I thought this artichoke died, but I guess some little bit of it survived and now it's growing back. I'm going to leave it even though it's in an inconvenient place now.
I have yet to harvest a single artichoke to eat even though I've been growing the plants for years now. All kinds of different things seem to go wrong with the plants before they ever flower. Well, now I have two artichoke plants. If just one paid off, that would be great.
This is Centradenia floribunda. If it doesn't get too tall, I thought it might be nice with artichoke. We shall see.
We got 0.5" of rain last night. Today I supplemented that with 40 gallons from one of the rain barrels. There's stuff coming up everywhere and I'm not feeling any urge to edit. I'm going to let all these plants fight it out.
I'm letting this walking onion come up right where the bulbils landed last year.
I'm growing Geranium maderense again. It seems to be on schedule for a spring bloom.
I have some small biennial foxglove seedlings ready to be planted out. Do you think it might already be too late to plant them out for a 2010 bloom?
The oak half-barrels are starting to grow this orange fungus. I wonder how much longer they'll last.
Cherry and apple buds are swelling. I plan to cover them all with bird netting before the flowers emerge in spring. I think the birds will eat the flowers if they can.
I also want to clean up the container clutter before spring. I'm sick of looking at it, but I don't have any plans yet.
I have some cool plants in those pots. If I can't come up with a place to put them, I can't bear to get rid of them. That makes me a hoarder. This is a cutting from 'Grandmother's Hat'. There must be a place for it.
The big pots are fine; it's all the small pots that bug. Cussonia paniculata can stay in it's very large pot.
I hope Phormium 'Black Adder' makes it through the winter. It's not getting much sun right now. But if it can just hang on until February, I'm sure it will be much sunnier for it then.
Senecio cristobalensis is becoming more interesting from the house than it is in the garden. My aunt visiting for Christmas asked what the lily pads are. She meant this plant.
I have a few more pictures, but nothing to say about them. So here they here for your silent contemplation.
6 comments:
I love it: "That makes me a hoarder". To which MY reply is.."Hello, my name is Ann. I am a plant hoarder." Where do we go for our weekly meetings? I'm guessing there might be one or two others out there who would join us?
A hoarder! Yes I'll join your PHA meeting... I was a bad hoarder in Sonoma but up here in WA, the 18-degree low temps have a way of doing the editing for me! Mr. B I wonder if the artichokes just are not getting the neglect they crave. Your soil looks awfully good... do they get a nice mummifying blast of summer heat where they are positioned? The biggest 'chokes I ever saw grew in the front yard of a house-trailer in Sonoma, amid a patch of awful pink lava-rock mulch over plastic, out in the blasting roadside sun, and they were always studded with chokes. Never saw then get a lick of care or water and boy did they put out. The Hardenbergia pic is amazing! Exotic splendor. I love the Lilly Pads too.
Thank you for posting one more time this year. I needed a little vicarious horticultural therapy. Your problem is all the small pots. Is there any way to combine those little plants into a couple of huge containers? That would cut down on the clutter, but you'd still get to keep the plants.
I try to give as many plants away as possible, to friends, fund raising plant sales and to visitors, but there are still so many left over. I don't mean to hoard them, but what can I do? I have thrown clumps of siberian iris along the road side without actually planting them and they seem to be happy there, but it doesn't work for all.
That was a lovely end-of-December lift for me, so glad you posted. My garden here in SC is looking a lot more dormant than that.
I'd be up for joining that plant-hoarders therapy group if you get it going.
Hi Chuck,
I love how you are letting nature have it's way, at least for a little while, in the garden. I think it is fascinating to see what will happen when we do not interfere. I like your Hardenbergia flower. Mine have not started blooming yet, the buds are there though...
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