Cherry Blossom Centennial

Prunus cyclamina Mid-season Flowering

Every year Washingtonians and throngs of tourists wait in anticipation for the cherry blossoms on the National Mall. There is a festival in honor of the cherry tress, whose history goes back 100 years to a peacemaking gift from Japan to a still new country.

Japanese pay close attention to weather forecasts predicting these famous blooms. They turn out in large numbers at parks, shrines, and temples with family and friends to hold flower-viewing parties. The Hanami festivals celebrate the beauty of the cherry blossom and for many are a chance to relax and enjoy the beautiful view. The custom of hanami dates back many centuries. Most Japanese schools and public buildings have cherry blossom trees outside of them. Since the fiscal and school year both begin in April, the first day of work or school coincides with the cherry blossom season. In short, the cherry blossoms are a big deal.

Washington's cherry trees were a gift from Japan in 1910 under the initiative of President Taft. To great dismay, 10,000 trees arrived that year diseased. A second batch of 3,000 trees arrive two years later in 1912 and began the tradition of planting the trees along the Tidal Basin, which became a formal festival in 1935.  Of the original trees, a few remain that survived through the years and are still alive and blooming along the Tidal Basin on the National Mall near the new Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial.

There is a reason for all of the fuss. It's magical to sit under a blooming tree, soaking in the earliest sun rays of the year. They smell wonderful, look stunning, and draw hundreds of thousands. Yes, hundreds of thousands. That's a lot of people...

To great anticipation, the predicted peak bloom date issued by the National Park Service moved up twice (much to their embarrassment as the Park Service prides itself of these predictions). The unseasonably warm days in the 70s and 80s, with nights in the 40s and 50s accelerated the blossoms, and here we are in peak bloom over the weekend of March 24th (just before the official start of the National Cherry Blossom Festival). 

I opted to view the trees from a distance on the National Mall, but got up close to see the petals at the National Arboretum. Here are my best shots of these famous beauties:

Prunus xyedonesis - Mid-season Flowering: This stately 'Yoshino' cherry is reaching the end of its life and is about 63 years old.

Prunus 'Taihaku' Mid-season Flowering: Meaning big white in Japanese, a reference to this tree's large flowers.

Prunus 'Shirotae' Late Flowering: The thin white petal of this "garden cherry" inspired the Japanese to name it after a white cloth made from the paper mulberry tree.

'Shirotae' Late Flowering

'Shirotae': A favorite for its large, double, fragrant blossoms.

Prunus yedoensis 'Akebono' Mid-season Flowering: A popular American Yoshino cherry. The flower buds are pink but the mature flower turns white with a trace on pink.

'Akebono', which means dawn in Japanese.

Prunus sargentii 'Princeton Snow Cloud' Late Flowering: Popular Sargent cherry developed in New Jersey in the 1980s for its abundant white flowers.

My Cold Frame

This fall/winter/spring was my second year using a cold frame.  Both years, I've used a simple and effective design: old tent poles covered by plastic sheeting over my 4x4 raised bed. Last fall, we built the cold frame in early November when the frost started to settle in and then opened it up for fresh air on warm winter days.

Hooking the tent poles into a little mounted PCV pipe.

We rolled the plastic around an old piece of wood trim.

My handy husband nailed this to edge of the raised bed.

We flipped the plastic over the tent frame and then nailed the second side from within to create a nice waterproof seal.

The plastic meeting the wood, with the nailing inside.

The finished product.

Fast forward to March... and look what we found: kale, arugula, rosemary, and Swiss chard.

And from the other side: parsley, chives, and bok choy.

I watered the garden a few times, but it generally kept moisture in quite well over the months. I watch the weather for nights when the temperature goes down to freezing and make sure everything is closed up tight and then open the cold frame up for the warm spring weather. I will wait until there isn't any further risk of frost (about mid-April) and I'll take it back down for the year.

First Spring Blooms

Spring is early. Maybe it's the long-term effects of global warming, maybe it's a natural, slowly evolving temperature change over time, or maybe it's just an early spring. Whether we like it or not, the spring flowers are out (and have been for sometime in downtown D.C. where ground temperatures are a bit warmer).  Over the last week, our yard has busted out the blooms. We planted new bulbs last fall after a trip to Amsterdam. I was saddened by the fact that I had to stick to the custom's certified bulbs in the airport or risk smuggling in the tempting bulbs in the great markets of the city. I opted for a little of both - shhh. As of this morning, here are my highlights from the yard.

The yellow crocuses were the first to pop up last weekend.

  

 

These purple beauties (also a crocus) came next, just days ago.

  

I love the stripes and burst of orange inside.

The daffodils have come up in different shapes and sizes.

A close up of one that's small and delicate.

These guys appear to be sun bathing.

The larger, more traditional bloom.

Violets that I recently bought from the store and they've come out into a full bloom.

Small blooms on each branch of a forsythia bush.

The forsythia bushes are early to bloom, but only last a few days.

Forsythia bush.

 

 

 

Blossoms on my potted dwarf blueberry bush. I got this too late last year to enjoy and berries and I'm hoping we'll have some this year.

And finally, strawberry plants from the store. Almost all of the petals have fallen, making way for the fruit!

Back to the Basics...Inside

Admittedly, I've been a blogger slacker. While last year's garden kept on moving, my fingers didn't make their way to the keyboard to document it. So if you've been wondering what happened, it's me, not the garden who was the lazy bum. Alas, we move on. Onward to this year's already leaping growth.

The last two years, I've started my garden indoors, under florescent lights in the basement. It works quite well and its a cheap operation. I use one old light fixture that came with the house (with fresh bright bulbs each year) and a new fixture I purchased for about $20 last year at Home Depot. Once you have the basics, the cost is quite low to start your own grow house in the dark days of January, February, and March.  This year, I bought a few new plant trays (about $2 each), organic seed starter (about $4), and some nifty Jiffy planting containers that biodegrade into your garden though the season (about $8).

In 2012, I've returned to the seed company Botanical Interests. I received most of what I needed to start as a gift over the holidays (thanks Mom!) and the rest I had leftover from 2011.  Not all seeds keep. Beans and peas especially don't last from one season to the next, but I've used leftover herbs, lettuces and kales, and tomato seeds for this year's garden.

Back in early February - at 10 weeks to the average last frost day in D.C. - I started seedlings for the plants that will need the most time indoors and those that are meant to go outdoors several weeks before the average last frost date. I started seeds for:

• Sweet Pea Melody Blend - This will be solely a flowering plant. It's a vine that I intend to put outside early in the spring for early pink, violet, lilac, lavender, red, and maroon fragrant blooms. At least that's what the package says...After nearly a month, I've already transplanted the seedlings and they are growing strong. Check out the image below:

 

• Pepper Sweet California Wonder - Back for more again this year. This pepper plant did pretty well with nice sized veggies that changed from green to red as they ripened. They are slowly moving along under the lights in the basement.

• Cabbage Copenhagen Market - These plants have reached a decent size after a month indoors and I plan to get them outdoors about 3 to 4 weeks before the average last frost date of April 23. Last year, these plants grew to be quite the monsters in my small garden spaces. I'm hoping to have them in and out of the garden a little earlier with the extra grow time indoors, which will leave more room for other plants in the garden a bit earlier.

• Basil Custom Blend - This multi-variety package contains Lemon Basil, Anise Basil, Cinnamon basil, Red Rubin Basil, Dark Opal Basil, Thai basil, and Genovese Basil. The trick is determining what you have! I've planted lots of it to use for its clippings, but also to bring variety in my gardens for pest control. Tomatoes also like the nutrients these plants provide and its helpful to plant them near one-another.

• Pepper Chile Early Jalapeno - These are new to me this year. It's somewhat unexpected to me that chile pepper plants actually like constant temperatures in the 80s. I'm going to try them out to see how they'll tolerate D.C. many days in the 90s and 100s.
  

More seedlings went into the basement just last weekend:

• Tomato Bush Silvery Fir Tree - A favorite determinate plant that also does well in pots.
• Tomato Pole Cherokee Purple - Big plump rich colored fruits.
• Tomato Pole Brandywine - A favorite for many.
• Tomato Bush Green Zebra - A zingy small green variety.
• Tomato Cherry Rainbow Blend - A mix of many great cherry tomato varieties. 
• Marigold Singet Lemon/Tangerine Gems - Beautiful delicate flowers that are great for pest control.
• Marigold Dwarf Lemon Drop - A hardy marigold variety that did very well in last year's garden.
• Marigold French - New this year to add a little more gold and red color. 

 

just after seed planting

Jiffy seed trays with planted marigold seeds

tomatoes one week after planting

the old light set up - still working great