What would Jane Austen Grow?

Okay, I’ll be honest, I love when it snows. And I actually like the snow…for a day. However, in my opinion snow should be relegated to December or January, definitely not February. After all, spring is just around the corner. The snowdrops and snow crocus are almost done blooming. The heralds of spring, the daffodils have started to sport their yellow petticoats. Why would it snow now?
Alright, if I am actually faced with the prospect of snow, what are my first thoughts? Sadly, it is work, not playing hooky. If it snows, and snows a lot, there are no customers and only half the staff, if any at all. My husband has 4 wheel drive and he grew up in Idaho. The man knows snow. (Or so he says, because the only snow I’ve seen in Idaho was on the mountains and in a huge black pile in the mall parking lot.) So, I can ride with him and I can get a lot of work done!
Then there’s the special snow treats: hot cocoa and doughnuts. Plus soup. One cannot forget soup. It may not be a meal most of the time, but I can get away with it when it is cold. And I have a batch of Chicken, Leek and potato soup ready to be prepared. Am I worried about my plants? No. Am I worried about my pipes freezing? No. In Oregon, if it snows it is not cold enough to freeze the pipes. Am I worried about the hoop houses at my nursery collapsing? Yes. Will I be there to push the snow off? Yes. Okay, just like old times…Let is snow, let it snow, let it snow.

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If you’ve been following my blog, then you know that my landscape is on a garden tour in June. I figured everything would be in tip top shape by then only to learn that there is a preliminary visit in March. That date is nailed down now and I have 3 1/2 weeks and 2 weekends off to get my yard presentable enough to show the organizers that my yard is worthy of being on this tour.
I am happy to report that my husband and I (mainly my husband) planted an espalier apple tree for height in my edible garden and the blueberry that has been sitting in it’s pot since September. I have successfully started my edible peas, sweet peas and nasturtiums. They are cute 1/2-1 inch sprouts reaching for the sun. My pots by the front and back doors look very nice. I planted 2 candytuft to fill in a bare area. Now I realize if I want it to truly look full by June, I should add 3 more. I have selected 3 of the 5-6 new roses I am going to plant in my revised rose garden. However, I have not laid out the design yet.
We had visitors this weekend. OUr daughter, son-in-law and new grandbaby came to visit. That was the best reason in the world to stay out of the garden. We had lots of precious snuggling time. Also, I was able to cook 4 dinners that included carbs! Probably unhealthy carbs. It was a delight to have spaghetti, roasted fingerling potatoes and baked potatoes. Plus, my son-in-law was very appreciative of the meals. Perhaps he was just being respectful, but I love a compliment when I believe it could be sincere, so that made me happy. Of course there were vegetables: green salad, broccoli, asparagus and roasted green beans. Now it’s back to lighter fare.
So much for relaxing. Now it’s time to get back to a consistent schedule and get things done. I have a lot to do! Personally, professionally and in volunteer efforts, I cannot let my energy flag, my passion ebb or my focus alter. It is a mad dash to July. I’ve got my running shoes on and I’m ready.

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“Love is in the air, in every sight and every sound.” If you are a child of the 70s/80s (and I am), that will sound familiar. But what I want to know is what about smell? Isn’t love in the air with every fragrant plant? If it isn’t love, I know for sure that fragrance in flowers still wields power, the power to evoke memory, relaxation and mood. When I smell the honeysuckle vine in my back yard, I am transported. This evening when my husband and I walked the 5 dogs we were responsible for today, it was a joy to pass by my dad’s Hamamelis and catch the scent on the breeze. Hamamelis, or Witch hazel blooms now with frilly, understated, fragrant flowers. I knew that it was fragrant so I went back to sniff the flowers after I had passed it. My husband, who I thought had a weaker sense of smell, noticed it long before he got to the plant. He marvelled at the strength of the aroma. How fantastic to have such heavenly fragrance in the dead of winter. Granted, we have had a lovely stretch of springlike sun and warmth. And fragrant flowers smell much better in a warmer, drier weather pattern. I cannot explain why fragrant violets exhibit no fragrance on bitterly cold, rainy days but are aromatic within 6 feet on dry, sunny days, but it is true (in my experience). And it was true tonight as my lover and I walked and smelled the Hamamelis and the Sarcococca, too. What a delight! And I have fragrant, yellow primroses to plant this weekend. Also, pea seed and nasturtiums to start. I think this would be a great time to prune my roses, if I actually have the time. I am planning to redo my rose bed, so I’m not as motivated to do that.
Okay, Valentine’s day is Monday. I am a serious logical thinker married to a true romantic. (I do not believe Austen was a romantic at all.) So what do I want on Monday? I’m wanting a juicy steak, some nice red wine and a fabulous selection of chocolates. Yum, yum,yum!

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I have just found out that the garden tour committee will check out my yard in March! I have so many things to do. I hope they won’t be disappointed. I spent dinner mmaking a list for my husband, per his request. I want everything to be perfect, even though I know it won’t be. Actually that anxiety is the polar opposite of what I want to achieve in my garden. So how to stay motivated and not slack yet be relaxed. Sun salutations every day? Prayers of thanksgiving for God’s abundance? All of these and more…maybe a few glasses of wine in the garden. I look forward to the challenge and the potential.

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A busy week and a nasty cold kept me in bed on Saturday. I’m usually not whiny about being sick but was miserable. My husband had the bug first and is still loudly coughing. I was resigned to spending my only free, fair weather weekend in months inside. Imagine my surprise when Sunday afternoon arrived and I felt up to doing a little yard work. I wasn’t going to push myself, only do a little of this and a little of that. I even talked my husband into helping. It was so lovely and we were very productive. Mitch pruned the grapes and I cut back hardy fuchsias, ornamental grasses and some perennials. Then we must have went mad from the sun because we finally removed a major branch from our Japanese Snowbell that had made it look lopsided. We were so happy with the results that we lightened up the Nandina Plum Passion, limbed up the Spring Bouquet Viburnum and Mitch actually used the electric hedge trimmers on the Magic Carpet Spiraea. We filled up the yard debris container and still have a small pile in the back yard!
My garden is on a tour in June and so it has to look great. We moved into our house in the summer of 2001. Most of the planting didn’t happen until 2002 and 2003. Everything has grown enough now that I needed to open things up a bit and create a distinction between trees and shrubs. There are already 2 beds that need to be entirely overhauled and 2 spots where I want to create new plantings. It’s great when we have some non-rainy days this time of year before it is so hectic that I have no days off with my husband. Even though gardening is lovely to enjoy in solitude, I often get much more done when I work with Mitch. Of course, he picks up after me so maybe that’s why I enjoy working with him so much.
While we were outside, we had a visit from a hummingbird. There is a pair that has definitely spent the winter here, somewhere in my yard perhaps. One of them perched at the top of the Japanese Snowbell and sang us a little tune. Our two dogs, Tipper and Tumbles and their cousin, Frances, also enjoyed being outside. They find a soft spot to lay down and then move to the next soft spot as we work our way around. That aggravated me for a while until I decided to leave their favorite spots open or covered with the most forgiving of groundcover.
We made another pleasant discovery about our lazy vermiposting. We have a great population of worms in our soil. They have improved the soil structure in many of our beds. After our failed attempts at composting, Mitch read about vermiposting. So our lazy experiment began in our raised vegetable garden. When the plants were done, we started dumping leaves and vegetable debris on top of them. We threw in coffee grounds and tea bags, too. I was worried because it had gotten a little deep in one spot and I was afraid it wouldn’t break down in time for this year’s garden. Mitch dug in delicately and was very proud to report many active worms there. I still don’t think they’ll eat their way through the whole pile before May 1st but we’ll see.
I was not as happy to see that the slugs and snails have already been very active, already decimating the sweet violets that were blooming beautifully last week. I applied Espoma slug and snail control that contains iron phosphate, a more dog-friendly product. We’ll see if it takes care of them.
I’m already seeing things at the nursery that I can’t live without. The Jacob Hellebore could fit nicely in the pot on my front porch. There were new Frostfire Dianthus in bloom and my Dianthus in pots are not looking nearly as fresh. I guess the good thing in I don’t have any free time to garden for a few weeks so I can resist tempation for now.

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