G is for Geranium

People traditionally use those red geraniums when they are making pots. You've seen them: tall red flowers with the green spikes and the trailing green ivy. They are quite lively, but for my unique style of gardening, they just don't fly.

I use geraniums on occasion when I am making pots. Usually I use those tall pink ones, instead. It depends on were I am setting up pots, though.

The geraniums that I truly love are the ivy geraniums. They get larger and larger every year and cascade over my rocks. My favorite one is a deep bluish purple, but I have a couple of new ones that are pink, lavender, and magenta. I don't think they will grow quite as big, but they are still pretty. And they are traditionally a hardy perennial on which you can count each year.

This picture shows the blue geranium with my white peony in 2010. I can't wait until they are blooming together!

F is for Ferns

I love ferns. When I was a little kid there was a shaded part of our property where the ferns seemed to grow as tall as I was. I always felt like I was getting lost in them and wound around the short path. There is something about the texture that is appealing to my fingers. I also just love the way the foliage looks.

My mom always had a Boston fern in the house. In later years she also started to grow asparagus ferns. I tend to get at least one of each every summer to hang on my front porch, which faces north.

My favorite ferns, though, are the Japanese ferns. Yes, it is because their leaves have a silvery purple tint and purple is my favorite color. They are just absolutely stunning, and I have several stuck in all around my house. Here is a photo of one from Spring 2009:

It's still too early in the season for there to by much in the way of my ferns in my garden. But when I was out hiking in the woods the other day, I noticed some ferns starting to perk up! Within a week or two, I would imagine they will be upright again.

Just seeing the foliage is reassuring that spring is indeed going to arrive to Upstate NY, even though we have more of that s-word in the forecast.....

E is for Easter Lily

I love lilies. I have several in my yard every year, but of course they don't bloom until the summer. At this time of year, I get teased by the Easter lilies that are out. (This photo is by Jasmine Noor on SXC.)

Every year, someone at work ends up giving me one. It always feels too early to plant it outside, because in April I haven't yet had a chance to do anything to the soil. So, they end up rotting in their pots, and seem to never come back. So, my question for the world is, can you actually plant an Easter lily and have it come back? Should I go ahead and do it, even though we continue to get snow on occasion until May? Any tips would be quite welcome!

D is for Daffodils, Dahlias, and Daisies

I love daffodils. I have pointed you to my slideshows in previous posts, so you can find them there. My daffodils haven't yet started to bloom this year, so I have no new pictures to put up. This is one that I took from last year's photos:

Usually the daffodils come before the tulips, but I have one tulip that always comes up before the daffodils. This morning, I went out to photograph my crocuses in the bright sunshine, and the first of those tulips had opened! I hope to have some daffodils, soon!

I also love to use dahlias in my yard. Usually, I use them in pots. They bring a ray of sunshine to the yard. I think you can sometimes dig them up and keep them in the basement or something, so that they come back from year to year, but I have never tried it. Here is someone else's picture of an orange dahlia, the kind I like to use every year. Photo: Stefan Wagner, trumpkin.de

I also like my daisies. I am so annoyed that I can't find my favorite picture right now. A few years ago, I happened to catch my Shasta daisies in full bloom, with filtered sunshine leaving shadows on them. It is seriously one of the best pictures I have ever taken. Maybe one of these days I will find it and post it.

In its place, I will include this picture from Tiffany Clark on SXC, to help show which flower I mean.

I have Shasta daisies in my large side bed, which is primarily perennials. I don't like how they seem to take over the bed every year. But, I have also noticed that by the time they do take over, pretty much everything else is gone, anyway.

My other favorite daisy is the Gerber daisy. They literally make me happy. I cannot help but smile every time I see one. Again, I often use them in pots, and I do not have a picture of one handy. I got this one from Kathleen M at SXC.

Mmmmmm....writing about all of these flowers is making me even more anxious for spring and summer. We were blessed with a sunny day at almost 70 degrees. We haven't reached these temperatures in about six months. Hoping we don't get a May snow like last year!

Do you use these flowers in your yard? What are your favorites?

C is for Crocuses

Originally, I was planning for this post to be "C is for Clean-Up." I was also planning on working in the yard yesterday. I woke up at 6:45, which is absolutely unheard of for me on the weekends. I did a little A to Z Challenge blog reading and suddenly felt like I was going to keel over. I got back into bed and slept for another four hours. Again, napping is unheard of for me.

Alas, when I woke up, not only could I not find my contacts case, which I had somehow knocked under the bed in my sleep, but also had a raging headache. This is why I do not nap.

I went outside and was happy to see that the sun had encouraged my crocuses to open. Usually I only get a chance to see my crocuses first thing in the morning or when I get home in the evening. The sun is never shining on that bed at those times, so they always seemed to be closed.

So, blind as a bat, and with a raging headache, I grabbed the Droid anyway, and took several pictures. They weren't too shabby for someone who couldn't see!

I haven't yet uploaded all of the pictures from yesterday to my computer. But, I did make a couple of slideshows on Yahoo! Contributor Network of some of them from earlier in the week. Please feel free to visit these following links, as well, as I make a fraction of a penny every time you visit. Stay tuned, as these will eventually also go up on RedGage with some of my other photos, and I will be creating a few more slideshows!

Yellow Crocuses in March 2011


Purple Crocuses in March 2011

Striped Purple Crocuses March 2011

B is for Bulbs

I love bulbs. I first put in several hundred bulbs about 6 years ago, when my sister and I were still living together. Many of them have continued to come up each year. And every fall, I try to add a few more. I get all excited in the spring, as the snow ebbs and flows, when those green leaves start to poke up through the dirt and snow. That means that spring is really coming, and color will once again abound in the outdoors.

This past summer, I wasn't physically capable of doing a lot of gardening. But by fall, I was finally getting better. I purchased at least 300 bulbs, and planted them all in one day. This was probably one of the longest winters ever, both due to weather, and the fact that I cannot wait to see the dramatic display! For the past few weeks, I have been taking pictures of the growing bulbs. I have some new crocuses blooming, and I can see the leaves of the first hyacinths, tulips, and daffodils.

Among my bulbs, I have several primroses. They add some color to the ground, where the bulbs tend to be a little higher. In about a month, the tulips will be poking out of some forget-me-nots, as well.

Remember to keep track of what you have planted where. That way you can plan for an even more spectacular showing next year. I have some hints in the article Start Planning Next Year's Spring Garden This Spring.

I also love to photograph my bulbs. Here are some links to my slideshows from other years. And stay tuned for more from this year!

Glimpses of the Garden 2010


Signs of Spring: Tulips 2010


Spring 2010 Leaves

Hyacinths 2010

Daffodils 2010

Primroses 2010

Spring Tulips 2007

Daffodils and Narcissus 2007

Spring Hyacinths 2007

Springtime Garden Display 2007

You can see even more pictures, from the entire season, and other photographs, on my RedGage profile.

A is for Annuals

Ah, I am dreaming of summer. I can't wait to dig my hands into the dirt, to be filthy every day, and to breathe in the aroma of flowers in the garden. My teaching neighbor taunted me today, by giving me a white oriental lily from a bouquet she received from one of her students. I love white oriental lilies. I have a slideshow about them. But that is not the point of this post....

I chose annuals for "A" because I just love them so much. Every year, you can recreate your garden space with them. They add constant color to the garden, throughout the entire season. And they are ever so lovely in pots.

I think that making pots is my favorite gardening activity each year. I always hit up a few of my favorite nurseries on one day. I make up pot ideas as I put the flowers into my cart. And then, when I get home, I create something even more magnificent that I had originally imagined.

I spend hours working in my driveway, putting together at least a dozen pots just for the front porch steps, alone. I also supplement with pots in the front flower bed and on the bench in the side flower bed. Some years, I have even decorated the driveway with annuals in pots.

I also use annuals in the small bed that runs along the side of the house. During the spring, it is full of bulbs. Perennials just don't make sense there. As soon as I am able, I like to add annuals in between the tulips. My favorites to put there are a variety of petunias, alyssum, and lobelia. I also like to use these along the edges of the side bed. I love how the lobelia just spills over the sides, in between the rocks.

In the front, which faces north, I am a huge fan of impatiens. I like to edge the bed with those, as the perennials will quickly fill in the remaining space. Again, whatever blank areas are left behind, I fill in with annuals in pots.

I also have a little mini-bed in the back, at the corner where my rose bushes meet. There is a peony there, but I also like to cram in a bunch of sun-loving annuals. That is where I plant my hollyhocks, cosmos, sunflowers, zinnias, and portulaca.

I love buying the flowers, already blooming, from the local nurseries. But that can be quite expensive. Every year, I experiment with growing some from seed. I haven't yet started shopping for seeds this year, though they have been available since January. It's April now, so it is time to start thinking!

This year, I hope I am feeling up to doing more planting. I can usually whip out a few good things in one day, so maintenance will be the tricky part. We shall see how it goes! And I will post pictures throughout the season, or at least link to my slideshows. :-)