Wednesday, January 26, 2005
The Garden Machinations Begin
It's seed catalog time, and my Dr Jekyll Winter Gardening personality (aka, cover if you must, ignore til warm) has gone on spring hiatus. Every year I love pouring through the catalogs, dog-earing pages, circling varietals, and diagramming out the garden according to height, color, and sunlight. Mostly, this is just fantasy, because I don't generally buy from catalogs, and the ground I have to garden in is full of pine roots and questionable lighting.
I'm a big believer in container gardening, because I've grown almost everything in containers including my 5-year-old oregano in a plastic storage bin. Only a few things have really made it into the ground, out of necessity, like my powder puff tree, and the butterfly bush, which has grown into the ground on its own through the bottom of its pot.
But, each year I try a few new things and see how they work out. Last year's new items to add to the herbs came almost entirely from seeds started early. The crop of lime zinnias and deep purple morning glories weren't too exciting. The snapdragons grew up the fence prettily but didn't bloom. I loved the nasturtiums, though they grow lanky like weeds.
My favorite, in the long run, has turned out to be strawflowers, which I wasn't too impressed with in the beginning. Grown one per pot, the stalk is almost 2 feet of limp leaves, half of which die. The flower, though, is vibrant and closes each night, reopening in the morning even prettier than the day before, for months at a time. My last one has been the final spot of beauty in the garden all through winter.
So, this year when the Seeds of Change catalog arrived, I used a little self-control for a change, really evaluated what I knew I could grow in a pot, and picked out a few winners, some of which I've been wanting for a couple of years. (Yes, I actually placed the order.)
I'm a big believer in container gardening, because I've grown almost everything in containers including my 5-year-old oregano in a plastic storage bin. Only a few things have really made it into the ground, out of necessity, like my powder puff tree, and the butterfly bush, which has grown into the ground on its own through the bottom of its pot.
But, each year I try a few new things and see how they work out. Last year's new items to add to the herbs came almost entirely from seeds started early. The crop of lime zinnias and deep purple morning glories weren't too exciting. The snapdragons grew up the fence prettily but didn't bloom. I loved the nasturtiums, though they grow lanky like weeds.
My favorite, in the long run, has turned out to be strawflowers, which I wasn't too impressed with in the beginning. Grown one per pot, the stalk is almost 2 feet of limp leaves, half of which die. The flower, though, is vibrant and closes each night, reopening in the morning even prettier than the day before, for months at a time. My last one has been the final spot of beauty in the garden all through winter.
So, this year when the Seeds of Change catalog arrived, I used a little self-control for a change, really evaluated what I knew I could grow in a pot, and picked out a few winners, some of which I've been wanting for a couple of years. (Yes, I actually placed the order.)
- Bronze Fennel - I already grow a lot of this for the butterflies, but each year it's been harder to find plugs of this at Home Depot. Unless the herb society in town happens to be growing it, I'm out of luck when more caterpillars than I planned for show up. Seeds are the backup plan.
- Giant Strawflowers - even bigger than I had last year, only this time I'll start more seeds.
- Blackberry Lilies - Irises grow pretty well in the backyard, and these have been on my list for a while, though it looks like I'll be learning how to "cold stratify" seeds beforehand. Whee!
- Scarlet Flax - Too striking to pass up.
Cardinal Flower - For attracting hummingbirds; hoping the heat (and possible lack of watering) won't keep it from growing and/or blooming.
- South African Pearl Daisy - Normally I'm not into daisies, but the purple & chartreuse center will be an interesting addition to the purple section of the garden.
- Bloodflower - AKA ornamental milkweed, home of monarch caterpillars. Yay! More butterflies!
*Gleeful rubbing of hands and slightly creepy laughter*
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