Sunday, March 16, 2008

Sunday March 16th. Finally, I Have A Greenhouse!

Greetings from Alaska!

Yes we are back from the Northwest flower show. We brought back a suitcase of plants such as perennial geraniums, eryngium, campanula Kent Belle. Also, lilies such as: Kentucky, Sumatra, Salmon Star, and s a few giant oversized Casa Blancas. Normally at the beginning of February we would have started many flats of seeds, but since we were going to the flower show we decided to start our seed when we got back rather than worry about having someone water them while we were gone. Below is a list of the seed we started this year.

Yippee I finally have a greenhouse. Although it is a modest 6 X 6 from Sams Club I deem it a good buy at $583. It will probably be situated in a bad spot, but where else do I have room what with so many plants and no free space? I though about putting on our flat roof, but being in a windy spot I thought it might blow away. Now I can get my brugmansia to bloom early. I can grow herbs, especially Basil and Rosemary. I can get my roses in pots to bloom earlier, and get a good start on next year's biennials.

Our dahlia tubers looked great in their zip loc bags a couple of weeks a go. Now they have all molded. Did it get too hot? Or should we have taken them out of the baggies? Anyway they are a bust for this year. So too are my pots of tulips. They did not get established enough before the first frost. Next year I will keep the bulbs in a refrigerator then pot them up as I go.

As of right now my clematis have over wintered nicely and Dave Taplin's greenhouse and the few I kept in the garage. So too have my huge Brugmanisa. The roses in pots look awful and I may have lost Just Joey, but with a little luck the rest should pull through.

I did purchase a few bags of perennials from Costco. I liked the idea of 40 columbines for $15, and 18 Hollyhocks for the same price.

What is going to be the highlights for our 2008 garden? Will it be the primula auriculas, the delphiniums, or the clematis? How about the thought of 5 early blooming Red Charm peonies instead of 2? This year, we are planting swarms of lilies, especially the red America, and the dark red Black Out.

Most of our new auriculas came from Pops Plants in the UK? We divided all our other auriculas too, so we can expect them to put on quite a show, and of course they are almost the first flowers to bloom here.

Hopefully, my skill at propagating delphiniums from cutting will improve. Last year, I was a little too eager to pot them up after they had rooted this year I will be more patient and let the roots really get established.


Tray Salpiglossus Kew Blue
Tray Love Lies Bleeding
Tray Stocks - White
Tray Celtic Copper Snaps
Tray Appleblosson Snaps


Tray Malva Moshata
Tray Lavatera Pink - Silver Cup
Tray Nicotiana


Tray Love Lies Bleeding
Tray Salpiglossus Sinuata
Tray Stocks - Lavender
Tray Danish Flag Poppy
Tray Lauren's Grape Poppy


Tray Stocks - Crimson
Tray Erysium
Tray Coral Fountain Snaps
Tray Amber Kiss Viola
Tray Lilac Bronze Viola
Tray Malva - Sylvestris
Tray Malva- Merlin
Tray Lavatera Pink Beauty
Tray Cardoon


Tray Stocks Beauty of Nice
Tray Stocks - Antique Blue
Tray Stocks - Hot Cakes Blue
Tray Calendula - Gold Star
Tray Calendula - Orange Star


Tray Lauren's Grape Poppy
Tray Karma Blue Pansy
Tray Calendula - Neon
Tray Calendula - Porcupine

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Friday, January 4, 2008

Xmas Greetings!

Greetings from Alaska!

Yes, it’s that time of year to check in to see what silly things we have managed to get up to here in our frozen, but snow less wilderness.

Last year, we forgot one memorable incident, namely David’s close encounter with a bear. Yes while David was hooking into his first (and only says Edith) salmon of the year, a young male bear decided to compete with David for a prime fishing spot. David was so determined not to lose his first fish of the year that he dragged the fighting sockeye up a bank whereupon David slipped on some fish slime, cut his knee, dropped his glasses, and promptly fell flat on his face. Would the bear now smell blood too?

The good news was the fish was still on David’s line!

Now the bear really smelled blood and came even closer. So what did our levelheaded Xmas writer do? Did David make a hasty retreat? Did he run?, Did he shout or scream at the bear, “Go away bear I was here first!” No!

No, David went back to fishing, albeit after he found his glasses. This close encounter came to an abrupt halt when the Dept. of Fish and Game insisted that all the anglers who were in the vicinity of the bear move on for safety reasons, leaving the bear to some fantastic fishing.

David has a friend with a very large greenhouse. This greenhouse has had many notable adventures. Once a curious moose somehow got in and ate its way through the greenhouse plants. On many other occasions the greenhouse was flooded after someone forgot to turn off the water while filling the trash cans used for watering plants.

Nevertheless, David had to go one better. The owner of the greenhouse, Dave, installed a new bolt lock on the outside to ensure that the moose could not get in again, then David ensured that Dave could not get out by accidently locking the greenhouse door while Dave was still inside. Despite many attempts to communicate with the outside world, Dave (who unfortunately had not yet learned how to use his new cell phone) accepted his fate, namely a night trapped in his own greenhouse. Fortunately Dave survived the ordeal and was let out for good behavior the next morning by a fellow gardener who was delivering plants.

Since gardening in Alaska is only a summer activity Edith and David are often pining for warmer temperatures, but leaving Alaska for warmer climates has its challenges particularly when you are traveling at Spring Break as it seems the rest of the state’s population are traveling too. A brief visit to California was definitely a big mistake. On arriving at San Francisco airport we attempted to collect our Hertz Rental car only to discover Hertz did not have any cars left.

And just when we thought things could not get worse we discovered they could and did! Our return flight to Seattle was delayed 3 hours, and having been rebooked on a different flight we were confident of getting home on time. On arriving at Seattle we were relieved to see our plane there waiting for us, but alas we soon found out that our seats had been given to someone else. The following day starting at 5 AM we were on standby and patiently went from terminal to terminal hoping to get home. We did but separately.

As we sit here typing this Xmas letter we do so with our cross country skis on. The only problem is again we have no snow so we are only pretending to ski, or as we say, all dressed up and no place with snow!
 
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