It has certainly been a slow start to anything that looks like winter. This morning for the first time since early December, I can look out at the garden and see nothing but a carpet of fresh white snow. That doesn’t mean that we haven’t had the cold weather, that comes with winter in my part of the world. That is actually a part of the problem that will show itself in the spring. Snow is an excellent protective material. It buries the perennials and other plants and protects them from the harshest cold. It also stops the frost from penetrating as deeply. Its absence this year will surely show up in a slow spring as the deep frost emerges and I’m sure that some perennials and tender Roses will not be jumping out of the soil this spring. I actually shoveled the driveway twice yesterday, each time thinking that it had stopped snowing for the day. Mother Nature likes to laugh at me in the winter as much as in the summer. The backyard looks lovely but the driveway had more snow in it this morning despite my efforts. The Lotus seeds that I talked about last week, continue to do some strange and wonderful things. One has reached the top of the 35 cm of water and is now curling over and the seed has floated up from the bottom of the vase by about 6 - 7 cm. The top of the long stalk appears to be opening up into a leaf and another stalk is starting on its way up. Apparently it will produce four leaves this way. It’s fun to look at it every day, to see what it’s up to. Mid winter gardening excitement at its best.




The escape from the snow is to go to the ski hill and enjoy it. Since I can’t do that every day I head to the basement and open up my seed box. Today is the last day of January and many of the small, long season seeds need to be in the soil. Begonias, in their many forms, have become more important in my garden since the demise of Impatiens. Begonias have some of the smallest seed that we home gardeners deal with. Begonia boliviensis is the one that I grow most commonly from seed and I have been using seed that I collected from last year’s plants. They produce an incredible amount of seed and I have been delighted to discover that it not only grows from those seeds quite easily but that it comes back true to type. B. boliviensis seed is quite expensive to buy, mostly because it is usually sold in a pelleted version to make it easier to handle. You can see the tiny specks of dust in the picture but if you are deliberate in spreading it slowly and evenly, it germinates quite well. Use a very fine seeding media, level it in the seed tray and spread the seed on top. I then press it gently to make a firm surface and that makes sure that the seed is in contact with the soil. Be careful that whatever tool you use to press with, does not have the seed sticking to it. Water it thoroughly by soaking it from the bottom and then put in a warm, (24 C, 75 F soil temperature,) bright location and wait. From tiny specks, glorious blooming plants do develop.

Now it’s time to answer a few of my reader’s questions. Don’t forget to check the front page of the Website for frequent short ideas for current gardening activities.