A lot of them. In all of the pots that are low along the railing. Packed more densely than recommended. I want the entire railing to be a bean wall. And different beans in other pots. These are the first things planted, several packages of beans, and absolutely nothing has happened.
That's Denver for you.
They're just sitting in the damp dirt freezing their little bean butts off.
Too cold. The spring season this year is more akin to winter than to summer. But I believe that is over now and things can get started. Yes, I believe that. I believe. I believe.
Have you ever noticed on weather maps of our area the isobars always converge over Denver, no matter what? Whatever weather zones you may look at the edges of color blocks cross smack over Denver. Two color fields? The lines touch over Denver. Three color zones? All three lines converge at Denver. Four zones? All four meet at Denver. Zoom in from state to city, sure enough the lines meet over Denver. And that makes all of these maps perfectly useless. High pressure and low pressure meet at Denver. Hot and cold fronts converge over Denver. Hail, flood, tornado threats all meet at Denver. Seed packet planting zones 6, 7, and 8 converge on Denver. Wavy horizontal layers across the country pinch at Denver. Vertical lines pinch at Denver. Hippy zone vs Cowboy zone converge on Denver and so on, map after map after map.
Why do I even bother?
Most people don't. Their planters sit idle until the season becomes steady. And that's usually well into summer.
Spring is the weirdest thing. Look around as you drive, look at people's porches as you go, there is nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, massive blooming cartoon clematis, nothing, nothing, nothing. No wait. Is that clematis even real? Or did someone fake us out with giant white plastic blooms? Come on. How does that even happen?
Beans are the easiest things. You don't even have to soak them. They self-soak in damp dirt.
Just stick them in a glass of dirt and watch them grow. Shirley, you did this in school in the first grade.
And it's just amazing!
It never ceases being amazing. You stay stuck at first grade amazement. By you I mean me.
Seed-a-lings, stop it, you're killing me.
5 comments:
Disappointing news on the beans. Do you think they are still valid and waiting to spring? Maybe some of them will still surprise you.
My disappointment was the discovery that the caladiums I finally found in leaf (at the fourth greenhouse visited) are marked as shade lovers, carrying warnings of a high likelihood of burning in full sun; and the two swan planters I was envisioning them in are presently, strategically and pleasingly situated in a full sun spot where the summer sun will undoubtedly and relentlessly beat down on them. I don't want to move the swans. After imagining them gracefully spilling caladiums, based on ChipA's enthusiasms and recommendations, I am just as reluctant to give up that vision as I am to plant them in a different spot. In order to temporarily give them some dirt, I stuck them in a round deck pot where they are lurking in the shade waiting for me to do something more spectacular with them. They are indeed lovely to look at. I filled the two swans with pinks and coleus.
All the greenhouse caladiums disappoint me. Their caladiums, the ones that I've seen, make me think they don't know what they're doing.
They don't gouge their eyes out. So they grow spindly and weakly. Where they could grow profusely and abundantly.
The species are developed to withstand full sun. The thick red ones do very well in full sun. The caladium bulb places will steer you in the right direction.
This year I placed 4 orders through Florida Boys. Two of them were shipped to different people. Because I want those people to experience the joy that I feel.
The other two shipments were to me. One of those shipments were for other people around me who I want to surprise. That shipment got divided out far as it would go, and it's already half gone. The other half is waiting for me to get off my butt.
Florida boys. Aw. Bless. Look at the little kids in the caladium patch. They're so bright and cute.
Red ones.
Last year I planted a tall container with nothing but red ones. Packed them in shoulder to shoulder. They grew tight as sardines in a Japanese subway car.
Red flash. Sun tolerance: more Ew, you can get big ones! #1 are the big ones. #2 are the regular ones.
Come on. Be a sport. Buy some big ones. And regular ones for your swan. *squeaky voice* "but I told you my swan is already planted."
So what. Pack a few in there. Gouge out their eyes and shove 'em in there. They'll grow above and protect the rest like a splendid leafy outrageous umbrella.
Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
I don't know what "strap leaf" means, they all look the same to me. But their sun tolerance is greater.
Red Ruffles, sun tolerance: more
Gingerland, an interesting pattern especially when contrasted with something more solid, sun tolerance: more
White wing, white with green edges and faint red veins, sun tolerance: more
Florida
Sweetheart, solid pink with green edges, outrageous, sun tolerance: more
They can ship these things immediately. I notice they say "10" to an order, the bags usually had 12 or 13. Like these people cannot really count that well. Or perhaps pieces break off. I don't know. I think it's because they love me and they want me to have a few extra. That's my story and I think I'll stick with it.
It's been cold here too. My tomato plants are already 6 feet tall and have set fruit, but unless it warms up, they are going to stay green. More problematic are some flower seedlings I started a month ago: Dutchman's Pipe -(Aristolochia Elegans). They came up quickly enough but they've stagnated and seeming stopped growing for 2 weeks. I hope they're just waiting for warming.
Thanks for the links. Florida Farms looks like a wonderful place with outstanding testimonials and pictures from those who've purchased from them. The other sites I visited when I couldn't find live plants around here were already mostly sold out but it looks like FF still has a good supply. From the photos of the farm, it appears they have fields of the plants growing in the full Florida sun.
We are in a different growing zone than Denver. Almost twice removed, according to the FF shipping chart, with June 1-10 as the dates when they will begin shipping to our area. I'm guessing the time when our night temperatures will start to consistently stay above 65 is still a few weeks away. The slowness of Lake Michigan to warm and the woods around us strongly affect the temps in our area when the sun goes down.
I thought about putting the pot of caladiums on our enclosed porch to stay there until things warm up but discovered via your May 2, 2017 post on eye gouging that every part of the plant is poisonous; and after checking that fact out, decided I don't want to leave them where my grass eating and plant-nibbling cat might take a bite. (On the plus side, I learned through FF that they are deer resistant!) They are going to have to weather the weather outdoors. I'll see how they handle the light where they are presently situated, and then give one or two of them a chance to make a go of it in the full sunlight where the swans sit.
I was pleased to have found them at a family-run greenhouse local to this area. The ones I bought look healthy and full enough to at least provide some leafy outdoor goodness and color, enough for me to enjoy this year.
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It's currently 52 going down to 41 tomorrow night--nine degrees above ice forming in the water bucket. I'm happy though, as everything spring-like was able to bloom and lasted a long time, with no airconditioning needed yet. The Rhododendrons are just now starting to open.
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