random updates
Diet: down 4 pounds; 4.5 to go to hit my target. It might take more than that to get me back into my newer suits (conference in early May), but we'll take it one goal at a time.
Exercise: I've been a slacker. Adam and I have been walking a bit when it's not raining after work, but the lifting and cardio has flopped a bit. I hope to pick it back up now that things have calmed down at work and life in general.
Garden: I LOVE LOVE LOVE perennials. Annuals make a lot of sense for people who want flowers all summer long and can't or don't want to deal with coordinating lots of different perennials to get a summer of blooms. Even the hardest-working perennial blooms only a month or so out of the year, and most do less than that. Annuals can go all summer if you keep them from going to seed. The drawback to annuals, of course, is that they don't return the following spring (unless they reliably self-seed, in which case they're in a different category).
Perennials, on the other hand, generally are more expensive and more work to plant and tend, but they (should) come back year after year. Coordinating them in the garden so they bloom nicely together, or so that the area that is screaming yellow one month can be soft pastels a few months later, is challenging and fun for me.
The real joy for me, though, is walking through the garden in early spring, looking for my favorite perennials, and rejoicing when I see that they made it through the winter.
Right now, the German irises' foliage is growing like crazy. I divided my favorite white ones, which grow only to about 18", and spread them all over the garden last fall, and I can't wait to see them all in bloom this year. They'll likely be small, but it's going to be fabulous in a year or so. The daylilies are several inches high - I swear they're growing an inch or more each day. The crocuses, which were not eaten by Mr. Bunny or Bambi this year, are blooming in the sunny spots and just starting to open in the shadier areas. The squill and muscari are just starting up. The early daffodils are opening in the front yard, and a few in back opened yesterday. MANY bulbs - the giant alliums (which have reproduced!), daffodils, hyacinth (not reliably perennial - Adam plants new ones for me each fall because I'm seriously allergic to the bulbs) - are sending up foliage and looking great. The daphne all have flower buds that are thinking about opening, and our smaller viburnums just started blooming the other day. The stinking hellebore is blooming, and the regular ones have nice flower buds on them, although the foliage really took a beating this past winter.
Lots of plants are still sleeping - only a couple of my Siberian irises (out of a dozenish varieties and three times that many plants) are up yet. We went to Sandy's Plants, a wholesale nursery in Mechanicville that sells to the public, last year and I bought one each of the nine varieties I didn't have. I divided all of them into 2-4 pieces, so have about 2 dozen (tiny) Siberian iris clumps throughout the yard, plus half a dozen or so divisions of the ones that came with the house. Most aren't up yet, but the ones I've checked are firmly in the ground (didn't pull up when I tugged on the old foliage), so they're alive. Like the German irises I divided, they'll be small and probably won't flower much, if at all, this year, but they'll be incredible in a couple of years. Yes, you can have divisions then. I can't wait to see how the baptisias did over the winter, but they are still sleeping.
That's another thing I love about perennials - you can divide many of them and make more to spread around or share with friends. I love pass-along plants from people I know. If you ever need a gift for me, a chunk of something from your yard - even if it's something I already grow - is much better than a purchased gift (although I'll never turn down a purchased plant unless it's kudzu)...
Speaking of Satanic plants, I have lust in my heart for this standard (tree form) Chinese wisteria. Asian wisteria are invasive in VA, so I would need to keep it from going to seed by deadheading it, and I'd have to make sure we could deal with it if we ever have to move. I could put it in a ginormous pot or just be ready to nuke it with brush killer if we ever have to abandon it. They sell native (floribunda) wisterias that are pretty, but they're just not the same. It's not a horrible thug like kudzu or purple loosestrife (the latter is ILLEGAL to sell or distribute in VA), but it's capable of enough damage that I couldn't plant one without having a plan to keep it (its seeds, actually) from getting loose. If I buy one, I'm going to have to get someone to promise to nuke it if A & I are killed by a meteorite or something. . .
Exercise: I've been a slacker. Adam and I have been walking a bit when it's not raining after work, but the lifting and cardio has flopped a bit. I hope to pick it back up now that things have calmed down at work and life in general.
Garden: I LOVE LOVE LOVE perennials. Annuals make a lot of sense for people who want flowers all summer long and can't or don't want to deal with coordinating lots of different perennials to get a summer of blooms. Even the hardest-working perennial blooms only a month or so out of the year, and most do less than that. Annuals can go all summer if you keep them from going to seed. The drawback to annuals, of course, is that they don't return the following spring (unless they reliably self-seed, in which case they're in a different category).
Perennials, on the other hand, generally are more expensive and more work to plant and tend, but they (should) come back year after year. Coordinating them in the garden so they bloom nicely together, or so that the area that is screaming yellow one month can be soft pastels a few months later, is challenging and fun for me.
The real joy for me, though, is walking through the garden in early spring, looking for my favorite perennials, and rejoicing when I see that they made it through the winter.
Right now, the German irises' foliage is growing like crazy. I divided my favorite white ones, which grow only to about 18", and spread them all over the garden last fall, and I can't wait to see them all in bloom this year. They'll likely be small, but it's going to be fabulous in a year or so. The daylilies are several inches high - I swear they're growing an inch or more each day. The crocuses, which were not eaten by Mr. Bunny or Bambi this year, are blooming in the sunny spots and just starting to open in the shadier areas. The squill and muscari are just starting up. The early daffodils are opening in the front yard, and a few in back opened yesterday. MANY bulbs - the giant alliums (which have reproduced!), daffodils, hyacinth (not reliably perennial - Adam plants new ones for me each fall because I'm seriously allergic to the bulbs) - are sending up foliage and looking great. The daphne all have flower buds that are thinking about opening, and our smaller viburnums just started blooming the other day. The stinking hellebore is blooming, and the regular ones have nice flower buds on them, although the foliage really took a beating this past winter.
Lots of plants are still sleeping - only a couple of my Siberian irises (out of a dozenish varieties and three times that many plants) are up yet. We went to Sandy's Plants, a wholesale nursery in Mechanicville that sells to the public, last year and I bought one each of the nine varieties I didn't have. I divided all of them into 2-4 pieces, so have about 2 dozen (tiny) Siberian iris clumps throughout the yard, plus half a dozen or so divisions of the ones that came with the house. Most aren't up yet, but the ones I've checked are firmly in the ground (didn't pull up when I tugged on the old foliage), so they're alive. Like the German irises I divided, they'll be small and probably won't flower much, if at all, this year, but they'll be incredible in a couple of years. Yes, you can have divisions then. I can't wait to see how the baptisias did over the winter, but they are still sleeping.
That's another thing I love about perennials - you can divide many of them and make more to spread around or share with friends. I love pass-along plants from people I know. If you ever need a gift for me, a chunk of something from your yard - even if it's something I already grow - is much better than a purchased gift (although I'll never turn down a purchased plant unless it's kudzu)...
Speaking of Satanic plants, I have lust in my heart for this standard (tree form) Chinese wisteria. Asian wisteria are invasive in VA, so I would need to keep it from going to seed by deadheading it, and I'd have to make sure we could deal with it if we ever have to move. I could put it in a ginormous pot or just be ready to nuke it with brush killer if we ever have to abandon it. They sell native (floribunda) wisterias that are pretty, but they're just not the same. It's not a horrible thug like kudzu or purple loosestrife (the latter is ILLEGAL to sell or distribute in VA), but it's capable of enough damage that I couldn't plant one without having a plan to keep it (its seeds, actually) from getting loose. If I buy one, I'm going to have to get someone to promise to nuke it if A & I are killed by a meteorite or something. . .