It certainly doesn’t feel like January right now–temperatures in the sixties and blue skies.  Warm and dry, more like summer than we have in June in Seattle some years!  Hard to imagine all the cold and snow in the East, when all is so calm and cozy here!

Yesterday morning I planted four more types of seeds in six packs in the greenhouse.  For seed starting, I’m using about 2/5 Black Gold seed starting mix, 2/5 Fox Farm organic potting mix and 1/5 coarse sand.

Myosotis arvensis–I’ve always loved forget-me-nots, and the Field Forget-me-Not promises to aggressively fill in blank spaces–just the type of plant that might survive and spread some color around the garden and create some self-sown surprises.

Lathyrus hardy species mixed–I’ve never met a lathyrus I didn’t love, and this mix is said to include:

Lathyrus aureus        Lathyrus chloranthus      Lathyrus laxiflorus     Lathyrus latifolius     Lathyrus pubescens     Lathyrus rotundifolius     Lathyrus tingitanus     Lathyrus tuberosus     Lathyrus vernus

Note:  I did not soak these seeds prior to sowing, but am hoping that by sowing them in good, moist compost in a cool greenhouse, that natural stratification will get them to germinate.  I may order another packet of these seeds from Plant World to start in late spring if these don’t germinate well.

Campanula Cottage Mix–another mixed packet which I’m hoping will get me some plants that I’ve never grown before, and in some quantity.  The packet was loaded with seed, and I didn’t plant them all–I’ll save some for late spring.  Plant World says this includes all of their upright types from their catalog and a few rarities that they don’t have quantities enough to list separately.

Sweet Peas–I plan to train sweet peas on the same trellises that my berries grow on to attract pollinators and give me something to distract me from my bad habit of picking the berries too early!

The wallflowers transplanted last weekend have transitioned well–they look pretty happy in their greenhouse within a greenhouse.  I was tempted to move them outside, but I reminded myself that it is JANUARY–it could freeze or snow any time and even tough wallflower seedlings couldn’t handle that!

While inspecting the yard and garden over the weekend, I saw that the Hellebores are doing well and either blooming or near to bloom.  The warm days have really moved this process along.  We have a big, tall forsythia near the driveway and its buds are swelling–should start to bloom in two weeks, given all this warm weather.  The winter hazel next to it is significantly behind, but then it always is–it extends the brilliant yellow early show.

A fairly windy storm hit Seattle Saturday night.  We have a big Douglas Fir tree in our yard that worries me–I expect it to become an uninvited bedroom visitor one day.  Luckily, that didn’t happen yet, but I spent some time picking up more twigs and branches off the street and lawn that had snapped off.  A new neighbor was out at the same time performing the same chore…I’m sure it was a scene repeated all down our street since these giant forest trees are quite common in this neighborhood.

We had warm weather yesterday, so I took some time to pot on some wallflower seedlings that I’d started in November.  I hadn’t expected all the seeds to germinate so quickly and well, so I had three 4 inch pots full of seedlings.  I moved two pots worth to six-packs in a tray with a humidity cover.  That will give me 48 plants to set out in early spring, assuming all survive.  I hedged my bets by putting two seedlings in each cell since I had so many.

Since this potting on provided more space on the heat mat, I sowed a few other types of seed:

Agastache nepetoides–the idea of a 6-foot hyssop is appealing to me, and should be great for bees and butterflies.

Freesia laxa Joan Evans–the standard form does well in the greenhouse for me, and I have seedlings of the standard and the blue form that will likely bloom in 2015;  I’ve read that this is possibly winter hardy in Seattle, so I’ll plant some out this year to see what happens!

Andean climbers mixed–very excited about these and hoping to get more than the Eccremocarpus to sprout–mixed seed in a packet said to include:

Leontochir ovallei          Luzuriaga radicans         Lapageria rosea

Bomarea salsilla          Mitraria coccinea           Boquila trifoliata

Tropaeolum ciliatum         Schyphanthus stenocarpus        

Eccremocarpus scaber         Herreria stelata          Tropaeolum tricolor

Tropaeolum polyphyllum          Aristolochia chilensis

Dierama species mixed–I’ve had luck with these from seed, so thought I’d try a bunch more.  I’ve read it takes at least three years from seed to flower, so best to get started now.

Polemonium yezoense “Purple Rain”–I’ve done well with Polemoniums (specifically Apricot Delight) from seed before and they are hardy and long-lived here, so it makes sense to try a new type.  This dark version appears to have gorgeous flower color offset nicely by the purple foliage.