Here are some of my favorite photos from this week–two of the Coryidalis solida that shares a pot with an Osmanthus shrub, and one of a Sedum on a fence sculpture.

I’ve started a potted garden in my office at TeamChild. I get a lot of indirect light, as it is a northern exposure. So far, the gesneriads that I’ve added are doing the best, including the following two and a Primulina that is starting to bud up just now that I didn’t photograph.

The greenhouse plants slowed down during the cold spell, too, and I lost some of the seedlings I had just moved out there before the one 16 degree night–all of the Hardenbergias disappeared. But the Hakea seedlings in the same tray are growing strong, so they must be hardier.

I transplanted the two kinds of Acacia two weeks ago. They appear to be doing really well.

Last year at this time the Clivia miniata hybrids were mostly in full bloom. They are lagging a bit behind this year, but the very first flower opened this week.

One of my weaknesses as a greenhouse gardener has been jungle cacti. I can barely keep them alive and they never (until now) bloom well for me. The surprise bloomer was left behind by some neighbors who moved away and just placed it in our yard. Here is a series of photos–I love the shape of the flowers.

But wait–there’s more. The orchids are putting on quite a show, as well. The Masdevallias are not blooming as much as they usually do, but they have a few flowers so far and will probably have more as things warm up.

It is the Cymbidium that has impressed me the most. This plant came as a division from Leon’s friend Karl Huffbauer and it always blooms, but usually the flowers get aphids and dark spots and there might be one or two good ones. This year, the spikes are huge/long and there are four of them–and most every flower is perfect.

My last greenhouse plant is a mystery. It came up in a pot of other seedlings and appears to be a Geranium, but not one that I’ve grown before. It isn’t super showy, but I like the foliage and the flowers are delicate and pretty.

I’ve always wanted to try grafting. My family has grafting skills going way back–I had aunts and cousins who used to graft orchards over near Yakima back in the day.

Since my cherry trees don’t produce well, I thought I could graft branches from new varieties onto the established trees so they can cross pollinate more easily. Also, there are two types of wild cherry in the garden here, so I wanted to see if they would support sweet cherry grafts. And lastly, I read that plum trees will accept sweet cherry grafts, so I wanted to try that.

Here is another motivating factor. I heard David the Good speak on the Epic Gardening podcast and I love his attitude. He has a “why not try it–what have you got to lose? attitude that really convinced me to attempt grafting. HERE is his video.

I took some scions off my Stella cherry and my Vandalay cherry, and I ordered Rainier scions from eBay. I also got a cheap grafting kit with a knife and grafting tape. I stored the scions in the fridge and when the weather seemed right I took the plunge. I grafted two Stella scions onto the Vandalay tree, two Vandalay scions and two Rainier scions onto the Stella tree, a Stella scion and two Vandalay scions onto the wild or possibly black cherry seedling near the driveway, one Stella scion onto the bitter cherry in the driveway bed, and one two Stella scions and one Rainier scion on the Beauty plum tree. Here is what a few of them look like:

And here is the full Beauty plum tree, in full bloom as of today. I haven’t figured out how to keep squirrels out of that tree, but I’m going to make every effort this year because I really love plums!

The plants probably feel like spring has been a long time coming, especially since we had snow on the ground and a severe cold snap just over a month ago. But for me it seems like everything is happening too fast! Below are some highlights from the garden today.

I spent some time today putting organic fertilizer around all the plants in Armando’s garden. There are some nice flowers already from the bulbs, but there are a lot of wide open spaces, too, where no plants are showing yet. Things are running a bit late after our cold snap, so I’m hopeful that there are more to come!

Some good news is that the peonies are coming up pretty strongly. They won’t bloom this year, but I think if I feed and coddle them a bit, maybe next year. Also, Kniphofia thompsonii is coming up, as well, though it looks a bit bedraggled.

The western side of the Armando garden has filled in a bit more than the east side, which I planted later. I’m happy that the Chaenorhinum survived just fine, and the lupines are coming up really strong, as well.

I am becoming a big fan of Fritillaria bulbs. The Crown Imperial bulb I’ve had for about six years now has two flowering stalks coming and a third offset that will be blooming size next year. The new Fritillaria raddeana bulb that I added last fall is blooming and is exquisite. So, forgive the many photos–I have never seen this plant in bloom before.

Somehow the Hellebores popped up and bloomed without telling me. But I found them today and got some photos. We have four of them in the yard, but only three of them bloomed well this year–the maroon one in the woodland garden is pretty weak.