Suburban Dirt

Got them from Antique Rose Emporium, in Austin. I have to say this -- they were packed for shipping very professionally, and they look great. If they don't thrive, I guess I'll have to blame the weather and try again next year -- I certainly can't blame the retailer for the fact that it's damned near May and the temps are still in the upper thirties at night. The plants are supposed to be hardy to Zone 5, though, and I'm in Zone 6 -- maybe they'll do okay. Cecile Brunners are supposed to be very hardy. We'll see if they're hardy enough to make the trip up from Austin in four days and handle a wack-ass Ohio "spring" by planting one tomorrow, I suppose.

Here are the Cecile Brunners:

I'm really gambling, here -- I want to know if putting them out into cold nights is harder than keeping them in the house too long, and I'll consider it experimentation. Marginally expensive experimentation, I admit ... but I don't have a choice, since the weather decided to go all punky here this week. I thought having them shipped to arrive around May 1 was safe. Proves having Bob Taft (upper-class twit of the week) as governor ain't the only thing that sucks about Ohio, I guess.

Here are the other starts -- progress report, I guess. They haven't totally croaked, and actually the things I expected to croak before planting time are doing better than the easy stuff. The pinks all got some fungus and croaked, and the lobelias seem to have bought the farm, as well. Some of the basil seems okay, and the myosotis (forget-me-nots) and most of the peppers -- including the ones we harvested seeds from last year -- are doing quite well:

I don't know -- I need to start hardening those again, now that the daytime temps are back above fifty, I guess. It's been kind of windy, though, during the day -- I don't want to screw them all up completely right off the bat. I may try planting some of the myosotis tomorrow, since I have so many of them and they have had at least some exposure outdoors. Worst case scenario, some of them die -- I have something like eight or ten of them that seem to be doing well enough. I can put one or two out tomorrow, then if they croak I can wait a while. Worst comes to worse, I can just order some from Spring Hill or Burpee, I guess. I want some, they smell great. I don't know how 'worth it' going through all the crap to start them indoors is, though.

The bluebonnets died, all but one. I guess they can tell what I think of Texas and what it's given the country in recent years. Ah, well -- guess that's what plants get for listening when we talk to them.