As I write, it is 68 degrees F, quite possibly the warmest it will get for the rest of the year. We did general pick-up-the-yard-before-snow-comes over the weekend, and I mapped out half of the Juneberry bed. Would like to map out the other half tomorrow or whenever else it is mild enough, but duty so persistently calls. This week it’s the quarterly reports, i.e., homeschooling paperwork. Next week, 2 birthdays and possibly jury duty. Meanwhile, I haven’t finished my treatise in several parts on colchicums. The only one still blooming is Colchicum autumnale ‘Alboplenum.’ It’s been blooming a full month now, a record, I think. Only three other plants blooming: Scabiosa ochroleuca, Crocus speciosus and (pardon the mouthful) Malva sylvestris ssp. mauritanius ‘Bibor Felho.’ That’s what it was called in the Thompson & Morgan catalog. Absolutely stupendous when well-grown and true to type (the flowers can be 4″ across and the plant taller than 5 feet–it’s more like a bush) and still very nice when grown imperfectly (spaced too close together, for example) and reverted from the cultivar (flowers more the typical malva size). Anyway, this time of year it seems to get a second wind with a good display of flowers. Makes me glad I cut back the old seedheads and glad a whole forest of them decided to self-sow near the door we go in and out of all day long. Ah, well, back to work.
About Kathy Purdy
Kathy Purdy discovered the joys of writing in fourth grade, when she started corresponding with a former classmate. She's been writing letters ever since, first on looseleaf, then electronically, and now as weblog entries. That makes you, the blog reader, her pen pal. Her first independent (though frustrating) attempts at gardening were made in high school, though the gardening bug didn't bite hard until her mid-thirties, when she found herself mistress of a rural home on 15 acres. • USDA Hardiness Zone:4 • AHS Heat Zone: 3 • Location: rural; Southern Tier of NY • Geographic type: foothills of Appalachian Mountains • Soil Type: acid clay • Experience level: intermediate • Particular interests: colchicums, narcissus, cottage gardening, NY native plants, gardening with/for children
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