My apple trees have flowered and produced since the first year I planted them, but they’ve had some kind of bug or fungus or something that has prevented the apples from ever making it to autumn. They get to racquetball size, then drop. The last couple of years, they’ve even been deformed.
I mostly don’t use chemicals in my garden because I’m lazy, not because I have any great problem with chemicals. It just seems that if you start using them, something happens to the natural cycle of things, and you have to use more chemicals to keep certain processes going. So instead, I just leave the plants to their own devices. But if there was ever a time for nasty, powerful chemicals, it’s now. I got something called “Fruit Tree Spray” from my favorite fruit tree mail order place. It’s a broad-spectrum insecticide and fungicide. When I opened the package, the choking, smothering odor of poison filled my house. My whole first floor smelled like chemical death. Ehhhxcellent!
It’s been cold for several days, so I haven’t been able to spray, but yesterday was finally warm. I soaked my apple trees with poison, then went after the wooly scale insects on my beauty berry bush. The instructions say to wait for the apple trees to finish flowering, then poison them again. I can hardly wait!
While spraying, I thoroughly coated myself with poison. Ack. I showered afterward.
I had big plans to poison bugs and fungus and do some weeding in the garden. It’s been so freaky-warm here that everything is sprouting and blooming. I imagined myself spending a big chunk of the day in the beautifully warm air, getting recharged by the sunshine.
And then it rained.
I did at least go out to take some pictures. The back yard is full of pink in the spring. The Chinese fringe flower bushes are gorgeous. So is the peach tree.
Years ago, I bought a “collection” of pink daffodil varieties. They’ve never looked very pink, because they require cool weather. Usually it goes from COLD! to HOT! in the spring. This year, my daffodils actually have sort of a pink coloration to them.
And since it really needed a cleanout. And since the frogs haven’t laid their eggs yet. And since I wanted to at least do SOMEthing in the garden, I cleaned the pond. I’ll probably have one more cleanout before the summer. The algae is growing so quickly. It’s perfect conditions: warm temperatures, but the pond plants are still dormant.
It has been outright warm here the last couple of days – high temperatures in the seventies. And the long-range forecast shows no change in sight.
It has made things difficult at school. My classroom is directly over the boiler. There is a giant tank full of steaming hot water under my classroom floor. It’s so hot! I’ve been opening the windows, but there’s nowhere for the air to go, so it just stays hot. I’m bringing a box fan to put in the window today. Hopefully that will help. I’ve also asked if we can turn off the heat. It would be a little risky to do that because we’ve had cold temperatures in March in the past. But to me, it just doesn’t look like that’s going to happen this year, so I’m voting for the heat to be off.
I’ve already turned off the heat in my house. I flipped the switch yesterday morning.
One nice thing about this heat is that my garden is waking early. The peach tree is starting to bloom. I love this beautiful plant!
And my hyacinths were already starting to come up when it was still cold, but now they’re fully open and filling the air with their fragrance.
The hyacinths are right next to the sidewalk, and last night as I was leaving for church, there was a guy stooped over them for a long time. I thought he was picking them, and I was getting ready to be mad. But then I noticed that he was taking pictures of them. Awww… That made me want to go over and tell him to pick some.
It’s looking a lot like spring. It’s warm outside, and things are sprouting all over, including inside. I have amaryllis flowers on the way!
Last year after Christmas, I got some amaryllis bulbs on sale. They bloomed beautifully, then grew some leaves. The leaves are supposed to die back sometime in the summer, then you let the bulbs rest for a couple months, then they start growing and blooming again. But mine didn’t do that. The leaves stayed on well into early winter. Not knowing what to do, I put the pot outside and let the frost kill the leaves. Then I put the pot in the basement and forgot about it.
Three weeks ago, I re-discovered the pot. I brought it upstairs and gave it some water. The amaryllis bulbs started sprouting! I’ve put them in a sunny window and I continue to water them. And they continue to grow. I think I’ll have flowers in a couple of weeks! Woo hoo!
My phalaenopsis orchid opened its first flower yesterday. It may not seem like a big deal because this is the fifth year in a row, but I still think these flowers are miraculously beautiful. I am so happy I have this plant. I admire it every time I go into the bathroom.
I’m hosting a Bible study at my house, and last night was the first meeting. I loved it! When it came time to stop, I almost didn’t say anything because everyone was chatting so happily. But we have plenty of time ahead. We’ll be meeting every other week.
It was fun to have people see my house. It was even more fun to have someone see the artificial plant in my bathroom and think it was real. I just got it last weekend. And it really is amazing-looking. What I think is the secret to its success? It looks like a plant that actually exists. It’s not some monster with daisy flowers and rose leaves. It looks like a streptocarpus. I think that because it looks like something that actually exists in nature, the eye looks past any hints that it’s artificial and causes the brain to suspend disbelief.
I love it. I got it from IKEA. They have two more artificial plants from the actual plant world. I can hardly contain my desire to get them too.
Look at a real streptocarpus HERE. Amazing, isn’t it?
