I also planted betony and Shooting Star in my woodland garden. I've tried germinating both of those in the fridge without any luck, so I just went ahead and put some out to see if it would come up. Shooting Star is an endangered species and one I'd really like to get going in my yard. The photos I've seen of it are lovely. It was used by the Native Americans to put babies to sleep. From what I've read it has a somewhat fruity scent that seems to be psychoactive. I have bloodroot growing in my yard already so that should be coming up soon. I planted a couple of trilliums, which I've always wanted, but they may take a few years to get going.
I had plastic down in two small beds. These beds are supposed to be right by where I want to put an arched trellis, so when you walk through the trellis there will be a bed on either side. This is leading into the fairy garden. On on side I planted rose mallow, purple poppies and Gloriosa daisies. On the other I planted lupines, California blue bells and Woodland tobacco. Talk about tiny seeds!
I got the trellis on clearance last year and had someone set it up for me. Unfortunately, he did not anchor it and when strong winds came along it fell over and broke. :( I was so upset! So, now I'm going to try to glue it back together and anchor it this time so I can finally grow things on it. I'm thinking about putting a climbing rose on one side and moonflowers on the other. Or perhaps a gourd... I plan to grow birdhouse gourds again, but I'm also trying luffa this year for the first time. I know the birdhouse gourds get pretty darn heavy! I grew ornamental gourds last year also but I'm not sure if I'll grow them again this year.
I'm growing black hollyhocks this year in the fairy garden, that should look wonderful against the Flanders poppies. I'll do a post devoted just to fairy gardens when I get a chance. I've always been a mythology nut and I love plant lore.
Everything is coming back to life. There are buds on all the plants and things are pushing out of the ground. My daffodils will be blooming soon, and the forsythia along the neighbor's side. I look forward to the lilacs, although last year I did not get all the spent buds broken off so I won't have as many blooms this year as I should. When I first bought this house the lilac was blooming and the scent was overwhelmingly delicious. I'm growing a lot of new veggies this year, as I expand my collection of heirloom seeds. Here's a list of what I have going:
Rutger and Marglobe tomatoes, which I grew last year.
Black Krim, a Russian variety I've been wanting to try.
Roma
Brandywine
Beefsteak
(There's another, but I can't think of it's name!)
I'm growing three kinds of peppers. Jalapeno, cayenne, and an heirloom cayenne that gets 6" long fruits! I love to have dried peppers to cook with through the winter.
Jenny Lind melon, which is supposed to be very sweet and produce small fruits.
Spacemaster cucumber, which is supposed to be good in containers. I grew Straight Eight last year and may grow it again this year, but I always end up with too many cukes. :)
Little finger carrot (I think that's its name..), also supposed to be good in containers.
Black beauty eggplant, which looks just lovely. I need to learn some new eggplant recipes!
Country Gentleman corn, one of the oldest, and one that is supposed to store well and be very sweet.
Amish snap peas, which I grew last year but not enough to sell. They were so delicious I just ate them raw right out of the garden. :)
I've never grown carrots, the melon or eggplant before. I tried watermelons last year but they didn't do well. I'll try them again this year. I'm not sure whether to bother with pumpkins. One plant might be nice. I'm growing Scarlet Runner Beans again this year, although that's more for the hummingbirds than to eat. I'll grow another bean for eating.
Quinoa, which I've never tried but which is supposed to be highly nutritious.
I became enamored with basils while looking at seed catalogs and ended up with six different kinds! I'm also growing sesame, all the normal herbs I usually grow, plus parsley, marjoram, Toothache plant, (which I'm looking forward to having), Valerian, red valerian, foxglove and a handful of others. Last year during Spring I was in and out of the hospital and I did not get to plant much, so I still have some from last year plus the new varieties I got this year.
I have sweet peas planted and they are already coming up. I grew them the year before last, but not last year. They smell wonderful.
Well, I think I've babbled enough for now. I'm not feeling well and I've been upset over all the resellers on etsy. It's really put a hurting on my business and so far etsy has done nothing about it. I'm trying to push the artfire store more, but it's a new site and there isn't much going on there yet. I hope that changes.
Until next time,
Julie
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