Mid January Landscape Notes

1. had a brutal short snap of single digit temps
2. early rising daffodils seem to have re-adjusted
3. need to finish cleaning-out beds
4. will add pine straw to the mass of iris plantings
5. only a few more weeks before crepe myrtles get pruned
6. hoping to have a daffodil in bloom by 21FEB
7. still need to prune the upper reaches of the river birches
8. need to plan-out areas for planting annuals in the Spring
9. should have fully planted the farm bed with daffodils
10. getting impatient with the slow growth of the front azaleas
    

had a mission

having completed daffodil planting a few months ago, CG just now discovered his intended 'daffodil mission' for Spring 2010 (as stated in his blog posting of April 2009) :

1. establish a few mass plantings of same type daffs (of the Carlton and Bravoure variety)

2. establish more isolated groupings of different varieties (at least 6)

and the results:

missed completely on #1

half-credit on #2 (planted about 3 isolated groupings)

the excuses:

was focused mainly on the yellow/yellow mixed variety plantings in the forsythia bed

tried to fill-in spotty areas of existing beds, rather than take-on new areas with mass plantings of daffodils

areas for mass plantings of daffodils need to be prepped and ready by mid Sept. (by the time CG was done planting the forsythia bed, it was too late to tackle new areas for daffodils)

hibernation

(CG Jr was 'all talk' about being brave enough to hold the bulb)

 The Peruvian daffodils are wintering-over quite nicely. They are 'hibernating' in a paper bag in the cool (but not too cold) laundry room closet. They were dug-up in mid October, had the green foliage snipped off, then rinsed and dried. After dividing-off a few baby bulbs, there should be a half dozen Peruvians ready for planting towards the end of April.

(this post is more of a reminder for CG not to forget about these hard-working bulbs!)