Dead of Winter

The last weeks of January are usually the coldest nights of the year in my garden. The lowest temperature I've recorded this year is 24 which is milder than most years. So I thought I'd check to see if any daffodils and Lenten Roses were budding. Some gardeners further North have posted pictures of these in bloom. But not in my garden. I cleaned up the old leaves and scratched back the mulch to see the new shoots on the Lenten Rose--it'll be at least four or more weeks until these bloom.

While I was cleaning up this area I cut back the Epimedium too. If you leave the old foliage it obscures the new growth and the bloom. I have the Lenten Rose and Epimedium planted in front of small azaleas.

This has been the year for a long long Camellia bloom. Though it did get cold for a night or two this is the first year this pink has not shown bud and bloom damage.

And this red is just spectacular. It's a first year planting in the church garden.

Since it was a wet and chilly weekend I did get my spring flower seed order sent in. Looking through the catalogues reminds me of the (Sears) Christmas Wish Book catalogues as as a kid. These are the annuals I've ordered for the church and home cutting garden: Benary's Giant Zinnia, Chief Mix Celosia, Blue Horizon Ageratum, Bells of Ireland, China Aster, Indian Summer and Prairie Sun Rudbeckia, Supreme Blue Statice, Sonya and Peach Passion Sunflower, Camelot mixed Foxglove, and White Queen Anne Lace. I'm also planning to order Gladiola bulbs for the church cutting garden. Ordering from catalogues and online is common place today but it is still possible to buy seeds over the counter. I stopped this weekend to get bird seed at Clark Feed and Seed and noticed his bulk vegetable seeds for sale. It's a step back in time. The scale has a current Virginia inspection stamp.

This is the foliage I cut for this weekends arrangements and one of the arrangements.