Our Most Curious Ornamental: Castor Bean

Shots from the Greenhouse

It was something like -20F outside this morning (with the windchill), but it's a right around 70F in the greenhouse...a lovely place to work in the cold of winter!

These plants have been potted up by the MSU Horticulture Club, which will be having fundraiser plant sale on April 12 and 13 in the Plant and Soil Sciences Building on MSU's campus. 

Coleus, lots and lots of coleus!

Ageratum

Hypoestes (polka dot plant)

Oxalis and coleus

Heuchera

Winter Blues Cure: Buzzy Bees

Nepeta 'Purple Haze'

Zinnia 'Benary's Giants Mix'

Zinnia 'Benary's Giants Mix'

Salvia 'Evolution'

Here's hoping our bee hive at the MSU Horticulture Gardens makes it through this brutal winter!

Winter Blues Cure: Echinacea

Winter really sucks. Let's look at Echinacea from this past summer!

Secret Glow

Cheyenne Spirit Mix

Winter Blues Cure: Zinnias

Yesterday's temperature (with the wind chill) was about -20F. Yikes! So let's look at some pretty summer photos of zinnias!

Dreamland Coral

Oklahoma Mix with Pennisetum 'Vertigo'

Benary's Giant Mix

Benary's Giant Mix

Benary's Giant Mix

Oklahoma Mix w/ Pennisetum 'Vertigo'

Unknown Zinnia with Gomphrena and Tuscan Kale

California Spring Trials 2012

I'll have more time to go into detail later, but I wanted to share just a few photos from the 2012 California Spring Trials where I'm currently visiting a number of greenhouses full of fabulous plants!

Signs of Spring

I don't go into this part of my yard very often, so I was completely surprised by the little clusters of crocus .

This hellebore has been continuously blooming all winter since it has been so mild.

I was afraid my rhubarb hadn't survived the winter (since we had almost zero snow cover), but look what I found!

The Wolf Moon and Spanish Roja garlic that I planted last fall is well on it's way.

Maybe the second year's the charm with strawberries, because last year was a total bust.

My lovely ladies enjoying the sun and warmth in their temporary playpen (so they have access to fresh grass).

Bearded Iris

I'm not really sure where this white iris came from. I was shocked when I discovered it in my front border. It must be a sport from my dark purple iris. Can this happen?

The flowers on this white iris are huge and pure white.

Here are the dark purple iris that I think must have given rise to the white iris. These purple iris came from my parent's house (which came to them from a neighbor). I love how plants migrate through people.

I've had dark purple columbine revert to white a couple years ago, so maybe this can happen. I don't like the white ones, but I can't bring myself to pull them out.

This light purple iris came with the house. I have a ton of it and it's gorgeous every year!

This peachy colored iris also came with the house. It used to be on the side of the house in the shade. It wasn't flowering well, so I moved it to the front border. I was surprised that it flowered this spring considering I just transplanted it a couple months ago.

Spring Color

Muscari (a.k.a. Grape Hyacinth). These bulbs came from my parents house. I wonder if they're blooming now too?

Dicentra (a.k.a. Bleeding Heart)

Early Identification of Perennials

When I used to garden at my parents house, they would always give me the same old excuse when I asked them to do some weeding...basically some permutation of "we don't know what to leave and what to pull". Here are some photos (pay attention Mom and Dad) of the early spring growth of common perennials in my yard.

Columbine

Hollyhock

Phlox

Chives

Wild Ginger

Bleeding Heart

Delphinium