Sunday, December 25, 2011

Week 5 December 25,2011- Merry Christmas everyone

Welcome to week 5

Merry Christmas everyone, from all of us here at the Mears Garden including, as of this week, the hanging pumpkins.

As some of you know I hang plants in my trees. From May to October there are orchids and orchid cactus and a few other indoor plants, outside for the summer, hanging from the branches of our trees. We have trees all around the yard. Particularly when you have already used up the gardening space in two dimensions, up is the only place to go.

Where there are plants hung in trees, there are often plant hangers. Well a few years ago I thought that I would hang pumpkins from some of those hangers. They were, after all, empty in the late fall. So we hung some pumpkins and they were a success. If you wait late enough in the year the pumpkins will freeze solid and last all winter.

After missing a few years we hung pumpkins again this last weekend. In the bonus section there will be most of the group.
I will tell one pumpkin story and then get on to the picture contest. We all have our own identities. We think of ourselves as a gardener or a therapist or perhaps, a sports fan of a particular team. With those identities we give ourselves, there are the identities that others give us. You walk down the street and you are recognized by one of those identities. There goes the best cookie maker in the neighborhood.
I was at the grocery store a few years ago, waiting in the checkout line. Right behind me there was a family I did not recognize, with a parent and a few children. The parent, pointing me out, told the children that I was a person who lived in their neighborhood. She explained that I was the person who put the pumpkins in his trees. That was who I was. It was awesome.

So let’s talk about pictures.

In last week’s contest, week 4, in another nail bitter, the winner was the picture of the white crocuses

The full voting was
White crocuses 19
Monsella rising 18
Banned in Boston 13
Blue anemones 9


I have another good group for you this week.

First up is a picture of a fancy daffodil, taken on May 7. I do not know the name but it was hybridized by a person named Grant Mitsch. He started hybridizing daffodils in the 1930’s. His business was taken over by the next generation. If you want to give yourself a treat, go to this website and check out these real fancy daffodils.

http://www.mitschdaffodils.com/history.html

I was given this daffodil in 2010 by a garden friend who had a few to spare. It did not disappoint.
We grow daffodils. We see them all over. Mr. Mitsch has taken daffodils to an entire different plane. Let’s just say that you don’t mass plant them. I would observe that a few of his hybrids do occasionally get into the bulb catalogues.
As a special treat I wonder about getting one bulb of a variety named Hawaiian Skies.

The next picture, from April 2, is a lovely little iris riticulata. These tiny early iris grow from regular bulbs, not the rhizomes that give you the beard iris. The iris family is interesting in that the flowers are what are similar and the roots are all different kinds. There are round bulbs, giving you the riticulata and Dutch varieties. There are long rhizomes from whence the bearded iris come. Then there are just regular roots for the Siberian and Japanese iris. The regular roots for those varieties allow them to grow in wet areas. Bearded iris would rot in that location.

This next picture is an Asiatic lily, called Sunshine glory, I think. The picture was taken on June 26. Asiatic lilies are the first of the lilium to bloom. They mark the beginning of the high color of July when the daylilies and Orientals dominate the landscape.

Finally I have one of the nicest water lily pictures in a few years. This picture, taken on August 21, positively glowed for some reason. Water lilies are a rewarding plant, as weeding and watering are not a big issue. They do of course require a pond, which fortunately has been there for me for a while. Katie dug it for us in the early 90’s. It has held up rather nicely.

That’s it for this week. We will enjoy our sunny day with temperatures in the lower 40’s.

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In this bonus section there are more pumpkins. Follow the pumpkins throughout the winter. Watch how they celebrate the New Year. Some are already planning for Marti gras.








Remember these words from a wise gardener. There is nothing that says Christmas like doing a little yard work.
Not

Have a good and short week.
Philip

2 comments:

Dave Fitz said...

It is nice to see a yellow house in the old hood again. DFITZ

Carol P. Howard said...

Love your hanging pumpkins!