Spring Has Sprung....

the bermuda grass is riz/

where this year's hopeless gardener is/

apologies to BurmaShave

My faithful readers (Hi, Bobbi!) have been dropping little notes that mention in a sort of off-hand, carefully-not-nagging way that I have not been posting much.

I was hoping to make this a photo-heavy post, the sort that makes even those with broadband wince and those with dial-up positively homicidal. But Blogger and I aren't seeing eye-to-eye on the photo thing, so y'all are just going to have to do with boring old words.

FrankenRose is at it again. I didn't get around to trying to kill it this winter and now it has branches taller than the roofline. Again. It also has beautiful blooms the size of a salad plate. The miniature roses are also doing better than I've seen in a long time, although that could be the result of me trying to kill them last year.

The only citrus trees I haven't killed are the ones I've grown from seed. Go figure. I have possible Key lime, possible orange (yeah, that's what I get for not labeling when I first thought of doing it) and a few brave starts from an absolutely divine red grapefruit that my step-father-in-law brought from work. Did I mention that he works for U.C. Riverside, home of one of the most extensive citrus collections that I've ever heard of? He was told that it was an Oro Blanco but since that is supposed to be white and this one wasn't...well, we have no idea what it might have been. But it was sweet and fall-apart juicy and if I knew what sort it was I would mortgage the spouse to buy a seedling. I don't have a name, alas, but the thing was full of seeds -- so -- yeah, I planted them. I don't know WHAT I'll get when/if they produce fruit, but that's what makes it a horserace, no?

The Meyer lemon bit the dust, but its rootstock might live. Why am I keeping it? Because I might want to experiment with grafting any successful seedling I might get out of the Citrus Experiment. It's Flying Dragon stock and I've been told that is an excellent dwarfing stock. Am I going back to Four Winds Growers to get more citrus? Oh my, yes. They have the best looking trees I've ever seen out of a mail-order situation and if my trees died it was because of MY background, not theirs. Besides, we're heading into warmer weather here in the high desert.

The avocado, astonishingly enough, has survived. I was sure it was dead. It looked dead. The little seedling was dry and brittle and gone. I only watered that pot because there was a volunteer flower that I liked the look of. Then one day....hey, wait a minute, that isn't a flower....

Most of the tomato seedlings have made it through repotting and acclimation to the great outdoors. I got a little sunscald and I did lose probably ten percent of them, mostly because they were the weaker plants to begin with. But hurrah, I may be getting some tomatoes this summer after all!

More when I can persuade Blogger to post photos.