Celeste's Breadbox

Dahlias - don't believe it

By nature, I am a lazy gardener. That's why I stick to hardy and native plants as much as possible. I don't see the point of digging and planting a bunch of expensive nursery starts every year, just for a couple months of garish blooms. That said, my garden came with a couple of rather boring dahlias, and I just let them be. I've never dug them up for winter, but they still kept coming back. This winter was pretty nasty, and the dahlias lay under several inches of ice for over a week, and I figured for sure they'd croak after that. Oh well, more room for hardier plants now. But just now, weeding that bed, what do I see but the shoots of those same dahlias, coming up again. So, to all you suckers out there in zone 8 who dig your precious dahlias every fall, I tell you, it's a waste of time, and you're better off being lazy like me.

Working stiff

This week I worked the first 30 hour week since I went freelance, and it was brutal. I've gotten way too used to being able to spend half the day making soup, or watching C-SPAN. All this is building up for a trade show, in Las Vegas, which my client was kind enough to invite me to. Maybe it's just me, but Vegas is just totally not my thing, Star Trek: The Experience notwithstanding. And big electronics trade shows, not really either. My client is kind of a party girl, so it probably would have been a lot of fun. Maybe next year. Or maybe their other big trade show in Amsterdam. Yeah.

The worst part about having all this work was that the weather was gorgeous and I kept wanting to take off for the woods for a few hours, but alas, I was stuck in a cold, dark basement making datasheet after datasheet. Gotta get out this weekend...

I'm sure my clients are glad to hear this...

I am a
GRAMMAR GOD!

How gramatically sound are you?

Garden Report: Spring '02

Well past the equinox now, and almost to daylight savings, we've had several days of temperatures over 70, and spring has kicked into high gear. It's tulip time, and the cherry trees are exploding.

The heavy, long frost this winter took its toll, but there were few casualties. The daphne looks silly without leaves, but it bloomed heavily enough to stink up the front of the house for weeks. The huge hardy fuscia bush didn't fare too well, but with some advice from experienced gardeners I just cut the dead branches way down to the base, and already new shoots are coming up. It won't be as impressive as it had been, but I hope we'll get some blooms, for the hummingbirds' sake. The native red currant that I planted last summer didn't bloom for me this year, but it's really leafed out. I think it might not be getting enough sun where I put it, but it will probably get settled by next spring. We got an amazing display out of a quince bush this year, just covered in blooms, all the way up. My new neighbor asked how we get it to bloom so much. Prune the hell out it, twice a year at least, that's by advice.

I'm trying fabric row covers for the vegetable beds this year. Partly for insects, partly for the warmth, mostly for birds and cats, who both love to dig in the beds, for their own reasons. I'm growing beans, golden beets, snow peas, leeks, and my old standards: collards and tomatillos, which generally peform really well for me. I've had problems with everything else I've ever grown here, even the artichoke died in the freeze. I've amended the soil a lot with compost, and added a bunch of bone meal. The beds are under conifers, and I think the needles and cones are really making the soil acidic. We'll see how it goes this year.

I'm really excited that I finally found a dierama plant at the nursery. I first saw the flower in an arrangement in a coffee shop by my old office, and knowing that the staff usually brought the flowers from their own gardens, I asked around as to what it was, and have been looking for it ever since. It's a South African native, looks like wild iris, but the papery pink flower hang off an arching stem, which gives it its common names: wandflower, or angel's fishing rod. I prefer the first, but I'm getting nerdy enough now that I know the scientific names for most of my plants, and refer to them by that.

My one big project for the spring was clearing a weedy bed on the side of the house to put an insect attracting flower mix in. I'm also planting some millet and sorghum for the birds. It should be a nice place for all the critters, even putting a bat box in on the wall above it. I got a late start on it because I wanted the neighbors to get moved in so it would be so muddy there, but I had to get on it before it was too late since it was all going to be from seed. I got most of it planted, but I need to get some paving stones laid so I can plant the low-growing wild lawn mix. I'm hoping it turns out well, but I don't have high hopes because of the late start.

I've been taking some close-ups of the flowers with my macro lens on the film camera, and will post some when I get the film developed. Until then, back to the daily weeding and watering schedule. I heart Portland in the spring!