This week’s events… Busy busy

Got winecup (Callirhoe involucrata) seeds in the mail from prairiemoon.com. This species gets boiling water then 30 days cold in fridge. They also kindly sent a free seed packet of Dalea purpurea which we immediately planted.
The straggler roots of Maximilian sunflower are everywhere. Paula and I lifted up this stepping stone to find more. We’re potting them up to give away. The big colony that we transferred over to edge of shade is sprouting too.
Glass gem popcorn now in the raised beds!
Judy gave me these delightful frog stepping stones for my birthday! Thanks Judy!!
The Phacelia leaf in the rock garden is very similar to the invasive geranium leaf I am holding, but isn’t as round.
In the very middle, you can see a single Datura pushing up. The other seedlings look like what I hoped was honeysuckle, but is now coming up everywhere.
This seedling is in the Two-Leaf Senna pot. We’ll see.
Human, you must rest.

The finished projects from yesterday plus seeds today

Four t posts. Wires go east to west on both, holding in the blackberry canes so we can walk through and harvest. There was one new sprout in the middle that grew up and we moved it into a line with another.
Close up so you can see aluminum wire.
We finished the compost pile area yesterday but I forgot to take a picture. Wes did a lovely job leveling it all and put rebar through several holes to keep it in place.
I connected an old hose from one of the rain barrels to make sure the pile stays suitably damp for decomposition.
See that big seedling on the lower right edge? I don’t recognize it, so there is a possibility it’s the native bush honeysuckle Lonicera albiflora which is what I planted in this pot and left out all winter.
A pale but bright turquoise fungus growing on the showy milkweed seeds. The seeds felt plump though so maybe some will grow.
Strophostyles helvula bean seeds. One has fungus but also a little root!!
All the seeds we planted out of fridge stratification today. There’s still a few more left for late April that needed more time.
A little mystery seedling in the old Maximilian sunflower area.
Paula and I pulled and dug a lot of Maximilian sunflower shoots out of there. Hopefully we can find them new homes!

Signs of life

Cat greets morning sun, waiting for his Doggie to return inside.
Lemon balm herb reemerging.
Mystery seedlings in the prickly pear planter. EDIT: These are baby anise hyssop (Agastache)!! Compare the seedlings on the prairiemoon.com website.
A speckled mystery seedling in the prickly pear planter.
Another mystery.
Tiny mystery.
Probably mare’s tail seedlings?
Probably white avens seedling?
In the cactus planter, this Escobaria missouriensis and its smaller sibling are doing well.
I think this is a winecup rosette. Hurrah! Don’t know why it didn’t bloom last year, but I’m glad one survived from two falls ago.
Whitlow-wort transplant is going to seed. May it come back next year!

Heavens opening

Mesonet says 2.03″ rain today for Norman.
Paula and I took 15 min or so to try to drain some of the water off the low patio area. Hopefully this will also absorb slowly into yard. Briar moved in this picture but she spent several minutes staring at us like we were nuts. Why not either go play or go back inside? Why stand and get wet toes??
I discovered a tiny bluet in the transplanted prairie parsley!

Two steps forward, two steps back??

Saturday night (yesterday) planting more tomato and pepper seeds of varieties that haven’t sprouted well or I accidentally killed of sunscald (see end of post).
Yesterday, Mom and Dad sent me this cute little indoor fern friend and Paula added the little frog clip on top!
His Doggie outside yesterday, Gram had to curl tragically on her rope toy.
Couscous, venison roast, and shakshuka with the first indoor garden tomato (dwarf Audrey’s Love).
The cover radishes (Sparkler variety bought in bulk from Ellison’s feed store) have begun sprouting and the transplanted Viola bicolor aren’t dead yet. I just have to hope they will bloom and seed.
More of the radishes. The goal here is growing enough stuff to keep plants I don’t want out until I can get a ground cover started. (Friday)
The Mexican plum from home is alive! (Friday)
Thursday night, Wes wanted to look at things in yard with our new blacklight.
These (already hatched) eggs on the rock outside glow!
The porch loofahs are very welcoming.
Found more googly eyes just randomly in the raised beds.
While we were outside I examined the angry tomato seedlings.
I have determined that going from inside the house to the front porch every day is giving them sun scald, as the leaves are turning white but newer growth is a nice healthy green. So for now I’m putting them in the less intense backyard and that seems to be helping the survivors.
Same thing happening here, green new leaves with white, dying burnt leaves.

Bluets!!

Native annual bluets in the front yard! I suppose this means my backyard transplants’ seeds didn’t take but I’m glad some survived the front yard HVAC excavation.

Survival both short term and long term

The Mexican plum dug from Mom and Dad’s yard last summer is budding! (The metal across it is the flag I have to not lose it.)
The prairie parsley also from home is still alive.
Ditto for the whitlow-wort. It’s an annual, but I hope it will reseed.
The smaller whitlow-wort is growing through its mud.
This is something just sprouting. I have a label nearby that says greeneyes. Mom does this have the right leaves?? I also do have a lot of ironweed in this area.

Transplant successes from earlier

Rudbeckia lacinata from Abby.
Viola bicolor is an annual, but I moved some last year from the front yard (where I am gradually removing the lawn but I want to rescue the few native plants) to the backyard in hopes they’d seed. They did!

Indoor repotting

We got almost an inch of sleet today.
Briar’s toes provide excellent grip.
Squirrel tree in our neighborhood.
This evening we repotted baby tomatoes and peppers. Mid last week I forgot some other repotted tomatoes outside and they froze. So those three varieties are being germinated again. But meanwhile these babies needed new pots.
One dwarf tomato is thriving and fruiting; the other is drying up and has spider mites. Paula bought a basil and is keeping it alive. The indoor peppers have a good head start for spring but I doubt will fully fruit by then.