Tulip Time

It's been many months since I brought Home Depot's Parrot Tulips and Longfield Gardens' Tulipa Jimmy (which I actually picked up while food shopping at Wegmans), but I finally got around to potting them up today. Actually, I forgot whether I was supposed to plant them outside or inside, but no matter. I potted them up to admire indoors. Fortunately, they still look okay after sitting around neglected. There were green tips on most, if not all, of the bulbs. Hopefully with a little bit of TLC, they will take off.

Amaryllis Apple Blossom

Some time in November, my mother-in-law thoughtfully brought an amaryllis for me. We both enjoy gardening and love to share our successes, as well as commiserate over plants that are struggling or just didn't make it.

Amaryllis Apple Blossom is my first amaryllis and I thought it would be nice to record its progress here. I didn't think anything was going to happen for a long time and I was worried that I might have done something wrong but, once it decided to wake up, the growth was just explosive!

December 18

December 21

December 25

January 3

I am just astonished at how quickly the stem seems to have come out of nowhere. I believe it is an extra large bulb, but still... it is hard to imagine how that thick and tall stem came out of such a short bulb. Nature never ceases to amaze me! Thanks mom! :)

Smile, Dahlia!

I finally got around to taking a picture of the dahlia that I dug up a few days ago:

I didn't have time to wash the root before taking this picture since I wanted to ensure that the light was strong to capture any details. It's not as large as some of the other dahlia tubers that I've seen online, but maybe it's because I forgot to water it for the most part. The one flower it produced in the fall was really pretty and I'm looking forward to getting it back in the ground next year. 

Digging Up Dahlia

Yesterday, I somehow remembered to dig the dahlia up and bring it into the house before this week's frost. I left it in the ground a few weeks after the top withered away and during those days, we had a few days of freezing night temperatures. Hopefully it will be okay and the frost didn't affect it too badly. I guess I'll just have to wait until next year to plant it and see.

Bulb Plantings

Yesterday I finally had some time to plant out the bulbs I received from John Scheepers. They did a fantastic job of planting the bulbs which were in great condition. Unfortunately, they sat around the house for maybe a week before I was able to do anything with them, so hopefully they will take.

My Purchase

Allium Globemaster	Planted 3 at the side of the house by the railing. The bulbs were huge! I hope I planted them deep enough.
Asiatic Lily   White Heaven	Planted 5 in the bed directly in front of the house.
Hyacinthoides non-scripta English Bluebells	Planted 25 behind the house, by the broken raised bed and near the maple tree above the stone wall.

I should probably buy some mulch as the ground is becoming very dry and maybe some topsoil too.

Two of the hollyhocks out of the three that were planted died, but the one that is still alive seems to be doing okay. The peony has some change of color, but has not succumbed to the cold yet. The butterfly weed seems to have become dormant so I cleared away the dead stems when I was cleaning up the cosmos which were looking very ratty and neglected. Next year, I will do away with the cosmos and am thinking of planting some irises there instead. I didn't get around to digging up the irises out back, so maybe I'll do it in the spring. The orange day lilies should be moved towards the side of the road too. My inspiration came from seeing the same orange lilies massed along the side of the road in Pennsylvania along River Road.

Fall 2013

It's been busy for me the past few weeks, but I managed to capture some pictures of some of the fall flowers for this year. The dahlia was planted earlier this year sometime during the spring. The chrysanthemum was planted maybe sometime in September. I watered both when they were first planted, but then forgot to water them afterwards. I think the dahlia is looking pretty good, although, I wonder if there would have been more flowers had I remembered.

Chrysanthemum Ajania Pacifica from Rutgers Nursery

October 17, 2013

Dahlia Fimbriata - Kogane Fubuki from Home Depot
October 17, 2013

The same dahlia
October 21, 2013

Fall 2013

I started to post my gardening activities for 2013 on my main site, but I think that maybe I should just keep all of the gardening activities together for those who are not interested in reading about medieval and other strange miscellaneous stuff.

I have started to do a bit more work on the garden since the weather is cooler. This past Sunday, I divided the yellow daylilies which the previous owner had set out front and move them to the back near the mailbox. They were dwarfed by the ornamental grasses and I thought that they might look better by the mailbox area. In their place, I planted broom, which I brought in the spring, but didn't know where to put it and so didn't get around to planting it until now.

With the daylilies in the back, I decided to move the other daylilies which I received from White Flower Farms earlier this year to the back also. I thought that it was shady by the mailbox, but have come to realize that it probably isn't as shady as I had originally thought. I also move two of the lavenders (also from White Flower Farms) to the same area. There are two more that I need to move, but haven't had the time to move them.

The hostas that were planted there last year and the azalea which I unknowingly planted behind some peonies have now been moved to the back of the house in one of the areas by the back door. The azalea doesn't look very good. The branches are sparse with few leaves that appear to be munched on. I hope it is not black weevils which I read about today! Supposedly, they are very difficult to get rid of and they will also attack hostas. I planted the azalea and hostas in the bed together!

We spotted a unique looking chrysanthemum from Rutgers Nursery the week prior and decided to purchase it. I pulled out the Black Eyed Susans which had a wicked case of black leaves and planted the ajania pacifica chrysanthemum in its place. I looked a pictures of it in bloom on the web. I think I like it better without the flowers.

So much to do! The catmint needs dividing and I think I will put some by the mailbox and some in the strip by the side of the road.