It’s a bit cold today, but that’s to be expected for the holiday, right? No, not the winter solstice, though it is indeed that, or at least it was at 09:20 UTC, so the daylight hours will be lengthening from here on out (until late June, anyway.) But the real holiday is Get Around To Planting Those Damn Things Again And See If it Works This Time, and so, I’m trying once again to get cardinal flowers (Lobelia cardinalis) established in the yard. I’ve tried twice before, both at the old place, and saw absolutely nothing the first time, and might have seen sprouts begin the second, with nothing further developing all year. Which is slightly puzzling, in that they’re a native species and shouldn’t be that hard to get going. But as I said, don’t hold your breath, especially since it’ll be a few months at least to know for sure. Your face will have turned ultra-blue…
Now, some of you might be saying, “Yeah, uh, Al? It’s winter, dumbass,” (or at least it was at 09:20 UTC,) while others familiar with the species know that it has to cold stratify, and either should be started in the fall or semi-germinate the seeds in a refrigerator. Those people might be saying, “Yeah, uh, Al? They should have been started in November at the latest.” But obviously, I couldn’t if I intended to celebrate the holiday now, could I? Okay then.
Regardless, we’ll see what happens in the spring. Cardinal flowers are popular with hummingbirds and butterflies and would serve as a nice natural setting for such pics, much better than the hummingbird feeders – I’ve been trying to get some kind of natural attractions going for years. The other plants transplanted so far seem to be doing well enough, considering the season, so we have no reason to believe that the soil isn’t amenable. We also don’t know what else we might be seeing come spring, stuff that was already established, though some hints are there at least; I’ve found hibiscus seed pods out on the far edge of the pond, and the previous owners said the wisteria actually needs to be cut back routinely.
There are also several camellia (Family Theaceae) bushes around the house, and this is their season; two of them are in bloom right now, while several others are heavy with buds and should bloom shortly.
Three butterfly bushes also came with us and are already planted, and I intend to get some morning glories going in a few different areas, because I like them, but they’re a spring thing. There might even be a vegetable garden – I’d given up at the old place because none of the tomato plants that we got started (even the ones that started spontaneously in every planter that used compost from our bin) ever got to producing anything more than proof that they were indeed tomatoes.
That said, we got a great harvest from the two key lime trees, and the two lemon trees are overloaded with ripening lemons that should be ready within a few weeks – these are all residing in the greenhouse of course. At the same time, I am routinely out there with my paintbrushes ensuring that we’ll have another crop next year, since they’re all blooming and we don’t have a beehive in the greenhouse – yeah, go figure. At least the fruits don’t look like me…