And introducing...my first spring flower of the year!

(It's the same flower from a different angle. I was just really excited.)

Divide and (not quite) conquer

Today was one of those February days in Portland that teases and titillates.

Sunshine!

60 degrees!

Singing birds!

Goodness, it must be springtime!

Okay, not quite. But we're getting close. I acquired my first purchased flowers of the season, 2 sweet primroses from my grandfather. After he divided them from the tray this afternoon, he rushed me out the door because he wanted to make sure they would make it home without dying, because I insisted on putting them in a temporary container that was too small, and which he insisted on loading up with potting soil.

"Papa, I'll be home in half an hour, they'll be fine."

"Well...alright. But go right home and plant them."

(Please don't tell him I stopped at the market for dinner ingredients. He might stroke out.)

A side note on my grandfather and flowers: Since my grandmother passed away last year, he has been almost religious in keeping with many of the gardening practices she kept. For instance, the strip along the driveway must be planted with the correct color of geraniums. And the section under the eve on the south side of the house must be planted with the correct number of begonias. I'm not even kidding.

Since the weather was so nice, I thought it wise to take advantage of it and work on a project and not just sit inside, fold laundry, and watch bad television Law & Order on TNT. It was imperative that I dig up and divide up my dahlia tubers this year. By the time I got around to it last year, it was too late and the dahlias were already sprouting up.

Oh.
My.
Stars.

Let's not skip a year again, k? Out of the 11 different tuber masses I dug up, no fewer than 5 of them had to be put into full-sized paper grocery bags for temporary storage. A couple of them were even double-bagged for safety reasons. My point is (in case you're lost): I have many, many dahlia tubers. And we're running out of space in our garden beds right now, until we take out more lawn and the crappy shrubs I don't like. Luckily, I seem to have many friends in town who are not only willing, but excited to take some off my hands.

I expect in a few years, I will be getting an email from these friends asking if I'm in need of dahlia tubers. What goes around comes around, I guess.

Waking up again

Yes, it's true I've been away from my blog for awhile. Between the busy holidays at work and my tendency to hibernate afterwards, I took an unplanned break.

So as much as I procrastinate when it comes to actually dealing with my yard, I have really loved looking through the seed and plant catalogs I've been receiving lately. By temporarily suspending reality, I can browse all of the pretty new plants and flowers and think about what would look great in the yard. Never mind that we are currently out of space for planting (until we finish the planter boxes in the backyard.)

Please join me on my journey through Pretendsville:

One of the new catalogs I've started receiving is Annie's Annuals and Perennials. I really like how you can browse by flower color as well as plant type. And the Annie's Favorite's section is fun. Even though she specializes in California native plants, there are plenty of options that will work for my climate.

One of my favorite companies is High Country Gardens. They specialize in xeriscape, or "water-wise" plants, meaning once the plants are established, they will need very little water.We ordered some of their pre-planned gardens, the Xeric aroma garden. This is only the second year we've had it in the ground, so it still looks fairly sparse, but it already looks good. I love all of the plants in the bunch, but I think my favorite of them is the ornamental oregano.
It reminds me of hops flowers. And the way the plants were packed for shipping was ingenious. In fact, one of the salvias was blooming when we unpacked them!

And, of course, you all know I love Dahlias. I haven't ordered any new ones, and I may not this year. That whole nonsense of nowhere to plant them yet. Not to mention I need to divide my existing dahlia tubers, which will yield even more. So maybe I'll get some new ones next year.

Thanks for joining me on my travels today. I promise not to be gone so long this time!