Gardening Question of the Day for Sunday, December 30, 2007

(Via Gardening Question of the Day (from the Old Farmer's Almanac))

Posted by admin to Uncategorized on 2007-12-29, 20:00:00

How can I grow palm trees from seeds? I live in northeastern New Jersey, and the seeds are from southern California. (answer).

From The Old Farmer's Almanac.

Dressed for Winter Rains

(Via A Larrapin Garden)

Posted by admin to Uncategorized on 2007-12-29, 19:40:00




One thing my gardening teachers have impressed upon me is the oh-so-wrongness of uncovered, bare soil for the winter. Since I never seem to get around to a cover crop, I've developed a second-best method-- to dress my beds for winter in a blanket of chopped leaves and straw. The earthworms love it. Hence the sticks on top....because if the chickens are out of the pen, they head straight for these beds to scratch off the covers and devour those fat earthworms. So lately, I'm adding a stick covering just in case of rogue chicken attack!
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Waiting for Bluebirds to Return

(Via A Larrapin Garden)

Posted by admin to Uncategorized on 2007-12-29, 19:35:00



The bluebird house stands a little lonely this time of year. We cleaned it out -- including an empty wasp nest which was built in late summer. I had wondered why the bluebirds left early...and also why the downy woodpecker kept sticking his head in the house later...I didn't know they ate wasps!
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Colors of Winter (with acorns)

(Via A Larrapin Garden)

Posted by admin to Uncategorized on 2007-12-29, 19:33:00



And to think I once thought of winter as gray! It was an art teacher who taught me to see the colors within colors. Then two long years of winters in Estonia as a Peace Corps volunteer gave me LOTS of time to practice seeing the colors of winter. Now those colors are some of my favorites of the whole year. This photo is the ground under a post oak, covered as always with acorns and sticks, and this time of year, in lovely colors of moss, grass and acorns.
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Daylily seedlings

(Via Girl Gone Gardening)

Posted by admin to daylily, photos, seeds on 2007-12-29, 12:34:00

These are NOT hellebore....

Seeds

(Via Girl Gone Gardening)

Posted by admin to photos, roses, seeds, trees, white on 2007-12-29, 12:06:00

26*, feels like 18*, 73% humidity, W 7 mph wind, cloudy Rosa rugosa rubra seeds going into a baggy for cold stratification... Rosa rugosa white seeds soaking. Virginian Rose seeds after a soak. Japanese maple seeds after a soak.

Photo Hunt Theme: Messy

(Via Girl Gone Gardening)

Posted by admin to birds, photos on 2007-12-29, 12:00:00

Messy Bird Nest

This is WHY you should label collected seeds IMMEADIATELY!

(Via Girl Gone Gardening)

Posted by admin to Red, daylily, girlgonegardening, seeds on 2007-12-29, 09:53:00

IMMEDIATELY! Huge mistake.....I did not start Hellebore seeds, I started DAYLILY seeds! OOPS. I found the real hellebore seeds and put them in water to soak...Boy is my face red!

Botanists abandon research efforts along US/Mexico border

(Via hort.net top stories)

Posted by admin to Uncategorized on 2007-12-28, 21:36:58

A botanist who used to work on his studies in various remote parts of the Sonora, Mexico, mountains says that work now is being left incomplete because of a health problem that developed for him on the job. 'I got kind of allergic to pistols being held to my forehead,' botanist Richard Felger said in a report on the impact drug smugglers are having on various scientific endeavors. The Arizona Republic report was published on the website of KPNX, Channel 12, television in Phoenix, and documented the scientists' inability to complete studies on jaguars, various insects, bats, fish and other subjects of scientific inquiry.

Gardening Question of the Day for Saturday, December 29, 2007

(Via Gardening Question of the Day (from the Old Farmer's Almanac))

Posted by admin to Uncategorized on 2007-12-28, 20:00:00

When gardening season comes, should I try to remove all the stones in my garden? (answer).

From The Old Farmer's Almanac.