Monday, September 29, 2008

Fall- Week 2- September 28

There are two real signs of fall around here. The first is that I start planting bulbs. Check. The bulbs are mostly arrived and I am starting to figure out what goes where. More on that later.

A second sign of fall is that the great plant migration begins. Lots of our plants have to come inside for the winter. With the temperatures scheduled to dip into the 30’s for 2-3 days midweek I have started bringing in the orchids. The phalanopsis, the moth orchids, are the first. I have brought the plant stand into the living room and 4-5 orchids are inside now. I will bring in 3-4 at each opportunity for the next few days, so there may not be quite the emergency Wednesday evening. Actually it will not be an emergency, since it will not actually frost yet. But that will come.
What kind of migration are we talking about? Well there are the 40-50 orchids. There are maybe 30 amaryllis. There are 15 clivia, assuming that I do not divide any before they come in. Then there are the 15-20 decent sized orchid cactus, and the maybe 15 smaller ones. Did I mention the jade plants? I think there will be only 20 or so this fall as I have really made an effort to reduce the herd.

So I have been planting bulbs- including a try at growing eremurus. I was inspired at the Denver Botanical garden and so will try some yellow ones. One accessory that I highly recommend is a bulb drill. I gave myself one heck of a blister one my right hand just planting 10 daffodils Saturday. I was silly. I just had not got the drill out yet. I have learned my lesson. For anything more than 2-3 inches deep, use the drill.

So here are this week’s pictures.

First there are aster pictures, the first being a wonderful new blue aster called October Skies. This is a plant that I put in last fall. It has done nicely for a one year old.















The second aster is a wonderful clump that we have had for at least 4-5 years. It is so solid, not much taller than 2 feet tall and about that wide. In the sun it is a wonderful purple.












Here is another toad lily, as they do carry a load this time of year.












Then there is the chorus of anemones, from the same clump that was featured last week.
















Finally I remember that last spring started with my poking around watching for that first snowdrop to emerge. Here is a similar little stalk with a flower, this one a little cyclamen. Isn’t symmetry good?














________________________________
Last week’s favorite was the close up of the Japanese anemone.

Extra pictures this week include another picture of the water lily crocus, a variegated nastursiam, a wonderful red pepper and some of last weekend’s neighborhood tie dying, finding available pots from which to hang. They almost match the caladium.












































I had mentioned the symmetry of the cyclamen and the snowdrop. So here is the snowdrop from March. March is just around the corner.

Philip

No comments: