PAgirl63's blog: Finally, It feels sorta like Spring!

58 degrees and clear at 6:45 pm. Today was nice. About 61 degrees, but a bit windy. I'll take it!

All the snow cover is gone! Not a speck! And it's been that way for about 10 days now. The past couple of days I raked out the flower beds. I can actually see the daffodils. They were covered with so many leaves I didn't even know they were coming up in some spots. Some spots seem a bit bare, though. Maybe squirrels got to some of the bulbs over the winter. As things continue to grow I might move some of the daffs around.

I had done a bit of late winter/spring sowing. Some things are starting to germinate. Got alyssum, shirley poppies, and bachelor buttons sprouting.

Today I went through some of my seed packs and decided to plant some Shasta Daisy seeds - Silver Princess. My brother-in-law gave me the seeds last year. The package says they are perennials that bloom the same year! I dunno ... maybe they actually will. I direct sowed them (winter sowing style) in a large flower pot and covered the top of the pot with heavy clear plastic sheeting with some holes poked into it. The package says it could be 3 weeks before they germinate anyway. I've grown Alaska shastas before and they don't mind chilly temps. So, I took a chance with these, what the hey!

During this past winter I bought a couple of packages of freesia and glad bulbs and kept them in a closet. Today I decided to plant a pack of the freesias (16 corms) in a large 15 inch pot. I covered the pot with a clear plastic lid from a storage container. They are supposed to be freeze proof to 20 degrees. I figured the extra protection wouldn't hurt and I don't think our temps will go that low again any more this year. Hmmn ... on second thought, I'm still going to keep my fingers crossed anyway.

Too early yet to plant gladiolus. I'll wait til May 1st for those.

I have quite a few plants in the house that will go out once the temps stabilize more. I have 6 mini roses (bought on Valentine's Day clearance) that are growing nicely on top of my curio cabinet ....

And I have my 2 pots of amaryllis plants that are doing very well on the floor in the corner of my living room. The amaryllis plants are an ... experiment. They were bulbs "encased in wax" that I bought before Christmas. They required no water, no direct light, no work at all. They did bloom beautifully. But I HATED the idea of throwing the bulbs away. So ....after they bloomed, I carefully cut the wax off, salvaging whatever bit of root I could find on the poor things. I then put them in water (only tips of the roots touching the water) and waited to see what might happen. Voila! They began making new roots! Eventually they were planted into heavy pots and good potting soil and I gave them as much light as I could. I babied them all this time, fed them, turned them, and now they are long-leaved and healthy looking. When it gets warmer I will move them outside for the summer. And then I will let them go dormant in the Fall and try to make them bloom again the tradional way for Christmas 2015. Wish me luck!

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