Sometimes it takes a little work, or even a lot of work, before something beautiful becomes.
I remember that day in late December when I reluctantly dumped, mixed and shoveled soil into a row of oversized pots. I had a long list of other things to do. However, I spent $13 on a bag filled with bulbs and had made a promise to myself to plant them.
I know from experience that work is worth it when you have a goal in mind. Did I grumble that day? You betchya.
Last week the reward arrived — daffodils.
Nineteen trumpet-shaped flowers face toward my neighbor’s front door, nodding at the sun.
Another dozen face my front door.
I’m glad I did not remember how many I planted, or where. When the flowers presented themselves in the barrel with the fig tree, I was surprised. More returned from years before, when I had likely also grunted and grumbled as I planted.
This month I’m facing a long to-do list — assignments for my college classes and student-teaching tasks. When the alarm sounds at 6 a.m., I try to remember that I can sleep in on Saturday.
The daffodils are the reminder I needed. The work I put in this week, this month, the past 2 1/2 years, will be worth the effort when I become an elementary school teacher.
I slept in Saturday, then took a tour of my yard: forty-two yellow daffodils so far. The tulips will bloom next.
Inspired, I made a trip to a known bulb hotspot to see what was on the racks for spring-planting. My store had huge bags of astilbe, canna, calla and others I did not add to my cart. I chose anemones. The helpful University of California bulb planting guide for Sacramento, http://ucanr.edu/blogs/dirt/blogfiles/40295.pdf, advises to plant anemones from September to December. Yet, other sources online (www.easytogrowbulbs.com) including the easy-to search “Easy to Grow Bulbs” website, note you can plant anemones other times of the year. The flowers are simply more bold when planted in the fall.
I like to tuck these tiny, claw-shaped bulbs among other potted plants. That way I don’t need to be reminded to water them, and will be surprised when blooms peek out from the potted sago palm. The “Easy to …” writers advise to soak the tough-as-rocks bulbs for 2-4 hours before planting and to bury 2-4 inches deep.
What are anemones? They’re short-statured flowers in the Ranunculaceae family. What are Ranunculaceae? They’re short-statured flowers with bulbs as hard as rocks.
PLANT COSTUMES
This frosty weather has required a new labor of plant love. My living room looks like a less-contrived version of the Rainforest Café. Tender potted plants are grouped unattractively in front of the television and I turn to the side and do a hop when heading through my bedroom door.
I draped perfectly good bed sheets over the blood orange tree. (The bad bed sheets were taken to charity).
You can do an online search to know which plants will die when the weather dips below freezing. I didn’t bother. I covered anything outdoors that would make me cry if it died. Mostly, this included things the Handsome Woodsman had planted.
When covering plants for frost, its idea to uncover them during the warmer parts of the day. The warmth from the sun warms the soil. After covering the plant, that warmth will leave the soil and become a warm bubble of air for the plant. Try not to use plastic coverings, as these can freeze the places on the plant that came in contact with the plastic. When I ran out of sheets, I covered things with large empty pots.
Keep plants moist during a cold snap. A plant under stress is more likely to die.
Re-cover the plants before dusk, or during an afternoon break from work. If you can’t go home, just keep them covered until the weekend.
Spring blossoms
We can’t complain about covering and uncovering a few plants. Almond farmers are scrambling to keep hundreds and thousands of trees from being bitten by cold. Non-farmers simply get to enjoy the trees as we cruise through white orchards. (Read more about local frost protection here: http://tinyurl.com/almond-ice.
The library at Chico State University was closed Monday. I have learned that I get almost no homework done at home, so I called Samantha to ask if I could use her sunny dining room as a work station.
At home, I’ll take a break from studying and pick weeds for 45 minutes. Samantha’s tidy yard had only a few weeds, so I wandered out to her almond orchard. Rows of flowering plants (the trees) stretched out as far as I could see. The petals, white with pink tips, have only begun to fall to the ground.
Luckily, it was chilly that day, so I was able to return and get some work done.
