Lilac Tea

Our tea is this coming Sunday and we are not quite all the way ready.  I have successfully mown the grass even though all 3 of my lawnmowers have now broken down twice and so far,I've spent $200 fixing them and now I need a new riding lwnmower.  Yhe earliest lilacs are now out: Gertrude Leslie, Royal Purple, Evangeline and Nadehzda is starting.  Also Little Boy Blue (Wonderblue) and oblata.  I'm hoping for warm weather this week.  I'm getting a load of mulch on my way home from the nursery tonight to do my rose beds.  The roses took a hit this winter and look terrible.  The daffodils are still quite nice, about a quarter of mine are still fine: N. poeticus, Modern Art, Decoy, Fragrant Rose, Acropolis, Felindre, and Elizabeth Anne are now at their peak.

Visit from Don and Lela Avery

The owners of Cady's Falls Nursery came to visit our nursery today.  Among the many other interesting plants they have, I'ld like to get some of their Rocks variety of tree peony, also Rodgersia podo........, Ligularia siberica, 'Garden Treasure'- an Itoh peony as well as some nice yellow Hellebores.  Alot of our plants seem so common place compared to theirs.   They brought mw a rare Paeonia veichii variety and some dwarf goatsbeard and Disporum for the nursery

tulips

I'm planning on buying alot of new tulips this fall.   Unfortunately, they get eaten by rodents and , in general, don't last well--year after year--in the garden .  However, they are very showy and work well in the large church flower arrangements I do.   Also, they come in very good true reds and bright oranges.   I have to plant them where deer won't eat the blossoms off which they like to do.  I generally have to buy new ones every several years-- I order at the same time I order new daffodils for my ever expanding daffodil collection.  My daffodils are still at their peak-- the early ones are done and the latest ones not out yet but the pink ones are just coming into it.  Alot of the orange ones weren't as deeply collered as some years and I noticed alot of sunburn on the oranges.   However they have been quite nice

Daffodil Walk

I must have had 100 people at the daffodil walk and the daffodils were at their peak.  Only February Gold was done and Peeping Tom was getting tired..  Most of the pink ones weren't out yet and of course the Poeticus weren't  even showing buds yet.  Most of the rest seemed pretty good. I ended up giving people bulbs of Mon Cherie and Serola- 2 which grow very well.  It was in the 40s-- fairly cool, but sunny and beautiful.  The Forsythia still had some flowers but the Magnolias and Rhododendrons lost their flowers with the hard frosts.

Daffodil Walk

Our "Daffodil Walk" is the day after tomorrow and we're not ready.  My mower still isn't fixed so I've held off mowing but the grass is too tall to ignore- I have 2 hopefully working hand mowers but I was hoping to first mow what I could with my elderly riding mower.  Besides that, there is junk still very evident on the porch.  I still another evening of polishing serving trays and tea pots, etc.

On the bright side, the daffodils seem like they might be a the perfect stage. Peeping Tom,Februay Gold are getting a little tired but other early ones such as rapture, Jet Fire, Ice Follies are still OK. Precosious, Passionalle(sp?), Mon Cherie, Unsurpassable, Spellbinder, Serola, Tahiti, Las Vegas, Audubon, Sounds, Border Beauty, Prof. Einstein, Barrett Browning, Fortissimo. Gigantic Star,Carlton, Dutch Master, Red Devon, Juanita, Early Harvest,Monal, Mon Dragon I remember seeing.  There are quite a few that aren't out yet but it's about peak

Daffodils now in Bloom

We're having a daffodil "walk' at our house on April 29th- just under 2 weeks away. We do every year the first Sunday of May but this year, with the week of weather in the 70s about three weeks ago, we decided to have it a week and a half early which we've every one and sent out invitations. Naturally that was all it took to slow things down so that Friday my first daffodil opened and I didn't know what kind it was.  It was haot again on Sunday and got to 82 yesterday so several varieties are now out and I don't need to worry.Ice Follies is out, as is February Gold and Peeping Tom.  Unsurpassable  and Gigantic Star which look identical are blooming and Rapture is just about to start.  The only variety I bought last year, 'California' or 'Pentewan' is at its peak- I picked it beacause as the very cheapest of all in van Engelens' catalog, I knew it would be a good grower- it's like a small Kinf Alfred

Spinach up!

I planted spinach and lettuce a couple of weeks ago when we had several days of temperatures in the 80s.  After that it got cooler and I feared the seeds had rotted but they are up.  Spinach seems to be one of those plants whose bolting depends on day length more than temperature so this far north it sometimes starts flowering right away while the plants are still tiny.   Lets hope this is going to be a good spinach year.

I still have not a single Narcissus in bloom and our anual walk is going to be the 29th which is in 2 and a half weeks