Gertrude's Flower Garden Weekly Diary
3/17/00 - We had a nice rain over the weekend. The rain and the fine pre-spring weather are moving the garden along quickly. Gardens must be planned so that new blooms are constantly replacing those that have finished their time on stage, but I am always a little sad to see the early flowers wither. The snowdrops that were so beautiful just a week ago are fast disappearing. To replace them, however, the early daffodils are coming into bloom everywhere, the crocuses are continuing their display, winter aconite show their butter-cup like flowers, and I found a lovely English primrose in bloom. The foliage of the daffodils and tulips is changing the appearance of all of the flower beds, some of the perennials are pushing up green tops, and the lawn has definitely changed to a brighter green in recent days. I have resisted the sales pitches of the commercial lawn-care folks; I am not completely anti-chemical, but I try to keep the garden as chemical-free as possible.
There are now ten flats of plants on the cellar steps. In a week or so, I will begin to move them outside when the weather is fine, but will be prepared to return them to safety. Some of the impatiens and Star zinnias are in bloom. It will be fun to plant flowers with blooms on them, but I must try to keep them from growing too fast. Exposing them to cooler conditions will do this as well as harden them for outside planting. My last seeds are beginning to come up--old-fashioned nasturtiums, sunflowers, and two flowering vine seeds that I don't have the correct names for yet. I have planted all of these in a flat so that I don't have any transplanting to do--this seemed a better approach with these larger seeds. We are still three or four weeks from my being able to even consider outside planting. In the meantime, I will continue to gradually harden my plants by exposing them to sunlight and eventually the outside.
For this week's picture I have scanned a photograph of the garden taken last spring, probably in mid to late April , and one I took last month so that you could see what a difference a few short weeks make. These photographs were taken from approximately the same angle so that the comparison is more valid. I think that one of the pleasures of living where I do is the great changes that take place in nature.
3/24/00 - Gertrude's Flower Garden Weekly Diary
3/10/00 - Gertrude's Flower Garden Weekly Diary
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