humphreyhufnagel's Blog

Cold Spring
Mar 30, 2008 | 5:23 PM PST
There is a great disturbance in the Force.  Winter is making its last stand in NJ, but what a stand!  All my Spring ephemerals are coming up, but like cowards.  Today, only today, I could really feel the house and the land growing warm.  My parents got me three beautiful primroses; I promptly planted them next to the brook, where I hope they'll be happy for many years, but what do I know?  I didn't have a camera last Spring, so I sort of forgot the particulars of what bloomed, but my folks have better sense than I, thank God, and got some great shots of last Spring, which I have posted.  The crown jewel is unquestionably the powder blue Wisteria which blooms for 16 magnificent days in Spring.  I wish it was of a deeper color...

Spring Fever
Mar 16, 2008 | 7:52 AM PST

I got my tool shed/potting shed organized this weekend, and boy did it need it!  Spring is finally starting to show it's head here in the Northeast.  Snowdrops are blooming sporadically around the property, daffodils are beginning to poke their heads up, and best of all, it looks like the crocus bulbs I planted last fall are starting to sprout.  I have a long slate stone walk from the front of the house to the street, so I planted these crocus bulbs randomly between the stones.  Hopefully the effect will be to accentuate the walkway with the sporadic blooms of the crocus rising between the stones.  I'm also finding other bulbs popping up that I completely forgot I had planted -- I should have kept better records of what I did, but things are so hectic in the fall, I was lucky just to get the leaves up.

The house sits on a fairly mature landscape, and last year I did little except clean up and maintain what was already here, trying to get a sense of sun patterns, and just get a feel for what I could expect from the land.  I couldn't resist planting a rose here and a lilac there, but it was done with great restraint.  After a full year at the house, I can safely say that there is little which is irreplacable, and I have every intention of laying my hand on the property more firmly.  My two main goals are to create a shade garden on the roadside of the house (the front of the house doesn't face the road, but that's not uncommon in older homes), and to significantly expand the brook garden and the garden outside the dining room. The order has been placed at the nursery, and Spring can't come soon enough.

Success
Mar 6, 2008 | 3:11 PM PST
The Daffodil bulbs bloomed; I was afraid it would be a 3 month exercise in futility, but it worked!  Next year, tulips.  The snowdrop are already starting to sprout here in the dismal mid-March of NJ.

Progress with bulbs
Mar 2, 2008 | 5:25 AM PST
Tags: bulbs , bird
It's been two weeks and my daffodils are ready to burst!  They just need a few more days.  Next year I'll try tulips, because between the chipmunks and the deer, trying to plant them outside is hopeless.  I know it's off topic, but I'm staring out the window right now and there is an absolute feeding frenzy at the bird feeder.  I'm refilling it every day and every day I feel like I'm going to be swarmed, Hitchcock style.