Dedicated NYC commentor / photographer Ema:
I went to all the usual spots to find material for a Garden Chat submission, but couldn’t find anything interesting.
Then I remembered that my “garden” has a flower district (6th Ave/upper 20s). Here are some shots from mid-February, with my cellphone.
***********
What’s going on in your garden (planning / cleanup / starting), this week?
satby
Ema, thank you! I’m sitting here drinking my morning coffee and feeling stressed about finishing the the last few things I need to do before leaving on my 2 week rail trip. These beautiful pictures were just what I needed! Spring is coming, things will be fine.
OzarkHillbilly
A riot of colors. Thanx much Ema.
Baud
Very un-February colors.
sab
Are those purple flowers in photo five heather?
ETA: squirrels bit the buds off all my hyacynths right before they bloomed. Sigh. Squirrels are right: they shouldn’t be even thinking about blooming in March in NE Ohio.
raven
Awesome
VeniceRiley
Was just discussing with wife the state of the garden. Lots of cleanup to do since Reggie has chewed all the plants. The lawn is in a horrible state. Our neighbor ‘s is in lovely shape. Great lawn, pretty flowers, gnomes!
We do have a blackbird building her nest in one of our tall bushes- so we put coned out dog fur for nesting materiel.
satby
Oh, and safe travels to O. Felix Culpa too, who is leaving on her own trip soon!
J R in WV
One of the best things about NYC is walking into a new commercial district with a ton of dealers. The diamond district has a hundred shops. The rug district, antique district, and YES! the flower district!
Thanks for sharing!
raven
@J R in WV: Not the kind of dealers I was thinking about in NYC!
frosty
Nothing going on in the garden except planning. I need to find a new tree service to trim everything and take out the hemlocks (?) that got too tall. Then figure out a lawn care schedule to make the front look Standard American while I seed the back with clover. Research plans for a compost bin I can build with my skills. Tear out the weed cloth that didn’t work and plan some kind of ground cover.
After that I’ll work on what veggies to plant in my two 4×4 squares. Maybe next year for flowers?
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: I’ve been meaning to tell you I finally made it down to Avery Island this last trip. Unfortunately, mid March isn’t the best time for a visit. We missed the peak azalea time by a week or so (some were still blooming but not many) and most everything else was still dormant. Still, it was an interesting visit (one I will do again) and the Live Oaks alone were worth the 2 hours it took us to get there. What can one say about them except, “Wow.”
NotMax
@raven
For that, you can always go downtown.
;)
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: Oh yeah, the egrets had begun their nesting too.
kalakal
Garden here is desperate for rain. Fl dry season. Surprised we haven’t had any fires yet.
On the decorative side the iris are looking good.
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
Wasn’t it Sinatra who sang “egrets, they had a few?”
:)
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Gvg
We went from frost 2 weeks ago and blankets and heater last week to too hot Saturday. Well 88 is normal for summer but I wasn’t built up to it and yesterday I retreated inside. Things are growing. I have set out about 20 trays of seedlings that I sowed in the last 2 weeks. Some are already sprouting. I have to put them under hardware cloth cages or squirrels and such dig in them. Most years I start in October and this is my second season but I wasn’t beeping well and the seed companies were slow filling orders so some things are set aside as too late for now. Still I have more than I have trays for and need to find more.
This past year, my local feed store burned down and decided not to reopen. For 25 years they were where I bought quality potting soil and seed tray inserts. Now I have to find a new source of inserts. Rural king and tractor supply have moved in but they don’t carry such plebeian things. Amazon has been a bust so far, is really hard to find what I want when those who pay get moved ahead on the search and aren’t even close, plus the pictures are misleading. Amazon is great for many things but…not everything. Other small town nearby feed stores apparently don’t carry them. Or want $20 for one tray which is silly.
I have been ordering shrubs. I want to grow a privacy hedge with nice plants not ugly red tips that die back. 2 fancy tea olives and some Holly’s. Have some Azaleas and Illicium on order. Have a long wish list. Planted most of the Camellias I bought this past winter and the gardenia. Lawn mowing season is back.
We are supposed to get rain this weekend which would be nice.
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: Ouch.
Raven
@OzarkHillbilly: Oh cool! We were also there in a dead time with few birds or flowers. We really enjoyed it but it would have been nice to see it at peak. I had the brilliant idea to buy a bag of Tabasco pulp and had to dump it about halfway back home! https://flic.kr/p/sWCBHu
MazeDancer
An animal shelter in NC is trying to find a home for a “bonded pair” – a dog and a goat. They even sleep together. At least they are trying.
OzarkHillbilly
In my own gardening news, things happened while we were gone. Mainly a killing frost or 3. Did not get to see my magnolia go into bloom (all blossoms turned wilted brown) and the lilac was a no show for me (barely got to see the buds). Ah well, spring in Misery. I did find the greenhouse overflowing with leafy greens as neither my son nor my son in law chose to partake (I guess they don’t like salads) That’s OK, more for me and Mrs OH. My Glory of the Snow have finally decided to put in an appearance and my Wolf’s Bane are done. The Daff’s are blooming whenever they damned well feel like it. Still looking forward to my Spanish Bluebells.
I’ve got a lot of cleaning up to do these next 2 weeks as I was preoccupied with other concerns last Autumn.
OzarkHillbilly
@MazeDancer: I’m tempted but I know my wife would never go along with it.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
What’s got her goat?
Jeffg166
Watching Gardeners’ World saw a perennial mallow called Athaea cannabina. Tall airy plant with pink flowers that look to be floating in the air. Doesn’t mine dry soil or so the guy talking about them claimed. Ordered some seeds.
Found a potato sprouting in the pantry. Put it in a window to help the growth get going. Will put it in a pot. Should get about 5 pounds of potatoes from the one spud. Maybe.
Put some tithonia seeds in cells outside to see if they will sprout.
MazeDancer
@OzarkHillbilly: Maybe the shelter will send you some video. They are very cute.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: The NotMaxification of the Jackaltariat continues apace.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
We’re all not NotMax now.
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: Avery Island is beautiful and the mention of your trip, caused a trip down memory lane for me. We lived in Lake Charles for several years and traveled around the state. I sure wish I lived close to a crawfish shack now.
Ema! Thank you for the pictures of the flowers.
CCL
@Jeffg166: we spotted the same one! Haven’t ordered it yet. What seed company did you order yours from?
MazeDancer
@Gvg: Knowing nothing, not sure what are inserts.
Are they the sectioned trays or the dirt that goes in them?
Got curious and searched both inserts and plugs. Many responses. Even on Amazon. And all kinds of “greenhouse” places.
Even Lowes has some. They ship.
Are you looking for a special kind?
Jeffg166
@CCL: I used: https://www.farmacieisolde.com
Should have looked around a bit more. The pack of seeds was $3.75. The shipping was $6.50. That gets me twenty seeds.
This place is located in the Hudson River Valley and I am in Philadelphia, PA. I expect the seeds should be here this coming week.
OzarkHillbilly
@JPL: My old man was stationed at Lake Charles Air Force base for training before he was sent to Korea. Ma described how cold he would be after a training flight. She would allow him to put his hands between her thighs to warm them.
That’s love.
WaterGirl
@kalakal: Is CA getting all your rain?
CCL
@Jeffg166: thanks! I did a quick search and didn’t find it at any of the places from which we usually purchase seeds!
Saw that they are “rabbit resistant.” Would be lovely if true.
Denali5
Thanks for the eye candy. I am so ready for spring!
SkyBluePink
What a wonderfully vibrant way to start the day!
Thanks, Ema-
And we just had thunder, lightning and small hail!
ema
@sab:
Sorry, don’t know.
Thank you all, and here is a preview of my next submission (26 s YT short).
OzarkHillbilly
@ema: Orchids!
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: He had a reason to get back to Lake Charles.
prostratedragon
Glad to see one of the old districts still thriving, and in the same location.
ema
@OzarkHillbilly:
When your “garden” also has a botanical garden, and when said botanical garden has an orchids show, that is a mandatory Garden Chat submission. I am editing the over 1 hr video, will post several shorts, as well, and also working on the best shots for the GC submission.
Kristine
Thank you for the lovely photos, ema!
Winter’s wearing out its welcome here in NE Illinois, although yesterday’s predicted 4-7″ of wet snow turned out instead to be overnight rains followed by flurries. Not complaining, but I felt a little sorry for Gaby, who loves rolling in/pushing her face through/eating snow.
Daffs are 3-4″ high, and the day lilies and iris are poking through the leaf cover. Sem ash leaf spirea is budding. Pink Fizz hellebore in the shady sideyard is the one spot of color with maybe a dozen or so blooms ready to open. I have much cleaning up and pruning to do, but’s it’s too cold, dammit. Highs mostly in the 40s over the next 10 days. The few pops into the 50s come with rain.
StringOnAStick
@frosty: Yeah, weed cloth doesn’t really work, mulch is better but weeds are crafty and have to be dealt with the old fashioned way.
@Jeffg166: I love, love, love Gardeners World! Even though we live in a desert and nothing on that program can grow here, I still love all the presenters and looking at the plants and gardens they spotlight.
It snowed three different times yesterday, so my gardening plans are on hold. Plus we are both sick with RSV so not much of anything is happening right now.
Gvg
@MazeDancer: I think these may be right https://www.greenhousemegastore.com/collections/trays-flats/products/traditional-inserts?variant=42731883659463 sheets of plastic little 6 packs that you grow seedlings in and then pop out when they are big enough by pushing on the bottom, to plant the little baby plants in the garden. Most people buy 4 packs or 6 packs at garden centers but I grow my own. There is a reason they get sold that way. It works to grow them efficiently. Much better success than sticking seeds directly in the soil. I can get several reuses out of the pot packs too, but eventually have to buy some more. They rip after about 4 to 6 times.