This and That: A Blog

 Woolly Apple mint is a reliable invasive!  One of the self-seeded Sungold tomatoes.  I guess I won't have to buy any plants this year!    Star of Bethlehem is a weed that's hard to get rid of, but it sure is pretty.  Hopefully it stays cool enough for the snap peas to reach maturity.  They are in no hurry this year.  One of the oreganos pops up all over the yard.  It's pretty, so I don't mind. Golden Oregano  Geum Fire Storm  One of the free curb irises is blooming.  As are the California poppies.  I think 99% of them came up in the paths not the beds.    I'm already pulling them out. The globe artichoke is coming back nicely.  The weather's been nice, cool mornings and warm afternoons in the 70s.  By the weekend it will cool off though, with rain expected in a few days.   That might give the peas a chance!

 

 So, it's Presidents' Day.  When I was in elementary school we had days off for Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays, whether they fell on a Monday or not.  February 12 for Washington, and February 22 for Lincoln, although Washington was born February 11, 1731 under the old Julian calendar.  In 1752 Britain and the colonies switched to the Gregorian calendar and his birthday was "moved" to the 12th.  The Uniform Monday Holiday Act took effect in 1971, changing some, but not all, federal holidays to Mondays.  Lincoln's birthday was never a federal holiday, but was a state holiday in about a dozen states, including mine at the time, California.  It still is a state holiday in a few.  Some states treated it as a school holiday, but not an official state one.  Getting on to the garden, here is what was going on yesterday. Autumn crocus, not actually a crocus, grows its leaves in late winter/spring, they dry up completely before the blooms emerge ...