Category Archives: General Gardening

A beautiful day for some garden work!

It’s around 52f today but sunny with a bright blue sky! It’s a great day for yard work!

The garden centers seem desperate for business so you can find some greats deals! I took the opportunity to add to my hellebore collection!

I purchased a Josef Lemper and a Merlin to add to my collection!

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I have been building my collection along the front walk for ten years and the oldest plants are large and reseeding.The new hybrids seem to reseed prolifically!

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It will be interesting to see what colors the flowers will be as this clump has a parent which is pink!

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Of course, Gus enjoys the sun and is very content to chew limbs which fall from the trees on this very windy day!

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Warm days like this remind me that we only have about a month of winter here in the Piedmont of North Carolina!

The spring bulbs are reminding me, too!

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Is that Spring just around the corner?

As winter continues it is typically mild. There was one night where the temperatures reached the teens otherwise the days are in the upper 40s and nights are in the low 30s.

Even with these temps there are winter bloomers:

Wintersweet

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Snowdrops

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Witchhazel ‘Jelena’

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Hellebore

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The early crocus have begun to bloom, too!

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Our last killing frost is usually the second week of March with the possibility of light frost into the first week of April.

Spring is in the air!

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Someone save me from the Hellebores!

When the hellebore are blooming during this time of the year I want to buy hundreds of them and plant throughout the garden!

The newer hybrids bloom heavily and for such a long season! Below is the hybrid HCG Jacob.

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Several camellia are blooming, too!

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Snowdrops are still blooming, too!

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Tonight will be there coldest all season!

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And that means it is soup season –

French onion soup

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Or a potato and turnip greens soup

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Or a very much chicken and dumpling stew

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And the Raleigh Farmers Market is loaded with cool season veggies so the combinations are endless!

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But than I am surprised when I am walking through Home Depot checking out the Christmas clearance and I spot a table of huge Batflower plants! It is such a rare find!

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There are reputed to be difficult to grow in a house so I don’t spend the $34.95 but it was tempting since they are rarely seen. Maybe they will be the next trendy plant?

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