Friday
I have a goal to determine what is still alive in my gardens after 30 years of acquiring plants, and to also make positive cultivar ids. This is a job for a detective 
How??? Well, I have my extensive notes and I can also make use of online resources to match cultivar ids, especially when the plant is blooming.
Over the years, there has been many plant genera that have caught my fancy. I had to google the plural of genus because genuses just didn't look right. I've heard the term genera before, but didn't realize it was actually the plural of genus But, I digress... As I acquired more and more cultivars of the same genus, I realized that they can be thought of as collections. I can definitely tell by looking at a plant what genus it is, but the numerous cultivars are a different thing altogether. I want to know which is which, but my plant tagging woes go way back.
Last year I made a good stab at my hosta collection when I was working in the Hosta Haven garden, and the ferns in the Fern Bank garden, but nothing else. So far this year I've identified the cultivars in the galanthus collection and have started on the daffodil and hellebores collections. I've identified the early blooming daffodils, and now that the mid blooming daffodils are making their appearance, I'll work on those.
Other collections with numerous cultivars acquired over the years include anemones, astilbes, clematis, columbine, daylilies, epimediums, iris, lilies, peonies, pulmonaria, tricyrtis... A lot of these have really died out over the years, but others are alive and thriving.
I guess my approach will be two-fold - garden area by garden area as well as by blooms week to week. I'll not attempt to add my new slate labels to all of the plants, just specific cultivars that are part of a bigger collection. There are over 2300 plants accounted for in my database. I'd be lucky if even half of those are still alive, but I'm not optimistic. Maybe for once I'll look at it with the viewpoint of "glass half full" vs "glass half empty", and be amazed and thankful for what IS still alive 
Thursday
We have had three straight days of rain. There have been several big storms that lasted for a few hours and then they subsided, but the rain continued slow and steady. It has been cold too.
The big storms dumped mud into the pond - sediment from the surrounding slopes ends up in the creek that feeds it and also ends up directly in the pond itself. It only happens during big storms with lots of rainfall in a short span of time. Not that often, but it takes three days or more for the sediment to drop to the bottom and the water to clear up.
A big tree uprooted along the driveway too, and instead of falling, it got hung up in the branches of another tree. It was leaning dangerously over the driveway. Mike was really concerned and kept eyeing it for days, but he didn't want to attempt trying to get it down while it was still raining. Well, he finally decided that it was riskier to leave that tree in that condition than it was to try to get it down safely in the rain. It is scary and dangerous when big trees get hung up like that, but he managed to get it down successfully late yesterday afternoon. Once it was down, he was done with it for the day even though it is blocking the driveway. He will be going out to cut it up soon - he isn't a morning person, so his "first thing in the morning" is more like early afternoon 
I've been pre-occupied for the last two days with getting my information together from the last 7 weeks to take with me to the diabetic nutritionist appointment - daily food logs, eating time/frequency patterns, etc... I've probably mentioned that I've been dealing with Type 1 diabetes for the last several years. Technology has come a long way with integration of an insulin pump with a continuous glucose monitor. My blood sugar levels are much better managed, but with the total automatic integration I'm getting a higher volume of insulin than when I was doing it manually. With increased insulin, came increased weight gain. Insulin related weight gain is one of the hardest to lose, and I've been really struggling on my own. The weight has reached an uncomfortable level that is impacting me every day with stamina issues and general ability to do what I want to be doing. Anyway, this nutritionist specializes in Type 1 diabetes, and I am giving it my best effort, hopefully for the long haul. After meticulously keeping a daily food log, I had lots of questions for her, both general and specific. The appointment yesterday went well and I'm making good progress in every goal that was set at the first appointment. She also showed me the food tracking app MyFitnessPal that she uses - why she didn't show me this at the first appointment so that I could use it was a bit irksome. Now I'm spending time transferring the data to it. Oh well, it will be easier to use than what I had come up with on my own and she will have online access to it for assessment and guidance.
So, major gardening delays due to weather and the other priorities of the last few days. It has finally stopped raining today, but it is pretty cold out there and everything is saturated. Not that appealing to get outside. Bonnie has been going stir crazy without the hour or two of gardening after her work days, and swears that no matter what the weather is like this weekend, she is gardening. I guess I will be too.
Monday
All weather heck broke loose in the wee hours of the morning. Booming thunder, lightning flashes, and torrential rain. The heavy storm lasted about an hour and then subsided to a slow but steady rain until early afternoon, but it has been cold and cloudy all day. This kind of weather sure doesn't let me get on with gardening. Another inside day, and it was a lazy one. Sometimes I am so tired and also so cold, that all I feel like doing is wrapping up in blankets and dozing. I had the TV on, but wasn't really watching anything. River stayed curled up next to me on the couch, not wanting to do much of anything either. He perked up when he heard Bonnie get home from work and was out the door and through the woods like a race horse out of the gate. He is getting older, but he can still run as fast as ever. I will never get tired of watching the sheer athleticism of it.
The most exciting gardening related thing to report is that I have had great germination from my tomato seeds, even most of the older ones. So far, 15 of the 17 varieties that I sowed are up. The only two that haven't shown any germination at all are 'Sunrise Bumblebee' and 'Umamin Hybrid', both from 2017. I'll keep them on the heating mat and under a humidity dome a bit longer before I give up on them. I was waiting to see how the old seeds from 2017 fared before I sowed the last of my even older tomato seeds. I will go ahead and sow 'Cherokee Purple', 'Mortgage Lifter', and 'Rose' - all pass alongs that are more than 10 years old at this point. Again, nothing to lose but time.
Two more days of rain are predicted, and then after that it will still be cloudy and cold - not getting any warmer than high 40s and low 50s until Sunday. Where is the great spring weather?
Sunday
In 2021 during an excursion to a local native nursery with a few of the Mid Atlantic gardening friends, I saw a shrub with pretty purple flowers in full bloom. It sure did catch my eye, and I found out it was Rubus odoratus, commonly known as Purple Flowering Raspberry. Unfortunately, they didn't have any stock for sale, but it has been on my wish list ever since.
My friend David works there. He said that it is hard to come by and that they don't get it in stock very often, but he would keep an eye out for it. His wife Pat let me know that after nearly three years, the nursery finally had them. I went to Watermark Woods on Saturday to check them out. They were pretty much dormant, but I could see some itty bitty growth just starting to emerge at the crown on a few. This is a plant that would never have caught my attention if I had not seen it in a mature state and in full bloom. I am so excited to finally have it! It is a native that thrives in shade, very understated but with such pretty flowers. Mostly deer resistant too except for the possibility of nibbling on emerging leaves.
This is a link to an article with a nice photo and some basic information:
https://edgeofthewoodsnursery.....
I ended up purchasing two and have to decide where to put them. Possibilities that I'm mulling over are the Pond Path, the Driveway Circle Area, or the Stumpery. I'll be growing them on in pots for a while, so I have time to think about it.
No gardening on Easter Sunday. It is a time for family celebration. We all met at my sister Tina's house for brunch. It is about an hour and twenty minutes away, but I picked up my sister Julie who lives nearby and we had a nice visit during the drive. Her husband Tom has major back problems and it was acting up this morning. Once Mike heard Tom wasn't going, he opted out too. It was for the best with his sister Bonnie working this weekend and having River to look after. It would have been a long day for that dog to be cooped up in the house. Anyway, Julie and I enjoyed our extra time together and it was nice to see the rest of the family. Christmas and Easter were always a big deal for my mom, and I'm glad we carry on our family gatherings even now that our parents are gone.
Friday
I definitely will not be meeting my goal of having the initial spring gardening cleanup finished by the end of March. The weather just isn't cooperating. After two days of rain, I was really looking forward to today with the predicted sunshine and temperatures reaching 60. The sun may be shining, but it sure doesn't feel anywhere near 60 and it is really windy. I just heard that there is a forest fire about 2 miles directly south of us. There was one a few weeks ago about 5 miles north that the local fire fighters had under control quickly. No homes or people were harmed, but 75 acres of woods were burned before it was out. I sure hope this one is under control just as quickly.
Mike FINALLY started grading around my greenhouse this morning. I swear that man must procrastinate on things that I would love to have done simply to annoy me. I know that isn't really true, but sometimes it feels like it is. It took him all of 2 hours - REALLY??? I told him that I have way more than 2 hours of my time asking him to do it 
After all, it has only been ready for that last bit since LAST SUMMER. All this time of having to walk through ruts and mounds and mud... He has heavy duty landscape cloth to put down and a load of gravel in the dump truck to put on top of that, but with the wind, he is likely done for the day. Probably done for getting back to it anytime soon too 
I spent way too many hours yesterday organizing the accumulated pile of plant vendor tags. I ran out of the avery labels I use on the envelopes and made a run to Staples around dinner time to get another pack. I spent more hours trying to finish it up last night. Time just flies by when I am on a roll with stuff like that, and I didn't realize that it was going on midnight I nearly finished, but not quite done.
I really keep track of perennials, shrubs, trees, bulbs - things with longevity, but don't do much about keeping track of annuals or herbs or vegetables/fruits. Not that I have done much in the past with any of those anyway.
Last year though, I purchased a lot of annuals for containers to spruce things up before hosting the Mid Atlantic plant swap. Gulp, open mouth, whatever, about the prices of things that I consider consumables. They sure were pretty though. I want to do a lot more with annuals in the future, but I will be trying my hand at growing them from seed vs purchasing grown plants. We'll see how that turns out.
As far as herbs, I always grow a variety of mints in containers on the stonework retaining wall where we park and a variety of cooking herbs on a tiered plant stand on the back deck right outside the kitchen door. I don't see much deviation from that in the future, but again, I'll be trying my hand at growing them from seed.
And vegetables/fruits, oh my do I have expansion plans There is just something about growing your own and preserving it that has always appealed to me. I have a vegetable area, enclosed by deer fencing, where I have grown a few tomatoes and peppers in the past. Not consistently every year though. I want to really up my game with it this year though. I have another 100 foot roll of deer fencing to enlarge the area. I will be doing tomatoes and peppers, but a lot more than before, both variety and quantity, and adding things like lettuce, onions, carrots, garlic, cucumbers, melons, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and whatever else I might like to try.
I have spent the day so far being on hand for Mike while he was grading, puttering in the greenhouse - although it wasn't circling back to do the waterlily repotting or sowing seeds that have been on the to do list for days, finishing up the plant vendor tags, and last but not least, a nice long nap after staying up way too late last night. I'm raring to go again.
