Thursday, March 5, 2009

An Itching Green Thumb



Snow is still on the ground and I'm trying to scratch the itch for planting time by rooting impatiens and coleus. There are three bare root rosebushes awaiting my attention (and unfrozen ground) and when I was at the grocery store yesterday, I couldn't resist buying a big bag of red onion sets.

Our earliest daffodils were beaten down by the snow but are making a valiant comeback.

And the icicles are drip, drip, dripping!

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11 comments:

Kaye Wilkinson Barley - Meanderings and Muses said...

oh Vicki, I'm with you. I am so in need of some color and pretty flowers. But, snow is still hanging around - it takes awhile for 10 inches of snow to go away. I have a Calla Lily kit someone gave me for Christmas, and I'm now babying it, trying to get some little sprig of life there. Fingers crossed! and spring will be here soon!

Tammy said...

Vicki,
Have enjoyed your posts the last several days, esp. the ones of the beautiful guest home you stayed at. It all smacks of a plot to a good murder mystery.;-)
Do you or have you start your tomatoes and other plants indoors? I'm waffling on getting my started, but I think it is probably past time.
Tammy

Carol Murdock said...

I believe we have made it....
everything is blooming here now but New Orleans was a month ahead of us!
The Azaleas were just gorgeous down there!

Vicki Lane said...

Kaye, house plants do help -- I have a bit of a bower on the dining table -- a wreath of stephanotis, two potted hyacinths -- one pink, one purple -- and two orchids. The smell is heavenly.

Tammy, in recent years I've bought my tomato plants by the flat. We have a very good nursery nearby and they have a lot of heirloom varieties. When I have started tomatoes, it's been in a cold frame mostly. Whenever I try the little pots or whatever, a cat gets into them or a dog knocks them over. But right about now or the next few weeks would be a good time to start seeds -- at least here. Probably for you too.

Lucky you, Carol! We probably are a month behind you. (Azaleas . . .I remember azaleas . . .)

Victoria said...

Vicki, I'm feeling the same way. But, there is still several feet of snow on the ground here in the California mountains. I know everyone thinks California = warm weather, sunshine, etc., but not at the elevation of 6000 feet. How do you keep your cats from eating your house plants? The second I bring any flowers or plants into the house my cats are on them like a duck on a Junebug!

Vicki Lane said...

Hey, Victoria,

Ive never had a problem with cats eating houseplants -- maybe because our cats spend as much time as they like outside. Even in winter when there's not much green to nibble out of doors, they still are unmoved by my impatiens.

I just went to your blog (which has some beautiful pictures -- you are about 3000 feet higher up than we are) and had to laugh when I read about cat hairs in the paint. I haven't painted in about four years -- the writing gets in the way -- but every painting I ever did includes dog and/or cat hair. Mixed media?

Also, I noticed that you listed Songcatcher as one of your favorite movies -- it was filmed near here and the milk cow was ours. (They rented her.) There's glory for you!

Eleanor said...

Dear Vicki, thanks for visiting my blog and it is a great delight to be in your territory. First of all, I just love planting impatiens, such grateful little flowers. Then I also loved the Madonnas of Leningrad. I really liked the way you did your post with the empty frames against that wall. I wish I could take a drive through your Narnia-like winter countryside.

Here are your interview questions from Thatchwick Cottage:

1 How did you launch a successful writing career at this stage of your life? (There are many aspirant writers out there who will be hanging on your lips!)

2 What is the history behind your lovely farm and what brought you and your family there?

3 What brings you the greatest self-fulfillment in your life?

4 Won't you describe your happiest childhood memory.

5 If you were given an airticket to anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?

I am looking forward to those answers!

Vicki Lane said...

Welcome, Eleanor from South Africa! What interesting questions! I'll post answers on my blog tomorrow.

Thanks for visiting! I really enjoy your blog and the pictures of South African flora and fauna. And the line 'It's just my resident ibis' has me pea-green with envy.

Victoria said...

Vicki, thank you for the compliment about my photos.

My cats don't go outside because we have such a terrible Coyote problem here. We made them a large outside kitty play yard that they can access through a window, but only when the weather is good. Maybe I should get them those trays with grass growing in them.

I laughed out loud at your comment about mixed media! I once tried to convince a friend that I put the hairs there on purpose but she wouldn't believe me. Darn, she knows me too well! :D

Vicki Lane said...

Victoria, I have a little ongoing project -- I'm trying to make felt with hair from brushing the dogs. I filled a plastic bag and put it under the cushion of a bench -- after a year of being sat upon, it's felting up nicely. Next the boiling water treatment . . .

Victoria said...

Now that's a clever idea! I'm going to try that with the cat hair; goodness knows I brush enough of it off of them. I read about a woman who spins her angora cats' hair into yarn and knits beautiful things with it, but I don't know how to spin and I don't know how to knit. Oh yeah, and I don't have any angora cats, just run of the mill tabbies. :D