I began prepping the soil in the dahlia garden and finished all of the ground that is in full sun. There is shadow on one bed and half another. These aren't the best places for dahlia but, oh well ... Yeah, the big problem is that the shade will be back in September, frost or no frost. In a couple weeks, the sun will be higher and the shade will be gone. That ground will catch as much sun as anywhere in the dahlia garden.

Some carrot seed went in the little veggie garden. The Oregon Grape still has not bloomed but afternoon highs in the mid-60's make me feel like we are good to go! Warmest so far in 2016. Yesterday, I saw my first dandelion. Today, they are blooming everywhere!

One way I could get in trouble -- we could have a couple weeks of rain. Not only would cold wet soil likely kill the seed we put in it but I might feel I have to go right back in the dahlia garden and re-do those beds! Still early!

I'm feeling good. There was a bed to dig out completely, yesterday. A lot of heavy soil to move in a flat pan at the end of a stick. Flat pan at the end of a stick??? Some would call it a shovel ... it's brutal on a back. I was concerned that I might be in trouble today but - I'm okay! Trying to stay in reasonable shape thru the winter seems to be paying off.

Steve

The extended forecast calls for several days of rain here. No doubt the sopping wet ground, well filled lakes and now warm temperatures have something to do with it.

I believe my pea seeds have rotted, they had started to germinate, as evidenced by one that found its way out of the dirt and had a small root growing out of it, then the big snows came, making some very soggy and cold soil. I'm debating whether to replant if they don't show up.

I did buy a bundle of red onion transplants a couple weeks ago. I have no idea when they arrived at the garden center, maybe a couple weeks before that. So, since we are supposed to have nice days until Wednesday, I planted them this morning. Boy do they look pitiful right now after sitting in a box at the store and then my basement for a solid month. But, onions are a hearty bunch. The yellow ones I ordered in December will ship the 11th, hopefully the ground isn't too wet when they get here, I probably shouldn't have planted the ones this morning in the mud...

Parsley also got moved to their forever homes, in pots, which can still come inside when the weather turns sour.

But, other than those onions and the garlic that has come up, the garden is mighty bare. I have lettuce and the cole crops that are ready to be transplanted, but I am waiting a couple more weeks to let the ground warm up and (maybe) dry out a little more we will see...

As for flowers, even the crocus haven't bloomed yet, the daffodils are still only 2 inches high yet, everyone else's have already begun to fade, if they aren't gone already. I did see this year's growth on the little bluestem so I cut last year's dried foliage off. Pretty incredible how long it remained upright, all the way until last week. Ornamental grass clippings make great mulch by the way, like free hay every year. Interesting to think that it wad the old dried grass from previous seasons that fed the soil of the great plains for thousands of years, some of it little bluestem, same as I spread over my garden beds today.

After terrible weather yesterday, it was only windy, today.

Had the oil and spark plug change finished on the rototiller so ... out into the garden we go! Did the outside beds with a spading fork, tractor guy has special problems there. It has been 6 months since the tractor work and, other than so much organic matter already in the ground, one would hardly know it had ever happened.

Finished over 500 square feet and may go back, tomorrow. It's okay for soil prepping early crop beds but there is a possibility of getting the cart before the horse. March had near record rain and if April is the same I might have that rototiller dragging me through those same beds, later.

Tiller Dude

Two days tilling and back to it today.

This could get old!

Tomorrow's afternoon high may match record from 1889! Might have to take the day off to stay home and fan the baby plants ...

Steve!

All that tilling makes me glad my garden isn't much bigger than it is. I do it all by hand with a fork and even my puny 12'x24' and an additional 9'x7' areas takes me a whole weekend (I could probably get it done in an afternoon, but, why put myself through that?).

The beds dry out quite a bit, so I went ahead and planted the cabbage, broccoli, and raab. Maybe jumping the gun by a week or two, but, I didn't want them to get root bound, nor did I want to re-pot them again. I also needed the pots they were in for tomatoes. I went ahead and stuck some turnip, beet, and radish seeds in the dirt outside, too. With the sun and the wind and not being home all day it has been a really doozy keeping the top layer of soil from drying out.

And the peas are coming up, too.

Hey, peas!

It wasn't always this way. I once had all my gardens in beds, only some framed beds, but beds. Then, there were new garden areas. Then, I downsized several years ago ... Then, upsized again.

Doing all spring cultivating with a spading fork is now impossible without a crew! I never want to bother with a rototiller even on an unframed bed. The tractor guy does a pretty good job but can't follow the paths quite good enuf. Opting for fall instead of spring tractor work was a good idea one way and a bad idea for having me behind the tiller in April!

Steve

This weekend I'll be sowing in ground: cilantro, celery, lettuce, spinach, marigolds, parsley root, carrots, beets, and radishes. I'll be transplanting leeks and onions and shallots, and finally, starting tomatoes indoors next weekend.

I have been phasing out the frames around my beds more and more every year. I find them cumbersome and I like just having the large mounds of soil much better. My space is too tight for row gardening, at least not without sacrificing yield.

I did pick up a used mantis tiller this year though, works great for thelandscaping.

The mantis makes sense for raised beds. Yeah, the frames sag after a few years. Just something else to bang my shin on ...

A couple more beds readied, including the long one in the shady corner. Lettuce transplants out and Steve standing around with the watering wand. It's sooo warm here!!

The soil is dry, there is no reason to wait for the shady beds to have more sunlight. That's a fairly big deal this far north. It's sooo warm here!! Have I already said that?

I found some Viking Purple spuds. Yay! I don't really know about the late russets and such, but the Purple Viking (they go either way) has been the most productive potato I've grown. I didn't know that there was a "Red" Viking until last year. Then I thought, "those guys just cannot settle on the name of these things!" Wrong. Maybe it was just the season but the times I've grown the purple - it leads the group in production. The red performed poorly.

So, I've got some hills of the purple ... Actually, I have Purple Majesty out there already. Viking has white flesh; Majesty is 100% purple. I'm trying! Maybe if I close my eyes! They seem to have an outstanding texture ... if they just didn't have an outlandish color!

Mathewgg, I have some cilantro out, too. Now, if I can just have cilantro when I have ripe tomatoes! The weather will have to learn to cooperate.

Steve

Cilantro is a challenge in warm weather but grows great during the cooler seasons. If planted during the warm season it will bolt in about 6 weeks from germination. To get harvest in the warmth one needs to sow seed every couple weeks and have an area to sow into.

I got a few potatoes in the ground the other day. Would have done more if I had more space ready to go. Might try to get some in the ground today here in Westminster if the smothered grass areas are ready.

We're in Westminster too!

Just getting the raised beds ready to plant. Probably won't put anything out for another few weeks as we're mostly growing warm weather plants this year (tomatoes, peppers, squash). I am hoping to finally put one of the beds to strawberries. That should be fun, though I know I'll have to fence the box to keep the local animals out.

Now have the beds for the snapdragons and China asters prepped.

Transplanted onions, onions, onions! Dang tiny things! With a fist full, you can plant an acre! Well, anyway. It's good to get them into the ground ...

Fortunately, we are ahead of the game by calendar reckoning. The WS is predicting near-record highs again so I don't know if the weather is paying any attention to either the calendar or history! How can I know?! I'll just tweak the schedule a bit and take advantage as best I can. I sure hope we aren't cooking here at the end of June like what happened in 2015!

Steve

I got my onions from Dixondale the other day, Thursday I think? Maybe Friday... When I ordered them back in December, I did so on the premise that I would be planting them this very weekend. The instructions say that they will survive iny basement for 3 weeks, which Im sure they will, and as wet and nasty as the ground is going to be, they will probably have to.

I had also planned on planting zinnias, but my motivation is through the floor.

Speaking of onions...mine (seedlings I grew inside) were planted out two Saturdays ago. Right now they're under a bunch of snow, but I'm sure they'll be just fine, despite being mere threads of green.

In the melting today, I was shocked to see my garlic plants hadn't even flinched. Nearly a foot high already, they were looking back at me, like, "what snow?" despite being still partially submerged.

No temperature in zone 5 will really harm garlic. The tops might take some freeze damage but it doesn't matter.

I didn't do anything in the garden, today! The little veggie garden is stocked with early plants and the dahlias are planted.

I have lots of tilling to do in the big veggie garden but DW talked on the phone with the neighbor. She said that last night, it rained so hard she couldn't see to drive! The ground there was already wet from catching a Wednesday thunderstorm and downpour. I work too hard with the rototiller in wet soil, even if all the gravel makes it possible.

Here at home, I'm getting serious about hardening off some warm-season plants. Not peppers and eggplants, just yet. Fact is, I just got the majority of the eggplants out of their cell packs and into pots, yesterday morning.

The tomatoes are coming out on the lawn. I have the tall hoopie for them and, after the sunlight hits it, just set the plastic film up about 16" on all 4 sides. The oldest plants may be pulled out for direct sunlight, soon.

April had a monthly average temperature warmer than the monthly average for Salt Lake City ...

The nearest large WS office is compiling April weather numbers. It will be the second warmest April on record. Only April 1934 has been warmer over about the last 125 years. Spokane Washington was 8° above average!

Early warmth but rapid growth of the plant starts should keep me up to this new schedule. I just have to move more quickly than in previous years ... ha!

I have 2 hoopies on the lawn full of tomato plants! Well, they are "checkerboarded" so as to catch plenty of light so I guess they are each, half-full. Besides that, there are others! The big veggie garden is nearly half-full, itself. Warm weather - just stay calm, carry on. Steve, a few bags of fertilizer, and Rogue the Rototiller will lead the way!

Steve

The low was 21 here last night. I'm ready for the dreary weather to move on, although the moisture was a good thing! I need to get the tomato, pepper and eggplants out for some more hardening off this week. It's been too cold to take them out and they're getting leggy.

Thanks for the reminder on the dahlias. It's time to check mine and get them potted up.

The seed I sowed in the veggie garden before this last week of rain/snow is coming up. Radish, carrot, lettuce and parsnip. I'm glad I was able to get it started when I did.

Now, time for warmer weather! I'm glad to hear what you're up to, digit!

Barb

Steve, sounds like it's coming along for you.

I have not even started or have a date yet for hardening off and moving out the warm season stuff. Hopefully this last weekend was the last of snow.

Well, everything in the yard pulled through the freeze...except my apricots. Bummer.

Set out celeriac (celery root).

I don't know whether I could have done this with the kale and onions, or not. The plants are so slow that they were awfully tiny even yet. They now have the entire season to build starches in those homely roots.

For all of the celeriac slowness, the tomatoes are leaping! I usually tie up the potted plants using half of a 2 foot bamboo stake. Yeah, that's 12 inches. Too late! They have graduated to half a three foot stake or none, at all. The 18 inches is as tall as I want to carry around. Might put an eye out!!

Steve

I bought some celeriac transplants to try this year. There appear to be five or six in the pot, but they might have all grown together. I'll have to un-pot it this weekend and see if I can pull the little guys apart. I've never grown this before, but I do like cooking with celeriac so I hope this works out.

"They" say that we burn more calories chewing celery stalks than they provide. It might be true and for me, might be a good thing ...

It isn't true with the roots. They have the same flavor and are a delicious addition to mashed potatoes, especially.

I set out some tomatoes, half the tomato patch is filled. I doubt if I have ever set out tomatoes here so early! The temperature dropped to 39°f earlier this week but honestly, I think that will be the last we see of the thirties. Missed a record high by 2° a couple of days ago. It was above that record in my neighborhood but that isn't where any official thermometer is kept. Ya know, some of these records go back before I was gardening!

If I lose the tomatoes, there are duplicates here at home. It helped me free up some space in "protected growing." I feel silly covering things at night. Keeps the cats out and I don't want plastic film to blow away if the wind comes up ... Of course, 39° would not be kind but right now it's 53° at 4am and wet from an overnight shower. Adjust and adapt ...

Oh yeah, all the zinnias are out. Tiny things, risking early May weather. Well, their flats take up just as much room, tall or short plants.

Today, I will fertilize the remaining plant starts. It's on the "schedule." Okay, I will do that. Even if it's unclear if there is much purpose to it. Gardening ..!

Steve

My peas, carrots, beets, spinach, and lettuce are finally peeking their heads out. I planted seed two weeks ago, but then that cold spell came last week and slowed them down a little bit. Also direct sowed some broccoli-- I attempted starts in March. All 15 came up but I couldn't get them enough light, so they got spindly and I lost them all. I'm building a cold frame this summer (and looking for some lamps) so hopefully that's the last time I have to deal with inadequate light.

All of my peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants are going in containers this year. I had an outbreak of tomato spotted wilt virus last season, so just to be on the safe side I'm leaving them out of the beds. I'm just going to buy some starts and experiment this year with new to me varieties. DH has already picked out his peppers, so I'm in the market for, oh, six-ish determinate varieties. Anyone got any favorites that I should try?

I've also got all the seeds to grow the herbs for this fantastic stuff we had in Germany called Frankfurt Green Sauce. Mmmmmm.... Those go into the ground this weekend.

I had to look for a recipe for mmm Frankfurt Green Sauce, Inbetweendaays. That's quite a list!

If by determinate you mean small plants with peppers that ripen all at once - you might like Super Chili. It does what it needs to do, year after year. Spicy hot, tho!

Steve

Thanks Steve! I was actually asking about tomato varieties, but I'll have to track down some of those peppers for DH. He's the hot pepper afficianado-- Anaheims are about as hot as I enjoy. I had to talk him out of buying a flat of six habeneros this year-- we don't have a huge amount of space, and that's a LOT of habeneros. What in the world would we do with them all?

And the green sauce-- yes, it's a huge list, but totally worth it! I like it with cold new potatoes, hard boiled eggs, and a grilled pork chop.

Ha! Well, I was wondering about that.

Determinate tomatoes: I don't grow many ... have only one this year and that one just for kicks: Red Robin.

I have wondered if Golden Nugget cherries could be sown as seeds in the garden and produce a crop of ripe and tasty fruit before frost. It is that early!

Legend isn't early and begins to ripen as the weather cools in late August. Because of that timing, it can't be distinguished from indeterminates. Legend fruit slowly ripens over the weeks leading up to frost. The fruit is perfect in appearance altho it isn't an especially flavorful variety.

Now, we need someone with more experience and a favorite to chime in!

Steve

I have never had luck with tomatoes in containers, determinant or otherwise. Though, the bulk of my tomato growing IS determinants...in the ground.

Nineveh (I got the seeds from baker creek a couple years ago) is usually the workhorse of my garden. Last year wasn't a great year, but, that was the case for ALL my tomatoes. The one that did the best last year was orange blossom, F1 variety from Johnny's. Silver fir tree has done well in containers for me, but it is a pretty small plant. The small stature has an effect on total tomatoes produced, but it's not a bad one, just plant more haha.

I have also grown Black Sea man and Nebraska Wedding. Both are marketed as determinants, but, I found them to be much more similar to indeterminates. BSM isn't a HUGE plant, but the way it sets fruit is through the course of the season rather than all at once like you expect from a det. You could try that one in a container, since it is not overly enormous, but it's not a nice compact grower either...somewhere in between I would say. NW on the other hand does get big. If it is in fact a determinate, it is a very large one. It is a late season variety, so, it wasn't terribly successful for me (also very prone to BER) and I can't remember how it's fruit set was (whether one at a time or all at once). I am growing that one again this year though (after I didn't last year) because the few fruit I got from it were wonderful.

Some advice about determinates though: First, as I alluded to wit the Nebraska Wedding, determinant doesn't always mean small. Second, the choice of "heirloom" determinates is extremely limited. So, if that is something that is important to you, you may be disappointed. There is, however, a large selection of determinant F1's, so definitely check those out if you are open to them.

And another thing, I find with early tomatoes is that they don't taste as good as the mid season ones, I don't think anyways. Problem is, early season ones are the most reliable here, I grow few if any late season tomatoes at all.

Jali, I just gave a Rainy's to my neighbor this afternoon, with a little story to go with it.

DW already had picked out 3 to go in the garden. I allowed her to choose from the assortment as to how many of each. My only requirement was that there was at least one, of each. She was so excited and fussed with them for a good hour!

It's been a long time coming. Twenty-five years ago, she was convinced that she only liked red cherries. I began experimenting. She still isn't much of a fan of big red tomatoes but will put slices of them in her sandwich. She will eat pinks, oranges and yellows - with nothing added. Of course, 25 years ago, I may have had no experience with tomatoes of those colors either! Actually, it may have been just that she wasn't a fan of the Fantastic and Super Fantastic tomatoes, I grew - year after year!

Oh, and the neighbor's wife ... he tells me that red tomatoes upset her stomach. So, she has that one pink and 3 different yellows to try. I gave them Sungolds and Sun Sugars, last year.

Steve

Red cherries have a universal appeal. Yet, I grew one two years ago that nearly popped my eyes out of my head. Mind you, I like a tart tomato. It was appropriately described as astringent. Well, the thing was more than that. It was inedible. I couldn't even tame it with sugar or honey. Those seeds went in the trash. Knopka is a Nopeka for me.

A little sweetcorn seed planted.

More frost-sensitive plants went out - pumpkin, squash and cucumbers. And, the Weather Service dropped another degree off Tuesday's low. I'm still not very apprehensive. The big veggie garden gets more wind than cold.

Boy was it windy, today. After the vining veggies went in, I turned on the sprinklers. Of course, the 4" pipes and sprinklers are on the downwind side of the planting! I figured that their throw should be 30' with overlapping. They were effective at 10'. That must mean that they threw water 50' in the wrong direction, right?!

Steve

We've been hit by hail the last 2 days. Saturday was smaller than pea sized and just lasted a minute or two, no damage. Yesterday it was marble sized and went on for much longer. We ended up with over 2 inches of hail. I haven't walked around to survey the damage, partly because it's so muddy now and partly because I don't want to know, lol! Nothing I can do about it anyway. The trees are in the early stages of leaf out and the tomatoes, peppers and eggplant were inside. Hopefully, not too much damage, but these spring storms aren't playing!

My friend in Wiggins lives a mile from one of the 3 tornados that hit Saturday. She has some damage to her buildings, but she and her livestock are unharmed.

gjcore, did your new hail cloth get a work out?

Barb

May have dodged a bullet, this morning. After the warm wind came a day of cold wind, and some rain. It was a chilly 55°f yesterday afternoon ... I think I'm forgetting how to be comfortable in normal spring weather!

The forecast was once for 39° this morning. We consistently have frost when the forecast is 38° or anything below, and I was up at 3:30 checking. If it was a bullet, it was a slow one - the temperature by 5am was 43° as best as I could determine.

I might stay home today but if the winds stay calm, I really should get out there and kill some weeds around the flower corner of the big veggie garden. The eggplants wilted in the 55° afternoon, yesterday. I don't think they would be happy to be set out. Nor, the peppers or melons ... Maybe, I could take the parsley over to the little veggie garden. Oh, the burden of "management" decisions ... now that the gardens are nearly full!

Steve

Barb, fortunately the hail netting hasn't been tested yet. When the next hail hits I will get a video if possible.

Do any of you use the Weather Underground system? With distant gardens, it helps with peace of mind, or otherwise. Location, location ... I find your Colorado weather discussion quite amazing. Such variability! But, given the nature of the terrain, how could it be otherwise?

When the weather channel bought the underground I thought it might be the end of things. I don't pay attention to the social or scientific content but would look at nearest station(s). Fortunately, there are now more than ever here.

The nearest government station is about 5 miles away from my home, not bad. However, it is always cooler in my neighborhood. It's about the same distance from one garden but that location is on the north side of a hill! Twenty years gardening there - I'm still clueless on current conditions.

The other garden is about 10 miles from the government ... beyond the pale! I rely on the underground and there is a volunteer about 2 miles away. Still, it is slightly cooler at the garden based on my 10+ years of experience with frosts there. (A surprising 39° there this morning but not cool enuf to get me in the truck at 4am, headed out to turn on sprinklers. ;o)

Steve

I use the Wunderground weather app-- is that the same thing? I love it, although I wish they kept a running week to week precipitation total. So far I've found it much more accurate for storm tracking than other information sources, but if there is a better one out there I'm willing to give it a try!

I am a creature of habit it seems... Last year I planted tomatoes on May 23rd the year before May 19th, and before that... I don't recall I don't have notes pre-2014.

In any case this year was May 21st, yesterday! I also got peppers in their forever pots (5-gallon Homer buckets and some old recycling bins). That was a week later than usual, but the cold weather last weekend is why.

Tomatillos also got planted in containers... LARGE containers, maybe 18-20 gallons? I think I calculated it one one time to be about that size. Same with the cucumbers, I went ahead and planted those seeds, pots will warm up a lot faster than the ground anyways.

All I have left is pumpkins corn and beans, if the spring veggies ever decide to get their butts in gear so I have room for them...

Zach, I agree that containers will warm up faster but wouldn't they also cool off a lot quicker?

I still have not got the vast majority of warm season plants in (actually only one tomato). Still hardening off the rest or waiting to direct sow.

I did plant bush beans a few weeks ago sort of deep so they would theoretically take longer to germinate. All seem to be coming up now.

There was no gardening for me, yesterday. Because of wind and possible rain, maybe not today, either.

Through the weekend, the nearest Weather Service recorded just over 1" of rain over about 18 hours. I guess it failed to top a daily record (.95") because the rain fell on 2 different days. The rain was quite localized and WS stations 15 miles on either side picked up 1/4" or less.

That gives you an idea - a 1/2" of rain isn't common here and usually never occurs once the solstice is passed ... even if, windy and cloudy conditions through spring have to be expected.

I'm stiffening up from the inactivity!

Steve

Yeah they will loose more heat, but I don't foresee it being enough to be a huge problem. They are also right up against the house and sitting on a cement patio so tht ought to help, too.

On any case I could probably get away with planting some warm season stuff in the ground right now, its not optimal, but not cold enough that the seeds would just rot either. But I will wait, primarily because of the space issue but also because I'm not really in a bighurry, I could probably plant beans as late as July and still have a good harvest.

Steve, time to start doing some living room laps again!

I tried a little walking in the house, yesterday. Today, I had a nice long walk, uphill, thru a park, and then thru a very large building! Then, back down through the park. All this was after ..

. work in the garden! Now, have another layer of string on the single pea trellis. Last year, all our peas fried in the record June heat! I guess there was only 2 beds then but the loss will be remembered with anguish!

Weeding that bed and the path around it was probably fruitless. Well, I did pretty good at getting those little weeds collected and piled by the compost. The soil is so wet that weeding will just amount to "transplanting" if I left any on the soil surface.

I shiver to think what our soil temperatures have been since I set out all the warm-season plants! We had an inch of rain, a serious cool-down, and 56°f was as warm as it got, yesterday afternoon. I think everything is okay. That's as cool a day as we've had this month but lows are all predicted to be above 40°.

Steve

Most of my beans popped out of the ground today! I sowed Cantare green beans for pickling two weeks ago (they're so perfectly straight and fit in jars well); I also planted cannellini beans, pole beans for fresh eating, and dry varieties. All varieties are emerging, with the cannellinis definitely taking the lead.

Squash were sowed two weekends ago, but no germination yet. Melons were sowed Saturday.

My peppers have been hardening off outside for two weeks, and I know the night temps have been low, but they don't seem to notice. I put them in the ground on Sunday. Today they were hit by hail. Grr... But I'm ok with that - last years peppers were planted the weekend after Mother's day, also got obliterated by hail, and turned out to be my best pepper crop ever.

I'm waiting until this weekend to put the eggplants in the ground, and tomatoes as well. My tomatillos are puny with only one set of true leaves, and I'm not sure they would survive a full hot day in the sun, but with this rainy and cloudy weather we have coming over the next week, I'm going to take a chance. I've never been one for caution when it comes to planting out. Temps above 40 at night? Great! That's all I need! Though, I often have to sow squash a second time due to my enthusiasm.

My radishes have finally caught up - in fact, I'll be eating more than I care too over the next week. I grew some Polish varieties, Zlata and Malaga, that I'm excited to try. The Malagas are a beautiful eggplant color.

Lastly, my eremerus, planted three years ago, are finally producing their first blooms. Already nearly three feet high, I'm sure they will be glorious - if they can survive the next two weeks of hail season.

Ugh. Got hit with hail this afternoon. Lettuce and spinach were pulverized. I hope something springs back...

Two weeks of hail season? You mean two months... and then it starts again in August lol. The only time I have noticed it NOT being hail season is November-March, when it's snow season.

I suppose, Zach. All the years I lived in Central Denver I never got hail - but that was purely luck combined with a far more extensive tree canopy, so for me it's been a relatively new problem. All of the damaging hail has come in the first two weeks of June typically, but I really only track the instances that make me threaten to move to another state. lol. A friend said "Oh, but hail is part of the exciting challenge of gardening in Colorado."

I had to laugh at that....

I don't garden for the challenge of it - experience has taught me I can grow almost literally anything, and well (except lithops. they all die). It's supposed to be a peaceful, calming activity that brings me joy and personal satisfaction - a reprive from the endless slog of work and bills - and every hail storm feels like a punch in the gut.

Of course, every time the food crops recover eventually, but there is little joy in an ugly garden!

I had to share - after four years, the eremurus is finally blooming.

I LOVE it! I'm hoping the third time is the charm for me! That's how many times I've planted it! First two times they never came up at all. This is the second year for the white ones I wound up with--three of them, and they're not looking very good but they are definitely alive and looking bigger than last summer!

Did yours get foliage that died down before the flower started spiking? I'm still trying to figure the things out! Saw the flowers one time when I was at Paulino's, and decided I HAD to have some--and will keep trying till I get some to bloom!!!

Congratulations on yours! Wait till more of the flowers open! Spectacular!

Skybird

Skybird, I bought it in one of those terrible bare-root packages that are so popular in the spring. It went in in 2013...and nothing happened. I assumed it died underground.

Much to my surprise, it emerged in fall of 2014...like a little bullet poking from he ground. And promptly turned brown at about an inch tall. Oh well.

In spring 2015, it grew about 6 inches high, sort of like a little tuft of grassy leaves, not unlike liatris before it blooms, and stayed that way the whole summer, despite being mashed by hail in June.

This spring, it emerged again like a bullet, but much thicker. The leaves grew 18-24 inches long, like straps about an inch wide. The flower head started to emerge in May, and quickly grew to about 48 inches in height, at the very top. Right now it still has all of it's foliage, and that might be because it is enmeshed in a large sweet marjoram plant that shelters the lower growth and sort of provides a living mulch.

Yesterday, I noticed on Kipling Blvd between Alameda and Jewel, there are several plantings of foxtail in the center median that still have their foliage, and are blooming, but the leaves look brown about halfway down from the tips. I expect mine will brown up at some point during the bloom phase.

I saw them years ago at Denver Botanic Gardens - they had hundreds of them in multiple colors, and I knew then when I bought my house they would be one of the first things on my list. Now that I've been successful...even though it took a while, I feel a bit more confident about planting more of them.

My biggest fear right now is the hail. At this stage, it would be the end of that magnificent bloom!

Thanks for your kind words, and best wishes for your foxtails!

Here is a photo including the foliage. 65 inches total height.

Mathew, I was going to bring up the foxtails they have on the road medians on Kipling too, drive by them every single morning lol. They are HUGE!