Author: Steve

Clematis questions for GardenWeb

I posted the following on the clematis forum at gardenweb.com. Let’s see what the experts tell me. ‘Ville de Lyon’ questions – root competition, etc.Posted by stevation z6 Utah (My Page) on Wed, Mar 8, 06 at 13:44 I am an experienced gardener, but not with Clematis. Two years ago, I planted two bare-root Clematis […]

Clematis

I have two Clematis ‘Ville de Lyon’ in my front yard next to a little arbor entrance to the backyard. I think I planted them two years ago. Last year, I was disappointed to not see much growth from them. I worried that they might not have survived the winter, since they were weak last […]

Seedlings are moving along

Many of my little seedlings are growing now: Cosmos: I have about 20 seedlings growing now, and every day a few more of the seeds sprout in their little paper towel/ziploc bag environment. I think they would have done better if I hadn’t had that one day that they got scorched. Some seeds are clearly […]

Things are growing

Well, all is not lost in my little seed-sprouting laboratory. Yesterday, I transferred many seeds into their “cells” or little pots for growing. Here’s a plant-by-plant update: The pink California poppies sprouted quite well. They weren’t on the heat pad, so no damage happened to them. The packet had about 125 seeds, and I got […]

A little seed trouble

I’ve been extremely busy for several days, and I just checked my seeds in the basement, and the heating pad was getting way too hot. The other day, the pad wasn’t heating up very well, so I turned it up all the way. Today, it was at 100 degrees. I think some of the little […]

Sagers column: The dirt on new plant varieties

Larry Sagers had a column a few weeks ago that discussed new plant varieties (see: deseretnews.com | The dirt on new plant varieties). In it, he mentioned two books I should get: In addition to Nau’s work with new varieties, he is the author of “The Ball Culture Guide,” which is the authoritative guide on […]

Seeds are sprouting…

Today, more sprouting is going on: Salvia nemorosa: clearly beginning to sprout. Salvia transylvanica: hard to tell (I need either my reading glasses or to take my contacts out!). Cosmos: many sprouts now. Echinacea: don’t see any new sprouts; they’ve slowed down, and I think it’s because I turned down the heat. I turned it […]

Spring is coming

Yesterday, we broke 60 degrees for the first time since winter came. It was 64 in Salt Lake, but a little less than that in Utah Valley. Today is forecast for 62 in Pleasant Grove (our local weather station). Very nice! But a storm is now soaking California with rain, and it’s coming here tomorrow. […]