If you've never been to Chicago Botanic Garden, you won't want to miss it. If you've been before, you can't wait to go back.
Thank you Botanic Garden staff, who have been so accommodating and welcoming, and for all you've done on our behalf. We appreciate you.
My first perennial garden many years ago was made up entirely of pass-along plants. An elderly neighbor who was also an avid gardener frequently invited me into her garden. We'd walk the paths of lovingly-tended shade borders tucked into corners of her yard, and I'd admire her sunny borders and their succession of blooms. Every time she invited me to visit, spring through fall, she sent me home with divisions and seedlings from her beds.
A client was enlarging one of her patios in late November last year. The contractors, at her direction, dug out the plants from the border around the patio, piling them up in a corner of the garden with nice, fat, healthy rootballs intact for us to choose whatever we wanted to take home to our own gardens. Although I was sorely tempted by all the beautiful grasses, they wouldn't have been happy in our shady garden. But the epimedium will like it here.
Celandine poppy seedlings were the gift of another client last July, and I'm happy to see they survived being transplanted in the dog days of summer. Initially they made their displeasure known, but seem to be settling in well now.
I've started a veritable forest of sedums - mostly Autumn Joy, from the garden of another client who suggested we might want to take some pieces home when we cut hers back last fall. I'm not sure how well they'll do here with so little sun, but since they were free, I don't mind experimenting. These cuttings were stuck in the ground in late fall. I didn't expect much rooting that late in the season, but sedum cuttings root so quickly and easily, most of them are back this spring. Tough, drought-tolerant plants, even if they flop or don't bloom in our shady bed, they'll fill in some previously-empty space in the dry shade and tangle of roots under our silver maples.
Several stokesias came from the client expanding her patio. I've wanted to experiment with stokesias here. But with so little sun, a limited budget, and so many plants on the list, it would likely have been a long time before I tried them since I think they prefer more sun than our garden provides for optimal blooming. These went into a spot that gets about three hours of morning and afternoon sun. If they don't bloom well here, they can always be passed along to a sunnier garden.
Other pass-alongs received late last fall were hurriedly heeled into the veggie garden until I could decide where to put them this spring. I needed to get them out of the veggie garden early since they were in the back of the garden where the trellis needed to go, and I wanted the trellis up before planting the peas. As soon as the sun had thawed the frozen soil, I started moving the plants, some of which were literally piled on top of each other when I hastily heeled them in late last fall. The last of them (or so I thought,) was moved last week, just in time to plant the peas.
I had to disturb the already-sprouting-underground-peas in order to get this pass-along out of the veggie garden. It was well worth risking a few peas, which can easily be replanted, in order to rescue this buried treasure. I was pleased to find the substantial root ball still healthy and firm at the bottom of the raised bed, and happy it survived the abuse I heaped upon it when I accidentally piled some other pass-alongs on top of it to wait out the winter in the veggie bed. This one was large enough to be divided into four plants. You can't tell what a substantial plant it really is, since most of it was sprouting underground with several inches to go before reaching the surface. I'm about 99.9% certain its a pulmonaria, though I don't know what cultivar it is. I didn't know what it was when I brought it home, since it had already been cut back for the winter. Sometimes part of the fun of pass-alongs is figuring out what they are!
I'm grateful for the generosity of gardening friends and clients who've shared the bounty of their overflowing gardens with me, and enjoy sharing my own seedlings, divisions, and cuttings with them, in the rich tradition of a sweet elderly neighbor, my first gardening friend outside my family. I think of her often when another gardener shares a plant from their garden with me or I share one with them, when a surprise pulmonaria comes up for light and air, or when I can figure out what cultivar an unnamed, treasured pass-along really is. And I always think of her in the waning days of summer when the August lilies bloom.
Although considerably smaller, our new veggie garden is official! This week I planted peas, radishes, and a few of the more cold-tolerant of the gazillions of varieties of lettuce seeds I have. AND the life-changing garlic I planted last fall is sprouting!
I can't say for sure which garden I'm more excited about. Obviously I'm very excited about my own little kitchen garden, and I hope it may even inspire neighbors to consider planting their own small plot. Except for the last five years I've always had a veggie garden. Having one here now, however small, is better than Christmas.
Tuesday dawned sunny and mild. Although the Garden Girl was busy with her class, you weren't far away in her thoughts. She knew on such a beautiful day you might decide to bloom.
Such a humble thing, you open your petals without fanfare, gazing down with gratitude at the soil that sustains you. Your unassuming beauty is tonic for a troubled world. If you're anything like the blooms that came before you last spring, you'll stick around until fall, making the world a better and more beautiful place.
So Ms. Hellebore Bloom, this is your life! Soon other hellebores will join you, but you'll always be the first. May you sprinkle your beautiful offspring throughout the garden to bloom for posterity. May you live long and prosper, bringing beauty and happiness for years to come.
I still might try some cuttings from this dragonwing (or do you call them angelwing) begonia. Two of these bloomed all winter in the living room.
The pelargoniums have been blooming all winter in the basement. They're messy, so I keep removing the budding stems. They respond by sending out more buds.
I took some cuttings from them over the winter. These blooms are from a cutting.
There's lots of new growth in the garden. Since I never seem to get around to planting early-blooming bulbs in the fall, there are no blooms yet. There is a hellebore budding on this frosty March morning.
There are signs of life all over the garden. It won't be long now! Spring is almost here!
For more Bloom Day posts, please visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens.
Please, come closer so you can experience its sweet fragrance.
Oh look, this rose sculpture is where I ran into one of my Master Gardener classmates with her guide dog and friend on Saturday. She's an inspiration to our class, volunteering her time on gardening projects for blind and visually-impaired people. This thornless sculpture is just one of many tactile experiences at the show. Aren't the roses fragrant?
And here's another topiary from the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences display. It was designed and constructed by the students, and made from materials recycled from previous projects. When it's dismantled everything will be reused or recycled.
The mission of this unique public magnet school on the city's south side is being a college preparatory high school that provides opportunities for diverse students from across the city to study agriculture with the goal of developing marketable skills as well as college level competencies. It's a very cool school!
I wonder if they use this tractor on their 72-acre farm.
This Cedrus Atlantica 'glauca pendula,' or Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar isn't hardy here in zone 5, but it might be happy in your garden if you're in zone 6-9.
I enjoyed this sculpture of liatris, agapanthus, and bamboo. Isn't it cool?
Aren't they pretty?
I have fourteen packets of Merveille de Quatre Saisons heirloom lettuce to share, and I'll do it the old-fashioned way by drawing names out of a hat. Listen to the description of this lettuce:
This centuries-old French heirloom bibb lettuce has big heads of radiant color with beautiful ruby-red leaves that surround tightly folded green hearts.
Merveille is a visual treat that is wonderfully ornamental in the garden. This cherished favorite of many generations will please your palate with large heavy rosettes of crispy, fine-flavored leaves. We import our selected cultivar of Merveille from Europe, because it reliably produces an abundance of big, heavy heads with a particularly lovely color, form, and flavor.
If you live in the US or Canada and would like a packet of these seeds, please leave a comment telling me what other vegetables you're growing in your garden this year. Even if you don't normally grow veggies, this lettuce is so pretty it would be divine in an ornamental garden. Leave your comment by midnight central time on Saturday, March 14, and on Sunday I'll draw names from a hat and announce the winners!
p.s. I'm off to the garden show again today!
3/16/08: Hi Everyone! Thanks for playing! Please see the March 15, 2009 post for a list of the winners.
Winners, please email me your full name and mailing address, and I'll get seeds out to you pronto!
A moss pig looks like he was getting ready to nosh on the marigolds at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Art's display garden. The first three shots are from this display, created by students at the school. 
The rooster was made of coleus and begonias - and (I think) dried grass for the tail. He was also part of the high school's large display garden, along with the bee below.
The bee was suspended from cables, and glided back and forth along tracks at the ceiling. It was difficult to get a clear photo of it because of the movement - Advanced Sports Shooting came to the rescue for this shot.
On a different theme, there was something serene, yet whimsical about this ginormous Buddha.
This guy, made from flower pots, was my favorite critter. If I'd found a replica at one of the vendor's booths, I would have had one more thing to carry home!
Our little guy catching bugs in the back yard at his birthday party last year.
While following links recently, I came across a site called One Green Generation. I remember seeing badges for The Growing Challenge in other bloggers' sidebars last year and visiting the site. With no place to plant veggies, I sighed and moved on.
