Northwest Gardening

Trying to get a little gardening done while it is not raining for the moment.

Today I planted the Pacific Giant delphinium. An article I read said the seed had to be cold-condidtioned or stratified by putting the seed in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks before planting and to plant in July. My packet didn’t say anything about that. Oh, I see this article is from En gland. Maybe that makes a difference.

I also planted the Dwarf Border Mix sunflowers that I put between the toilet paper in the ground. I sure hope this works. I watered it good so hopefully the toilet paper dissolved enough for the seeds to come through. I will know in two weeks on the sunflowers. I am going to plant some more directly in the ground today or tomorrow.

I got one of the big planters filled with the petunias. I used the one where the old fashioned flower mix did not sprout. The other planter has sprouts in it of what looks like one kind of plant. Don’t know what it is. The seed may have been too old. I will transfer them to peat pots tomorrow and then plant them in the ground in a couple of weeks.

I have been thinking that the next time I use seedling soil, I will moisten it first before I plant the seeds so that it already has had time to settle and the seeds won’t get uncovered when I water it. I am determined to learn how to plant seeds and get them to grow—all of them.

Today there were 19 of the 20 glads coming up. Only one to go, but so far no sign.


I am so thrilled. I called a woman on Craig’s list who was giving away mauve Iris and some purple Iris. She is supposed to call me back this evening with a time to pick them up. I hope they are the bearded kind, but I will take anything.


The peas are growing like crazy and flowering. The honeysuckle also seems to be doing well. I priced a net for the honeysuckle to climb on at FM and it was $9. I picked up a decorative Luau net at the $1 store instead. It looks pretty much the same to me. I am not sure how to set up the net against the shed—cut a piece of it maybe? Will see if I can find something on the internet.


Time for the cages for my tomatoes and need to week tomorrow. It is not very hard if I keep up with it. Still no sun but at least it didn’t rain today.

Oklahoma-Where the Wind Goes Roarin Cross the Plain

Howdy, back from my Oklahoma vacation.  Should have waited to start my blog until I got back so there would not have been such a long gap between postings.  Oh well.

I went to see my 87 year old aunt who moved to Owasso, Oklahoma from Missouri to live with her daughter.  What an amazing woman.  She cooks and plants garden and still cans a few things. She can talk about anything and it was a most enjoyable time. 

Owasso is an Osage Indian word meaning "the end" or "turnaround," and the town was so named because the railroad line ended in a tunaround there. The weather was beautiful with the only rain occurring on the first day of my visit.  The hottest it got was 92 but most days were in the mid-80s.  The wind really does roar across the plain---every day.  I really enjoyed the flower and  vegetable gardens.  My aunt saw a black snake the first day I was there, but though I visited the veggie garden regularly, I could never catch a glimpse of it.

I planted a peony before I left the Northwest but though it has been almost 6 weeks, there isn't a sign of a sprout.  My counsin's peonies in OK were magnificient--like big balls of pink ice cream.  She also had Iris plants to die for.When I got back to the Northwest it was still raining and cool.  Nothing had grown in my garden except the hostas and I was so disappointed.  I need to work on my patience.

Went to Lowe's in Owasso, OK and saw a "Sunrise Rose" Lantana plant that I fell in love with.  I had never seen it before and had no idea if we had them in the Northwest.  I was delighted to find out that our Fred Meyer carries them, but they were out.  I ordered a couple, and they will come in on Wednesday.

Got a brief tour of Tulsa while I was visiting Oklahoma.  Their downtown area was a lot like Portland, OR except they are on the Arkansas River instead of the Willamette.  There were some beautiful old housing areas that reminded me of University Park in St. Louis.  I would have liked to explore some of the architectural styles if I had had more timel

Went to a little town called Collinsville, not far from Owasso.  Their downtown area is quite charming and I found the best "junk" store in the Midwest I think.  It was called Rainbow's End and was filled from floor to ceiling with collectibles, antiques and just plain junk.  Found a pair of shoes just like my grandmother used to wear (same pattern and everything) for $3.50.  I bought them and gave one to my cousin and kept one for myself.  Going to make a planter out of it and will post it when I get it finished.  Got a great old bottle, some junk jewelry and wonderful salt and pepper shakers.  Found a creamer and sugar bowl to match my salad plates that I found at GW in Tulsa and then a few stalls down in the same store, I found the matching salt and pepper shakers.  I was a happy camper.  If I had my car, I would have bought so many other things, but it gets kind of spendy to ship things back to the NW from OK.

Another highlight of my trip was when my cousin took me to an A & W that still had curb service and the kids waited on the cars in roller skates.  I know--I know--it doesn't take much to amuse me.  It is just that I am at that age where anything that reminds me of my childhood or teenage years is a fun adventure.

Back in the garden

I took the day off from gardening yesterday.  It was so raw and windy.  Today it was cool but no wind and the sun came out in the late afternoon.  I got my back flowerbed tilled and fertilized, and in a day or two I am going to plant some perennial seeds.   We are past our last frost date.  Next year I am going to definitely get a small green house stall, so I can start my seeds in February.  I am just tooooo impatient.  I want flowers and I want them now.

I am off to Women's Retreat tomorrow.  As it turns out I will be driving myself, so I am praying for good weather.  Should be a beautiful drive though with all the flowering shrubs and trees.  Lots of wild Rhodies and azaleas on the way to the coast.  Hoping to take home some unique garden art as a souvenir.

Ah, England

I found a new blog today "Tales from the Mouse House." It is a beautiful site and very rewarding if you love old lace crafts (which I do so much). Angela lives in England and shared some of her get-away weekend pics. I was in England many, many years ago, but only for a week and barely got a feeling for London during that time. I wanted so much to go into the countryside and made plans to do so, but caught bronchitis and had to leave before I could fulfill my plans. At the left you will see a picture of one of the houses in the area.  I fantasize about renting such a house for the summer.  Anyway, I thank Angela for allowing me to get a taste of what I missed. Angela can be found at http://mousehousetales.blogspot.com/

A few changes

As you can see, I changed the design of the blog and I like it much better. Do you like it better than the old design?

Busy working in my garden. Will post more about it later.

I can't believe I'm a blogger

Well, setting up a blog was relatively easy but I can see I have a lot to learn about how to make it as beautiful as the blogs I follow. If you are reading this and are not a blogger yet, you might want to give it a try.

Not sure exactly what is going to be included on this blog. I think it may be evolving for a while.

So this post isn't completely boring, here is a pic of what I bought at the nursery today for my garden. It's a red twig dogwood tree