First Day of Spring

There were a lot of garden chores to complete today. I got a few of them done but left a bunch for tomorrow.

First up, I planted some seeds in the house–Silene pendula ‘Sibella Carmine,’ Nicotiana landsdorfii, Petunia ‘Old Fashioned Climbing,’ Heliotrope ‘Marine,’ and Dahlia ‘Bishops Children Mix.”

Next, I potted on seedlings of thyme, chives, basil, chamomile, parsley, dill, and the first round of Dahlia seedlings. There were hundreds of seedlings that got potted into four-packs, six-packs, nine-packs, and some 3-1/2″ pots (the Dahlias).

My favorite surprise in the greenhouse today was looking at the bonsai-ish Wisteria from brother Tim that I’ve had for close to thirty years. And I saw these:

They look suspiciously like flower buds! I think this plant has bloomed only once before and that was over twenty years ago! This is cause for celebration!

Additional good news came from the updated Clivia flower spike count. I didn’t realize that many of the mature plants were under shelves on the west side of the greenhouse and I looked through all of those today (as best I could, with a lot of twisting and turning in hard-to-reach corners) and found six or seven more blooming plants! So, my best guess is that twenty or more spikes will be blooming in the greenhouse in about three weeks. There are still a LOT of Clivia plants that aren’t blooming, so more work to be done there, but at least a big show to look forward to.

I did some clean-up in the memory garden today, too. That garden looks such a mess and like it will never fill out or amount to much of anything. On closer inspection, though, I can see some positive signs. I did a little clipping and neatening up, but time and a little warmth are all that garden really needs to shine. I took some “before” photos so I’ll remember my doubts on the first day of spring.