A Day in The Greenhouse

A day in the greenhouse
First a little tidying....

I always grow my annual flowers from seeds and sometimes have a little luck with a few new perennials.  This year I have set cosmos, sunflowers, marigolds, morning glories, coneflowers and pinks.  I haven't had a chance to look for anything more exotic.  The perennials that are plentiful around the property are poppies, English daisies, lavender, tulips, daffodils, peonies, sweet william,  day lilies, Chinese lanterns, sedum, forget me nots, clematis and a number of ornamental grasses.  There is usually no problem to have a bouquet for the house as soon as the blooming begins and I love it.  I have struggled to grow lupins which abound at home and last year I finally had three plants survive and grow well.  I'm anxious to see if they made it through the winter.

Here is this year's crop-to-be lined off by the big greenhouse window.  This is the second year in a row that winter has lingered and the growing is off to a late start. It can get quite hot in the greenhouse now there are double digits temperatures most days. I had to open the window and use the screen to get a breeze through so I could work without melting. I had the radio with me and listened to Stuart McLean's Vinyl Cafe as I worked.

It took about two hours to get this lot all planted.  Just hate the seeds that come in an extra small inside packet; they are usually minute and hard to see and handle. A good watering for it all and I was done for the day.
I will have to water every day because of how warm and dry it is. But I love to see the plants start to sprout; that's when the fun begins.  

Can you remember when this craft was as popular as scrapbooking is today.  Dating yourself to acknowledge how many of your friends were into macrame, but I know many of mine were.

I have found three lilac trees on the property- white, mauve and violet flowers.  These trees are many decades old and still bloom each spring.  What a hardy and wonderful perennial the lilac tree is.  Make no wonder just about every farm house around here has a lilac tree beside it.
 Here is a bouquet from last year's bloom on the violet and mauve trees.  Smells so nice and a shame they don't last long at all. It will be the first to flower though and I'm so looking forward to that.

Last Year's Lilac Bouquet