Monday, April 9, 2012

Easter Blooms


Mom's blooming azaleas, with viburnum in the background

Spring is in full swing as evidenced by a profusion of blooms, buds, and pollen. But we’re not quite done with cold weather; the forecast for this week shows two nights with lows in the mid-thirties. So I’ve set my sights on this weekend for planting veggie starts.

Among the available pink blueberries, purple potatoes, and apple mint, I have whittled my wish list down to a few veggies and herbs including some varieties new to my garden such as ‘Salad Bush’ cucumber, ‘Golden midget’ corn, ‘Sweet Banana’ peppers, and ‘Taxi’ tomatoes.

Over Easter weekend I had the delight of taking in all of the striking azaleas that flourish throughout my mom’s established neighborhood. Also flowering now are Spirea, Iris, Peonies, and Ajuga. The strawberries have tiny green fruit now and I can’t wait till they ripen; which is usually in May, but this year will probably be sometime in April. 

ajuga lawn
strawberries
If I had unlimited space at the perfect exposure, I’d like to plant all of these:
Cucumbers:
§      Salad Bush
§      Sweet Success
§      Green fingers
§      Bush pickle
Green Onions:
§      Evergreen hardy white
§      Parade
Sweet peppers:
§      ‘California Wonder’ (for stuffing)
§      ‘Sweet Banana’
Hot peppers:
§      ‘Pretty in Purple’
§      ‘Tabasco’
§      ‘Jalapeno’
Corn:
§      ‘Golden Midget’
Red Heirloom Tomatoes:
§      Brandywine
§      Soldacki
§      Italian Heirloom
§      Juane Flammee
Purple HeirloomTomatoes:
§      Cherokee Purple
§      Nyagous
Green Heirloom Tomatoes:
§      Aunt Ruby’s German Green
§      Green Zebra
Yellow Heirloom Tomatoes:
§      Dr. Wyche’s Yellow
§      Beam’s Yellow Pear
§      Taxi (early)
§      Sungold (cherry)
Cherry Tomatoes:
§      Mexico midget
§      Black Cherry (early)
§      Sweet 100
§      Red currant
Other Tomatoes:
§      Carmello
§      Roma
Herbs:
§      Basil
§      Chives
§      Cilantro
§      Parsley
§      Sage
§      Thyme