The "To-Do" list

Do you keep "To-Do" lists? Sometimes I need to write list after list and other times I just don't bother. Right now I've got a list of things "to-do" that's a mile long.

Much as I'd like to accompany this post with some inspirational new photos, I'm stuck with the old photos. Once again it's raining cats and dogs out there. At this rate I'd better learn how to build an ark.

Yesterday we worked from sun up to sun down out in the garden. We made great strides in cleaning out the shade beds, setting up the potting area, putting out the birdhouses and so much more. Unfortunately, today all I can do is dream up more things to add to my to-do list.

While not on this weeks list, the stairs shown above have been decimated by chipmunks. Right now there's no plants charmingly spilling out, just lots of displaced dirt. It's something that will have to be addressed later this month for sure.

This weeks' to-do list has:
Divide, divide, divide
Finish setting up potting area
Start shredding last years leaves for mulch
Sift compost
Finish cleaning out the shade beds
Attack the early spring weeds that are just beginning to pop
Buy some pansies and get them planted
Create vignette in the garden that makes me smile! (more on this in a future post)

Well, ok, I'll leave it at this as there's only so many hours in a day.

What's on your to-do list?

Radio-Flyer-ectomy

Yesterday I spent all day outside but just felt like I didn't accomplish very much. The weather hasn't been very cooperative and all too often my fingers were so chilled that I had to come in and run them under warm water.

Today we are expecting perfect gardening weather, sunny with a high temperature of 61 (16 celsius). My first chore of the day will be to perform surgery on my radio flyer wagon. It's been filled with Sedum since the spring of 2005 and last year I noticed that they were a bit cramped.

When I first planted this wagon it also had several types of Sempervivum (Hens and Chicks) in it but they were quickly overrun by the two varieties of Sedum (Sedum 'Angelina' and Sedum
John Creech').
Here you can see what it looked like when it was first planted. Obviously the two Sedums listed above were the big winners in the "crowd-em-out" contest.

I look forward to starting all over again and will take a photo when I'm finished.

Then it's off to divide the hardy Geraniums and spend an hour in the compost area. For some reason, I just can't make myself spend more than an hour working on compost.

Hopefully I'll get to take some new photos also.

Plants in Pots

Thanks to the rain we are getting, my morning plans have been cancelled. Today was to be the first perennial division workshop in my garden. My guinea pigs would have been the fellow members in my Nathan Hale Garden club.

So now I find myself with time on my hands but not the best weather for gardening. Do I still slip on that slicker and get out there?

As I sit here and stall, I find myself looking through past photos and find myself lusting over plants in pots. The opening photo here shows some plants I had potted up for last years flower sale.

This photo (darn it, it's sideways!) shows lots of the fun little sempervivum I had potted up last spring. I've already potted up several dozen this year but they need another week or two before they begin to plump up.

Newly divided daylilies taking a nice soak in my most useful garden tool, a kiddie pool! I'm not kidding you, this kiddie pool was well under $10 and has been home to hundreds of potted plants that need to take a nice relaxing soak. This year I will definitely buy another one.

Tip, don't buy the largest sized kiddie pool unless you want to wade in it to reach the plants in the middle.

When the kiddie pool is full, I'll use just about any container that holds water. Here are newly divided Epimediums taking a lovely bath. It's my experience that newly divided plants resent dry soil. By keeping them in a container with a few inches of water in the bottom, they seem to settle in and root much quicker.

Of course there's also the excitement of new pots of plants to replace the divisions I've dug out of the ground :-) These new arrivals were waiting on my breezeway last spring. I take photos of each pot with it's corresponding tag so I can keep a record of the perennials that I bring in to my garden.

Look closely and you'll see that Calie-the-wonderdoodle has snuck in the photo. She thinks I don't see her there. For a 70 pound dog she's done a good job of hiding here! As I work in the garden she will sneak up on me and steal tools that are in my back pocket or simply lay down as near as possible to me as I work in one area.

Ok, now after a quick post on Melanie's Perennials I'll get bundled up and go out there and get muddy.

Geranium cantabrigiense varieties

Well, since the hardy Geraniums are such unsung heroes, I thought I would continue and list a few more.

The first time I ever heard of a hardy Geranium was when I visited a local garden. The garden owner, Judy, was one of those gardeners who just had to grab a shovel and dig you a piece of anything you admired.

When Judy found out that I had never heard of hardy Geraniums, she insisted on my taking home a piece of Geranium cantabrigiense 'Biokova' which you can see at the top of this photo (very pale pink, almost white). I don't know why I couldn't find a photo of the bloom close up on this variety.

Judy had another interesting trait. She would only grow plants if she could label them with their full botanical name. I had a black Columbine that she lusted over for years but refused to take home because we didn't know it's name. Unfortunately, Judy died way too early in life from breast cancer but her plants still live on in my garden.


One day while nursery hopping, I found a plant with the label Geranium cantabrigiense 'Karmina'. Since I knew 'Biokova' did so well for me, I of course had to try 'Karmina' too. Well, just like her sister, she grew like gangbusters (but not at all invasive) and bloomed like crazy.

Personally, I prefer the color of 'Biokova' a bit more which is unusual for me as I don't usually lean towards pale colored flowers.

Another cantabrigiense type of Geranium in my garden is 'Cambridge' which you can see here. It has almost the same color flower as 'Karmina' but I find a difference in foliage. It seems to have been a slower grower but it could just be because of it's slightly shadier and dryer location.

What's really nice about the cantabrigiense family of hardy Geraniums is that they have evergreen foliage. That is, unless there's ice or snow on the ground. In the fall they exhibit some really nice red highlights too.

I mean really, how could you go wrong with fall foliage like this?

Last year I did a post on dividing these types of Geraniums. I tried something new and they divided so well that I couldn't believe it. If you want to read about it, scroll down and look for the label on the side that says "Plant Propagation". You'll have to scroll past the post on Sedum cuttings and then you'll see how I propagated my hardy Geraniums.

No time to play in the garden today but tomorrow looks hopeful!

Melanie