fairythyme's Blog

A visitor to my website is looking for the words to a poem her mother recited to her back in the 50's.  It's about the native wildflower found in woodlands - Dutchman's Breeches.  Four of the lines she remembers are:

Some little fairy Dutchmen
Went to take a bath.
They hung their little breeches,
On a stem along the path.

 If anyone knows this poem, please let me know. 

 

OH YEESSSSS!!! SPRING IS REALLY HERE!!! This past weekend kicked things off in a big way. The bleeding heart is up, the peonies are peaking through, the frogs are peeping, the birds are nesting, there are tiny rhubarb leaves (I can almost taste that rhubarb custard pie I'm gonna make!!!) - oh what glory!!!! Sooooo, there was nothing to do but to release the fairies - as in all the fairy figurines I put away for the winter. They simply don't like being pummeled with ice and snow (who does???) so they spend the dreary, cold months indoors. I'm sure they aren't fond of that either, but it beats being chipped and faded by Jack Frost or buried in mounds of snow.  Now, they're back in their favorite places throughout the garden overseeing the return of all their little charges.  I can tell they're happy feeling useful again.

I started the moonflower seeds today.  They need such a long growing season to bloom that in my Zone 5 you simply have to get a good head start.  This exotic, vining bloomer is one of my favorites.  It's also a favorite of night-feeding moths.  Of course, the local fairy population loves them too.  The botanical name is Ipomoea alba, a close relative to morning glories.  But instead of blooming in the morning, this blooms at night.  Huge, saucer-sized, pristine white blossoms that exude the most intoxicating fragrance.  Even the leaves are remarkable - large, heart-shaped and a rich deep green.   If you've never grown this show-stopper, you simply must give it a try.

 I soak the seeds overnight before planting them.  Some recommend cutting a little notch in each seed or lightly sanding it to start the process, but I've found simply soaking them, breaks down the outer layer.  They germinate quickly and are soon off and running.  In 3 - 4 weeks they'll be ready to transplant into larger pots.  Each pot requires a 2 - 3 foot support as the plant will start vining right away.  This vine cannot tolerate cold and certainly not frost, so it's important not to transplant it outside until temperatures are reliably warm.  If you wait to plant the seeds in the ground after the last frost date, there won't be enough growing season in Zone 5 for the plants to mature and bloom. There's nothing like the promise of little green sprouts to get one through another round of Winter Storm Watches (which we're under again here!!)