Green in the Winter

Well, I've shared in several posts about the front beds that bloomed well into the fall and stayed green even after!

The front border at the end of November:

 In mid-December:

And in mid-January:

As mentioned, I had finally gotten in and cleared out the cannas and other bulbs along with various other dead-things-fall-clean-up-that-actually-happened-in-winter.

And so it looks respectably normal for winter - the evergreens staying green, the mums never making it more than a week (so I'm 0 for 2 two years in a row. Think I'm giving up on them and putting the pots to better use), the cilantro thriving, but then of course this year's there's the very not-normal green of snapdragons.

So I research snapdragons because, what the heck?! Are they an annual or not?

Ok, according to gardeningknowhow.com, they are actually considered a short-lived perennial. Huh.

(Dear nursery: why you label as annual?)

Note the other thing I highlighted. Accidental gardener gets mighty nervous when "a little preparation" is mentioned (although keep in mind my new theory about instructions to gardeners).

And then there's this excerpt:

Hot summers, check. Mild winters...uh, actually depending on the year, no, not really at all.

Supposedly they bloom in spring and fall only. 

Or try all spring, summer and fall...or is that just mine...?

And then what's that part about foliage dying back and plants "melt[ing] into the ground"??

Take a look at the photos above...no melting. Snowed on and frozen and drenched, yes. But not melting.

Ok, so in theory, after my plants melt into the ground, they will come back in the spring if I mulch. Eh. Mulch isn't my thing, so sorry, guys. Guess I could put down some compost. But composting in my front yard scares me now.

And then I go on to read these little highlighted gems...

Uh oooohhhhhhhhh.

Haven't you always wanted a snapdragon border?! :-D

So, what a spring it shall be! Can't wait to see what it holds.

A Moment of Silence...

[Taps playing on a lone trumpet]


Well, as mentioned in my December update, I did get out one day in mid-December after we had gotten a few frosts and I thinned out the cannas and left the ones I wanted to grow next year in the ground.
In their usual form they did multiply like crazy and I basically had my whole edible garden covered in them! I didn't get a picture, though :-(

I then left them out in the garden to dry because I just don't have space inside.

And then it rained.

And finally when there was threat of heavy freezing a few days later, I ran outside, scooped them up and dropped them in a 5 gallon bucket which they overflowed and so the rest just sat on a towel on the floor inside the door.

Several weeks later and we're cleaning the downstairs "slash" room (laundry slash workshop slash mudroom slash gardening center slash...etc.) and I finally got my summer bulbs into mesh bags, hung them in the utility closet which stays a few degrees colder than the rest of the house and went to do the same to the canna bulbs in the bucket and ... ew!

Guess what happens when you put damp bulbs still covered in dirt into a bucket and leave them there for weeks where air can't get to them?

Mmmmm-hmmm. Grossness, that's what.

They were all fuzzy and awful. And it was 10 degrees outside (ok, maybe 30, but all cold feels like 10 to me!) So I just chucked them on top of the compost pile, covered them with leaves and their stalks/leaves I'd previously chopped down and there they shall stay to rot away or - knowing my history - hopefully start to sprout a bit!

It's no great loss because I had to severely thin them out and have nowhere else to put them. I was just going to do my annual "who wants canna bulbs?!" and try to get rid of them that way.
But I hate, hate, hate wasting growing things! (Which has absolutely nothing to do with letting a 30 foot vine grow in my front yard...ahem.)

Plus, my coworker had offered to do vandalism gardening with me (she had a far nicer name for it which I can't remember...but I think mine is appropriate: you just find out of the way places along roads, near woods, etc. and plant bulbs and voila! Beautiful! How on earth did THOSE lovely growing things just spring up randomly in the woods?! No idea!!)

Alas.

Rest in peace, canna bulbs.

Though, I fully expect at least a partial resurrection come spring-time!
Stay tuned.

Christmas Flowers!

Obviously in winter there is little happening in the world of gardening, but not nothing!

In the summer my coworker asked if I wanted a spare Christmas Cactus she had.

Ok, class, what do you say when you're offered a free plant?
Let's all say it together now, boys and girls:

Um, YES!

So home I trot, the proud mama of a Christmas Cactus which I know nothing about other than don't overwater it...?

'Round abouts October I (or in all probability, my husband) remember that you actually have to do something with this plant if it's going to bloom in the winter. Great.

I look it up and realize that what you're supposed to do should have started in September - off to a great start - and it involves dehydrating it, storing it in a cool place, with just the right humidity level, leaving it in the dark, but not too dark, but only overnight and then boiling toads under the full moon and sprinkling the plant with that liquid mixed with droplets of your blood and essence of...yeah, anyway...basically a process that didn't bode well for this accidental gardener.

Stop watering? Check. That is the one step I notoriously succeed at.

And put it in a dark-ish place...apparently it needs some light, but not directly and absolutely under no circumstances should it have any light overnight!

Ok, a thirsty, vampire Christmas Cactus. Check.

I moved it to our lower level where it's cooler (but, like 62, not 50 with less than 40% humidity or whatever they say it's supposed to be) and at least we keep the shades closed all day down there. So I figured, what the heck, it's better than upstairs in full light, so we'll just see.

And see we did!

Right around Christmas-time it DID start blooming!! I was amazed!!

It was sooooo beautiful! A wonderful pop of color with so much deadness around outside (well, sort of...that'll be a later post).

So my conclusion in this whole craziness is not that I did everything right, but in fact that most articles and care instructions are meant to scare away people who hate plants and be a self-esteem booster to those who love plants, but suck at them. "Yay! Look! I did it right! I'm so good! Go me!"

And then there's me, who knows myself well enough to realize it's all a hoax and that Christmas Cacti apparently just bloom beautifully all by themselves (with a tiny human effort, perhaps!).