Spring is coming

My roses have survived the winter with their burlap windbreakers. They have some dead twigs that'll need to be pruned off once I can see what is growing. The irises at the base of the rose bushes need to be moved. They have expanded so much that they are crowding the roses.

This is a welcome sight. I really need to remember to plant more crocuses this fall. I'd like to have more purple and white ones.

I had a great picture of this maple tree last fall where the new growth on top was still green while the rest of the tree was orange, but I lost it. I am pleased at how it is filling out and getting thick on top.

I planted this new bed next to the driveway last fall. It has a line of ornamental grass called Calamagrostis Karl Foerster, it should grow to 5' tall and form a nice green barrier for this narrow side yard. I chose this species of grass because it is supposed to grow straight and stay very upright so it won't fall over into the neighbor's driveway. Then there is a row of black eyed susans which I've always wanted. I planted some seeds from an unidentified perennial in the Italian cultural garden on MLK Blvd last fall, but I don't know whether they'll come up. I may have planted them too deep.

I hate deer.

Here is a dendrobium orchid that a friend gave me two years ago. Back then it only had one cane, now it has three, however it has never bloomed. I don't even know what color it should be. It began simply, I just put it on the window sill and hoped for the best... nothing happened. Next I began fertilizing it with something that is supposed to encourage blooming...nothing happened. Then it was summer, I put the orchid in the sun room, and eventually it grew a second cane. I thought for sure it would bloom now that it had two canes, but no. Time went by, and I did some research and discovered that dendrobiums like a lot of sun, so I put a grow light over it... nothing happened. Then I discovered that most orchids need high humidity, so I put a pan of water with gravel under it... nothing happened. Eventually it grew a third cane, this one was the biggest of all the three, but nothing happened.



Here is my latest attempt: behold the Orchidarium.
A 29 gallon tank with a glass lid, and two grow lights: one fluorescent and one incandescent. It also has a little fan to create gentle breezes. There is also a digital hygrometer/thermometer to record high and low readings and allow me to make adjustments such as sliding the lid on or off by 1/4" to 2" to either remove humidity or preserve humidity. There is also a space heater underneath the tank that cycles on and off during daylight hours to keep the day time temperature around 75 F. The humidity varies between 60 and 75 %. Still, nothing...

My only hope is that with the onset of summer and higher daytime temps and also I will increase the hours the lights are on, will trigger the blooming response. My good long-time friend David suggested I just buy an orchid that is already blooming.

That would be cheating, and it would offer me no degree of satisfaction.

Flat top for the Maple

January is pruning time for Sugar Maples. The sap can start running in February, and you want to prune when the sap is all down in the roots so the cuts won't bleed, which attracts insects and can cause disease and stress to the tree. We have a Sugar Maple on our tree lawn directly below the power lines, so I have been pruning the tree to prevent the branches from reaching them. Our tree was small enough that it hadn't reached the lines yet, and by cutting off about the top third of the tree I was able to establish a fairly decent flat top and still have some branch structure below. I first pruned it in the winter of 2005, and last winter I just thinned out the new shoots on top but didn't flat top it again. I decided to give the new branches another year to get thicker and get established. So this year I decided to whack 'em all off again, leaving about 6" of previous growth.

p.s. I would rather have been out riding my new bike (yeah!) but the pavement is wet and I don't really want it to get wet and salty. Besides, it is close to freezing so I guess it wouldn't have been too fun. The cats are very interested, as they are with anything new.

Disappointed but not giving up

Today I had great plans. I was going to work out at the gym, plant my 15 hornbeam saplings which came in the mail on Wednesday, and then go buy a new bike. So, I got up at 6:55 to go to the gym. I have a training plan this Winter to build up my leg strength to prepare me for bike racing next Spring. I'm doing 250 lbs on the leg press right now and am anxious to increase that to 270 soon. I could do it if it wern't for my darn knees. Every time I try to increse the weight too quickly I get twangs of pain in my left knee. So today I stayed on 250, but I had a dull ache the whole time. I rode the stationary bike for an hour, and at the end I increased the resistance and stood up for three intervals. This hurt my knee too. I left the gym feeling discouraged and thinking I'll never be able to race if my knees keep acting up like this.

When I got home I did a little last minute research on the proper planting techniques for my hornbeam hedge. I discovered that late November is not actually a good time to plant. Early fall is good, but the ground is too cold now for any root development to take place. So I had 15 plants with nowhere to put them. I decided to plant them in a wooden trough and keep them in the coal cellar through the Winter and then move them outside next Spring. I think this plan will work fine, but it was rather disappointing to have prepared a bed, wait 6 weeks for the plants to come in the mail, and then not be able to plant them.

Here they are, the poor little twigs, stuck in a box of dirt in the dank, dark cellar.

As for buying the bike today, I just couldn't bring myself to do it after my disappointing workout this morning. I won't give up though. I've been dreaming about this for over a year, so I'm just going to have to take a break for 3 or 4 days and let my knee heal and then start again. This time I won't try to increase too soon.

The Eagle has landed

Rather, the Eagleman is taking off...

I've finally finished restoring a sculpture that's been hanging out in my basement for over a year. I took on the Eagleman just before I started a new job last October 23rd, and now finally, he's ready to go. The sculpture is about two feet tall and made of copper and brass sheet formed and soldered together over a plaster mold. The thumb had broken off, and well, both buttocks had dents in them. So the buttocks had to be removed, reshaped and put back on and the thumb soldered on.

This week I just finished matching the color of the repaired areas using a combination of chemical patination, automotive paint applied with a detail spray gun, and tinted lacquer. I ended by waxing the entire thing to give it a nice overall sheen. and protective layer.

Now the final splinter is out of my mind and I can focus on other things, like the kitchen remodel.

Not just gardening

I really love gardening. When I go to stately homes and botanical gardens I always come home with renewed passion for turning my own backyard into an English walled garden complete with espalier fruit trees, neatly trimmed hedges, a koi pond. Oh and I'd love to have a 100 year-old Yew tree somewhere.

My current project is planting a Hornbeam hedge (carpinus caroliniana) to create a little privacy barrier for the backyard. American Hornbeam, also known as ironwood, will grow into a tree if you let it, but it can be pruned back to form a nice hedge. I plan to leave a gap in it for a gate, and then eventually train the hedge up into an arch over the gateway. Here's me in front of what I want my hornbeam hedge to look like someday.

But the title of my blog doesn't just refer to actual gardening. I am a doer. I am happiest when I am doing some activity, be it trumpet playing, bicycling, home remodeling, silversmithing, or gardening to name a few. Since I got married three years ago I have been learning to just relax and be. My wife enjoys sitting at a coffee shop and talking or reading. This is hard for me. But, since I value her as the most important person in my life, and love spending time with her more than anyone, I now go to coffee shops on occasion.

So here I am, a doer, writing a blog, something I have long derided as a pointless waste of time. Well, I can't guarantee how often I'll write in it. Incedentally, my two incredible sisters both write blogs, which when I can sit still long enough I really love to read.