New Cheesehead Gardening Episode!

Gardening New Year's Resolutions

It's been a while since I posted on here.  Once the cold weather starts to creep in and I can no longer be outside gardening I go into my winter slump.  I am also extremely busy at work in the fall, so that keeps me away as well.  So I hope no one was worried about me, I'm still here!   I do post more often on my Facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/cheeseheadgardening 

So the new year is coming upon us, time to start thinking about resolutions.  I've been thinking about my garden resolutions.  I don't want to be to unrealistic.  I really could thin out my hosta collection, but am I really going to do that??????  NO.  So this year I am going to try to commit to starting some of my seeds earlier.  If you follow my blog or my Facebook page you know I LOVE Japanese morning glories.  The problem is that they usually start blooming for me late summer about the time I go back to work.  So I want to start them inside early this year so I can enjoy them earlier in the summer.

What are your gardening resolutions?

Tuesday Night's Storm

Tuesday night our area was hit pretty hard by a storm.  We lost power at our house for about 36 hours, but there are still people without power today (Friday) as I write this.  We did not have any storm damage at our house.  We thought a big branch broke off of our tree, but it turned out it was a branch from a neighbor's tree who lives two houses away.  It was eventually confirmed that 5 tornadoes came through our area that night.  Thankfully their were no fatalities from the storm.  I can honestly say I have never seen lightning like it before in my life.  It was continuous, like a flashbulb just kept going off over and over again.

Bloom Day Post - Juy 10th, 2012

Martagon Lilies

Spiderman Daylily

Early blooming helenium

Turks Cap Lilies

Kisses Like Wine Daylily

Web of Intrigue daylily

Winter Vole Damage - help

So the snow is gone, and now I can see all the trails left behind by the voles.  So far I know I have lost at least one hosta to their winter eating.  I have yet to find a foolproof way of getting rid of them.  So if anyone has some ideas I would love to hear them!  I am hoping having a dog again might keep them out.

Vole trails in one of my hosta beds.

Start of blooms in the spring garden

Gardening Events for the Cold Months Ahead

Yes, I have been missing for a while.   With the craziness of the holidays, the flu, and then the cold weather gardening has not been on mind.  I wish I was old or wealthy enough to spend my winters somewhere a little warmer.  If you have the winter blahs like me, here are some gardening events to help get you out of your funk.

Garden Expo in Madison - Feb 8-10.  Tons of garden related vendors, workshops, and speakers.  I look forward to this one every winter.  http://www.wigardenexpo.com/

Garden Expectations Conference in Kimberly, WI - March 16. https://www.facebook.com/events/347960418632506/?context=create

Chicago Flower & Gardening Show March 9-17.  http://www.chicagoflower.com/

What's still blooming Nov. 17th

Collecting and Storing Hosta Seeds

This video is from last year, but here's how to collect and store hosta seeds.

My Rant About Gardening Magazines

So with gardening season behind me, I actually have some time to catch up on reading gardening magazines.  I love seeing gardening ideas.  I will probably never give up on gardening magazines.  However, there is something that really annoys me about gardening magazines.  There is usually some kind of feature in the magazine where they list the top 10 plants for something, like the top 10 plants for shade.  However they always, and I mean always, list some plant that is extremely hard to grow or they don't list all the details about a plant.  They don't list details such as it takes 8 years to establish into the plant you see in the picture or this is an extremely close up picture of this plant it's really very small.  It always makes me worry about the inexperienced gardener who gives that plant a try based on that recommendation. Gardening is all about successes and failures, you learn as you grow.  I had a lot of failures in my own garden, but a lot of times I knew I was pushing limits such as hardiness zones.  When you are putting something out there for gardeners of every level you should disclose all the details about the plant.  It makes me wonder if they are making money off of nurseries by pushing some of these plants?  What is there reasoning for putting these hard to grow plants on their top 10 lists?  What are your thoughts?  I'd love to hear them.

Late Bloomers

While I was out planting the last of my bulbs today I noticed that there were still some plants that were flowering in the garden.

Fall Blooming Crocus

Nasturtium

Sedum

Anemone 'Party Dress'

Mum

Mum

Not a flower, but Japanese Maple leaves are a beautiful red.

Hosta 'Wily Willy'

Phlox

Impatiens

Monkshood

Martian Moonflower

Lobelia

Cold Hardy Pansy

Morning Glories of 2012