Winter Has Arrived... sigh.

We had snow and sleet yesterday and the temps hovered around freezing most of the day. I dragged in the last of the bulbs, tubers and rhizomes that need to go into storage and started one more light garden. Now I'm ready to curl up under a quilt with a good book. In my next life I want to be a momma bear to sleep through the cold months. Already thinking about spring and the lushness of hosta gardens.

Begonia Garden!

http://picasaweb.google.com/Elkay6/RWP_BegoniaDisplay?feat=directlink

This Saturday members of the RI Branch of the ABS planted a begonia garden at the botanical center at Roger Williams Park, Providence, RI. All the plants were donated by members to surround the 'Yuletide' camellia that was already there. The begonia information will be given to the docents so that people on the tour will be able to appreciate the variety of sizes, shapes and colors that were planted. The donations ranged from heirloom plants to cell packs of wax begonias that somehow never got planted in the spring (you know how that goes). Future expansion calls for miniature begonias in a large terrarium. It is so exciting for our members to have a spot to showcase the plants we hold dear! If you are planning a visit to New England be sure to stop by the botanical center and enjoy the largest display of carnivorous plants north of Atlanta as well as the newest garden... a bountiful begonia display!

Reprieve from the Cold

The weather has improved... instead of clear and cold it is rainy with warmer temperatures. All my begonias are inside along with the true tropicals. Today DH and I went to the big box store and bought supplies to turn our bedroom balcony into an over-wintering space. We'll see how it works; I'm more concerned about it getting too warm during the day than being too cold at night.

I just planted a big tub with three red bananas surrounded by small ferns. I want to keep that going all winter!

Coldest night yet!

As much as I love cool weather I still dread the first frost. All the plants that have been thriving outdoors for the summer have to come inside. I end up dragging them in at the last minute, working in the dark to get the last few. This year I was doing well; moving in a few at a time, repotting if necessary and checking for any bugs. Then today the cloudy skies cleared and the almost full moon was beaming down... perfect conditions for frost! The begonias and episcias had to come in promptly. As I was scurrying around, I noticed something odd on the carpet. I couldn't make sense of what I was seeing, but then I realized it was a yellow spotted salamander! He was relocated to the edge of the pond. A few minutes ago, I heard the trill of a tree frog... from inside the house! I haven't been able to track him down yet, but I will! I don't mind having critters in the house but it's hard for them to survive all winter inside.

Back in the U.S. of A.

I love the weather today! It's a blissfully cool 68F. and a slight breeze that gives me the strength to get out there and tackle the weeds. They took advantage of my vacation to sneak in an extra foot of growth. I vowed last year that beggars-ticks (Bidens frondosa) would never be allowed to bloom in my yard... the seeds get stuck in my dogs hair and in my clothes and are awful to try to remove! If you garden, you know the little devils.The Latin name Bidens means two toothed, and they use both of them to cling tenaciously to anything that brushes against them. It's hard to believe that they are related to the sweet Bidens that my local nursery sells for $5 each! Those sunny yellow flowers are so cheerful... imagine my surprise when I found them growing by the roadside in northern Ecuador. They look fabulous entwined with lantana, proving once again that Mother Nature is the best gardener! This picture is of a flower stall in Cuenca, Ecuador. When I was at my condo last week, I was buying 25 roses for $2 total cost. That's a big reason right there to visit Ecuador! If you'd like to see pictures of the condo, visit www.CotacachiLiving.com/rentals and check out PrimaVera II Penthouse.

Trip to Ecuador

This is the little town I'm heading to. Cotacachi has 6,000 residents at 7,000 feet or vice-versa. Sweet town, nice people and best of all....COOL BREEZES!!!!!! There is also an ethno-botanic garden that I will be visiting and I promise lots of pics from this trip.

Dog Days of August

The big flower garden is awash with weeds and I have no energy to deal with them. It is just too hot!! I can go out at night and pick slugs off my plants because at least it is a reasonable temperature at 11:00. Today its 90F and the humidity is in the screaming range. My truck has no A/C... oh, I am dreaming of the cool breezes in the Andes! Luckily, I'm going down to Ecuador again in a few days to give the waether up here a chance to get reasonable. Packing corduroy, socks, sweatshirts... Can't wait to need them!

How Time Flies!

What's been going on in the past three months to keep me from blogging? Whole bunches of travel and fun and of course, since it's summer, I'm gardening. Springtime usually means being up to my eyeballs in new garden beds, container gardens, moving the houseplants outside, etc. This spring was different. First of all, I went to the American Begonia Society convention in West Palm Beach, FL. What a wonderful time! I came home with a suitcase full of begonias as well as a charter for the Rhode Island Chapter of the ABS... now we are official!
Next was a trip to Ecuador. I fell in love with the little town of Cotacachi and bought a condo there. It's high in the Andes and the temperature ranges from 50 degrees up to 75 degrees... year round! Can you say 12 month growing season? Today in RI the humidity was extreme and the temperature in the 80s. I was weeding with sweat running in my eyes and dripping off my nose.
This is when I envy people working in air-conditioned offices (only a little!).
Working with my carnivorous plant buddies a bog was installed in a greenhouse at the University of RI. We had some wonderful plant donations and Michael Szesze of The Carnivorous Plant Nursery helped us with the installation. He and his wife were great fun and I will definitely post pictures of the big event. It was July and very warm but a good time was had by all.
So now everyone is all caught up and pictures will follow soon.
Remember to keep slugging down that water when you're outside in the heat and don't let the weeds get you down!

Spring Flowers

Spring flowers are the most welcome of the year! I always push the envelope, using cold hardy plants, tucking them into a sheltered microclimate and if the temperature threatens to dip into the 20's I put a sheet of bubblewrap over them. Who can resist the ranunculus that look like old fashioned roses? Primroses are the essence of spring along with the bright faces of pansies. The ivies weren't hardened off long enough so they have lost a few leaves but they will survive. One of the pots has been outside for over a month now. Wormwood, chard, diascia and ivy have tolerated some bitter nights as well as strong wind. Such a treat to step outside and see these beauties!

Tea with Marie Part 2/2

And heres the second half - hope you have time to see this one as well!

Tea with Marie Program! Part 1/2

Just wanted to share this video from a couple of years ago- back when I was a complete newbie to TV (and a redhead!). Hope you enjoy!

Misty Morning

This is my variegated spider lily, Hymenocallis caribaea ' variegata'. I had it in a clear tank outside with a couple of koi. It has been a great winter houseplant because all I have to do is make sure the saucer is always full of water. Water plants are so easy, and especially good for people who kill their plants with kindness!

Just a thought with the spring approaching - that my house will no longer look like this! Clearing out the plants so they can enjoy the summer sun as well always lets my family have a little more breathing room and lets me increase my stash with none the wiser! 

Seedlings in Two Days

Two days after I seeded the mesclun blend the tiny roots were emerging. Two days after that the seed leaves were up! It's a miracle every time and by starting seeds under lights we can experience that miracle up close. In about three weeks I will be making salads from those energetic plants. The spicy mesclun was faster then the sweet, and it was fun to see that the roots of the Bulls Blood beets were as red as the leaves will be.

Sowing Seeds

Today I sowed Sun Gold and SuperSweet 100 tomato seeds as well as mesclun salad mixes; one spicy, one sweet. The Sun Gold tomato is the tastiest I've ever eaten! It's small, not a slicing tomato, with a full bodied flavor that can't be beat. If you're really, really nice to me maybe I'll give you a plant... I did sow 40 seeds so may have one or two extra plants. 

Spring Poem

All winter long I heed the call

of computer & books & houseplants all

but now that spring is nearly here

with seeds & trowel & birds that cheer

the coming warmth

I cannot spend...

(I only tell the truth, my friend!)

I must hold my dollars close

and spend them where I love the most;

the garden centers calling me

with herbs and grasses... a stately tree, a budding rose.

You feel it, too,

the green world is also part of you. 

My New Greenhouse!

After wanting one since forever, I am finally the proud owner of a 10x12 double wall polycarbonate greenhouse! It came in a box and now I have to set up a gravel base, get it erected, order solar vent openers, etc. Spring is galloping onward (did you know that spring moves northward at a rate of twelve miles a day?) and seeds have been started under lights. If we get cracking on the greenhouse I will be able to grow them on in there. My buddy JoAnn bought one at the same time so we will be comparing plants and growing techniques. By the time it's up I'll have figured out how to post pictures, I promise!

My Three Minutes of Fame

I rarely watch TV but the power it has to spread information amazes me. I was recently a guest on 'The Plant Pro' with Marion Gold. We were discussing begonias and the RI Begonia Society. Within an hour of the showing I had someone at the RI flower show say to me "Didn't I see you on TV this morning?" If you'd like to see the clip you can go to www.TurnTo10.com/jar/lifestyles/home_garden/

Spring Flower Show

 There's nothing that lifts winter-weary spirits like a visit to a flower show! This year the New England Flower Show in Boston  won't be happening, so the RI show has been quite busy. There are some lovely gardens, including a real charmer from the Newport Preservation Society. The designer, Jim Donahue, has created a formal garden using lettuces, swiss chard, radishes and other edibles in places of traditional bedding plants. Even the urns are filled with magnificent munchables! The tints, tones and shades of green let the viewer experience the delights of texture and pattern  without distraction. There is even a cage of fuzzy chicks to engage the kids! 

 If you'd like to see some pictures of the show head over to www.WhatGrowsOnRI.com to see Sue Kortes' views of the show. Today is the last day so come visit me at the RI Begonia Society booth and see the plants that were featured on 'The Plant Pro' with Marion Gold. 

February Already?

Yikes! Time is flying and I feel the pressure of getting seeds started, new gardens planned, old pots washed. Have you checked out the horticulture division for the Newport Flower Show in June? They have some really fun categories this year, all with a 'green' theme. It's got me thinking about plant combinations, especially the first class which requires chartreuse foliage and flowers that attract pollinators. The Newport show is in such a pretty setting and very easy to enter... even if you only have one perfect blossom in your garden you can put it in the competition. Visit www.NewportMansions.org for more details.

Snow, Slush and Rain

Most people are probably not thrilled with a forecast that starts out with 3 to 5 inches of snow, turning to rain! Now we have an interesting mix of stuff on the ground, but I smile when I look outside because all my small pots of perennials are cozy under the snow. The rain is replenishing our groundwater and keeping dessication at bay. I'm going to start some pansies this week from seed.
The begonias under lights are coming into bloom and looking very happy. B. 'Marmaduke' is looking very good which surprises me since I haven't cared for the looks of it before. One little plant insists on getting mildew but I just hit it with Lysol spray and it behaves itself for a while. The other problem in the light garden is the mice which insist on digging in the pots. I put out peanut butter baited traps but they must have heard about the salmonella problem; they are avoiding the traps!

In The Greenhouse

With the high temperature today well below freezing, I visited my greenhouses to see if everything was doing OK. The black leaved cotton plant isn't happy with the lack of light or with the aphids attacking it. I hacked back a scented leaf geranium that escaped from its pot and has taken over one end of a bench... who knew they could be invasive? The Spanish lavendar is 4 feet high and just coming into bloom right next to a fragrant camellia. The vining jasmine will open its buds tomorrow if we have sun. The plants know that the days are getting longer, but the ice is thick on the ground and the snow that covers the ice makes it even more treacherous to walk outside. With weather like this, I'm planning a trip to Danielson, CT to visit Logees!

The Living Wreath

Step one for creating a living wreath is to have plenty of plant material. I've done about 30 4" variegated ivy cuttings that are sitting in a vase to root. Today I was at a big box store getting some seed starter mix and saw a beautiful variegated  spider plant. Have you met 'Bonnie'? The young plants are distinctly different from an average spider plant; the leaves are twisted and curly. This parent plant had so many babies that I couldn't resist. Tomorrow I will start those little guys rooting! The mature plants lose some of the curly quality (at least mine have) so I'll need lots of young 'uns to cover the coir liner. Looks like I'll be making two wreaths!

Insect Pests

Oh, the dreaded mealybug! How I hate to see that tell-tale clump of fluffy white stuff! I get out the sprayer of rubbing alcohol and enjoy watching them do a melt down as I spray. Aphids aren't as tough to banish and scale is pretty easy to control with Pokon brand plant polish, but I struggle with mealy. 

Winter gardening

Welcome to my blog! The snow is deep and the forecast is for bitter cold this week, so I turn to my indoor garden for relief. The begonias are looking good under lights and the carnivorous Nepenthes are happy with the humidity they get in the bathroom skylight. The cuttings of the Nepenthes Rokko x spectabilis I did yesterday got a little dry so I popped them into a closed terrarium and will hope for the best.
My Christmas tree is a California Wax Privet (Ligustrum texanum) that stands about 8 feet high. Tomorrow I'll take off the ornaments but I'm thinking about leaving the lights on for a while because it is just so lovely when it's dark outside and the white lights are reflected in the windows.
This is one of the best times of the year... the plant catalogs are pouring in and I can create a million gardens in my mind without requiring a single aspirin for my aching back!

Living Wreaths

I've been enjoying Teddi Colberts book on living wreaths and will be making one soon. The question is what plant to use? I'm torn between ivy, spider plants and strawberry begonias. Decisions, decisions.... maybe I'll make three wreaths!