Ghostwater Garden

Catalogs...

Here in Arizona, the seasons are all topsy turvy.  I've been excited this week to get the latest copy of Thompson and Morgan's Seed Catalog.

I'm already late in getting in much of the fall veggies.   Or rather, I would be if I had prepared ground for such this year.  I was hoping to get a patio tomato going, and I may still have time for that.   

So the arrival of catalog was late!  Even though I received it in November!  How very strange is this desert living. 

Any way, like any avid gardener, I immediately began the journey through the pages, and all over the world, looking for likely candidates for MY little patch of ground.  Mark is used to my moaning over catalogs.  This time, though, he did a double take. 

"Moan" said I, "zone 8," with a sigh. 
He shook his head.  "That's backwards," he said.
I nodded.  "I never thought I'd be on the wrong side of zone 8, that's for sure."

What a strange, strange thing. 

Meanwhile, in all the time I haven't been posting, I've been busy.  The weather FINALLY cooled off enough to open the windows at night, and we've been sleeping well.  We've started hiking the McDowells on the weekends.  I've got Bailey signed up to start agility training in a few short weeks.

Busy, busy, busy. 

I do have a growing collection of patio plants, and I do intend to get around to posting a few photos... one of these days.  I haven't forgotten y'all.

Happy Spring, Everyone

I have crocus blooming outside, while fushia, cyclamen, pelargoniums and forced daffodils are blooming inside.  The rosemary has a bumper crop of flowers out on the sunporch.  The algae in the fish bowl is blooming too, but that's a different sort of bloom!

The sun is shining and the day is Michigan springtime mild (36^F, 2^C).  It's a good beginning.  Yay, spring!

Quince, Interrupted

                                         

This is a plant that blooms in May.  In MAY.  It had no business putting out buds in January, and it got zapped. 

I'm sad.  This plant is in the apple family (genus Malus), which tend to have one strong flowering year followed by a weak flowering year.  This was to be a strong year. 

I haven't been brave enough to walk across my icy lawn to investigate the Magnolia stellata buds.  I can only hope that plant is sitting tight.  Crazy weather. 

December 25th...

Have a very merry day, where-ever you may be. 

We've done all our family gathers, and today is dedictated to just hanging out with the pups.  A pop music seasonal CD is in the changer, and Burl is singing Holly Jolly....

Warm wishes to all. 

Winter Has Arrived

Winter never creeps in around here, like spring.  Oh no.  It crashes in like some rut-crazed buck, disregarding windows and doors and blasting through the house pell-mell. 

I'm cold.  My dog is cold.  Hat on head, mocs on feet, flannel lined jeans, turtleneck, shearling vest... I'm still cold.  My dogs just snuggle under the fleece blankets we provide for them.  Spoiled pups.

Winter is to be borne, as if in penance - althought what I might have done to deserve this, I surely don't know.  I'm counting the days to the solstice.  Winter isn't even official until that painfully short day.

How short?

Twi: 7:29am
Sunrise: 8:01am
Sunset: 5:05pm
Twi: 5:37pm
Moonrise: 10:09am
Moonset: 7:12pm

(source)

And then I start counting for spring.  Woe, that I live in Michigan.

November Sunset

I know.  I need to finish the Lacasa series.  I did work on it tonight, really, I did. 
Tomorrow is busy, I can make no promises, but I'll try ...

I'm Cheating...

...and using the time function to post this three days earlier than I am writing it...

Saturday was the beginning of fall by the calender, and living in Michigan we find that fall comes pretty much on schedule.

The nights have been chilly for several weeks now, and the color begins as early as August, like the one peony I have that colors so prettily.  I think the one that is blushing is Festiva Maxima, a fovorite of mine for its etheral perfume in the spring.  Other peonies put on an even brighter display, and it's worth shopping the nurseries in fall to look at their color show. 

As summer comes to a close here, I am taking the opportunity to look back and the year and reflect on my successes.  It was not a good year for fish, as I've noted, but the waterlily I had been nurturing gave me bloom after bloom.  I think I got five or six, nicely spaced out over a similar number of weeks.

This was the plant that I thought was Helvola.  I still think Helvola is one of the parents, but this plant is too big to fit the description.  It's leaves and flowers are about 3" across, which is twice as big as Helvola.   It's a great plant though, and put on a great show with only one feeding of pond tabs.  I forgot to add more in the middle of the season, and my other lily never bloomed.  I'll give that one the extra feed next year and see if she'll come around. 

I love the buttery yellows, and was thrilled to see that a gift plant I took somewhat reluctantly - a cactus for Michigan? - also bloomed in this hue. 

Fabulous!

One of the annuals I started this year from seed was a Calendula from Johnnies Selected Seeds - Triangle Flashback.  I've been fascinated by this flower all summer. 
Utterly charming. 

And finally this cooler weather always makes the roses happy.  I moved my miniatures out of the dry front/south border and potted them up in whiskey barrel.  This proved to be the perfect place for these little guys.  I have them placed in the 'pond' garden area, and have enjoyed watching them bloom and grow as I sit and contemplate the water and the fish.

This flower is only 2 inches across, every line as beautiful as it's bigger siblings.  Some of the little roses even have the tearose fragrance, another thing to appreciate with a chair pulled up nearby and a raised planter. 

Summer

The first day of summer; the longest day of the year... here we are.

Michigan has decided to celebrate the day in a different fashion than I may have chosen.  The day came in with crashes of thunder and brisk rainfall.  It's been cloudy all day, and now that we are in evening, we are under a tornado watch.

As for gardening, this has been a good day.  All my little five gallon 'rain buckets' are full of rainwater, none of my borders or the garden will need any additional water for at least after the weekend, and everything out there in the oblique dusk light looks fresh and lovely. 

A day of rain is a good day for a gardener. 

The next day...

Took all weekend, with the heat, to get things arranged the way I wanted them. With typical Michigan aplomb, we went from spring to dead summer in a blink of an eye.  Temperatures reached 90 F yesterday. 

Come mid-summer, I won't even notice this kind of heat and humidity, but this early the heat and humidity are a huge impediment to garden progress.   (and I know those who are south of me are laughing into their hands.  hey.  drive around in some snow storms and then we'll see who's laughing!  ;D)

I waited too long to get the dirt delivered for the weekend, which in one aspect was a good thing.   I needed to go slow and easy in moving all that stuff.  No sense in giving myself a heart attack on prep work. They delivered it to the driveway this morning. 

The bad thing?  We are expecting the skies to open and dump rain at any moment, now.  Sigh.  The life of a gardener is mostly that of creatively working around obstacles, no? 

And now it's raining, and I need to get some real work done in order to pay for my garden addiction!

Busy Busy Busy

Much to do and so little time.  Writing this as the tea kettle works toward a boil, once the tea is made I will be out to the 'patio' (otherwise known as a driveway) to do my scheduled rearrange.   

I do this every year and it drives Mark nuts. Why? Because my 'pots' are those half whiskey barrels that weigh a ton when loaded with dirt and plants. I do this every year. I hardly ever change around the furniture, and I don't know what to tell him. This behavior's not going to change. Next year I will do it all over again. 

This year's shuffle will be such that it will accommodate a load of 10 yards of 50/50 planting mix in the middle.  Mark didn't like my idea to modify the ditch such that we only had to haul the dirt a mere 15 feet to get it into place, so into the driveway it goes.  I also have to clear the narrow path between the house and garage the stuff I have stored there so the hauling is at least unimpeded.  Other than by the soggy soil we live on and the long path back to the far corner of the yard.   A long slog.  Not looking forward to this work.

All of this in creation of a new vegetable bed.  Never one to do things by halves, I've planned out a 14' x 35' garden area.  Overly ambitious... But I am planting corn and squash, so it'll fill up - of that I am sure. 

And there's the kettle.  Gotta run!