Of seeds and dreams
It’s the time of year when all things seem possible. I dream of verdant growth, record harvests, perfect blossoms, and fruit unmarked by insect damage and snacking birds. My wish list of seeds and plants is long and...
Read MoreTag: plants
Collards in bloom
Champion collards, planted in the greenhouse September, 2007. Collards, like most brassicas, are biennial – that is, they go to seed their second year. Collards don’t keep calendars. They had their warm season and...
Read MoreDaffodil time
Years ago, I had two little snowdrop plants by my front steps. Those were my early harbingers of spring. The first appearance of the snowdrop blooms meant spring truly would come, and the world would be right. Now, two homes...
Read MoreNot quite daffodil time
They grew a couple inches taller this weekend when the afternoon temperatures swelled to the upper 70s (Fahrenheit). They’ll get nipped with cold tonight if the forecast is right — 18 degrees....
Read MoreStrawberry joy!
Photographed November 30, 2007 – one very confused, but delicious ripe strawberry. You’d better believe I washed it off and ate it. Variety: Jewel Planted: September 2007 My supplier kept the dormant plants in cold...
Read MoreAnother angle
A different view, showing the leaves. Henbit blooms in late winter and early spring. It started in late January here at the farm and didn’t seem too bothered by freezing...
Read MoreWild strawberries
Several patches of wild strawberries are blooming in the back pasture. The majority grow among a couple of burnt-out blackberry patches the wildfires cleared this winter. They’re also near the cedars, at the edge of a plum...
Read MoreCherry blossoms
A hard freeze is predicted tonight, so I suspect these blossoms won’t be so pretty tomorrow. The tree is a bit tall and spindly. Mosses and lichens cover its bark so thickly I can’t distinguish its natural pattern....
Read MorePretty weed
I know, I know. Thistles are noxious weeds. Still, the flowers are so beautiful. This isn’t a bull thistle or that troublesome and prolific outlaw Canada thistle. The leaves are prickly, and no doubt it shouldn’t be...
Read MoreOld friends
Nineteen years ago, Mr. Sayles, the elderly man next door, gave me a few robust thornless blackberry plants. His own patch was mature, well-filled, and spreading too vigorously. He’d dug my gift plants from the space...
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