I feel I hardly have time to blog, and yet my whole life seems to be related to gardening right now. Alas, my own garden has been neglected despite that!
The schoolyard habitat progresses well. The design is approved pending one final signature, fundraising is beginning, the masonry is scheduled, and parents and kids are getting enthusiastic. Dig Day is March 27, and dedication should occur on Earth Day. We’ll be needing lots of plants, that’s for sure. And lots of springtime rain (after the planting) would be nice! I’m just saying….
I’ve been collecting lots of seeds I’d like to try to grow into plants — for my own garden as well as that of the school, and it seems I’ve got so many that I have no clue how I’m going to manage them all. I suspect that what this will all amount to is me eventually tossing a bunch of seeds into the yard and seeing what happens. But in the meantime, I’m reading about cold stratification, scarification, spring sow, fall sow, do this, do that, keep it dark, keep it warm, give it 4-8 hours of light, wait until last frost, sow before last frost, seed starter mix, sandpaper, moisture, optimum temperatures, and so forth. If there’s an insanity flower, I might have already sowed that in myself when I decided to go seed-happy.
What seeds do I have? Laugh at this list, why don’t you: Passionflower, Lantana, Lemon Mint, Common Sunflower, Maximilian Sunflower, Hairy Vervain, Indian Blanket, Purple Coneflower, Prairie Blue Sage, Dill, Firecracker Penstemon, Lanceleaf Coreopsis, Compass Plant, Green Milkweed, Antelope Horns Milkweed, Pigeonberry, Turk’s Cap, Red Columbine, Gayfeather, Black-Eyed Susan, Standing Cypress, Scarlet Sage, Tahoka Daisy, Fennel, Nasturtium, Spanish Flag Vine, Gaura, Scarlet Globemallow, Fleabane, Allium, Yellow Coneflower, Artemesia, Little Bluestem, Cutleaf Coneflower, Leadplant, Hibiscus, Datura, Pride of Barbados, Esperanza, Marigold, Pipevine, and two unknown sets of seeds that I collected at some point and forgot to label. And of course, there are more vegetable seeds to be planted. Some of these seeds were gifts — the rest I’m guilty of buying.
INSANITY! Now, will all of these make the final selection? I seriously doubt it. The ones that will be for both my garden and the school habitat get priority. Next come those that are easiest to grow. Ones with wildlife value are right up there. Non-natives come last, except that Spanish Flag Exotic Love Vine — it made it to my must-have-at-all-costs list. Besides, who could resist a name like Exotic Love Vine? Between Exotic Love Vine and Passionflower, it’s going to be a mmmmmmarvelous year.
