The Yellow Farmhouse Garden

Every once in a while, during a rare harmonic convergence, the fashion and design industries intersect with the gardening world. Earlier this month, it happened again; the folks who decide such things, picked out the ” Color of the Year ” . This no doubt is old news to some of you, however, I just found out about it a couple of days ago.

I can hear it now, voices saying, ” where the #$X* you been?, in a cave? ” I just find it hard to keep up with current events.

So what does all of this have to do with gardening?…. everything! You see, the Color of the Year is ” Chili Pepper ” . Actually to be more accurate, its offical name is “Pantone 15-1557″.

They describe it as ” a deep, spicey red”. Leatrice Eisemen, Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute, was quoted as saying, ” in 2007 there is an awareness of the melding of diverse cultural influences, and ‘Chili Pepper’ is a reflection of exotic tastes both on the tongue and to the eye. At the same time, ‘Chili Pepper’ speaks to a certain level of confidence and taste. Incorporating this color into your wardrobe and living space adds drama and excitement, as it stimulates the senses. ”

It looks like to me, we can all look forward this year to seeing this color in everything from hats and shoes to easy chairs, toasters and wall paper.

This is not the first time that gardening and the fashon/design industry have collided. In 2005, the ” Color of the Year” was ” Tulip Violet “, sometimes known as ” 16-3823 “.

You my not know this about me, but I have already worn this 2007 color. It showed up on my shirt completely by accident last week after my second helping of Judy’s home made chili !

For more color fun, I suggest you visit Colorstrology.com to find out what your own personal color is. Using your birthday as a starting point, this site uses a mix of astrology and color science to come up with your color. Mine by the way is “17-4320 “, its uncanny how accurate thay are!

Not seeing red, but Adriatic Blue instead,

Bob

The Monroe Conservation District has sent out its order form for the Annual Spring Tree and Shrub Sale.

This tree sale has been going on each spring for as long as I can remember. Back when the sale first started, The Monroe Conservation District was known as the Monroe County Soil Conservation District. The new name really fits the organization much better because they are involved in so much more than soil conservation these days.

If you check their web site www.monroecd.org you can see a whole list of Conservation issues they address: Forestry, Ground Water, Erosion Control, Karst and others.

I hope you still have your copy of the yellow order sheets that were sent out in the local newspapers. If by chance you missed placed your form, you can call them at 734-241-7755 extension 101 and get another copy.

One part of this sale I like is the fact that trees can be purchased in lots as small as 10 trees all they way up to multiples of 100. So if you need just a few for the back yard you can order just ten, if you need a few thousand to build that wind break for the back 40, you can do that too.

In addition to trees and shrubs, Michigan native plants and wild flowers are also available. A quick look at their list shows plants such as: Bottle Gentian, Lady Fern, Obedient Plant, Wild Lupine, Woodland Sunflower and more. These plants are sold in 1 quart pots.
They also offer an assortment of supplies and such. One item that caught my eye was the “regulation size” bat house that can house up to 300 bats.

Keep in mind that most of the trees and shrubs sold here are seedlings, so 50 trees will easily fit into a 5 gallon bucket. Some larger, older plants are available as well.

The order deadline is March 30th, which will be here before you know it.

Proceeds from the sale supports the District’s various conservation programs that happen right here in our community.

Bob

I haven’t been able to post here on the old blog for a couple of days because of the ice storm that blew through earlier this week. The greenhouse is located in the area that was without power for a few days. Thursday was the first day we had all the power back on and we had a lot of catching up to do.

The temperature dropped to around 34 degrees ( colder at floor level ) for two nights in a row before we were able to get an electrician to correct a wiring problem we had with our boilers. After he left we were able to limp along on generator power. We had heat, but the generator could not handle the water well.

The generator sent a couple of power surges and blew out a few fuses in our greenhouse ventilation system but no real harm was done. However, I was still finding blown fuses in some of the equipment today.

Remember those begonias that I wrote about awhile back that had to be in the right temperature range in order to germinate? Well, apparently the germination process had started and was well under way when the power went down. It looks like we had a good germination rate as there are plenty of seedlings today and seem to be doing well despite the frigid start of their young lives.

Time will tell if the bananas were damaged as their growing points are buried inside the trunk of the plant. No damage was done to the Easter Lilies, citrus and tomatoes. The Coleus and Ipomea ( sweet potato vine ) that we use for taking cuttings (for starting new plants for spring ), did get “burned” by the cold but did not die. The Strobilanthes (Persian Shield ) was fine as well as the Chicken Gizzard Plant.

A bright note in all this was the Pansy seedlings ( Viola ), they absolutley loved the 30 degree nights and 50 degree days we had inside the greenhouse.

A disaster was averted by the use of propane heaters ( before the electrician arrived) and a generator. So now its back to normal and full speed ahead.

From now on I’ll take my weather like I take my Vernors, without ice!

Bob