From intrepid ‘gardener’ (photographer) Ema Ema:
My garden looks great because … I use the right tools, like a Plantoir, Blue.
(3/24/2022 cellphone pics; W 29th St.|Park Ave.|Rockefeller Center)
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In ‘progress, if I can keep to it’ news, I halved my Laurels Heirlooms order this year (it helped that several of my favorite varieties were sold out, weepweep). With the plants I ordered from White Flower Farm back in February (don’t judge, the Spousal Unit is addicted to Chocolate Sprinkles) and a couple back-ups from Burpee, that means only *15* rootpouches I’ll have to lug out & refill in the next month or so…
What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?
Raven
Nice stuff! I bought my bride “Garden Gloves with Claws Digging soil and planting gardening gloves”.
satby
@AL: I absolutely won’t judge. Though pricey, White Flower Farm plants I’ve ordered have been the healthiest, most robust mail order plants I’ve gotten. I don’t think I’ve had a single one ever fail.
@Ema Ema: You really have an eye for photography! Gorgeous!I
Happening here? We got snow again yesterday, though it all melted, and it’s 31° now. Going to get pleasantly warmish for a few days then plunge back down to the 40°s again by Thursday. I still don’t have any blooms on my spring bulbs, just buds; except for the crocus which are almost done.
Baud
@satby:
Agreed.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone???
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Dorothy A. Winsor
What great pics.
germy
WaterGirl
My order from Laurel’s Heirlooms is 5 this year instead of 8, which was entirely too many for my space. I tried so hard to only order 4, but I just couldn’t do it.
By the way, Laurel thanks you for my business, because you are the one who put me on to her
Which are your favorites, by the way?
WaterGirl
@Raven: Okay, those are the things of nightmares!
First, Recommended: “Gardening”. I shudder to think how else these could be used.
Second, could you ask your bride whether she thinks those would be useful for pulling out creeping charlie?
Third, you could just happen to remind your bride that Artists in Our Midst is still going on. :-)
OzarkHillbilly
Ticks, ticks, and more ticks.
MagdaInBlack
@Raven: Oh! With those gloves, she can be Lady Gaga from American Horror Story ” Hotel.”
Also too: what is the first plant/flower? It’s so pretty all rain washed.
satby
And just like that, my plan to clear out the dead tall weeds on the far side of my garage evaporated.
Ken
@OzarkHillbilly: You need more opossums.
Er, wait, I just googled to make sure I had the right animal, and I find that opossums (1) eat ticks, (2) don’t eat ticks, (3) reduce the number of ticks, (4) increase the number of ticks, and (5) are aliens from Zeta Reticuli. Thank you, internet. Maybe guinea fowl?
satby
@rikyrah: Good morning sweetie ?
citizen dave
I was worried there was another cool trowel out there to buy, as I love a good one. Now I’m thinking of painting one with those colors.
Also was thinking that you were attributing garden success to the brand of trowel.
satby
@Ken: Yes, possums eat ticks, and are rarely if ever carriers of rabies so the WELCOME POSSUMS mat is always out at my place.
MomSense
@satby:
The White Flower Farm talk at the Boston Flower Show was always he highlight of that event for me. They are so knowledgeable.
Beautiful flowers and photos this morning.
It is mud season here and I need to focus on the inside of my house the next few weeks.
OzarkHillbilly
Uck, they are good for ticks but a royal pain in the ass.
WaterGirl
stunning photos, Ema Ema!
OzarkHillbilly
@Raven: Just looking at those is enough to make my hands scream.
ema
@Raven, @satby, @Baud, @Dorothy A. Winsor, @WaterGirl, @MomSense:
Thank you!
@MagdaInBlack:
Sorry, don’t know but one of the many expert gardeners here should be able to identify it.
@All:
I first saw the art piece while on a bus on 5th Ave. and my first thought was “Obligatory Garden Chat submission!”
Spanky
@OzarkHillbilly: Hey! Due to some random Youtube algorithm, I was fed “A Story of Lead“, one of those Bureau of Mines films they used to feed us in elementary school. Featuring the SE Missouri mines, it shows production from mine to ingot. I rate it five stars. Filmed in 1948, so you can only imagine.
While you watch, keep an eye out for safety equipment. It does show up. Sometimes.
debbie
I love the sculpture right in the heart of NYC! Also, nice to see that Oldenburg is still creating.
MomSense
Ok I really hope this link works because this is such a cute video of lambs racing. Bonus ancient stone walls.
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CcIxQ82g4K2/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= Coxon’s Farm
It goes to the farm page – this is the first video. There is a man with a fake mustache and a cap.
OzarkHillbilly
@ema: We could use more Obligatory Garden Chat submissions! from you. Well done ema.
debbie
The leaves look like impatiens (I think).
oldgold
As the frost slowly abates from the tundra, it appears the quackgrass crabgrass, nutsedge, purslane, dandelions, plantain and creeping Charlie that make up my lawn have wintered well.
As far as the bluegrass, which grows exclusively in the cracks of my driveway, it may need a shot of Roundup to fully recover from the ravages of a winter of salt and scraping.
kalakal
@MagdaInBlack: I think it may be a Hellebore aka Lenten Rose. The rain flattening effect makes id slightly tricky.
I’m pretty sure the 6th photo is a Hellebore flower, nicely opened out. They’re lovely plants, espescially this time of year, the foliage is so fresh after winter
MagdaInBlack
@kalakal: I used to be far better at identifying, but I’ve been away from actual gardening for way way too long. It hurts.
JAM
I ordered only 4 heirloom tomatoes this year: Cherokee purple, Sioux, San Romano and Sungold cherry (hybrid). I used to grow more plants, but I got more tomatoes and more work than I wanted that way. I’ve never grown San Romano before, but I know the others produce well for me.
Benw
Lovely photos!
kalakal
@MagdaInBlack: I know what you mean in a way. I was pretty good at IDing plants in the UK. I now live in sub tropical Florida, it’s a wee bit different. Add in the difference in common names and confusion is rife. Same with birds, colonists seem to have sometimes used the “it looks a bit like a xxxxxxx, so we’ll call it a xxxxxxx” method of naming
OzarkHillbilly
@Spanky: Pretty cool, thanx.
A couple years back I found an internet folder full of early 20th century pics from the lead belt. A fair amount of the mining was pretty damned primitive back then, just a small pit dug by a farmer trying to get a few extra bucks off of whatever lead he might come across.
Lead left it’s mark all across this region. The lead smelter in Herculaneum polluted neighborhoods all around it with high levels of lead and I believe is an EPA Superfund site. The Big River is severely contaminated because of the lead mining. There is a “do not consume” order on certain stretches of it.
When we bought this place the EPA was in the middle of testing occupied lands all over the lead belt. We got lucky: Clean. A buddy of mine who lived near the Big River, not so much. He had levels all over his property so high they qualified for Federal remediation monies. Unfortunately, their well was also contaminated. They had 2 little ones so sold the place for what they could get and vamoosed.
My specific area has a much deeper history with iron mining. In my wanderings I frequently come across prospect pits, once even a 40′ shaft. 25 years ago I stumbled across the old Scotia Furnace (pdf) and mine. They’re pretty damned impressive.
A partnership of corporations are currently in the process of trying to reopen the old Pea Ridge Mine just down the road from me. They first started pumping it out 10 years ago. As far as I know, they still are.
OzarkHillbilly
@kalakal: Mine look like hell. The leaves are so severely frost bit, I’m about to give up on them. They are supposed to be good around here, but I think somebody lied.
susanna
@OzarkHillbilly: Agree!
kalakal
@OzarkHillbilly: I wouldn’t give up, they’re mostly very hardy and usually boing back once the frost has gone. I’ve had them growing happily in snow.. Here’s a link from someone showing theirs before and after, so to speak
https://deborahsilver.com/blog/hellebore-hardy/
O. Felix Culpa
@MomSense: A cute video, thanks. :)
kmax
We had a small ornamental tree die last year. This week we dug out the stump and planted a Bonfire Peach. It is leafing out already, so we are hoping for a success.
The old tree was planted by the builder before we bought the house. It was always sickly and never reached the size expected.
I think we discovered why. When they planted it they left the root ball tied up with nylon rope, and it was still in a wire basket. The tree grew around the rope in spots and the few roots were all misshapen and scrawny.
I think I know why that other tree died a few years back.. I need to remove that stump and see if it was planted the same way.
On the bright side, that poor little tree’s stump did come out easy.
Miss Bianca
@MomSense: Oh, my. That made me so happy. Thank you!
Geminid
@OzarkHillbilly: Settlers found lead in southwestern Virginia by the mid 18th century. Moses Austin, father of Stephen Austin of Texas fame, operated mines near Wytheville. Then Moses took his family west and began mining at Potosi, in what was then New Spain but is now Missouri. Austin held a Spanish grant issued in 1798.
There is a 75 foot stone shot tower near Hillsville, Virginia. It was completed in 1807 and is now in a small state park.
WaterGirl
@kmax:
That makes me want to cry.
OzarkHillbilly
@kalakal: They never recovered from last year. I don’t think they look any worse this year but I’m not sure they could have.
kalakal
@OzarkHillbilly: That’s a real shame. Used to get a lot of frosts when I lived in Leeds, Yorkshire and they just kept on going. I’d love to grow them here in Pinellas, Fl but I’m pretty sure the humidity in summer would do for them
kmax
@WaterGirl: We were pretty sad when we saw it. We put so much effort in trying to save that tree. The whole family was feeling pretty down about it.. I was kind of surprised with how I felt about it
I have the name of the company that planted the trees. Turns out I am using them for my irrigation. I am seriously considering changing vendors.
kalakal
@WaterGirl: me too
OzarkHillbilly
@Geminid: Moses is buried in the Potosi Presbyterian Cemetery. He and his wife have quite the tomb, even has a pavilion built over it. Looks a little ragged these days. My obsession with old grave yards had me take pics of it, along with anything else that struck my fancy.
There were a number of shot operations along the bluffs of the Mississippi River in Jefferson County, no need for a tower. It’s still possible to find shot at the bottoms of the bluffs if one knows where to look.
MagdaInBlack
@WaterGirl: I know! I felt the same for that poor tree.
OzarkHillbilly
@kalakal: We get pretty humid up here. Maybe that’s why they never recovered?
kalakal
@OzarkHillbilly: That could be it. They are vulnerable to various fungal horrors like mildew, mine often looked pretty sorry by mid/end of summer and Leeds is more damp than humid.
laura
Gorgeous pictures Ema! Spouse and I spent opening day of baseball in the City Friday and we stopped at Annie’s Annuals on the way home to Sacramento Saturdaymorning. It was so overwhelming that I stopped at just 2 starts a big snazzy frilly hot pink poppy and a lime green nicotania- they threw in a fresh off the press Summer catalog to boot. Off for a week of spring break and possible rain showers this week and I’m planning to spend the mornings planting and tidying up the back yard. A riot of color is my goal.
MagdaInBlack
@laura: Great big YES! to a riot of bright colors ?
scav
@OzarkHillbilly: Are the ugly hellebore leaves last years or this years? We just cut back all last years (often ugly) leaves just before / as the new years flowers are emerging. Allows one to really see the flowers and they are growing new leaves anyway.
trollhattan
Pondering just paving everything over. Climate change has stolen rain and at present we’re having the earliest recorded red flag days, on account of high wind, heat. and the lack of meaningful rain since December, i.e., fuel,
Had the lawn ripped out a few years ago, progress, but a considerable number of plants succumbed to conditions and need replacement, so the beds need a reboot. Not today, it’s nasty out there. Plus a section of fence has blown down.
My favorite gardening tool is a pair of Felco clippers mom bought me soon after we bought the house, decades ago now.
Jill
@Dorothy A. Winsor: okay—I really need a plantoir, blue. Where do I acquire one?
ema
@OzarkHillbilly:
Will do (and a great excuse to upgrade my camera).
ema
@Benw:
Thank you!
ema
@laura:
Thank you!
kalakal
@scav: That’s what I did as well, basically each year was new growth
jnfr
Gorgeous flowers, Ema Ema. Thank you for sharing.
My milestones: first dandelion blooms, first grape hyacinths open, and the first bee and first white cabbage butterfly. Spring’s not quite here, but it’s coming.
WaterGirl
@kmax: I think you should send them a photo and tell them that you’ll be posting that on review sites unless they replace your tree at no charge and confirm that they no longer plant trees like that
That was tree torture, and you know yours wasn’t the only one. There should be consequences.
StringOnAStick
It was 76 here on Thursday, and because of a coming winter storm that has Mt Hood as the apparent epicentre we will have lows down to 22 degrees and low 40’s for highs until Friday.
My husband is out getting the snow tires put back on the car since we’ve got at least 3 days of late season powder skiing in the backcountry looking possible, just like the storm last Sunday. Two winter storms in April, with a 76 degree day between them; no wonder the blooms on our nectarine tree always freeze here. I’m hoping the tart cherry isn’t too far along to survive this extended late season cold snap.