{"id":2607,"date":"2018-12-31T05:26:06","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T13:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=2607"},"modified":"2018-12-31T05:26:06","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T13:26:06","slug":"first-things-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/first-things-first\/","title":{"rendered":"First Things First"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"december<\/a>I have always envied gardeners who boast that they have something in bloom outdoors 365 days a year.\u00a0 In a cold winter climate that is just about impossible, unless you count the final fall flower remnants that somehow cling to blackened stems into January.\u00a0 I call that cheating and I won\u2019t do it.\u00a0 At least not yet.<\/p>\n

Maybe I won\u2019t have to.\u00a0 On the day of the Winter Solstice\u2014December 21\u2014I discovered six snowdrops blooming in my garden.\u00a0 This has never happened before and may never happen again.\u00a0 I did nothing to encourage this miracle of nature other than planting the bulbs, but I am taking an unholy amount of pride in the accomplishment.<\/p>\n

I was so excited about this Solstice event that I had half a mind to emulate the Druids and celebrate by lighting a Yule log while making an offering of mistletoe.\u00a0 Unfortunately the fireplaces in my house were long ago converted to coal and the garden center was already out of mistletoe.\u00a0 I had to make do with gazing fondly at the artificial mistletoe hanging on one of the Christmas decorations.<\/p>\n

The plant tag that I stuck in the ground next to the early-blooming snowdrops seems to have disappeared, so I have only a vague memory of the species and variety.\u00a0 E-mail records were no help, since I ordered the bulbs by snail mail from my old friend, Hitch Lyman, who does not take electronic orders.\u00a0 I was exceptionally busy when the package arrived, and I neglected to jot down the names of the snowdrops I planted.\u00a0 Next year I will do better, but for now, feeble memory and educated guessing will have to suffice.<\/p>\n

In the classic garden book, My Garden in Autumn in Winter<\/em>, English gentleman gardener E.A. Bowles writes, \u201cSnowdrops again should provide a flower or two from the appearance of Galanthus olgae in October until the forms of Galanthus nivalis come with a rush in February for Candlemas Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most likely my early risers are those mentioned by Bowles, a variety of what is now known as Galanthus reginae-olgae or Queen Olga\u2019s snowdrop.\u00a0 If I recall correctly, I planted the Queen Olga bulbs last spring.\u00a0 Unlike many other early-flowering favorites, like crocus and daffodil, snowdrops are not planted in fall, but installed \u201cin the green\u201d, right after the flowers have faded and while the foliage is still viable.<\/p>\n

The snowdrops are situated in what seems to be a desirable location\u2014a small raised bed close to the house.\u00a0 The bed is sunny enough to support a rosebush, so the snowdrops get a good baking in the summer when they are asleep beneath the soil.\u00a0 This year they have been irrigated by record amounts of rain as well.\u00a0 Since it is the first year that I have grown snowdrops in that particular spot, there is no way of knowing whether location or genetics created the early flowering.\u00a0 It was probably a bit of both, but only time will tell.<\/p>\n

The snowdrops\u2019 appearance prompted me to walk around the garden and look for other signs of life.\u00a0 I investigated all the snowdrop spots.\u00a0 Since I have been collecting unusual species and varieties for many years now, those spots are numerous.\u00a0 Nary a snowdrop raised its head in any other garden location.<\/p>\n

I inspected other plants.\u00a0 The flowering quince is not brave enough to think of budding right now.\u00a0 The only action in that quarter is emanating from the ghosts of last September\u2019s sweet autumn clematis vines, which are still swaying from the naked quince branches.\u00a0 \"Christmas<\/a><\/p>\n

But in another raised bed, life flourished.\u00a0 The Christmas rose, or Helleborus niger, was not blooming yet and its base was camouflaged by a bed of dry leaves.\u00a0 Under those leaves, though, I found lots of fat flower buds clustered just above the soil surface.\u00a0 Depending on the progress of the current monsoon season and the amount of sunlight available, the hellebores should start blooming about a week from now.\u00a0 The Christmas rose has never flowered on Christmas for me, but at least this year there were well-developed buds on Solstice Day.\u00a0 I count that as horticultural victory.<\/p>\n

Were my very early snowdrops yet another harbinger of climate change?\u00a0 Maybe. Certainly just about every other plant in the garden routinely sprouts, sets leaves and flowers earlier than it did when I was a novice gardener.\u00a0 On the other hand, I don\u2019t believe that I have ever grown Galanthus reginae-olgae before.\u00a0 Maybe the Queen is just living up to her reputation as an early riser.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have always envied gardeners who boast that they have something in bloom outdoors 365 days a year.\u00a0 In a cold winter climate that is just about impossible, unless you count the final fall flower remnants that somehow cling to blackened stems into January.\u00a0 I call that cheating and I won\u2019t do it.\u00a0 At least … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,5],"tags":[510,1818,371,1307,32,509,370,501],"class_list":["post-2607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-winter","tag-christmas-rose","tag-e-a-bowles","tag-galanthus","tag-galanthus-reginae-olgae","tag-hellebores","tag-helleborus-niger","tag-snowdrops","tag-winter-gardening"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2607"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2610,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607\/revisions\/2610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}