Not exactly the frozen tundra!

 It was a beautiful weekend here in the Carolinas. We had highs above 70 with a nice gentle wind. I got the weekend started on Friday by washing my truck. I do this once a year, wether it needs it or not :D. Then I got up early Saturday and started another of my least favorite things to do, cut back the ornamental grasses in the gardens. I have six very large clumps of variegated grass, three at the end of the driveway by the street, and three in the circle in the drive up near the house. If you've looked through the pictures on the blog, I'm sure they are in several backgrounds. They get about 6' tall and about as wide. I also have some smaller grasses in the street bed, one is a zebra grass and the other I honesty don't recall.  I use my electric hedge trimmers to cut them. It does a pretty good job, even on the tougher stalks. The problem being that the end of the driveway is some 225' from the house, so I have to string out three extension cords to get there. I park my truck next to the grasses and pile it all in the bed and take them around back to the compost bins. There I mix them with some barn cleanings and wait.

The camelia japonica, Mr Sam, is blooming on the south side of the house. The blooms have a very tactile sense about them. They are so very smooth and perfect, and so very soft to the touch.  Last year it bloomed at this same time, maybe even earlier as I recall, and I had thought it was fooled by a warm spell. I am starting to think this is it's destined time to bloom. 

The lenten roses are full of buds. They should be opening any day now.

Here you see my small attempts at what is termed 'winter sowing'. I take perrenial seeds and pot them up in these mini greenhouses (I've poked holes in the tops and bottoms of the containers) and set them outdoors. This way they are exposed to the elements and those that require winter chilling, will get it. They will sprout whenever they are ready. I've had some sprout very early in the process, and some not until late March. I will them transplant the seedlings either into individual pots or plant them straigtht out into the gardens. This year I have some echinacea, some oriental lilly, and two varieties of balloon flowers sowed. All of the seeds were harvested from my garden this fall.

As you can see, here in Carolina, the jounquils come up in early winter. They have done this every year we have been here with no ill effects on the flowers. You should plant these near where you will pass by and enjoy their wonderful fragrance. I have these planted below some Burkwood Viburnums which bloom slightly earlier than the jonquils, so I get several weeks of fragrance in the spring as I come in from the driveway.

Here are the two varieties of violas I am growing this winter. I like them better than their more heralded cousins the pansy. Violas are far more easy to care for and more hardy too.

On Sunday I got the garden ready for planting of the snap peas next weekend. I put up a couple stakes and strung some old deer netting between them. The peas I sowed indoors last week have sprouted, and will be ready to go in the ground next weekend. I also decided to try the Alaska pea again this year. I soaked those seeds overnight Friday and sowed them on Saturday, again indoors. I also potted up some more cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and spinach seedlings Saturday. One more sowing should do the trick for this spring.
 It will soon be time to get very busy with the seed starting. I started some datura seeds I collected from the garden this year. They come from a hybrid, so there is no telling what I'll get. One of the fun things about gardening, and growing from seed, is the not knowing.

Some Fall Blooms

I took a walk around the house today to get some pictures of what's blooming here in early November. The knock out roses, both the pink and the yellow, are still blooming. This is not unusual as I typically have blooms on them until early December and our first hard frost.

This Beauty Berry (callicarpa japonica) spilling through the split rail fence is at it's peak.

And while the Coral Bark Japanese maple isn't in 'bloom' it is quite beautiful this time of year!

What follows is a sampling of my sasanqua camellia collection. Not a collection so much as an assortment.  These shrubs do really well for use here and are very adaptable to our climate. They grow well in both full sun and part shade. No real pest problems to speak of. One year I had an outbreak of leaf gall (swelling and toughening of the leaves). I spent some time picking the affected leaves off, being careful not to touch the unaffected leaves. That seemed to have solved the problem.

 Snuck  in an Encore azelea bloom here in this picture.

This is an Oakleaf hydrangea. The leaves are a brilliant burgundy. 

Here we venture out into the veggie garden where we have some carrots and beets growing in the foreground. You may be able to make out the golden leaves of Simpson's black seeded lettuce in the background.

Here's a row of radishes. 

And here I've planted a much more reasonable amount of garlic this year. Last year I went way overboard and had far more than I needed and the bed got overrun with weeds. This year,  I might have around 50 plants.

Here you can see some of the strawberries I transplanted last weekend.

I am trying to let these broccoli plants go to seed this fall. I am hoping to be able to harvest my own seed to plant again in the spring. It may prove to be a waste of time, or free seeds, we shall see.

I am experimenting with growing some hard winter wheat this year. It looks pretty much like grass you find growing in your yard right now.

And the dogs enjoy eating the tender young shoots.

The bees get active on the warm days like this weekend. We are supposed to be up around 70 degrees for our high all weekend. 

You may be able to make out my blackberry plants in the picture below. I planted these 2 winters ago, the deer like to graze on them so I haven't had any berries yet. 

Here are some crimson clover seedlings coming up in one of the garden beds. I plant it as a cover crop to nurish the soil. I'll turn it under on the first dry day after mid-March. I want to give it 5 weeks or more to break down before I plant the summer crops in this bed. 

Here you can see I've cut down the asparagus stalks and top dressed the bed with a couple inches of compost. This one bed with 24 crowns is plenty to feed DW and I for about 6 weeks in spring. 

Camelias in bloom

Just a quick post, I took some photos of a Japanese Camellia, called Mr Sam, that has been fooled into blooming by our warm temps here. This  Camellia normally blooms in late winter/early spring here. I hope that some of the buds stay dormant, and I'll get a second bloom in spring. It's going to get down into the teens tonight, so any blooms that have opening will get browned out but good tonight, so I went out and cut most of them and brought them in the house to enjoy.