Monday
The 'Seascape' bare root strawberry plants were delivered in the mail a few days ago. I unpacked them, soaked them, and then potted them up in the pockets of the vertical Greenstalk planter. These bare root strawberries from Park Seed are much more robust than the ones I picked up a few weeks ago from Tractor Supply and Lowes. I've always been skeptical of those bare roots sold at the big box stores. I always wonder how long they've been sitting in that packaging. Those other strawberries aren't doing much of anything yet. I will be very curious to see how they do over time and how they compare to the new ones from mail order that I just planted.
In an effort to finish what I started, I spent about an hour moving each planted tier of the two Greenstalk planters from the greenhouse area to the back patio, and then assembling them. Each tier holds 1 cubic foot of potting soil and I had already watered them before I decided to move them. Dumb on my part - it made them pretty heavy. I ended up loading three at a time in the tractor bucket which made it easier than doing them one at a time in the wheelbarrow. Still heavy to lift in and out of the bucket, but a lot less trips back and forth than if I had been using the wheelbarrow. It is always something though - climbing on and off that tractor is pretty cumbersome for me. The assembly of the Greenstalk planters was straightforward, but after I was finished and took a look at the results, I realized that the back patio has a slight slope for drainage run-off so the planters have a slight lean to them. I should have put something underneath to level them up before I started stacking the tiers of top of one another. I know it will drive me nuts, so tomorrow I'll probably disassemble them, level the base, and then reassemble them.
A few weeks ago I also decided to try some of those bare roots that Costco always sells this time of year. I purchased two boxes of Old Fashioned Bleeding Hearts and one box of Christmas Ferns. I potted them up soon after purchase and have been checking on them every day since. I am starting to see the slight beginnings of growth on the Bleeding Hearts but not anything with the Christmas Ferns.
Growing from bare roots is an experiment for me. I think the strawberries from mail order will do ok, and if I decide to grow other fruits from bare root next year, it will be from a reliable mail order source - not what you get in the big box stores. Costco bare root perennials may just work out. If so, I'll definitely try more again next year.
The weather was really nice again today. Two days in a row - must be a record 
I got a little sunburn on my face and arms, wasn't really expecting that. Mike was in and out multiple times today, only here for 15 minutes or so before heading back out, but in one of those short times here he dug holes for the two shrubs, a deutzia and a camellia, from Wilson Brothers that I needed to get in the ground. I swear, what he can do effortlessly in 10 minutes would take me hours. Oh lordy, how I wish he loved to garden
Sunday
We have FINALLY had a good weather day here. A bit windy, but sunny and high in the 50s. Even though I have plenty of things to occupy my time inside, I was going a little bit stir crazy with the continuous crappy weather. This is the time of year you think you will be in your gardens, so that was more the trigger for going stir crazy than anything.
I took advantage of the last few days by getting a start on updating the alive/not alive status of plant records in my database. I went through all 2300+ records and marked those that I knew off the top of my head that were no longer alive. Sad to say that the number came out to about 750. I am already starting to see trends.
Many of that total were the first plants that I purchased back in the 1990s when I was initially starting out with gardening and very naive about it all. There are a few that have survived though, going on 30+ years now. Those just warm my heart.
There are plants that I have liked and tried numerous times that I just don't have any success with at all. Most people tend to give up after three attempts. From my records I can see that I have given about ten attempts before I call it quits, but even then I may keep trying anyway 
Agastaches, anemones, astrantias, digitalis purpurea... I may have too much shade for agastaches, but even when I've planted them in full sun they never reappear the following year. All purchased cultivars of japanese anemones, except one, have completely disappeared. 'Mont Blanc', the one which is still alive, was purchased in 2012 and had actually disappeared for many years, making a reappearance about 3 years ago. How crazy is that? I've tried the Pretty Lady series, 'Pretty Lady Diana', 'Pretty Lady Emily', 'Pretty Lady Julia', as well as others like 'Pamina', 'Queen Charlotte', and 'September Charm' readily found in the nurseries. There is a noid pink anemone which has been passed along from a fellow gardener from DC at our Mid Atlantic swaps that is absolutely thriving though. From a few plants, it has grown into a nice swath that blooms in the early fall. As far as astrantias, I won't be trying those anymore. In theory they should do really well in my shade conditions, but I've never had luck with a single one, ever. And digitalis purpurea is one I will keep trying for as long as it takes. It is such a favorite. I'm stubbornly optimistic that I will get it right at some point.
Then there are plants that I seem to have a 50-50 percent type success rate with, such as astilbes, camellias, clematis, dicentras, ferns, polemoniums, pulmonarias, rhododendrons,... I have no idea what triggers the success or non success of most of these. With ferns, I've noticed that the native ferns fair better, as do the japanese painted ferns. The named cultivars are the ones that seem to have more failures. Same with polemoniums - the straight polemonium reptans is prolific but any named cultivar has completely died out. The dicentras are a puzzler. They had been very dependable, returning year after year for 20 years or more, but at least half have started to disappear.
Another whole group can actually be thought of as short lived perennials. For me, this includes aquilegia and dianthus. From my records, I can see that I purchase a few of each every single year. They are fairly cheap at the amish nursery, so in my mind I think of them as consumables that are worth the money. If they last two or three years, great, but I'm not that disappointed if they don't.
Oh, and I have a deer problem 
Hostas were a big casualty, as were hemerocallis, hydrangeas, phlox paniculata, tricyrtis, ... Several young trees were obliterated by deer rub too. I have changed my gardening strategy to acquire only plants that the deer tend to leave alone, and either protect or pass along anything still alive after the deer damage.
The most depressing group are the plants that I acquire, full of optimism, that never make it out of the staging area for one reason or another. Life happens. Unexpected things take priority. It has happened on and off over the years, but the worst case was in 2022. After my parents passed away in the winter, I really went overboard with the spring amish nursery spree. I thought that I would have an abundance of gardening time that I hadn't had in years of caregiving. Then my brother switched gears on me about getting the house on the market - not the leisurely "give it a year" timeframe that was initially discussed. I wasn't happy about it, but it was what it was. I had to devote months to it. Most of the plants from that spring spree didn't survive.
On a much happier note, what really stands out are the plants that have nearly 100 percent success rate year after year, except for a very few single instances. Galanthus, calycanthus, digitalis grandiflora, hellebores, hyacinths, paeonia, and narcissus are what come to mind. The only fail with narcissus was the Daffodil Trail concept of 2002 and 2003. This was a project that I remember very fondly because Mike helped me plant a few thousand bulbs along a logging trail behind the house. We had glorious weather and a good rhythm with the planting - he would drill holes while I laid back and basked in the fall sun, and then I would plant the bulbs in the holes while he laid back and basked in the fall sun. It was one of the few times that he truly enjoyed helping me with gardening stuff. The concept was fun, but not practical - way too much shade for those bulbs to thrive and way too many fall leaves that accumulated in thick mats on top of them. Never did have much time back then for the maintenance needed to rake away the leaves, and they eventually completely died out. The only paeonia fail was a group of four from a 2019 purchase that I am pretty sure were flooded out with an overabundence of rain one year. They were directly in the path of excess water flowing down the hill from the front porch landing area. The only hyacinth fail was when a lot of new hardscaping work was being done where I had planted them, and most were casualties to back hoe digging. All in all though, all of these are, and should remain, go tos for me. Hellebores and paeonias are pricey, but with the success rate and longevity, it is a lot of bang for that buck.
Now that I've made a first pass at it by sitting at my computer during the rainy and cold weather, I'm armed and ready to start verifying the rest. I did get outside to verify more narcissus ids a few evenings ago while it was still light outside. It was cold and even though I was very satisfied to be making more ids, I was more than happy to get back inside.
With the much better weather today, I spent my time clearing out the accumulated fall leaves in the deer fenced in Hosta Haven. Very slow going with lots of breaks, but then Bonnie showed up and of course it went fast with her help. So, that garden is spruced up and I was ecstatic that the slate markers I put in last year are 100% accounted for - no displacement or disappearances and the labels from my Brother P-Touch label maker haven't faded a bit.
Friday
I have a goal to determine what is still alive in my gardens after 30 years of acquiring plants, and to also make positive cultivar ids. This is a job for a detective How??? Well, I have my extensive notes and I can also make use of online resources to match cultivar ids, especially when the plant is blooming.
Over the years, there has been many plant genera that have caught my fancy. I had to google the plural of genus because genuses just didn't look right. I've heard the term genera before, but didn't realize it was actually the plural of genus But, I digress... As I acquired more and more cultivars of the same genus, I realized that they can be thought of as collections. I can definitely tell by looking at a plant what genus it is, but the numerous cultivars are a different thing altogether. I want to know which is which, but my plant tagging woes go way back.
Last year I made a good stab at my hosta collection when I was working in the Hosta Haven garden, and the ferns in the Fern Bank garden, but nothing else. So far this year I've identified the cultivars in the galanthus collection and have started on the daffodil and hellebores collections. I've identified the early blooming daffodils, and now that the mid blooming daffodils are making their appearance, I'll work on those.
Other collections with numerous cultivars acquired over the years include anemones, astilbes, clematis, columbine, daylilies, epimediums, iris, lilies, peonies, pulmonaria, tricyrtis... A lot of these have really died out over the years, but others are alive and thriving.
I guess my approach will be two-fold - garden area by garden area as well as by blooms week to week. I'll not attempt to add my new slate labels to all of the plants, just specific cultivars that are part of a bigger collection. There are over 2300 plants accounted for in my database. I'd be lucky if even half of those are still alive, but I'm not optimistic. Maybe for once I'll look at it with the viewpoint of "glass half full" vs "glass half empty", and be amazed and thankful for what IS still alive 
Thursday
We have had three straight days of rain. There have been several big storms that lasted for a few hours and then they subsided, but the rain continued slow and steady. It has been cold too.
The big storms dumped mud into the pond - sediment from the surrounding slopes ends up in the creek that feeds it and also ends up directly in the pond itself. It only happens during big storms with lots of rainfall in a short span of time. Not that often, but it takes three days or more for the sediment to drop to the bottom and the water to clear up.
A big tree uprooted along the driveway too, and instead of falling, it got hung up in the branches of another tree. It was leaning dangerously over the driveway. Mike was really concerned and kept eyeing it for days, but he didn't want to attempt trying to get it down while it was still raining. Well, he finally decided that it was riskier to leave that tree in that condition than it was to try to get it down safely in the rain. It is scary and dangerous when big trees get hung up like that, but he managed to get it down successfully late yesterday afternoon. Once it was down, he was done with it for the day even though it is blocking the driveway. He will be going out to cut it up soon - he isn't a morning person, so his "first thing in the morning" is more like early afternoon
I've been pre-occupied for the last two days with getting my information together from the last 7 weeks to take with me to the diabetic nutritionist appointment - daily food logs, eating time/frequency patterns, etc... I've probably mentioned that I've been dealing with Type 1 diabetes for the last several years. Technology has come a long way with integration of an insulin pump with a continuous glucose monitor. My blood sugar levels are much better managed, but with the total automatic integration I'm getting a higher volume of insulin than when I was doing it manually. With increased insulin, came increased weight gain. Insulin related weight gain is one of the hardest to lose, and I've been really struggling on my own. The weight has reached an uncomfortable level that is impacting me every day with stamina issues and general ability to do what I want to be doing. Anyway, this nutritionist specializes in Type 1 diabetes, and I am giving it my best effort, hopefully for the long haul. After meticulously keeping a daily food log, I had lots of questions for her, both general and specific. The appointment yesterday went well and I'm making good progress in every goal that was set at the first appointment. She also showed me the food tracking app MyFitnessPal that she uses - why she didn't show me this at the first appointment so that I could use it was a bit irksome. Now I'm spending time transferring the data to it. Oh well, it will be easier to use than what I had come up with on my own and she will have online access to it for assessment and guidance.
So, major gardening delays due to weather and the other priorities of the last few days. It has finally stopped raining today, but it is pretty cold out there and everything is saturated. Not that appealing to get outside. Bonnie has been going stir crazy without the hour or two of gardening after her work days, and swears that no matter what the weather is like this weekend, she is gardening. I guess I will be too.
Monday
All weather heck broke loose in the wee hours of the morning. Booming thunder, lightning flashes, and torrential rain. The heavy storm lasted about an hour and then subsided to a slow but steady rain until early afternoon, but it has been cold and cloudy all day. This kind of weather sure doesn't let me get on with gardening. Another inside day, and it was a lazy one. Sometimes I am so tired and also so cold, that all I feel like doing is wrapping up in blankets and dozing. I had the TV on, but wasn't really watching anything. River stayed curled up next to me on the couch, not wanting to do much of anything either. He perked up when he heard Bonnie get home from work and was out the door and through the woods like a race horse out of the gate. He is getting older, but he can still run as fast as ever. I will never get tired of watching the sheer athleticism of it.
The most exciting gardening related thing to report is that I have had great germination from my tomato seeds, even most of the older ones. So far, 15 of the 17 varieties that I sowed are up. The only two that haven't shown any germination at all are 'Sunrise Bumblebee' and 'Umamin Hybrid', both from 2017. I'll keep them on the heating mat and under a humidity dome a bit longer before I give up on them. I was waiting to see how the old seeds from 2017 fared before I sowed the last of my even older tomato seeds. I will go ahead and sow 'Cherokee Purple', 'Mortgage Lifter', and 'Rose' - all pass alongs that are more than 10 years old at this point. Again, nothing to lose but time.
Two more days of rain are predicted, and then after that it will still be cloudy and cold - not getting any warmer than high 40s and low 50s until Sunday. Where is the great spring weather?
