| February 1, 2001 Another rose seed sprouted!! That's three out of nine so far. The forced 'Delft Blue' hyacinths are just barely beginning to show the tip of a sprout, and several forced crocus are breaking through the soil. Yes!! A few snowdrops are poking through the soil, and one is showing a white bud. I think we'll have the pond built in the quarter-round bed. This, of course, changes plans somewhat. Will now have to make a new design for this bed, tailored for the pond. |
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| February 2, 2001 Colder today, and windy. 'Early Jersey Wakefield' cabbage seeds have sprouted. The groundhog reportedly saw his shadow. Six more weeks. |
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| February 3, 2001 Highs in the low 40s but sunny and calm. Turned two garden beds and dug in some cow manure. Raked the debris out of the pentagon bed; hope to renovate it next Saturday. Some of the unknown variety daffodils in buckets in the holding bed are beginning to sprout, too. 'Curled Siberian' kale looks pretty good, considering. Hope to get an early start on spring growth. Another rose seed has sprouted. That makes four--probably all the same color. Camellia japonica continues to bloom. |
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| February 4, 2001 Another rose seed sprouted, for a total of five. Four more to go. I think I'll make the quarter-round bed a full sun rock garden. That should tie in with the pond better than a "cottage" look would. I'll do that in the street bed. At Lowe's today, I bought a package of 5 tuberose (Polyanthus tuberosa)bulbs. Also got these seeds: Geum 'Mrs. Bradshaw', Moss verbena (Verbena tenuisecta), butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), Nasturtium 'Fordhook Favorites' (climbing type), and perennial candytuft (Iberis sempervirens). Picked these seeds up from a rack at the grocery store: Camellia flowered mixed colors balsam, alyssum 'Carpet of Snow' and 'Royal Carpet', perennial alyssum 'Gold Dust', Scotch strain mixed colors viola, and a climbing plant mixture containing 'Tall Mixed Colors' Morning Glory, Cardinal Climber, Thunbergia (Black-Eyed Susan vine), 'Tall Single Mix' Nasturtium, and 'Royal Family Mix' sweet pea. Might be the answer to my container and post problem. Put new bulbs in my plant lights today: one warm white and one cool white. |
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| February 5, 2001 Colder today, and windy. Received seeds from Burpee, but the four tier greenhouse rack is backordered at least three weeks. Since I'm going to need it in a couple of weekds, I ordered one from Park, who said they have them in stock. |
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| February 6, 2001 Willhite seeds arrived today. Breakthrough!! Daffodil bulbs are sprouting in the birdbath bed, AND daffodils and crocus are sprouting in the large containers on the front porch. I am smiling. Snowdrops blossom is almost open. More smiling. Dutch amaryllis 'Floris Hekker' is blooming. It's a compact plant; I like that. 'Bestseller' is blooming too. Very tall plant--about 28 inches from the top of the bulb to top of the bud. About to bloom is 'White Christmas' which is very tall--33 inches from the top of the bulb to the top of the bud. |
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| February 7, 2001 Temperature up to 65 today. Very pleasant, with more of the same predicted for the next couple of days. Daffodils and crocus sprouting in the front porch containers and the small raised bed at the end of the back deck. |
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| February 8, 2001 A sort of funny thing happened today. Hippeastrum (Dutch Amaryllis) 'Bestseller' toppled off of the four drawer filing cabinet in my office into the floor. I guess it got too top heavy. About one-fourth of the soil was knocked out, and a couple of blossoms were bruised a little, but not too badly. 'White Christmas' amaryllis blossoms opened overnight. Neither 'Dazzler' bloomed. Only foliage. New growth noted on the Norfolk Island pines. Turned two more vegetable beds. Cupid's Dart is showing new growth, as is the pink I started from seeds last year. |
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| February 10, 2001 Renovated the pentagon bed and added cow manure. |
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| February 12, 2001 Snowfall of about half an inch today. |
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| February 16, 2001 Rain and warmer for the past three days. I see some bulbs just beginning to emerge in the street bed, such as Iris reticulata, and buds on the daffodils in the containers. It looks like Buddleia 'Lockinch' is beginning to put out new leaves, in the holding bed. Too early, I think. We shall see. One tall bearded iris, 'Christmas Time', seems to have died in the pot in the holding bed (I remember I didn't think that rhizome looked too healthy when I bought it at Hudgins Nursery in Richmond. I even asked about it there and was assured it would be alright, but I still had doubts--that's why I bought another white one ('Lacy Snowflake') the same day at Harris' Nursery). All others seem to be doing well. |
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| February 17, 2001 Sunny, windy, and colder. A few Iris reticulata blooming today. |
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| February 18, 2001 Sunny, windy, and cold again. A couple of "naturalized" crocus coming up. 'Autumn Joy' sedum new growth is increasing. A few named daffodils beginning to poke through. The most advanced are 'Golden Ducat'. A couple of the old, unnamed tulips in the quarter-round bed are up. Couldn't find them last fall to move; I figured this would be the way I'd locate them. |
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| February 22, 2001 Got 2-3 inches of snow. Snowdrops look so cute in the snow. |
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| February 26, 2001 'Easter Basket' tulips up a couple of inches. Started tomato seeds. Planting rack arrived from Park Seed. |
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