Back in the AC shelling purple hulled pink-eyed cowpea. The not quite dry ones maybe look a little pink on eyes??They do have magnificently purple hulls.These two cowpea pods are still working on getting that consistent purple.I think this is the “fluttermill” seed pod beginning to develop on the Missouri fluttermill primrose.Lacinato kale is getting a bit overshadowed by the Fordham giant Swiss chard. We’ll have to have a salad to help it out.One marigold! Unfortunately it’s orange in the yellow section?? I thought the mix looked mostly yellow so hopefully at a distance we can pretend it’s golden. 🤣Big banana spider on the north side of tomatoes.A slightly smaller one on the south side.Last night when I mowed the yard, I put the grass trimmings on the rainbow beds as a mulch. Hopefully that keeps the plants happier. You can see Judy’s yellow iris looking lovely in front.
Judy it turns out you did give me multiple iris colors. This beautiful pale yellow one is just blooming now in mid summer!!The irises are at the front of the side yard.
Roundup is starting to take effect on Bermuda grass. I can’t plant the buffalograss until I get that nasty invader out.A different bumblebee (or maybe robber fly mimic?? It flew different I thought) came to get water while I watered rainbow garden beds.Saturday morning dog. She is four years old as of Friday!Ironweed buds! Looking forward to the purple!Briar helping me garden on her birthday. Buffalograss corner of prairie is a good laying spot!I trimmed all the dying dill and cilantro out of the herb bed so I could see what’s going on with parsley, sage, and oregano better.
The coreopsis is going to be spectacular here and in front yard once these numerous buds bloom! Three colors of iris are now blooming. A close up of the newest color, a very nice red-purple.
Bluestars have been blooming for several days now in the backyard. A yellow iris blooming! This is one from Mom. Maybe a baby Baptisia? Or just a clover… We’ll find out soon enough!
I don’t think it froze overnight so the streets are mostly dry except for water flowing along edges. Shady spots and snow piles are less melted.
The front nook, dog for scale. The front yard beds, distracted dog for scale. It looks like everything in the rock garden survived! Also more of the irises by the mailbox survived, so I guess only some leaves got damaged. Since we’re back to usual late winter temperature I went ahead and brought out the coreopsis seedlings which I had cold stratified in the fridge. They have been waiting as little seedlings on a damp paper towel for probably a week or more. They are under the glass jars. They are to replace two seedlings I planted last fall that didn’t make it. This row is back to five evenly spaced plants now assuming everything survives.
Well, on the way out to walk the dog, I started lifting up some tubs and towels to let things have sun and see what survived. I’ll go out again later and see about the kohlrabi and one cabbage as the chef wants them for dinner. Any feedback on whether to trim back the damaged perennials (irises, garlic, rosemary) would be appreciated!
The saffron leaves seem intact. Strawberries with the saffron seem okay too! These were all under a towel and a tub. The cilantro was under a tub. It died. The leaves of cilantro in the cactus planter also died, but there appeared to be some live bright green at the base. We’ll see if it grows back. This native plant rosette (I think Gaillardia?) seems fine and i didn’t cover it or its neighbors at all. It had more snow on it during the coldest cold. The oregano in the herb bed by the plant window looks a little worse for the wear. It had two plastic tubs over it. Some leaves look damaged but some seem maybe okay. Both the front and backyard faucets and pipes seem to have survived!!! That’s a relief. I opened both slightly for a few minutes, just in case to clear any bits of ice out, but it was all liquid coming out that I could see or hear. Whew! Front yard strawberries seem overall okay on the northwest side. These had towels and tubs in the center, and just towels around the planter base. Even the un-toweled leaves seem okay so far. Other parts of the bed had an aluminum trash can lid and leaves over them. I’m feeling pretty optimistic. The irises by the mailbox got frozen. Anybody know if I should trim them back or just let them regrow on their own? Most of the rosemary is now a very dead looking brown-green, but at the base of at least one there is still life (the brighter green branches) so I hope they can all grow back. Presumably insulation from snow helped the base. Like the irises, the garlic is very unhappy. I hope they too will grow back from their roots.
