Plant Profile: Pasque Flower

If you are not familiar with this spring flower you should be! Pasque flower is an unexpected spring wonder. It is also known by prairie crocus, wind flower, Easter flower and meadow anemone. What ever you choose to call it the large, bold flowers are beautiful. Fuzzy buds show almost before the leaves! The petals catch the sun making it a great choice next to the front door or close to the edge of a path where its early show can be appreciated. I have seen it in shades of red, purple and pink.

The entire plant only reaches about 12" tall. After blooming its lacy, mounding foliage and fuzzy fruits contribute to the flower bed well into summer. Be cautious, this one can be very poisonous to humans!

Seed Starting

I start many of my own seedlings in the greenhouse. You don't actually need a greenhouse to do so, just a place with a lot of light. I like to get them started in a tray of perlite. It holds moisture well and separates easily when it comes time to pluck out the seedlings and plant them into soil. Here you see sprouted cabbage, brussel sprouts and broccoli. At this size they are ready to be transplanted into soil. In this tray I also have my tomatoes and peppers but they have not sprouted yet! I'll post some images of the transplanting process soon! I am so happy to be busy with the workings of spring! Be sure you are getting your seeds going too!

Babies Babies Babies!

I have no fewer than 5 baby quilts to crank out before June this year! That's madness! It would help if some people wouldn't crank out two at a time! Making baby quilts are one of my favorite gifts to give and make. It's quick and I can try all kinds of new patterns and skills! These two were shipped to California! This is the first time I worked with a panel. I do have to say it was sinfully quick and easy and had beautiful results! My daughter is three and I now keep her baby quilts in the car. They make perfect lap quilts for those cold mornings in the car!

This one is a bit more traditional but I love the bright colors! I trend away from pastels for babies. I think they need something bright, vibrant and fun!

Made From Scratch

Following is an excerpt from MADE FROM SCRATCH: Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life:

"Don't look at your current situation as a hindrance to living the way you want, because living the way you want has nothing to do with how much land you have or how much you can afford to spend on a new house. It has to do with the way you choose to live every day and how content you are with what you have. If a few things on your plate every season come from the work of your own hands, you are creating food for your body, and that is enough. If the hat on your head was knitted with your own hands, you're providing warmth from string and that's enough. If you rode your bike to work, trained your dog to pack, or just baked a loaf of bread, let it be enough.

Accepting where you are today, and working toward what's ahead, is the best you can do."

This book was a recommendation that I found most enjoyable despite it's lack of pictures. The author spends the chapters explaining the not so apparent pleasures that come from the luxury of a handmade life. The quote above really spoke to me and the place I currently find myself in. I think occasionally we all don't give ourselves enough credit for where we are and the simple things we have done.

Transplanting Shrubs

Now is a super time to transplant shrubs and other plants in your garden. For shrubs, you want to try and get them right before they start to wake up. You can tell by being an observant gardener and watching for the buds to swell. Once they start to look a bit green, it is probably too late for all but the most aggressive varieties. Some shrubs will sucker making them good candidates for sharing with friends. If you were thinking ahead you took your shovel and separated them from the mother plant this fall. This gives them a chance to establish some of their own root system before transplanting. If not, proceed as follows:
1) If the plant you are digging is connected to another, sever it from the host plant with a shovel.
2) Next your need to go about digging out the plant. The more soil you can capture around the root ball and not disturb, the better. My soil was very sandy and dry this fall so I was not successful in capturing any. It is better to keep soil on because the soil can pull off tiny roots that are vital for survival if you do not keep the soil intact.
3) Transplant your plants directly to a new area or put into pots to root for later planting and sharing with friends. Be sure to not plant them any deeper in the pot than they were in the ground.

4) Lastly, water your plants well. Both those in the ground and in the pot will need to be gently brought along this summer. Water often as the plants have a minimal root system for supporting the water needs of the plant above ground.

Hello Spring!

Hello Spring! It is soooo nice to see you! I look forward to walking in your sun, watching the plants green, smelling the earth warm and delighting in just being outside! The bugs are warming, tree buds are pushing and the spring flowers are well on their way. I can feel the energy of all the activity! This means it is also time for the gardener in you to get busy! This is a good time to start cutting back the dead plants. Some of my grasses were already starting to put on some green. Clip your grasses to about 6-8". Oh yes, and wear gloves! Dried grass tends to give wicked cuts!

Sketchbook

Do you keep a sketchbook? Maybe you don't think of it as a sketchbook. Maybe you use something to keep notes, write lists or keep track of things in general. I would like to suggest you get a sketchbook. I use my book to write journal entries,design sewing projects,

make daily task lists, seasonal task lists, home maintenance lists,

keep track of garden ideas, paste in images that inspire,record things I come across on the internet

design decks, keep measurements from my house so I can use them when I am out. Really the options are endless. I keep a 6x8.5" bound(avoid spiral bound, they don't hold up) book with me all the time. When I am distracted by an idea or something that needs to be done, I write it down and go on. I have done this for many years to organize my life and have over the last five years really started to use it more extensively. When I flip back through these books I find something very interesting has happened. I have in essence recorded my life. Dates, times, projects, events with friends,cool places,ideas, images, planning....it goes on and on. Only recently have I started putting in the occasional journal entry so that I can record those little events in my daughters life that I am sure to forget but want to remember. I think I will keep these volumes of my life and maybe one day my daughter will read them and have a sense of the person I was, and person I became as time moved passed by.