GardenBook

 May is one of my favorite months in the garden in spite of the fact that watering tasks typically begin at some point in the month. Sometimes we get lucky and are gifted with some measurable precipitation but the paltry 1/10th of an inch so far did not prove helpful. Hose dragging has commenced .    The spring bulbs are all done for the year but the spring annuals are still pumping out blooms -I've pulled about half of the pansies up to make room for all the summer color I started from seed.  By far the most impactful flowers of the last several weeks have been the Foxglove. Mostly in the Camelot series from Johnnys Seeds and started indoors in late September and planted out in late November. I started a total of 24 and shoehorned them in among the dozen or so I planted last spring. There are 2 more clumps besides the two I've shown here. I haven't grown Digitalis in at least a decade and this is the first time I've ever grown them from seed .     Ach...

   I admit I am cold-weary. I will include the zone 9 weather wimp disclaimer - I'm just not accustomed to daytime temps in the 40's in March. That's a January thing, and frankly not that usual in January either. I'm hoping the mid to high 20 degree mornings are over- I have 3 flats of warm season seedlings under lights in my dining room that would enjoy being outside. But, with a few exceptions the garden plants seem to be powering through the weather just fine and season to date rainfall of  about 25 inches (close to season normal) has been beneficial. For the most part the intervals between rain events have been long enough to facilitate spring weed control.   This March has been a transition month so far-the Hellebores hang on and the Daffs haven't blown out fast as can be the case if we have too many days north of 65.   This Daffodil is 'Teal'. I order it from Scheepers every year and plant it in 5 containers that I keep 'offstage' until they bu...