I don’t need to get into what a crappy year 2020 was. We’ve all been there.
My sweetie (The Mardi Gras Gardener) always does a “Best of Season” post to recap the year, so I’m going to try my hand at that this post.
Here’s some of the things I enjoyed most in 2020. Enjoy!
Of course there are always peonies in the spring. They get me ramped up for the gardening season.
Alan and I managed to squeak in a road trip to Adelman's opening weekend right before Covid became a "thing". I believe I came home with only two peonies in 2020.
Since there were a couple varieties that were newly available when we were at the nursery, I bought a few peony plants for other people by text and phone order, so I got to be "PlantUber" and pick out extra plants and live vicariously through other's orders.
Since I wasn't saving blooms for HPSO Open Garden tours, every few days, I brought a bucket load of cut peony flowers to work, assembled the ragtag assortment of office vases laying around and made arrangements for the three of us that still came to the office. A little bright joy during a pandemic.
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| Anita's phoned in order! |
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| 'Lemon Dream' certainly amazes |
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| 'Shima Nishiki' |
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| 'Black Panther' was gorge! |
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| 'Hilary' blooming for the first time. |
Then there were roses!
The last remaining bit of the vegetable garden disappeared and additional roses were planted before Covid. I had a last minute run to the nursery to pick out a couple more to even out my color palette.
I really enjoyed taking a walk with Coco to the back yard to go see them. Rose care is a little more fussy then peony care, but I didn't mind the extra tending, clipping and aphid smooshing.
The added bonus was again being able to bring cut flowers all summer to work. A bouquet of cocoa-colored Koko Loko became my new favorite cut flowers.
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| 'Queen of Sweden' |
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| 'Koko Loko' |
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| 'Brother Cadfael' |
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| 'Sterling Silver' - sweet and citrusy fragrance |
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| 'Marilyn Monroe' - A fabulous rose with a crazy amount of thorns. |
And some orchids...
The mishmash of terrestrial orchids continued to be a source of joy. Coco previously tried to kill 'Soryu', so seeing it bloom with it's lovely lavender color was a real treat.
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| Platanthera ciliaris (Orange Fringed Orchid) |
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| A lovely Cypripedium |
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| Bletilla striata 'Soryu' |
And some random stuff...
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| Embothrium coccineum (Chilean Flame Tree) |
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| Sarracenia flowers |
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| A Freddie's find - Lilium x martagon 'P320' (Martagon Lily) |
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| Sempervivum 'Gold Nugget' |
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| An assortment of tropical Butterworts awaiting a terrarium |
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| Hosta 'Venus' |
Then there was a little late summer drama I could have done without, but it made for some dramatic lighting.
It's definitely an experience to stand with your hose watering the garden in this strange lighting.
I made a lot of kimchi and got my "jar burping" regimen figured out. You don't want to forget to burp your jars...
I fell more in love with this little girl...She's my joy and without her company, 2020 would have been really terrible.
Here's to a new 2021!
