Showing posts with label Hepatica nobilis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hepatica nobilis. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Winter Light

The weather in March and April in Seattle has been known to drive people crazy (well at least one person), but it has been so calm around here lately I think the only people going crazy are the meteorologists.  Long-term forecasts are for yet another cooler-than-normal spring, but who pays attention to those?  As the days and nights become ever so gradually milder, more and more plants are starting to come to life.

Hepatica nobilis
Cyclamen coum
Edgeworthia chrysantha
Asparagus starting to shoot up.  It will be ready for harvest next month.
Peas planted two weeks ago on President's Day have emerged from the ground.
Broccoli planted last July is now reaching peak-harvest

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

The Little Season That Could



Today's post is brought to you by the number five.  That's how many degrees below and inches of rain above normal it was for the month of March.  April is looking to be slightly less ornery, but let's not get our hopes up. 

Melianthus major (Honey Bush)
At the NW Flower & Garden Show in February, one of the speakers (an executive from Monrovia I believe) said he had yet to see a Melianthus major go to flower in the Northwest.  Well, have I got news for him.  Not only did mine bloom last summer, but it's about to bloom again!


One thing that has been growing incredibly fast lately is the kale in the garden.  This couldn't have been a better winter for cole crops - cool, rainy, and mild.

Hepatica nobilis
Hepaticas...how can something so pristine emerge out of soil that's so wet and murky?


Some radishes, on the left, are off to a great start and should be ready to eat in a couple weeks.  The peas, on the other hand, are not.  Only two peas emerged from the soil.  I dug through to see what the problem was, and they were all gone!  Something's eating them...no clue what though.

Berberis darwinii (Darwin Barberry)
Thanks to a mild winter, this evergreen barberry has been in bloom since November and doesn't show any sign of stopping.

Dicentra (Bleeding Heart)