Don't be fooled. Inside this thin coating of sweetness is a fiery core of total insanity.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Back For a Repeat Performance!

Brrrrrr! We had a frost a couple of mornings ago! I'm hoping it's our last, but that's not likely. I went out to check and see how my newly emerging plants had fared in the cold. I was relieved to see many had decided to come back for a repeat performance this year, and were looking good despite the cold.

I planted four clumps of Lobelia tupa last year. All have come back, and have increased in size. Very heartening, since they flopped and never flowered last year. But it seems they like where I put them. We'll see later this year if they flop again. If they do, it might mean they need more sun. Maybe I'll move one of the largest clumps.

Lobelia tupa


 
My white Meconopsis is returning too. I posted about this plant last year when it flowered a surprising white.


Several clumps of Mertensia simplicissima, also planted last fall, bought at Fronderosa from Far Reaches Farm, hold out hope for gorgeous blue flowers!

Eryngium 'Big Blue' remained a tidy clump of basal growth last year. I'm hoping for flowers this time!

Eryngium 'Jade Frost' flowered nicely last year, its first year in the ground here, and produced an abundance of seeds, which I have already sown in pots. I'm hoping for more of this beauty, with lovely variegated foliage.

Thalictrum ichangense 'Evening Star' -- one is already up, the other hasn't reared its head yet

At least one of my ornamental Oreganos is looking good!

Glad to see my fall-planted golden Persicaria is coming back strong

I've tried many times over the years to grow Gentiana acaulis from seed, without success. Last year I planted two pots, bought from a nursery, and they seem to be thriving and increasing.

Same story with Castilleja miniata/Scarlet Paintbrush, planted two years ago. They increase every year.

Mukdenia rossii 'Karasuba' needs dividing, I think. I certainly have plenty of other spots to put it. But I think I will leave them be till late summer. Knowing my clumsiness, if I try dividing now I might kill it, and then I would miss its pretty leaves.





As March marches on, we get closer and closer to spring. Signs are everywhere!