Sunday, March 2, 2008

I'm Baaaaaaaack!


Yes, I'm back and feeling much better. I want to thank everyone for sending their good wishes. They cheered me up a lot. A woman I worked with from the Philippines summed up really well how I felt. She would say her husband (she was NEVER sick!) stayed home from work that day because of " a general malaise". But, my malaise has disappeared and here are some updates on my seed sowing and a real surprise.


Below you see the my first glimpse of Spring. Outside the breezeway doors is a little rectangular garden. It's on a west wall and, helpfully, near the dryer vent. Steve pointed out the very first daffodils coming up there! I was amazed since there is still a foot and a half of snow all over the rest of the yard and it hasn't been that warm (except today it was 49 degrees!).



You won't believe how happy this makes me. After seeing these few patches of green shoots, I tried to drag the pugs through the snow around the yard looking for more green! Garm gave up and I put him inside, but Thea and I did find a few more coming up against the south wall of the Main Garden. Spring will be here soon!



Meanwhile, in the cozy and warm basement the seeds I sowed last month are doing great. I took pictures last weekend and some today. You can see the dramatic growth......

These are the red and white fibrous begonia plants last weekend.

And today! These seeds are the size of pepper grains and they came out of the packet like water when I was planting. I've been doing some thinning the past few days . . .

The African Impatiens.

Transferred to an old strawberry container because they were hitting the plastic cover on the flat. They are a very tricky impatient to grow since they aren't like the traditional ones. I'm a little concerned with the pale color of the leaves and their not-quite-normal shape.


Another type of begonia. It is supposed to get up to 24" high - it's new from Burpee called "Braveheart".

I love this picture of the perfect heart-shaped leaves and the tiny white roots. Begonias are typically slow growing, but this big one is fast and you can see that they will be larger than the rest of the pack. They already look like braves little hearts :-)).

This is the potato-like tuber of my cream and apricot colored begonia. If you look very closely at about 2:00 (or nearly 3:00) on it you'll see a speck of what looks like sand or something. That's the first bud starting. Please ignore that tiny green plant on the left side - that seed must have been stuck on the side of the tuber.



Look at that! (I turned it around.) Today there are now 3 buds (at 9:00, 1:00 and 3:00). These buds will become stalks with leaves and flowers. It's best to only allow two or three buds to mature on a tuberous begonia - that way you'll have larger flowers. Like these:




All this beauty from a lowly potato look-alike. Sort of like "The Ugly Duckling" story.
Just about ready to pop! Look how tall this is - 24" Amaryillis always seem like some kind of alien plant to me. I should use my head right about now and stake it before I get up one morning and it's either on the floor or flopped over and broken. Tomorrow, maybe . . .
My book of quotes is not at hand so I won't close with something witty. Just
Bye for now,
Alyssa

10 comments:

Tom said...

Don't count the days, make the days count.

There I put in a quote for you.. it seems your planting days have really paid of for you, and the seedling and new shoots have paid you back with making you feel better.
Your days have certainly counted I think. ;o)

alicesg said...

Nice to see tiny lives growing there. Cant wait to see them mature into beautiful flowers. :)

DeeMom said...

WOW super neat with the new growth...sure makes a person feel so good when they see what their handy work does...

Super shots of Sprouts

Mary said...

Dear Alyssa,

See what a little green can do to fix us? Yay! I'm glad to hear you are well and feeling a boost of spring fever.

You said, "Spring will be here soon!" Well, Alyssa, spring is there for you. Daffodils. The snow will melt in a few days (I hope).

It's amazing what a little spring tease can do for our moods. I'm starting to see green outside and did a little winter clean-up and weeding yesterday. It felt wonderful.

We didn't have snow like you have had, but our cold nights put off Spring, for sure.

I think we are all even now. Spring has sprung. And we're all delighted. Glad you are ready :o)

Mary

Alyssa said...

Wom - I love the quote you picked out for me. They are teriffic words to live by.

Alice - I can't wait to see them blooming also! There will be pictures for everyone to see when they start.

Dee - I always feel lots of satisfaction when those tiny seeds start coming up. Nothing like the first sprouts of spring.

Mary - I envy you being able to be working outside and cleaning up the gardens. We had more snow last night and it's pretty cold now, but I know it won't last forever. Yes, I am ready and excited!

Kerri Farley said...

Glad you are feeling better!!
Wow...those grew SOOOO Fast!
Thanks for sharing!! I am SO ready for SPRING!!

Alyssa said...

Kerri - Thanks so much. Yes, it's surprising how quickly those tiny plants will grow. I love to go downstairs and examine them every day. And Spring can't come to soon for me either!

Anonymous said...

WoW......some very beautifully captured shots...lovely!

kate smudges said...

Hi Alyssa,

I'm glad to see you are back posting. Your seedlings are adorable - you've been busy. It won't be long before the snow is gone - my dog will miss it though. Not me!

Here is the link for the photos that I thought you would enjoy.

http://love-for-nature.blogspot.com/2008/02/misty-morning-experiences.html

Tossing Pebbles in the Stream said...

You are inspiring me to start some plants for the garden. I am not keen on flowers, I like to grow edible plants.

Your Spring is ahead of us. We had snow today, th ground is frozen and the daytime temperature is still sub freezing. A week or two will make a big differeence.

My chickens are laying better. I bet they are enjoying longer daylight hours.