The Parsley Patch

The Parsley Patch has moved into the garden at the Old House Attic. Please join us there for more gardening fun!

The David Austin rose Gentle Hermione is a vigorous, upright grower for me. The blooms are the perfect old rose form that is blushed with the lightest and gentlest pink. The fragrance however, is anything but gentle. It is a strong, powerful scent that fills a room much like a peony does. Heaven!

Behind it is a fading peony, Bridal Icing bloom.

My new weather station is up and running! Now I can tell exactly what the weather is up here on the top of my hill which is always different than what’s reported in town. The sensor unit is temporarily mounted until I find the right spot, which I think I have and will mount it up higher to clear the shrubs.

After debating over several models by Oregon Scientific and La Crosse, I finally settled on the Acu-Rite/Chaney model 01500. It ended up being the most comprehensive for moderate cost combo. And the display really is superior to both of the other more well-known brands. It currently will not work with the computer, but the Acu-Rite folks have announced that a compatible computer interface will be coming later this summer. I also liked the fact that the sensors are contained in one streamlined unit that utilizes both battery and solar power. It has proven to be extremely accurate!

I quickly grabbed the first roses of the season to brighten the inside on these dreary rainy days This is Rainbow Sorbet, a floribunda, but seems to be showing more leaning towards hybrid tea with very large individual blooms. This is its first season, perhaps it will become more multi-flowered as time goes by. Lovely glowing colors, but only a slight fragrance.

May Dreams Gardens brings garden bloggers together on the 15th of every month for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day to showcase what’s blooming in gardens around the planet.

After a long, hard winter and cold rainy spring, it finally feels and looks like springtime as the garden has come alive on May Day with a riot of color.

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Every year, the dining room is transformed into the “greenhouse” for seed starting. Things were off and running great and as things were potted on, they moved out to the cold house.

The cold house is a simple temporary greenhouse on the patio that helps to harden off seedlings. On warm days the pots and flats are set out on the patio table.

From just three lights, the small outside greenhouse and proper timing, a lot can be produced. At maximum capacity, the lights will house six flats and a number of pots at once. But if the timing is just right, those flats and pots can be moved to the cold house and another set started inside giving a maximum output of over a dozen flats of flowers and/or vegetables.

The scent of spring is in the air as the blue Festival Hyacinths begin to bloom. In many respects, I like them better than regular full hyacinths. They are multistemmed and do truly seem to multiply from year to year.

May Dreams Gardens brings garden bloggers together on the 15th of every month for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day to showcase what’s blooming in gardens around the planet.

Finally after a long hard winter, signs of spring are popping up and the snowdrops are in bloom! What a delight to go outside and find these wonderful little flowers brightening up the garden as it begins to wake from winter slumber.

May Dreams Gardens brings garden bloggers together on the 15th of every month for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day to showcase what’s blooming in gardens around the planet.

I was so hoping to go outside yesterday and find the witch hazel to be blooming, but I was hard pressed to even find sight of a bud this year. Perhaps I hacked it back to much last year? Or perhaps this incredibly cold and snowy winter has delayed its bloom. So alas, all that is blooming is my cyclamen by the window.

May Dreams Gardens brings garden bloggers together on the 15th of every month for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day to showcase what’s blooming in gardens around the planet.

Winter may be raging outside with one barrage of snow storm after another, but inside a glimmer of spring is blooming.

I found this incredibly large and gorgeous ruffled cyclamen at the garden center while foraging for bird seed, which was on short supply everywhere. It was the only one with this wonderfully vibrant violet highlighting amongst dozens of smaller and paler-colored plants.

May Dreams Gardens brings garden bloggers together on the 15th of every month for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day to showcase what’s blooming in gardens around the planet.