Gardening CSI

Well, it wouldn't be a March blog entry without photographs of Hamamelis - and so here they are - although these aren't mine, but a neighbour's down the street. Their garden was planted as a naturalistic garden with many native and tweaked fancy natives. This is the first time I noticed they had these lovely witch hazels - and look how cool it is to have the two varieties together - wonder if it was planned, or the guys just cleaned out the nursery - in any event, it's something I'd like to try in my own garden.

They're probably planted closer than they should be - but the effect is really excellent.

When everyone else in North America seems to be getting the back of Mother Nature's hand, we've been so very fortunate with our weather. It looks as if it may be 28C (85F) by the end of the week. Completely unheard of. So yesterday Bart and I went out to clean things up. I'd been saving these poor sad pots of un-germinated seeds for a bit. However, patience is often rewarded as I've learned....

So here they lived over this winter and last.

And a little miracle happened. I've got sprouts.

Not only in one pot, but in another - look how big and beefy these sprouts are - was over the moon when I realized that these must be my special Acer sieboldianum

And, my suspicions were confirmed on my trusty plant tag:

Alas, the red permanent ink is not as permanent as the black....

So, I have no idea what the little sprouts are at the moment. If only there was a crime lab for faded plant tags..... And if there was, how much would I be willing to pay for a Luminol sensitive to 'permanent' markers?