Rhubarb and Asparagus

When I was shopping today I saw that they had rhubarb and my dad only cooks two things, rhubarb pie and oven made pancake (he is also the king of the barbeque but that does count) so I wanted to get me some pie but the rhubarb was really nasty. If it was my store I would not have that in the store, it looked disgusting and I doubt many people bought it. I have some rhubarb seeds that I bought years ago and forgot to sow them, I will now and see if they grow. If it doesn’t work I will prepare a place for some rhubarb next year.

I don’t eat asparagus but others in the family does. It cost 199kr per kilo… I guess we need to plant some asparagus ASAP. But there’s no room, not really… Maybe I have to be big and sacrifice a flowerbed? It is better to grow food than flowers isn’t it?

There…

6 stipa seeds in the soil, keep your fingers crossed. Planted some leftover parsley in a pot and some chives by the climbing rose (it’s supposed to help keep pests away). What else did I do? Oh, I sowed on pot of late carrots. It's not that warm outside and wet so I didn't feel like spending that much time outside today. Tea and a book would have been better but...

The Tea Corner

I think I want some grass and poppies there. Sounds easy somehow, I’m sure it’s not and I’ll complain about something late but at the time it seems like a good idea.

Annual poppies and feather grass (stipa pennata). My feather grass does not look like that, I hope it will one day… mine are just a few straws. Picture found here.

Current plants at The Tea Corner
1. Poppies, annual and perennial
2. English Poppies (I don’t want them there and I’m removing them the moment I see them)
3. Aquilegia (removing them)
4. Tulips
5. Allium
6. Lavender
7. Bleeding heart
8. Climbing rose “Flammentanz”
9. Elephant grass (miscanthus)
10. Lily of the valley
11. Anemone nemorosa
12. Daisies (bellis perennis)
13. Peony (There should be but I haven’t seen it yet, have I killed it? That’s what I thought before and I bought a new one)
14. Iris
15. Scabiosa
16. Rudbeckia
17. Boxwood
18. Forget-me-not
19. Tiger lilies
20. Garlic

There could be more plants, what a horrible mixture of plants… I don’t like it at all but it’s become a place where I just plant things because I don’t have many flower beds. What are the colors here… red, pink, purple, blue, lavender, green, white, yellow, orange. Sometimes I just want to start over… but what would I do different if I started over?

I think I have some Stipa seeds so I'm off to plant them.

Things are growing

A lot of my seeds are nice and are growing. Just the little problem of where to plant them all, perhaps not a very little problem either since there’s a lot of seedlings and not all that much space at all. Later today I will replant some seedlings and perhaps look around to see where the H I can plant my things.

I'm really happy that all of my Ipomoea seeds I got from Aimée are growing, especially the Runner Bean because the bean was so big. Big seeda are always more fun for some reason.

Also happy about the kiwi seeds growing!

My day so far…

Went to a garden centre called “Blomsterlandet”, it’s a big chain and they have the popular things but nothing really exciting and the plants are… well they are cheap. There used to be another garden store called “Hortus”, the plants were a little bit more expensive but the quality was much better, now it’s more about quantity and not quality I’m afraid.

I managed to leave the place with this weird looking toad… with a crown on his head, what the F? It’s not my style at all but he has these big eyes and he looked at me like, “Save me!” and I had to have him. He’s called “Prins Padda” which means, Prince Toad (very creative) and I placed him in The Tea Corner. My mom bought a crossed eyed gnome… I find those sorts of things tacky but, oh well.

At the grocery store I bought some pansies for Inka Dude and some Oregano, last year there were lots and lots of butterflies swooping around my other plants and I want more butterflies so I got one more and I planted it by the greenhouse. But by the looks of it I’ll need a peppermint as well, wow!

(picture found here)

A few seeds got planted in pots:
Sunflowers “Magic Roundabout”
Sweetpea “Bijou”
Echinops bannaticus
Echinacea purpurea ”White Swan”

Yesterday I planted a few things as well:
Horned Pansy
Dipsacus fullonum
Aimées Passionflower
Aimées Cardinal Climber Ipomoea × multifida

Planning

Yes, the thought of digging in the garden isn’t as appealing as it usually is due to horrible and ugly new houses on the street but I have bought seeds this year as well. The seed should come in the mail today, they really should or I’ll be angry. I think they should have come on Friday but the because of the snow we didn’t get any mail so… I’ll take my doggy for a walk and check the mail… Yes, seeds in the mailbox but I had totally forgot just how much work seeds are. Now I have to do some research and see how the best way to sow these suckers.

SEEDS FOR 2010
Oxeye Daisy Leucanthemum vulgare: I bought the wild sort and I want to have some blood red poppies but where to plant them? No clue, like always… Maybe by the old swing?

Horned Pansy"Bambini" Viola cornuta: Cute little violet in different colors. I’m hoping for most purple ones and I may (if they grow) relocate the other colors to somewhere else in the garden. I planned to have them on one of the kitty graves, I feel slightly macabre but oh well… violets go well with graves, like in that old sad song, “A violet from mother’s grave”

Aubrieta "Cascade Blue" Aubrieta cultorum: I don’t know why I bought this… but I have a little rock area or maybe one of the other cats?

Blue Fescus "Varna" Festuca glauca: I like grass and I’m sure I’ll find a place for this cute little guy.

Garden Pinks"Spring Beauty" Dianthus plumarius: Well, they are cute. Where am I going to plant them if they grow? Um, maybe in the small rocky place? Maybe The rocky place needs a makeover and maybe I can make it a little bigger? I’m also under the impression that these cute little flowers smell nice.

Smooth Oxeye"Summer Sun" Heliopsis helianthoides: Not the prettiest thing I ever seen but it’s big and hopefully it will be big in my garden as well, I need some big plants in my dull little garden.

Nepeta Nepeta faassenii: I hope the neighborhood cats won’t eat it. Cute blue thing, that I am sure will fit in somewhere.

English Marigold "Fiesta Gitana" Calendula officinalis: I always say and think that I don’t like yellow and orange and that I don’t want it in my garden but I have lots of it. The marigolds are to go with the potatoes, corn and sunflowers, where I am supposed to plant all of this I have no idea.

Peas "Dwarf Sweet Green"Pisum sativum L.: No idea where to plant this either, but it is said they peas like to grow with dill and carrots so I’ll plant them together.

Carrots "Resistafly" Daucus carota L. F1: Late kind.

Carrots "Nantes 2" Daucus carota L. : Early kind. Carrots also like to grow with garlic and leek so I’ll plant one kind of carrot with those playmates and then one with dill and peas.

Sunflower "Ring of Fire" Helianthus annuus: Tihi, it looks like it says anus. Sunflowers are one of those yellow/orange flowers I say I don’t like but I want sunflowers so… And I wouldn’t like them if they were in another color.

Dill "Como" Anethum graveolens: Since it’s a good plant that helps the soil and other plant, and because I need it with my cucumbers when I “pickle” (?) them I thought I should grow some. I want to make cornichones but I have no recipe.

Cucumbers "New Pioneer" Cucumis sativus L. F1: It said that these were good for cornichones so that’s why I got them.

Cucumbers "Partner" Cucumis sativus L. F1: Cucumber for pickling in the fall.

Tomatoes "Gemini" Solanum lycopersicum F1: The tomatoes the last few years have been, crap… So I hope some new seeds means that there will be plenty of nice tomatoes in the greenhouse.

Tomatoes "Chadwick" Solanum lycopersicum: Small cherry kind.

Leek "Musselburgh" Allium porrum L.: will be planted with carrots and garlic.

Corn "Sweet Nugget" Zea mays L. F1 : Corn, how cool is it to grow corn?! I’m sorry for being such a dork but it sounds awesome to me. I don’t eat corn but I will eat a little since I’ve grown it (if I’m successful that is) and I’ll also look into how to make popcorn.

Yesterday

Sowed a few seeds

Outside:
Baby’s breath Gypsophila paniculata
Papaver spicatum
Japanese poppy
Common vervain (verbena officinalis)
Blue vervain (verbena hastata)
Papaver amurense
Atlas poppy (Papaver atlanticum)
Papaver lateritium
Eastern purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
Great globe thistle (Echinops sphaerocephalus)
Fuller’s teasel (dipsacus fullonum)
Ice poppy (papaver croceum)
Rooted Poppy (Papaver radicatum)
Spanish Poppy (Papaver rupifragum)
Alpine Poppy (Papaver alpinum)

Indoors:
Verbena Canadensis (which grow over night! I saw a little green guy making he’s way up when I inspected them today)

A few days ago

The dahlias started to peek up and today the sweet peas did too. I still have loads of seeds to sow… But hopefully it will be worth it.

Now we waiting to the poppies to grow, come on cuties, make mamma happy…

More sowing

Last year my Tall Verbena did not grow all that well. No flowers and the ones that I tried to store I think are dead. Have a few outside under a whole bunch of leaves and some in the flowerbeds but who knows if they will live or not. So I got more seeds this year and I’ll try three different methods. Keep your fingers crossed. Love the plant (at least in pictures)

(Picture found here)

What else did I sow? Blue Vervain, Common Vervain, False Dragonhead and Sweet Pea.

Grow little Sweet Pea, grow...

(Picture found here)

It’s growing!

(Tagetes)

Some of the seeds are peeking up. Tagetes, Ipomoea purpurea and Mauranthemum paludosum.

Yesterday and today

Yesterday: I check the dahlias again, no change since the last time I check them.

Today: I sowed lots of seeds, begonia, violets, dahlia, Mauranthemum paludosum, tagetes, Impatiens, bleeding heart, Japanese poppy, hairy poppy, Papaver lateritium, atlas poppy and Ipomoea purpurea.

Keep your fingers crossed now…

Today…

I planted three eryngiym planum pots and two pansies. Keep your fingers crossed.

Hmm…

I should have made an order earlier but I haven’t and now I’m sitting here wondering if I should remove some of the stuff, add just a few more or if I’m done. Whenever I feel, “Okay, done” it’s like standing in line by the register surrounded by candy and having an empty stomach!

I’ve found a few cuties that I want but it’s already pretty full in all my flowerbeds, not sure I’ll find space for it all. Some of the poppies look pretty dull and one is dull looking and pricey, but I want ALL poppies and I know I’ll love him when he’s here so what to do!?

I’ve never had Zinnias and they seem cute and easy (knock on wood) so I think I just have to have a few of those.

Zinnia, pic found here

Zinnia, pic found here

Update: I managed to remove one papaver rhoeas but it was hard. There was this really cute mixed called, “Angel’s choir mix” but I guess I can live without… I didn’t get any peony poppies either.

Wolfs Bane

Planted two pots of Wolf’s Bane (aconitum napellus) on January 13. Let’s see if they feel like growing, keep your fingers crossed.

Wee!! Soon it’s sowtime!

I have to get organize (ha, what a joke!) and see what I need, not buy too much since I don’t have that much room. I want spring and I want it now!! I really do need to sit down and draw a plan on how to make room for all the plants, even if half of all the seeds I have will grow it’s going to be tough.

(I had been stupid and put my poppy seeds in a plastic container, bad idea… mold. Thank god I have more than I can sow.)

First one out to be sown is my Wolfs Bane. Supposed to be soon in January. If he doesn’t grow I will buy a plant! (I have no idea where to plant it…)

I should have put gift certificate at the seed companies on my wishlist, stupid me…

Soon it’s December

Which means, catalog time! It’s time to start looking for seeds! Even though I have loads of them at home already but… I might have missed a few good ones?

Wishlist (so far)
Sunflowers
Cornpoppy
English Marigold
Dahlia
Mallow
Cosmos/Mexican aster

Just because

Pretty pink mallow, on my seed list for January. They did well and next season I’ll put them a little here and there in the flowerbeds, where ever there’s room. Sow direct, my kind of flowers.

I love poppies!

It’s very easy to become a collector of plants and I feel I’ll become an insane poppy collector (and maybe a dahlia one too) but I’m okay with that. According to Wikipedia there a 120-odd species of papaver (but according to my "bible" there's only about 50...)and I want them all! Trying to focus on the perennials first. So far…

Alpine Poppy (Papaver alpinum) (Seeds, sow spring 2009)
'Ladybird' (Papaver commutatum) (Annual)
Ice Poppy (Papaver croceum) (Seeds, sow spring 2009)
Oriental Poppy (Papaver orientale)
Corn Poppy (Papaver rhoeas) (Annual)
Opium Poppy (Papaver somniferum) (Annual)
Spanish Poppy (Papaver rupifragum) (Seeds, sow spring 2009)

Perennial poppies available at Rara Växter: Papaver amurense, Atlas Poppy (Papaver atlanticum), (Papaver lateritium flora plena), Japanese Poppy (Papaver miyabeanum), Hairy Poppy (?)(Papaver pilosum), Papaver spicatum

Annual poppies available at Rara Växter: Tulip Poppy (Papaver glaucum), Long Pricklyhead Poppy (Papaver argemone) and Long-headed Poppy (Papaver dubium) (which I have a huge crush on base on the picture… drool. Have to get that one for next season)

Perennial poppies available at Impecta: Rooted Poppy (Papaver radicatum)

Looks like I have to make a big fat order early next year…

Today

I started cleaning up, making the garden ready for winter. Got all the dahlias I grew some seed this spring and cutting all the leaves off and putting them in labeled paper bags, hopefully some of them will live through the winter. Some are really big and it’s not THAT cold during the nights yet so they can stay in their pots or flowerbed but the babies got bagged. My favorite is an Oxford baby with really dark foliage; I hope the flowers are just as nice. And I hope I'll have some seeds of my own to sew next spring. (If I get any seeds I'm willing to share)

The raspberries are absolutely everywhere, must find something to prevent them from spreading but so far no luck. A plastic rain barrel is the best thing so far but it was way too expensive, especially since I plan to cut it. Anyway, trimmed them and some of the lavender, planted cuttings in individual pots and dug them down under the rhododendron (which I hope to edge with boxwood, love edging).

And took a picture of the last poppies for the season, I think...

Some kind of Papaver rhoeas but which I don’t know, I do have to get all the seeds since I want only blue and pink in The Backyard. Red is best up close so The Front Yard and/or The Slope