Swap Rant

'Tis the season for the plant swaps to begin across the country! I look forward to them every year. But if you are participating in a swap this year, please remember: swap means "trade", not "show up with nothing and take free plants"! 

Getting my babies ready

This is how it works: We dig up our plants, scrounge up containers, pot the plants up in soil (which we may have purchased just for this), grow them on and nurture them for a few weeks, then make up name and care tags for each one (possibly doing some research if we forget the cultivar name!) and transport them to the swap site. Although it's a lot of work, we feel it's worth it to meet like-minded plant lovers and possibly find a treasure or two to take back home with us. 

Another plant swap suggestion - try to leave the critters at home! (no, sweetie, you have to stay here...)

But unfortunately, some swap coordinators let people just show up and take plants! I'm not against giving away plants - I have probably given away a few hundred in my life - it is just the principle and a pet peeve of mine, which is, if you come to a SWAP , bring something to SWAP. But, if there are leftover plants at the end of the swap, THEN those can be the giveaways. There! Thanks for letting me vent - see you at the swap!

Have A Wonderful Easter, Everyone!

Favorite Garden Tchotchkes Pt. 2

I've had this one for years - bought it at the local farmer's market before I ever was a vendor there. the only drawback is that it's steel, and if I don't put a sealer on it, it will rust, and I'm not a fan of rusty metal in the garden. Must be an after effect of my childhood, my house having a junkyard and car crushing machine just a few yards from the backyard! I can still smell all of those oily, rusty mountains of compacted vehicles disintegrating away while I played in the yard - no, don't want any rusted metal around me!

But I digress - I really like this piece, but I don't remember who the artisan was, hopefully I'll run across him again in the future!

Favorite Garden Tchotchkes Pt.1

My gardens are filled with "pretties" that I have found and collected from flea markets, craft shows and closeout stores.My only saving grace is that I have a large enough yard that IT doesn't look like a flea market! 

The Thesaurus tells me that "tchotchke" pretty much means "useless piece of crap" (which is exactly what the spousal unit calls it!), but I think my crap actually enhances the garden! We are still arguing over gazing balls ~ he thinks they are trailer park decor, and I love them, so I have to sneak one or two into hidden corners so he won't notice!

A disclaimer ~ some of my tchotchkes were actually purchased at art shows from hard working artists, so forgive me for lumping those into this category. :-)

This first in my "tchotchke series" is a nice little plaque I found at a garage sale. I love the quote on it, and I lightly painted it to put more depth into it. I'll post another a bit later!

Global Warming? ..Or Wishes Coming True?...

Today I'm using this blog as more of an actual journal. Why? Because, as a Northwest Ohioan all my life, I have to say this NOW, because I don't think I'll ever have this opportunity again - this 2011-2012 season, we have had NO Winter. At all. Yes, we have had a few half inch or so snowfalls, and two that were around maybe 4 inches, but the weather was so warm that it would melt in a day! A few cold nights (20 degrees F), but nothing that lasted for very long. I had to turn the pond deicer on for maybe a total of 14 days or so, if that. Completely incredible. Then, on top of that, the late Winter/early Spring has been extremely warm! Now, all of us Ohioans know that there can be snow as late as May at times, and my bragging might be a little early, but as of this writing, we have had temps in the 60s, 70s AND 80s for over two weeks, and there is no serious cooling off mentioned in the near future, so if we would get a Spring snowfall, even a BIG one, the ground has warmed up so much that it wouldn't last. There IS a very real possibility that a late cold snap could damage many of the plants breaking dormancy a month early, but that is for Mother Nature to decide.

magnolia and forsythia

redbud

I don't believe I have ever seen this happen before - but the Crocuses, Daffodils, Forsythia, Quince, Cherries, Dogwood, Redbud,and Magnolia are ALL blooming at the same time!  It's an incredible display, but if this warmth keeps up, all these blooms will shatter in just a few days and that will be it. Last year, in comparison, we only had a couple of warmish days in March and then an extended cool period, resulting in the flowers and flowering trees going on for a month or more. That would be the one and only reason I would still want a cool Spring!

spirea and oregon holly

guess you know what this is...

AND my toads, along with the ducks (a pair of Mallards that have been visiting the pond every Spring for the past several years) have showed up a full month early, too! 

tillies

My Tillandsias are already outside! They have NEVER been put outside before mid May before! (They ARE all on this chain together in case they have to be whisked inside in a hurry!)

Nonetheless, it's a wonderful thing, and I'll be really disappointed next year when there's snow on the ground in March! 

Winter? What Winter?

We're having an incredible winter this year - around 10 inches of snow total, most of that from just a dusting at a time, and warm temperatures! Well, warm being a relative term - most of the time in the 30s or 40s (1 to 7 C), when it is normally 10 or 15 degrees colder than that! But winter days that are warm and snow free are treasured around here, and we've been lucky to have a bunch of those unexpected treasures this year!

The plants sure take advantage of that fact. The Johnny Jump Ups can always find an excuse to bloom...

And mixed with some bright Heuchera leaves, they make a sweet little mid winter bouquet

 

 The Mole plants still look good - even though they survive winter, they normally get all flaccid (ha! that's a funny word) and shriveled up (still funny), but not this year.

Speaking of Heucheras (Coral Bells) {{above and below}}, I know I gush about them every single year, but it still fascinates me how perfect they look no matter what season it is.

Does this look like something that's been SNOWED on?

...or FROSTED on?

The Narcissus also look like they're ready to go

The Yuccas look good most winters. One of these days I'm going to plant just these and Heucheras in the front of the house, and it will look (almost) like summer all year long!



My "Blue Eyed Blonde" Campanula  looks great, too, even without the blossoms. 

...And my Palm Tree? It (and the Banana - not pictured) is tucked away until the threat of Winter is gone for good. They are both supposed to be "hardy" in our zone. I'm not that worried about the Palm - this is its third year, 

but the first winter for the Banana! We'll find out in a couple of months how well they fared. Anyway, if the Banana can't make it thru THIS year, it would never be able to take a "normal" winter, anyway!