…and to bulbous Corydalis Due to a mild winter this year, the first picture of Corydalis malkensis starting to flower was recorded on March 20th! This is the first Corydalis to flower in our climate. Corydalis paczoskii followed shortly then along the month of April, more and more flowers appeared throughout the garden. As usual, […]
We sowed the seeds, took care of the smallest seedlings and they grew up. I am talking about the indoor started sowings. Those who are sowing outdoors will follow the same procedures later. Now it is time to prick out (or transplant) some of them.* *From among species that you shouldn’t prick out in the […]
…for admiring the second North American native Hepatica: Hepatica americana. Again, even if there is a whole page dedicated to the Queen of the woodlands on the website and other images with these beauties, this is a celebratory period worth noticing. In various shades of blue, white, sometimes purple and rarely pink, these little woodland […]
Back to the ‘Out in the woods’ posts, with less ‘talk’ and more pictures. But make no mistake there is plenty info on this website to keep you reading about the featured plants. A bit earlier this year, the flowering of Hepatica acutiloba (Sharp lobed-leaf liverwort) has started in the southern regions of Ontario, along […]
Last week we had the simple answer to the ‘up’ and ‘down’ of a seed – sowing wise. Again, do not worry about the position of the seeds when sowing. Due to gravitropism, the radicles will always go ‘down’ and the cotyledon leaf(ves) ‘up’. For those willing to know more about this subject, theoretically we […]
I know that seeds germination is in the mind of all gardeners in early spring. So, I will try to answer a question someone recently directed (as a comment): “Does anybody know the orientation of the root vs plant ends on the seeds?” Due to spam attacks, I have been trying to block the comments, […]
An update for this previous post, to show some newly emerged seedlings after using the Miracle Gro mix instead of the Fafard sowing mix: Minuartia michauxii, Silene saxifraga and Silene suecica. There is no need of so many seedlings, reason why I always say – take care when sowing very fine seeds. It is also […]
We have been deceived into an early spring in Southern Ontario and, as expected, winter returned this week. Temperatures are forecasted to plunge to as low as -10C to – 12C depending on the locality. The main reason I am writing this post is mainly related to the winter sowings. Unusual high temperatures over the […]
A weird phenomenon is happening with my indoor sowings one species after another: the seedlings would start to elongate excessively right away after germination, just to vanish in a blink of an eye afterwards (exemplified with Minuartia michauxii). Species like Minuartia, Silene, Luetkea and others like them have done the worst; a few more vigorous […]
The Crocuses, snowdrops, the first Hepatica in bloom and others announce that spring is in the air, a bit too early this year. It is an exciting time with renewed hope when we all think about new plants to add to the garden and new ones to start from seeds. Some people plan well ahead […]
It is March 1st and the flowering snowdrops announce an early spring. Another confirmation comes from the first Iris reticulata, Eranthis, the well-developed buds of Helleborus, Adonis and Corydalis, as well as chipmunks running around. Setbacks are to be expected for sure, but what’s done is done, or better said, what’s flowering is flowering, and […]
An update to the HWT treatments of last week: Anthyllis montana and Astragalus missourinesis seeds were the first ones to react; they were sown and the first Anthyllis montana seedling showed up this morning! It seems that not all Anthyllis are equal, Anthyllis vulneraria var. coccinea seeds were slower to imbibe, and are still receiving […]
Winter returned yesterday and the kettle was on for tea; the perfect day to start the warm sowings and to test the hot water treatment (HWT) on more species. A customer asked me more details about Lespedeza violacea, Violet bush-clover, seeds recently and I realized that I forgot to check it with the HWT, so […]
I first wrote a very short post on Leptarrhena pyrolifolia seeds in 2018, after receiving a small package of seeds from a friend. I was wondering that time about the particular shape of the seeds, different than any other seeds of the Saxifragaceae family I’ve seen. In a way it makes sense, Leptarrhena pyrolifolia (Leatherleaf […]
This is the almost traditional post for this time in February when the washing of the pots for indoor sowing starts! I never wash the pots for outdoors sowing, but you may want to avoid bringing indoors eggs of various insects which can remain attached to pots, and who knows what else. It is enough […]
This year we are experiencing a classic January thaw in Ontario. Not only we have above 0°C temperatures, it is also raining. It is a welcome respite from frigid temperatures for both people and plants, and also on this occasion the snow cover gets diminished (where applicable), with nice surprises showing up! The jump to […]
