Departures, Arrivals and Amaryllis

This post, Departures, Arrivals and Amaryllis, was written by Annie in Austin for her Transplantable Rose Blog.


POST-FREEZE REPORT FROM NW AUSTIN Remember the Mother of Thousands standing tall against the window in January?


Alas, it exists no more - frozen to mush by three repeated hard freezes, with temperatures in the mid-twenties.


The necks of dozens of blooming stalks of Yellow Bulbine in the front garden were snapped by the same freeze .

For most of the summer the Fern-leaf lavender threatened to engulf two other varieties, blooming month after month. After the freezes the sweet lavender and Spanish lavender look fine, but the Fern-leafed lavender looks dead. It's been a rather mild winter here so none of these losses are more than what was expected.
Now temperatures are pleasant, but it's really windy and no rain means warnings about fire danger.



SEEDS INSIDE AND OUT

In a recent blog post MSS of Zanthan Gardens says the hard freezes in some parts of Austin never arrived in the central part of town. She also notes that she's busy transplanting Larkspur seedlings. I have no intention of disturbing the single larkspur seedling seen above. It sprouted in the Hummingbird garden - sure hope there will be more! A few radish sprouts popped up in the vegetable plot, but there's no sign of the Cilantro that usually self-seeds all over the place. In a panic at the thought of no Cilantro, I planted fresh seed a few weeks ago but have seen no sign of germination yet.


In the early 1990's, Philo built a large, lighted and heated plant table. We had a big garden then and needed to start lots of seeds. That set-up had to be left behind but we kept this earlier, smaller edition with us as we moved from house to house. I recently found it and plugged it in for the first time since we arrived in Texas in 1999, hoping that it can still sprout tomato plants.



CAN YOU TELL THEM APART?

Small Narcissus blithely ignore most freezes. I showed you some early Narcissus in the January Bloom Day post, and mistakenly said they were 'Grand Primo'. I don't remember planting them, but a few weeks later the mystery narcissus were joined by the real Narcissus tazetta 'Grand Primo', which I did plant, less than a foot away . The differences are subtle. The unnamed variety above bloomed in mid-January, with flowers on stalks about 2-feet tall.


The narcissus labeled 'Grand Primo' open in mid-February and they're about 15" tall.


MSS suggested the unnamed narcissus wasn't a paperwhite since those have thinner leaves. Maybe it's 'Avalanche' or 'Nazareth'? To me the individual flowers look slightly smaller than the 'Grand Primo', with more of a point to the petals. The long strappy leaves are wider than paperwhites but narrower than that on 'Grand Primo.



The 'Grand Primo' flowers seen seem to be a little larger and the petals seem to flare out a little more before coming to a point. The cups in the earlier photo are closer to the real-life color - the cups in this one aren't quite yellow enough, although they do fade. This identification is tentative but one thing is sure... the scent! Lori is looking for a good smelling small narcissus. The unnamed narcissus isn't too bad, but it's a sure bet I would never let 'Grand Primo' bloom inside. You'll have to keep looking for a sweeter scented variety.




MICROCLIMATES

All is not frost and freeze - as May Dreams Carol has discovered, Microclimates make a difference. In a protected corner where fence meets wall in the Secret garden, the 'Amethyst' Passionvine stays green, providing the habitat for what looks like a Gulf Fritillary Caterpillar.


A few feet away from the Passionvine a bedding geranium stays in bloom. The white impatiens in the same pot has had some freeze damage, but it's alive and rebudding.


Where's the safest microclimate at my house? Inside the breakfast room! The Meyer's Lemon lives there for winter, and it's loaded with buds. A couple of open flowers smell sweet and some tiny lemons are developing.


The dark 'Red Dragon' amaryllis at right slowly opened six huge double blooms over a period of nearly three weeks. The first stalk is now reduced to one fading flower and the second stalk has stayed tight at the base. Attention turns to the two flowery stalks of a taller, flashier striped amaryllis named 'Stargazer', with almost all the flowers open at once. The show won't be as long but for the moment, it is spectacular.

This post, Departures, Arrivals and Amaryllis, was written by Annie in Austin for her Transplantable Rose Blog.