My Prairiefire Crabapple tree is in full bloom. The other night we reached 27 degrees with a Real Feel of 19. I was worried about the blossoms that were waiting to open. They must be tougher than I thought. What gorgeous pink blossoms against burgundy and green foliage. I love this tree.
Last year I cut back the laterals on my blackberry bushes. Tossed them in a pile to be taken up to back to decompose. After an hour I thought, why don't I try to plant some and see what happens. So I decided to take 1 foot cuttings and cram them upright into a container of soil. I tossed some plastic wrap over the top to keep the humidity up a bit since it was still quite hot and dry outside. I gave them a quick drink of water and ignored them. Darned if those cuttings didn't survive over the winter unprotected. Just sitting in this container out front. Wow. Blackberries are tough. The cuttings are putting out new growth. A friend of mine is now the proud owner of a few blackberry plants. Plant propagation is cool.
My Copra onions from Dixondale Farms arrived this weekend! This variety (along with Red Zeppelin) did very well for me last season. I still have some in the fridge from last season! This year I gave them approximately 4 inches of space rather than just the 3 I usually give. Curious to see if there is a significant difference.
They were just planted this morning. Above them are some Scarlet Nantes carrots that have germinated (too small to see in the photo). I direct sowed some a couple of weeks ago and tossed down a few more seeds to fill in some bare spots while I was working on the onions. I direct sowed some more Jericho lettuce in one of the raised beds as well.

Winter came and went... Wait! Winter was here? We only had one good snow right before Halloween and perhaps two dustings after that. That was winter? I guess the strange weather had me preoccupied, and I didn't check in as much as I would have liked. To fill everyone in on what is going on around here on yet another warm, 70+ degree day......The daffodils visit is coming to an end. They sure are a dose of sunshine when they arrive though.
We had a new roof put on our house a few weeks ago. My relatively new (3 year old) Prairiefire Crabapple tree took quite a jolt. One of the roofers tossed something off the roof. It flew a good 15 feet out and caught one of the three main branches of the tree. Bent the end of this branch down to the ground and cracked it along the ridge. Poor thing. I thought the shovel tossed off the roof onto my Golden Zest rose or the three large garbage cans tossed on my blooming daffodils was going to be the worst of it. :(
.
As you can see in the background, my hummingbird feeders went up a few days ago. According to the hummingbird migration maps, they're already north of us into New York. If you're interested, check out the link to the maps at http://www.hummingbirds.net/map.html
.
It doesn't look like much in the backyard right now, but in a month or two, it should be green and lush.
My Meyers Lemon plant that I purchased about a year ago. It developed its first blooms and just opened for the first time this morning!
Last year I bought a small ivy plant at the grocery store. It did quite well in my eastern-facing window. I decided to take an old wire hanger and make this topiary. The hook is buried under the potting mix. Then I shaped the rest into a circle and twined the vines around it. Although I'm not a big fan of ivy, I do think this makes a nice presentation.
Above is one of my Snow Princess sweet alyssum. It looks like there might be some blossoms starting in the middle of this one. I've never grown sweet alyssum before, but I'm still trying to add fragrant delights to the garden.
Old-Fashioned Vining Petunias. A fragrant annual that is new to me this season.
My tomatoes were planted on the March 11th. They starting germinating the other day. Here is one of the Sun Golds that my daughter is anxiously waiting on. Their flavor hasn't been beaten yet by any other cherry tomato. I know it looks sad, but it's amazing how they can transform into something spectacular within a few months.
.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention my tomato list for 2012. What was going to include only 4 plants turned into 12. So much for self-control.
.
2 Sun Gold - Everyones favorite cherry tomato around this house.
2 Celebrity - Dependable, disease resistant choice.
2 Kellogg's Breakfast - My dad's favorite. Superb flavor. Get small toward end of season for me.
1 Cherokee Green- Amazing flavor. Winner for flavor in 2010. Best green yet!
1 Cherokee Purple- Did poorly in a bad tomato year last season. Giving it another try.
1 Sandul Moldovan- Excellent pink.
1 Pruden's Purple- New to me. Despite its name it is a pink. I hear good things about it's production and flavor.
1 Marion- I had old seed, but never tried it. I figured I would plant it to get fresh seed...and to taste it.
1 Marglobe- Same as Marion. I've never tried it, but would like fresh seed to replace the old. Interested to see how it tastes and produces.
.
Left: Tropical Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) from last seasons saved seed.
Middle: Tango Celery. A hybrid.
Right: Fat N' Sassy Peppers. Another hybrid which are now sold under the name King Arthur.
Dwarf Red Haven Peach. This is the first time my Stark's supreme dwarf RH Peach has had blossoms on it. They have such a beautiful pink hue to the flowers. Gorgeous. Since the tree is still quite small...even for a dwarf, I won't let it fruit yet. The scaffolds need to thicken up a bit and branch out before I will put that kind of stress on it. It is nice to see that it is doing well though.
Music and German Extra Hardy garlic which was planted last October. Off to a healthy start.
Caroline Raspberries. This is all from ONE bareroot plant that I planted last Spring.
Earliglow Strawberries. I went out this morning to find a blossom already! Last year my first Earliglow started to blush on May 19th. With all of this ridiculously warm weather the last few weeks, they are way ahead of schedule. I hope they hang on when the temperatures drop back down starting tomorrow. It'll be going from mid- to high-70s back into the mid-50s (where it should have been all along).

Ice Storm 2011

I hope all of you are safe and warm out there. Quite a storm has hit a huge part of the country and is finally coming to an end. This is what I woke up to this morning. There are many other things I can see out the window that I would like to take a picture of, but I'm not going out there!
A male cardinal waiting to take advantage of the feeders and water.The new water wiggler I bought around Thanksgiving is still spinning, despite the cold, with its first set of batteries. Nice! Lots of birds were using it to bathe yesterday. I also have a birdbath heater in there. There's not a spot of frozen water to be seen even during this ice storm.
Ice.

New This Season

This season new flowers are in bloom and some new techniques are being used. Here are some things that are new in my garden.

.

Iris - Unknown variety

This beautiful yellow iris blended among the yellow daffodils and tulips. It was a nice surprise when I found it mixed among them. I planted a few named cultivars last season, but perhaps one was mislabeled. It looks nothing like that ones I purchased. Either way, it's a beautiful iris.

Prairie Fire Crabapple
All of the blossoms have floated away in the past days, but what was left behind was a portrait of beauty. The burgundy foliage stands out nicely against a lawn of green. They look ablaze against the sky on a sunny day.

Blueberries
It is tough to see all three. Two are to the left of the birdbath. The other is just to the right. The varieties I have chosen from left to right are as follows: Patriot, Blueray, and Chandler. I chose three different varieties to prolong the harvest as well as to assist with cross pollination. Painfully, a few days ago I had to pop off the berries that were forming. It was one of those moments where I just had to close my eyes (not really) and POP. Bye bye berries. I suppose a strong root system and branches are more important in the long run....I suppose.
Al's Flower Pouches with Fort Laramie Strawberries

Pros: Squirrels are finally leaving my strawberries alone! I still have some in strawberry planters...you can see them hiding behind the pouches. The squirrels still dig these strawberry plants out. They also take up very little space. If they produce well, this will the way I grow strawberries from now on.

Cons: More frequent watering. When planting, water well as you go. If not, the soil will settle later on and you're plants will not be lined up with their planting holes.

Prairie Fire Crabapple

Last season we added this Prairie Fire crabapple tree. When it was delivered it had a rootball full of carpenter ants and a lot of damage to a 6 inch band of bark around the soil line. The nursery said it might be due to grafting, but it looked pretty severe. The tree has seemed to thrive despite the damage. It just started blooming two days ago. The color is breath-taking, and it is blooming profusely. I can see this one getting more and more spectacular every year.