Thursday, March 17, 2005

Seed Popups

Today, St. Patrick's Day, I have seed popups - marigolds and shasta daisies - plus - the shamrocks are doing well - finally! I have only had time this week to water and pick crunchy leaves off plants - I am having company this weekend so next week will be greenhouse week and BLOG week. This is absolutely nothing to do with gardening but I have been painting and cleaning the bathroom - doing something in there every day!
Spring Cleaning!
Yesterday, my husband and I purchased 24 gorgeous Easter lilies for our church. They are presently in the basement of the church and will appear on the altar on Holy Saturday - March 26th. I can't wait. Next week , we will shop for extra flowers for decorating. We bought the lilies at Rona - they were unpacking them in their garden centre and they are tall and just starting to bloom. They are in orangey-gold wrappers - very bright and sunny looking. Rona in Kingston has a wonderful and well looked after plant section.
Enjoyment: I went to my Horti meeting last Tues. night and we had great speakers from Lemoines Point - they are making a Native plant garden there - they have raised beds and an irrigation system ready and lots of plants in the ground already. I will BLOG some info on it later.
The weather is warming a little - but we did have some fluffy snow today.

Wednesday, March 09, 2005


Colourful calendula Posted by Hello

BRRRR!!!IT'S COLD!!!!

My greenhouse is very frosty today as it was -17Deg. Celsius this AM-warmed up to -7Deg.Celsius but the wind chill was -17. Brrrr! I walked halfway to the nursing home where I volunteer on Wed. PM's (doing manicures) and luckily got a ride the rest of the way with Norma, my volunteer partner. I was so glad, as I'm sure I would have been a popsicle by the time I arrived at the home...the one day that my husband went out of town and it was too cold to ride my bike.
I didn't get to spend time potting or seed planting today but I found my lost calendula seeds (organically grown) that I bought from the Heirloom Seed Sanctuary (1200 Princess St., Kingston, ON K7L 4W4
1-613-544-4525) last year, when the Heirloom couple spoke at our Horti meeting. Calendulas are one of my favourites - I haven't had them in a few years so plan to grow plenty this summer. I would love to make Calendula cream - it is very good for your skin. Does anyone have a recipe?
LAWN TIP (Even though ours is buried in icey snow): Did you know that Corn Gluten Meal - a lawn fertilizer - stops weed from growing - 25% in the first year - and - 50% in the second year. We haven't tried it yet but the percentages sound good.

Monday, March 07, 2005

The Lung Association Garden Show

On Sat., Mar. 5/05, my friend, Elaine and I went to the annual Garden Show at Portsmouth Harbour in Kingston-it is sponsored by the Lung Assn., but we had free passes, thanks to her daughter, who worked the cafe during the show. It was on Thurs.-Sun. this year. I went to the show 3 or 4 years ago and was very surprised to see how it has grown - lots of interesting booths - lovely plants and flowers - tons of items for sale. I bought some garden tools (and rec'd free Forget-Me-Not seeds) and a Pineapple Sage Plant. There were beautiful orchids - Cdn. Tire display sold some for $20 each. Cdn. Tire had one of the best booths, I thought, with lots of begonias, large house plants and shamrocks and information people as well. There was a Bonsai booth. There were Master Gardeners' there - a flower show had taken place and one of the members from my Horti club won a 2nd prize for her gorgeous arrangement. A lady was doing stained glass pictures - mostly, flowers and birds, and I thought her prices were quite reasonable. Lee Valley had a booth and they were swarmed with customers as they offered no GST and free shipping. Horti clubs gave mini seminars on such projects as - growing grasses. The statuary was amazing - St. Francis and angels and fairies. There were tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, primula, coleus, lots of greenery and fountains and floral arrangements and lovely garden furniture in the entrance. The Portsmouth Harbour building is a perfect venue for this show. We were also impressed with the children's artwork - grades 4-8, from local schools, in different categories, won prizes for their talents. They must have amazing teachers!
When we came home, I was inspired to dig out my seed trays and planted some petunias, marigolds, clematis, and shasta daisies. Hopefully, they will all grow - the clematis seeds were saved by my brother who lives in Calgary and I have had them a few years, but I will give them a try.
We had snow yesterday, some sleet this morning and it is raining now - the weatherman predicted freezing rain but non so far. It was -5deg. C. today.
Enjoyment: Looking at all the plants at the flower show and knowing I don't have to water them!!

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Shamrocks and other info!

Today all the pots of shamrock transplants are growing baby leaves - all 7 pots - they should be great for March 17th - also the 2 new kalanchoes are thriving also. The painted leaf begonias are not looking great but I will ignore them for a while to see what happens.
I did more geranium cuttings and separated one red geranium into 3 pots. I cut the cutting at an angle and let the end dry for a few hours or overnight - then plant in damp potting soil. I don't cover the pot with a plastic bag - I just let nature do her thing and try not to water them too much - if I overwater, I always get root rot - not a good thing.
I found out that the Teddy Bear Plant should be called the Teddy Bear Vine or Cyanotis Kewensis - and - what I thought was a Streptocarpella plant (so says the nursery where I purchased it) is actually called Strepto Saxorum or False African Violet. I would love more info on this plant that blooms continuously. The leaves look like succulent leaves and the plant doesn't require a lot of water. I also found out from a web site that I own a little Brown Spiderwort Plant (aka Bears Ears or Siderasis)-I will look for more info on that one!
We had snow the past 2 days but it was clear and sunny and -5deg. C. today.
I shovelled snow this a.m. and walked this p.m. -trying to fill my lungs with as much fresh air as they can take!