Gardening, Puttering and Community Thread, March 8

The gorgeous photo above is from Neal in Israel:

The first clivia I planted last year made it through the winter and has already decided to start spring blooming. The second was almost killed by the snails, but has survived in a reduced state. Hope it will revive fully and will also flower.

The flowers above are gorgeous. Then again, Clivia is one of my favorites. Hope you can successfully combat the snails attacking your new plant.

Anybody else have flowers blooming now, just as Daylight Savings Time starts here in the USA for most of us? Are you ready? I haven't thought about it yet.

Why, look! What do we have here?

Signs of spring in Pennsylvania

These photos date back to February 24. We had quite a bit of snow and cold weather in southwestern Pennsylvania this winter. In some years, we get warmer weather in February, but this year was cold and snowy. Last week I took a walk across the stream at our cottage to look for skunk cabbage flowers. Skunk cabbage grows in moist areas, and it blooms in February around here. It can actually bloom in the snow, but on this day most of the snow had melted. I look for these unusual flowers every February. Enjoy!

Ladyhobbit

What a great winter activity to remind you that spring is coming.

More interesting early flowers

Hi Katy -

It's still chilly here in Virginia, but the Hellebores seem to like the cold weather and lots of colors are in full bloom.

The Pilot

Edible Gardening/Putting Things By

From Neal in Israel:

Our clementine is a late ripening variety. I picked the tree clean and closed the harvest season only 3-4 weeks ago. The tree is hardy and gave a good yield, despite some quirky weather during the period in which the fruit was setting.

These fruits look spectacular!

Puttering

From Vogue: The Danish Home Lighting Trend That Can Improve Your Mental Health

It’s little wonder that lighting is such an important concern when sunlight is elusive for so much of the year. Even in the apartments of students on tight budgets, you’ll find Danish design lamps that emit a soft, diffused light that’s more yellow than white. “The Danes select lamps carefully and place them strategically to create relaxing pools of light,” Wiking adds. “Lighting design here is an art form, a science, and an industry.”

Hygge light is warm, comfortable, and similar to that emitted by candles (a staple of hygge interiors). The golden rule to creating this sort of lighting is easy to remember: The lower the temperature of the light (as measured on the Kelvin scale), the better; or, to put it differently, the more hygge it is. Wiking says the optimal point is around 1800K, a light similar to that of a sunset or flames from a wood fire (in comparison, a fluorescent light is usually 5000K).

I guess they want to relax in winter. How does that compare with other light therapies? I thought the goal was typically a more balanced light in winter.

Plant lights are often closer to sunlight. But different plants have different light requirements.

Nurturing Community Gardens

As mentioned in the thread below, I was at my mother's funeral last week. It was a positive experience for many people, because many people, including my mother, had put a lot of planning and work into it before it happened. And we were blessed with lovely weather as well. It helped to have a lot of competent people around.

"Community" in the non-governmental sense means something when you see the children of people your mother knew at her funeral, even if you don't know those children. Along with the girl you played with when you were both four years old.

I thought about my mother and gardening. She grew up on a farm and didn't want to be a farmer, but she loved to garden. And the snow crocus in her lawn (I sent some of the bulbs decades ago and her grandchildren planted them) started blooming on her funeral day. People cooperated in getting those crocuses to bloom every year.

And there were lovely flowers from many people, including my best friend, her sister and their husbands.

Many of the people who sent flowers are same people who help keep a community viable, and allow other people to have their own gardens. God bless them.

Gardens of The Horde

Just before tearing down the old fence, I saw the moss blossoms and took the photo. I thought they looked intriguing.

Diogenes

Fascinating. Are some of them lichens?

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

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Week in Review

What has changed since last week's thread? Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, March 1

Any thoughts or questions?

I closed the comments on this post so you wouldn't get banned for commenting on a week-old post, but don't try it anyway.

posted by K.T. at 01:12 PM

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