of ground.

In other news... One of our new kittens in living up to his name. We recently replaced our old couch and have temporarily turned it on it's end to take up less space till we can get rid of it. Wren manged to fly up and perch of the top of the couch, right up by the ceiling.


I just hope he doesn't try to build a nest up there...

Monday, March 23, 2015

Update from the Arctic Hinterland

I've been looking at other bloggers post on their early spring flowers, spring clean up, mud season. Up here, North of Boston, we're still firmly in the grip of winter. At this time of previous years I've had crocus blooming.

This year I can't see the Hellstrip where I've planted hundreds of crocus bulbs.


These, tucked up near the house in a rare bare spot, are TRYING to come up.


You can do it!

Well, maybe in a week or two more...

The snow is starting to recede in places, mostly up against the house and along the driveway.


Here's an unknown plant making a run for it. I can't even see what's near it to try and remember what I planted there - you're seeing basically from the edge of the house to the edge of the snow field.


Right by the front door my always early Aquilegia 'Little Lanterns' is starting to show. Those early bloomers got to get started as soon as possible. When these bloom you know it's time to have your hummingbird feeder up.

Of course the receding snow is also showing signs of damage.


I don't think this holly is going to be nicely shaped this year. It should be quite a bit taller than it appears now. I guess I'll have some "rescue and recovery" pruning to do once the snow finally melts. [note the leaning gutter behind the shrub? Guess what The Husband has to repair once the snow finally melts?]

And my matching dwarf golden threadleaf cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera) are sporting matching damage.

The plant should be growing up in this picture, not sideways.


In this image "up" on the plant is to the right. *shudder*

I think I'll be replacing those this year. They bracket the front door. I'll have to think about alternatives for those spots...

When is spring arriving this year? 


I visited my mom in NC last week. She sent me home on the plane with a lone daffodil in my hand. Thanks, mom. I need that on my desk this week! I won't be seeing those in MY garden for a while yet.

Sunday, March 8, 2015

New Anthurium

My regular local source of fresh eggs got a new job and is no longer convenient. My back up options (farm stands) are all closed for the winter. BUT a local garden center has a Winter Market in their greenhouses. Local meats, home made breads and local eggs. So we drove half an hour to pick up some eggs.

Did I mention it's in the Greenhouse? 

I love visiting greenhouses in winter. But I'm often feeling so deprived of green that I end up buying houseplants. 

I'm kind of full up of houseplants right now. So I swore I wouldn't buy any.

I only came home with five. And two were small.

Today, however, I'm only going to post pictures of my new Anthurium. I've been having problems with my Anthuriums this winter (probably low humidity and I recently found mealy bugs. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO) so I swore I wouldn't buy any new ones until I figured out the problem.

Yeah, right.

Then I saw this beauty.


Gorgeous purple flowers. Yum. And a slightly pinkish purple, different from my other purples.

The flower age more pink.


Still a nice color.

AND she's pregnant!

It's too bad (ha!) I don't live closer to Mr. Subjunctive. If I did I'd constantly be dropping off plants and seeds in the middle of the night. This would be one of them.

Of course he'd probably figure me out and in turn drop off plants at my house in the middle of the night and I'd end up with a house full of over 1000 plants like he has so maybe it's good for both of us that we're not feeding each others addictions.