The Weekend

By the fire on Saturday morning after my trip to the vet with kitty. 

She maintained her position on Saturday and Sunday. Between trips to her bowl for food and water and playing with the ball throughout the house, she slept. Her bed is not far away but she's doing what she probably does when I'm not at home and can't see her laying on the furniture.

I did something this weekend that I haven't done for a long time, cook dinner on Saturday. Shrimps for shrimp salad. This freed my Sunday to do whatever I wanted including start some vegetable seeds.

Cooked yesterday for tonight's dinner, kale, collards, and turkey.

For some of my veggies. I won't talk about them until they do something if anything. I've never tried vegetable seeds inside before. It's a little early for some but I'm planting them today as some are cool season and will go out in early spring. 

Really having problems with geranium seeds germinating strangely. If a seedling dampens off I figure maybe too much moisture or keeping a dome on too long, but seeds that germinate and appear deformed, that's not something I did wrong. I'm not buying more seeds. I used the new ones for my second sowing and have a few left from 2015 and 2012 that I'll sow. Can't hurt.

The wizard mix of coleus germinated in 2 days but chocolate mint which was pelleted took a few more days but have started germinating.

Obviously I don't know how to sprinkle a few seeds in each cell. What am I going to do with these?

Giant exhibition red coleus starting to get their true leaves and a tiny spot of their red color. All ten seeds germinated and are healthy.

Vinca with some seeds again that weren't as healthy. One germinated with no leaves. I planted 10 and 8 germinated but not all look healthy. I sowed another small container with about 14 pacifica from Swallowtail seeds.

A closer look at those 2 vinca seedlings. The one on the top right still has the seed coat attached and the one next to it doesn't look promising.

Vinca again.

Another container of geraniums that don't look good either.

Ivy leaf geraniums. I dug up the seeds that didn't germinate today and they look like they have problems but the one's that germinated look healthy.

Ivy leaf geraniums again.

This is a geranium from my first sowing that refused to give up. Time to pot it up.

I'm going to see if these force. Minus time in the refrigerator but they've had some cold on my unheated porch and had to have some chilling before they arrived at the end of the season or else they would probably have been mushy, or dried out by now. The worse that can happen but they don't force. I'd love to smell them before spring.

Still showing out.

They're starting to look like ivy leaf geraniums. Good thing since I didn't label them.

Coleus and palm in the kitchen window. Last season's seedlings would look prettier had I have pinched it to help it be bushier.

She needed a little support. Did you say, what is that little plant? Don't ask.

Primose still living but needs to be deadheaded so more blooms can continue.

They bloom all year and are hard to kill.

The upstairs window. Yes there's still snow. 

In the upstairs window. Her variegated color came out with the addition of osmocote. 

Beautiful sunset tonight.

Pelleted chocolate mint has started to germinate.

Vinca on the heat mat covered for darkness to germinate.

Geraniums

Red coleus.

Coleus again.

Vinca

Vinca

Vinca

Geranium seed on the left is abnormal.

Geraniums

Ivy leaf geraniums.

Ivy leaf geraniums

Geraniums seedlings having trouble germinating and don't think they'll do anything.

Only 9 viola seedlings remain. The other's died. Payed good money for those seeds and I'm dissapointed. I'll so the remained and try somehhing different like the window seal. After the light burned them they were doomed.

The ivy leaf geraniums have been the healthiest.

I hope you enjoyed seeing them as they progress. That's my favorite part of looking at other gardening blogs. It gives helps me see what to expect and what looks normal and what doesn't. Hope your seedlings are progressing nicely.

She's a Beautiful Girl

She's blazing red and I couldn't capture her beautiful color. After it bloomed at Christmas, another flower stalk developed.The seed pod on the first stalk long past bloom is still fat and doing well. Maybe when these blooms fade and foliage develops, the pod will dry and I can remove it and save the seeds and cut the stalks. I'm going to plant it and place it next to another one I potted up last weekend while snowed in.

Nir paperwhites. I'm waiting patiently for growth and signs of flower stalks.

Just knew there would be tulip blooms by now but not yet. I looked on line tonight for hyacinth forcing vases  and maybe I'll just have to be creative. They'll last for my life time but one for sixteen dollars , no.

One of 2 pots of remaining nir paperwhites growing slowly. This weekend there was an awful smell in the living room and I thought, if I ifind something kitty is going to get it. It was the paperwhites on the mantel, rotten. They've been in water only covering the base for months. I'm glad the company gave me a refund on them. I'd love to see them bloom because with the size of the bulbs, the blooms have to be  beautiful and floriferous. 

Clivia, clivia, when will thou bloom? I was late trying the cold treatment this fall so, maybe no blooms this winter or spring. It has made it 3 years, hard to kill but she looks a little floppy tonight. Maybe she needes a small drink of water.