It is a glorious, wet Seattle day and before noon I had tackled all the garden chores I had on my list!

First, I potted all the bulbs for forcing and the Hippeastrums.  I just use a good potting mix with a little organic fertilizer added.   For pots, I prefer clay for forcing, since the bulb growth tends toward top-heavy.  Besides, the bulbs are mostly grown for gifts, and a gift plant seems a lot more of a gift in a “real” pot.

I moved most of these to the drawer in the “extra” fridge in our laundry room, tightly wrapped in plastic bags.  I’ll need to revisit and water these every few weeks.  The others were moved into the cold frame just outside the greenhouse.  I’ll pack leaves around them when I rake up some leaves to insulate them.  In about 5-6 weeks, I can start moving them into the greenhouse/windowsills for some early spring beauty.

I planted some crocus in the Douglas fir bed in clumps and some Anemone blanda, as well.

The big project involved moving all the outside pots to the greenhouse.  This wasn’t as massive a chore as I anticipated–and to top it off, there were some fun surprises.

Here is the greenhouse stuffed to the gills with all the patio pots, Clivia and Cymbidiums.

The first happy surprise happened when I moved the first Cymbidium and realized that it had a near-mature flower spike coming out of the side of it!

And there were at least 6 other spikes in various stages on all the other Cymbidiums.  I am continuously surprised that these hardy orchids suffer through summers under that water-stealing Douglas fir giant and still manage to feel happy and healthy enough to set flowers.

The Clivias didn’t seem too worse for wear, either, though they have obviously gotten too much sun and were a bit bleached out.  I tucked them under the shelves and in shady spots hoping they will darken up and spike.  I also watered all the Cybidiums and Clivias with compost tea.  This will be the last water for the Clivias for several months, as I enforce a rest period to induce spiking.  I’ll watch the orchids and water/feed them along with everything else every few weeks during the dark time.

The Brugsmansia was blooming and I didn’t want to move it (a bit of a monster now that it is 7 feet tall!), but I shoved it into the greenhouse.  Luckily, the flowers moved just fine right along with it!

I’ll leave the greenhouse open and the heat off until the first frost threatens–the fresh air is needed to keep Botrytis in check and the plants need to know what season it is.  I’m not really sure that the winter growers appreciate this treatment, but they are mostly on the south side benefitting with the most light and heat, so they should be alright.