Re: Winter interest and cabin fever
- To:
- Subject: Re: Winter interest and cabin fever
- From: M* S*
- Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 22:21:52 -0400
Maybe I could tell you a story...and get some help at the same time.
( I thought of this when I read the post from Barb in SE Wisconsin.... ,
so......Barb, you can share in the blame, OK?)
I have a daughter going to college in Wisconsin ( You want to try putting a
child through an American college with a 60 cent Canadian dollar!...but
that's another story). Anyway...when we drove her out at the end of August,
I noticed a pretty roadside wildflower(...yellow...maybe a type of
heliopsis??)
Not having seen this particular specimen before, I bought a full size
shovel at the WalMart in Iron mountain...(I believe you cross back into
Mich. to get there....plus..... the full size shovel was about 6 dollars
cheaper than the half size one...Go figure!) I then stopped in at Subway
and asked for a few of their pickle buckets. They gladly gave me four of
those sour smelling plastic things...(just what a person wants with the
thermometer hitting 94 degrees!)
Throwing them into the trunk, I drove back into Wis. and proceeded to dig
up 4 buckets worth of said unknown flower.
Two days later we held our breath ..(not due to the pickles...but the
Customs..) as we crossed back into Canada at Sault-Ste.-Marie. They let us
through, no problem.
Now....driving a further 1200 miles....we were about 70 miles from home
when I looked in the ditch in front of someone's lawn...when what to my
wandering eyes did appear!! ...but those same Wisconsin wildflowers! ( What
were they doing so far from home?)Except these ones were a full eight feet
in height!
I immediately applied the brakes...circled around and knocked on this
guy's front door...(9:00 Sunday morning.....)
"Excuse me sir...what type of flowers have you planted down in your
ditch?"
"Flowers?", he snorted, "Those aren't flowers...thems is weeds!"
"Oh...well...then would you mind if I dug some up and took them with me?"
"Go ahead...take all you want"
I did. I carefully dug up the tallest ones I could find...the eight
footers...and cross-piled them in the already stuffed back seat. Also...as
an added bonus....when I dug around the roots I discovered dozens of
bulbs/tubers/corms, whatever....and I took them home to plant as well.
So...I'm just sitting here, waiting to see what happens this spring.
If I get a good crop...who knows...might try exporting a few bulbs to the
good ol' USA. Who wants to be my first customer?
Neil.....going crazy in N.B.
PS. --still awake Barb?
-----Original Message-----
From: Barb Pernacciaro <bpern@idcnet.com>
To: perennials@mallorn.com <perennials@mallorn.com>
Date: January 31, 1999 7:24 PM
Subject: Re: Winter interest and cabin fever
>Well, I'm jealous of those of you who are seeing signs of spring outside --
even
>having some flowers bloom. I made a tour of my unlovely backyard looking
for
>things of winter interest. The dried heads of a Miscanthus above the snow
and
>the brown balls of Hydrangea 'Annabelle' are about it; well, maybe the
yellow
>and red branched varieties of dogwood. But then there's the big ugly patch
of
>seed hull laden snow under the big bird feeder which the mourning doves are
>sifting through for overlooked goodies. The brightest things in the yard
are the
>male cardinals.
>
>Indoors I've been bringing up from the basement all the amaryllis and they
are
>spectacular. Two pots in bloom with about 5 flower spikes per pot, about
seven
>other pots in various stages of coming up. I summer them all outside on the
west
>side of the house in a protected place, water and fertilize them once a
week or
>so, dry them off in the basement at frost time, and repot them before
moving
>them to the living room in Jan. or Feb. Easy and gorgeous.
>
>I filled out (finally) my seed and plant orders today and spent too much,
but
>those pictures got me! Can't wait 'til spring.
>--
>Barb P.
>SE Wisconsin, Zone 4
>
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