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| Streptocarpella saxorum blooms inside |
I rushed outside this morning and planted the last of the bulbs, more ‘Chestnut Flower’ hyacinths, to add to the three of that variety I planted last year. It’s the absolute prettiest hyacinth I’ve ever seen.
Then I grabbed a bag of seeds for wildflowers which are supposed to do well in lawns. According to the directions, you can sow them after the first freeze. But you are supposed to sow them on bare ground and barely cover them.
Instead, I just tossed them out on to the lawn. I figured they have a better chance of germinating in the lawn than in the bag and I didn’t have time to prepare an area.
Planting the hyacinths and sowing the seeds took me less than 10 minutes.
I can move fast when snow is imminent.
I am hopeful this first snowfall of the year, which is coming down as I write this, will melt fairly soon and that will help settle those seeds in for the winter, and then in the spring, they’ll germinate and come up through the lawn. I am also hopeful the snow provides a bit of insulation and actually keeps the ground from freezing too quickly so the hyacinths have a chance to settle in.
Time will tell.
This snow didn’t actually catch me by surprise. They’ve been predicting it for days. But I’m still not ready for it. I want to cut back more of the perennials and oh, right, the corn stalks are still standing in the garden, along with the okra.
I once thought it was only a lazy gardener who left her vegetable garden standing through the winter. Now I realize it is also a busy gardener who leaves her vegetable garden standing through the winter.
Oh well, with the snow comes a bit of freedom to not worry so much about the garden clean up. Move that task to spring, I guess. Put away the hoe and get out the snow shovel. Time to plan for next year, which looks like it will start early with a big massive clean up of the garden…
I have some things standing, also. I left the pincushion flowers and the centaurea, because they were still blooming. I guess they will stay there until we have some moderate weather, perhaps this coming weekend.
And here I was trying to follow your mantra, Leave the garden in the fall as you wish it to be in the spring (or something like that)! I had the best intentions, but snow has fouled those up. And what shall I do with the lush hydrangeas I bought for my grandkids but forgot to send home with them when the weather was clement? The plants are all droopy and brown now, and the ground is close to frozen.
There is a lot more I would have liked to get done, too. But gardening teaches us to accept the things we cannot change, like the weather, or the other obligations that keep us from gardening when we would like to.