Community garden plots update: poppies, larkspurs and lilies

Things are happening so fast this year! I feel guilty that I am not keeping more extensive records, but with everything rushing into bloom at once, it's hard to keep up.

Here are some photos of the community garden plots taken within the last few days. The poppies are nearing the end of their blooming period, the larkspurs are at their peak and the lilies are catching up. As of today, there are Asiatic hybrid lilies in bloom, LA hybrids in bloom and trumpets in bloom. In most years trumpets begin in late June and spill over into early July. The lilies in these photos were all planted from newly received bulbs last November and early December. I planted generously in order to have lots of lilies to cut in support of the local lily shows. It's not to be: foiled again by that trickster Mother Nature.

Early or late, they're all beautiful..

Community garden update

Growth at the community garden plots has surged since the last post on this topic. The 40' parallel rows of corn cockle, corm poppy and larkspurs are finally starting to bloom. The lilies are budded and some seem on the verge of bloom. Hard neck garlics are putting up their scapes: I'm growing these as much for their scapes as for their potential use in the kitchen. There has been a scattering of rose bloom, too. The ornamental onions and Dutch irises are still blooming freely.

A lamb in the countryside

As  expected, March came in as a lamb: daytime temperatures today were well over seventy degrees F.  I went down to the ponds early this morning, but in spite of the gentle rain we had last night things were quiet then; but when I went back later in the day the peepers were in full chorus.

More rain is predicted for the next few days, and we need it. Seed of larkspurs and corn poppies sown back in December are now germinating freely, especially the poppies. Seed of corn cockle sown last fall germinated almost immediately, and the resulting plants now have several true leaves. Those are corn cockle, Agrostemma githago, seedlings in the upper image. The lower image shows corn poppies, Papaver rhoeas: did every seed germinate? I'll have plenty of thinning to do later.