I Love February!
Anniversary, birthdays and Valentine's Day are good reasons why I love this month. The best reason I love February is because I start many seeds for the garden.
What a relief, it is getting lighter outside and I spend a lot of time in my greenhouse starting the many seeds for this year's cutting garden. After so many days of darkness I have a spring in my step as I feel the light coming in through the glazing of the greenhouse.
I spent the last few months pouring over catalogs placing orders here and there. When the seeds arrived I spent time filing all of them into databases where I can sort them by when they need to be sown. The seeds needing cold to germinate are set out in makeshift coldframes, while the rest of the seeds are patiently waiting their turn to put their roots down into a soil-less medium.
I feel so organized as I keep track of the seeds, dated when they are planted, germinated and when they are transplanted into their own pots. Even after a week of illness that kept me away from my seeds I am still organized. Soon there will be no time to be filing and looking up when to sow seeds as I sow, water and transplant the many seeds I am starting this year.
I feel the vibrance of life around me as seeds appear to leap out of the soil eager to find their place under the sun. I too am ready to leap and find my place under the sun.
Arboretum Offers Cold-Weather Color
Winter Garden is a Regional Favorite
Looking for relief from winter’s gray? Visit Washington Park Arboretum’s Winter Garden, a delightful acre featuring winter flowers, eye-catching barks, soft fragrances and hummingbirds.
Sun-drenched on clear days, the J. A. Witt Winter Garden is a regional favorite, providing ideas to gardeners and cold-weather enjoyment to all who explore its plant life and winding paths.
Winter Garden attractions include witch hazels, with delicate white-to-orange flowers, winter-blooming rhododendrons, red-twig dogwoods and black mondo grass. The peak blooming time is late-January to mid-February.
Signs highlight plant and park information for visitors. Free brochures are available at the Arboretum’s Graham Visitors Center, 2300 Arboretum Drive East, Seattle.
Washington Park Arboretum is a living plant museum with a collection of over 10,000 plants from temperate climates around the world. It is located on the shores of Lake Washington, just east of downtown Seattle and south of the University of Washington main campus. Hours are 7 a.m. to dusk; admission is free.
For information, call 206-543-8800 or visit Washington Park Arboretum.
Debbie Teashon
Gardening for the Homebrewer: Grow and Process Plants for Making Beer, Wine, Gruit, Cider, Perry, and More
By co-authors Debbie Teashon (Rainy Side Gardeners) and Wendy Tweton
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