Oh What A Beautiful Garden

You Can’t Trust Chicago Weather

By Carol Cichorski, on April 1st, 2011

It is spring, but you can’t tell by looking at Chicago weather. You can barely see the neighbor’s house. What did we do to deserve all of this snow on the Cub’s opening day?

Did I mention today is April 1st? Do you think that just perhaps it is your local blogger that you can’t trust on this April Fool’s day?

Gardener Bloggers’ Muse Day – April 2011

By Carol Cichorski, on April 1st, 2011

The month of April, per Edith Holden’s “Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady” …

The name of this month is derived from the Greek word fo ‘opening’. In many countries of Europe the first of April has for long been appropriated to a facetious custom for which no satisfactory origin has yet been assigned. To send an ignorant or unsuspecting person on a bootless errand is the great endeavour of the day. In England such an one is designated ‘April fool’, in Scotland he is said to be ‘hunting the gowk’, while in France he is called ‘poisson d’Avril’ or April fish.

And from the collection of poetry Ms. Holden has been kind enough to share with us …

Oh, how this spring of love resembleth
The uncertain glory of an April day!
Which now shows all the beauty of the sun
And by and bye a cloud takes all away.

From: Two Gentlemen of Verona
Author: Shakespeare

Whereforth cometh the inspiration to wax poetic? Gardeners’ Muse Day, where Carolyn Choi invites bloggers to share our favorite poems, songs, verses and quotes about gardening on the first of the month.

You Want Me To Plant My Dahlias NOW???

By Mike Cichorski, on March 29th, 2011

You may want dahlias like these. Who wouldn’t? But if you read the first article on propagating, that might be too serious for you. After all, you can just go to the store, get a package of dahlia bulbs, and plop them in the ground in May. Or can you????

You can, if you are willing to wait till September for blooms. You can get a head start on the season by potting up the tubers now. Doing so can result in earlier blooms, therefore significantly more flowers!

Considering that a tuber will take about 10-20 days to sprout and maybe another 3-4 weeks to get 18 inches tall, you could get a jump on the season by potting the tuber NOW. It will have good development when you transplant it outside after May 15th (Chicago’s last official day of possible frost).

Another advantage of starting early is that some tubers just don’t perform. They may not sprout at all, or they may take 2 months before you see any green come out of them. Those slow growers and perpetual sleepers need to be weeded out. By starting the tubers early, you get to see “who are the contenders and who are the pretenders”.

So go on-line to a place like KVB Wholesale to drool a little, dream a little, and buy a big ‘un. Start with a reliable and impressive plant like this one, Kelvin Floodlight. Frank Campise says ‘You can’t kill Kelvin Floodlight with a lawnmower’. You’ll look like a pro.

You’ll need bright light – doesn’t have to be an official grow light at all. Pick up some potting mix. Wait for Kelvin to arrive. Come back here soon for planting instructions.

C is for Calla Lily, D is for Dahlia, and E is for Elephant Ears

By Carol Cichorski, on March 26th, 2011

Today is being brought to you by the letters C, D, and E. Just like Sesame Street is a perennial favorite for kids (I couldn’t help myself, pun intended), propagating is a perennial favorite for men – at least for mine.

D is for dahlias
Mike is in the basement as we speak, happily nurturing his many dahlia plants. When it comes to propagating, I don’t think its just Mike though. There is a higher percentage of men in Central States Dahlia Society than there are women. Many of the women are like me, just along for the ride. Don’t get me wrong, I love having dahlias, and Mike does ‘let’ me work in his dahlia gardens. When prime dahlia season comes in the fall, I am joyfully joyfully creating vase after vase of beautiful cut flowers.

C is for calla lily
Now he is adding calla lilies to his repertoire of basement sprouts. Last autumn, Mike could not pass up a great deal on 60 pots of calla lilies at a serious calla lily grower’s home sale. He overwintered those in the garage just like he does the dahlias. But no, that wasn’t enough. He also bought a bag of calla lilies at Costco last week. They’re in a pot too. We had them on the kitchen sink, then learned they are VERY poisonous to cats, so they’ve been moved out of Seeker’s reach.

E is for elephant ears
We aren’t growing any elephant ears in our garden this year. Thought I’d bring it up though. If you’d like to, this is a great time to buy some and get them in a pot pre-season as well. Dig them up in the fall as well. You’ll have more than you started with to pack away for next year.

Dahlia Time – There be sprouts!

By Carol Cichorski, on March 22nd, 2011

Its been several weeks since Mike started his dahlia tubers, and all is well in our basement. Sprouts, sprouts, and more sprouts. This is our second tray full. They’re in oasis under plain old fluorescent lights. Pretty cool, huh?

Here’s a sprout that will soon join its friends. Mike planted the tuber in potting mix. After 2 – 3 weeks, the first sprout is 3″ and ready for cutting. The tuber goes back under lights to continue creating more sprouts for us.

Not sure that you care? Look below at Woodland’s Wildthing, then decide. Cuz that’s the tuber in the pot. More coming soon on growing dahlias.

OhWhatAWednesday – Winter Interest Or Sandals?

By Carol Cichorski, on March 17th, 2011

Winter interest or sandals? That is the question. I am sitting on my back porch (oh I can’t tell you that because a winter interest article would have to be written in the warmth of my home). The question is still ‘Winter interest or sandals?’ I’d really rather not talk about winter interest. I’d rather celebrate spring. I know for a fact it is spring because I bought a great pair of sandals. I’ll only show you one pair because I don’t want Mike to know I bought five pair.

I also know its spring because I saw a sign, a garage sale sign. True sign of spring.

And I was out in my garden twice this week cutting down grasses. Better yet, there was a good 4″ of new growth.

And I drove to Linda’s after work yesterday with the convertible top down. We then took a walk, without coats.

This must be spring, even though the calendar still says winter.

Ergo my conundrum. I should finish the promised series about winter interest and talk about something like pine trees. My great big pine trees look great all winter. No surprise, but its hard to plant something like pine trees when you want instant gratification. Do it anyway. We are so glad the previous owners of our house did.

I’ll just have to wait till next week to tell you how many plants in my garden are celebrating spring as well.

The artemesia that was supposed to be questionable in zone 5, IT’S BAACCKK. Maybe the garden center meant invasive in zone 5. That has certainly been my experience.

The daffodils have buds.

Clusters of green are hiding under last year’s sedum and mums.

But that will have to wait till next week. Because this week, I’m doing one more week of winter interest. Sure I am.

This is THE LAST installment in the OhWhatAWednesday series, where I dared to take on the task of finding something in my garden that looked good even during a Chicago winter.

Winter Interest Morphs into Spring To Do List

By Carol Cichorski, on March 15th, 2011

Oh my gosh. Regine was right. ‘Gardening IS housework you do outside’. Last week my garden was filled with Winter Interest. This week it is filled with Spring To Do Items. My many beautiful grasses have gone from wispy to weepy. Autumn joy sedum has no more joy. Little lumps of snow covered kale looked cute. Now they border on disgusting. And they are on the wrong side of the border. Speaking of disgusting … If you can find snow around Chicagoland, its in a parking lot, disguised as a grey mountain of yuchh. Whose idea was this spring thing anyway???

My garden looks like this:

And this:

But wait, is that my first tiny bloom of winter aconite? Yes!

And tulips. Could those be tulips? Yes!

Thank you God, for the gift of seasons!!!

To see what else is in bloom on the 15th of every month, visit May Dreams Gardens.

Dahlia Time – Wake up Sleepyheads

By Mike Cichorski, on March 11th, 2011

Hello from a dahlia grower and propagator!

If you live in the Chicagoland area, it may be time to start growing the new lineup for your 2011 dahlia garden. This time of the year is reserved for those of us who propagate dahlias, sometimes turning 1 tuber into 10 or 15 plants. If you don’t propagate, wait, your turn is coming soon.

I stored my 90 tubers over the winter and now hope to create my yearly 300 cuttings. Darn, I only have room for about 100 plants myself. So some stay in my yard, while others go to plant sales.

In mid to late February, I take the tubers out of their storage box and rinse off the powdered sulphur. The tuber is then planted in a 4-6 inch pot with about 25% of the tuber top sticking out of the soil. I like to leave the top exposed like this so that I have easy access to the little sprouts that will be coming from the tuber top. By the way, the soil is standard potting mix, not soil from the garden. I don’t want bugs or the extra weight.

My potted tubers are immediately watered from the top and simultaneously soaked from the bottom. I actually place the pot in about 3 inches of water and let it soak for about 10 minutes so that all of the soil is well saturated. It is then drained so that there is only wetted potting mix, but no standing water. This type of start will keep the tuber damp enough for at least a week in my dry basement. If the pots are smaller, watering may need to be done more frequently.

Now we sit and wait. I have seen sprouts came come as early as 7 days after potting. Remember, these potted tubers in waiting don’t have any light requirements. Light is not needed until it has sprouted.

See ya in 1 week

The Dahlia Lama

OhWhatAWednesday – River Birch Bark

By Carol Cichorski, on March 10th, 2011

The picture says it all. River birch bark looks great in winter. The good news is that winter is just about over, even the snow you see in this picture is gone. Woohoo!

This is an installment in the OhWhatAWednesday series, where I dare to take on the task of finding something in my garden that looks good even during a Chicago winter.

The 2011 Chicago Flower & Garden (and Shopping) Show

By Carol Cichorski, on March 8th, 2011

You are bound to come home with something from the Chicago Flower & Garden Show. Whether its a shamwow (we’ve all fallen for that one haven’t we?) or something garden appropriate like the vibrating pillow (ok so maybe that one isn’t garden appropriate either), you’ve just got to shop at the show.

My very very very favorite was the Flair Tulip that was on display. I’m not yet sure how I’m going to get it, since Doornbosch Bros is officially a fundraising site. I’m also not sure it reliably has the red hearts that are so prominent in this picture. Mike promises to do some supplier research for me, as I’d rather buy it from Doornbosch since they put out the money to be at the show.

Mom came home with a group of succulents from Ted’s Greenhouse. At 81, Ted is quite the character. I hope that I’m that spry at 81, and that I look forward to every day like Ted does.

Carol and Kerrie from SeedKeeperCompany.com weren’t officially selling at the show. They did provide some of the door prizes for the Garden Writers Association. I won a seed keeping kit. It includes a collection of 14 seed starting, sowing and saving tools & supplies.

Mike got dahlias from D. Landreth Seed Company, as we only have 47 varieties growing in the basement so far. Even worse, I encouraged him. As you can see by the picture, they make me smile.

Come to the Elk Grove Garden Club plant sale on the Saturday before Mother’s day if you want dahlias. We’ll be at the Farm from 10 – 3 on May 7th. Yes, I know he has to start posting about how to grow dahlias. Soon, I promise.

Smith & Hawkins. Long gone – NO. If you mourned when they closed their stores, rejoice as Target resurrects their product line. Some items in the store, some at Target on-line. So get on over to the Garden Show. Like the folks below, and like me, you can come home smiling too.

Oh What A Beautiful Garden – Chicagoland