GardenOpus

🌱Good Evening All at #GardensHour & late again - still at work. March has lots of flavors here in Chicagoland, but happy after an abrupt and bitter end to last week's warmth, temperatures are back on the upswing again. Some seedlings enjoying chilly but above freezing air today.🌞

Hello and welcome to #GardensHour!

It’s MARCH, and with that brings a change in season. What’s happening for you in the month ahead in your garden?

What are you most looking forward to?

What’s new for you at this time year?

🌱Of course I was stuck in traffic during our overachieving the forecast high today, rose to at least 70°F/21°C. Enjoy the drop to 29°F/-2°C & weekend snow showers, we're not out of the woods yet.☃️ Galanthus elwesii & G. nivalis will be fine, full of Plant Antifreeze Proteins! 💪

🌱44 Seedlings from 55 Seeds - in this batch of collected OPs from 'Cannova® Bronze Peach' (showing about 50% bronze seedlings). Sown February 13 after I scarified on 80 grit sandpaper, now day 14. I fished out 11 ungerminated seeds & re-sanded, we'll see if they pop.🤞Cannaceae

🌱VISITORS BEWARE, you may be sitting with company!😅 During seed starting season, from basement to 3-Season room on up, no space is safe. These Pelargonium (Geranium) 'Maverick Orange' F1 were pulled off basement heat mats this morning (germinated in 3 days) for a Sun bath.🌞 Geraniaceae

🌱Yikes - for the first time in a long time forgot the 🌱 for #GardensHour - sorry about that @GardensHour.bsky.social!

Good Evening All at #GardensHour - jumping in late today work meetings again. A mixed bag as temperatures have dropped quite a bit.🥶 Snowdrops have rightfully closed back up. But indoors, seedlings are EVERYWHERE!😃

Hello and welcome to #GardensHour!

After the longest January on record, February has flown by for me! Let’s celebrate your gardens this past month - what were your highlights?

Plus, it’s Q&A week - lookout 👀 for the thread coming soon…

🌱🌹Who can resist a Mini Rose named 'Gigi'?😃 Especially at $8.99 with 4 plants in a 4" pot. Once home, I unpotted, pulled all 4 apart & repotted ahead of in-ground planting later. Parade® 'Gigi'™ was bred by Mogens Nyegaard Olesen, & introduced by Poulsen in 2011. 💕Rosaceae

🌱Pretty Cannas in a Row! Scarified each on sandpaper, now day 8 after sowing, 31 of 55 seeds have emerged. Will leave on the heat mat a day or two more then they'll yield the space to others. Also tried a batch of 25 using boiling water 2 days ago - TY Hillborn Plants for the tip!🙏

🌱 Awesome - they grow & bloom so quickly. I've decided not to start in January anymore, that's recommended for production growers who need to ship them early in bloom. In my home they take up a lot of room, & later starts wind up blooming by June anyway.😎 More pics of past years' seedlings.

🚀🌱WE HAVE LIFTOFF! Canna seed scarified on the 11th and sown on the 13th is now up after 5 days - about a dozen of the 55 seeds I planted are showing noses above ground. After all are up will cycle them off the heat mat, as other sowings await.😎

🌱 Yes indeed it was, just repeated the steps for a late lunch today. I do have overwintered Carrots in the garden but must confess these are store-bought - & can't wait for the Cabbage crop to come in this summer.🤞Biting into Mustard seeds is very satisfying, kind of like Caraway seeds in Rye bread.

🌱 Mine was a quick throw together, besides the red cabbage & grated carrots added chopped celery, mayonnaise but not too much, a couple tablespoons of olive juice - I'll alternate between that & balsamic or rice vinegar - a sprinkling of brown mustard seeds, and lots of freshly ground black pepper.😋

🌱Likewise - I made a delicious purple coleslaw to go with lunch yesterday - who knew?!😅

🌱Truly!

🌱WHAT??? #NationalCabbageDay is nearly over and it's slipped right by me - how can I live with myself??? 😱 Is it always on #MardiGras? I thought it was that OTHER holiday!🍀 Well the only thing I can do now is celebrate Cabbages past - so here we go! Brassicaceae - of course!

🌱Now that's more like it - suburban Chicagoland can finally join the Snowdrop party with these Galanthus elwesii. This is the first group to fully pop here, with more to come. Current lunch hour temp 63°F/17°C - with brilliant blue skies & a gusty breeze.🌞 Amaryllidaceae.

😱🌱YIKES! Goofed the math, what I get for posting in a hurry. That should be 3 weeks below 32°F/0°C.🙈

🌱💛One more with backlighting for #SundayYellow. Mr. Sun 🌞 decided to come out and with temps above 60°F/16°C after 3 weeks below 0°F/-18°C and as low as -14°F/-26°C, reason enough to celebrate!
🥳😎

🌱💛BRIGHT! Miniature Columnea 'Apollo' (Magne Haualand, 1979) got off to a slow start in 2025, but popping welcome color today. Have always loved Columneas but most are so BIG & cascading, this little tyke fits on top of the microwave. A new favorite Gesneriad & #SundayYellow pregame.😎 Gesneriaceae

Jardiniers à vos conseils 👋🌱🙏🏼Nectarinier nain planté en racines nues à l’automne.
Il est en cours de floraison 🫣… mais pas de butineurs.
J’ôte les fleurs pour qu’il racine bien ou je les laisse ???

🌱🌸I would enjoy the lovely flowers as rooting has been continuous since it was planted in Fall, so it is able to support them. If it does manage to set fruit with a stray pollinator - you can monitor plant health - a choice later to remove the fruit (or not).😎 Some Peaches to tease the future.🙂

🌱SANDING CANNA SEED - is it really necessary? Depends if you want to wait 3 months for some to pop & lose 1st year bloom. Uniform germination in 6 to 10 days over bottom heat after filing, bloom in 80-110 days. So it's work, but worth it. Used Coarse 80 Grit paper.😎 Cannaceae

🌱🚀SURPRISING FIRST! Delphinium x belladonna 'Bellamosum' an atypical 1st out of the gate, but after dry freezing & bottom heat, germinated in 5 days - now day 10. This hexaploid nothospecies is a result of crosses between D. grandiflorum (pic 3) & D. elatum (pic 1). Ranunculaceae

🌱😃THERE'S Waldo! Or rather Hippeastrum 'Christmas Gift' (Kwekerij De Oudendam B.V., 1991; OR a different cv by same name, by Ludwig & Sons, 1959). True, though all 3 were labeled Christmas Gift, & got 2 NOID doubles, still not sure the single is named correctly. But will still enjoy their beauty!😎

Mom groundhog with two of five babies.

Exactly! Wild groundhogs are still hibernating. "Greta" and two of her five babies peeking out from my storage building in May.

🌱Awesome pic - Greta and kids are adorable - groundhogs are so curious and engaging.😃

💕🌱ANNUAL PSA - LEAVE THEM T. F. ALONE!!! There should be no yanking little furry people out of holes today! Young Marmota monax (Groundhog, aka Woodchuck) just chillaxin' on my front stoop on a nice Summer day - AS IT SHOULD BE.😎 Sciuridae - Squirrel Family

🌱Great question, depends on species, growth rate & how I've sown. Strips or pellets may go directly to garden, for Snapdragons I've dropped alternate seeds at corners & they'll get split. If in rows they *may* get potted up once but if in thinly sown rows (Lewisia) will scoop right into the ground.🙂