2007 Year in Review

rosie]I’m pretty sure Pam over at Digging thinks that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. She beat me to the punch with her Year in the Garden post. But honest, I was thinking about doing the same here.

I committed to really give blogging some effort last winter. (I started the blog in August 2005. But it took awhile for me to get into the habit.) So there wasn’t much in the way of gardening to post about last January. ‘Rosie’ (right) took up residence in my office (where I wrote a popular article about the warm winter, hitting 59 F on Jan. 6), Cal Lane’s artsy shovels caught my eye, I ordered my veggies seeds, and blogged about music. I may have lost my lunchbox, but I’m still here.

In February, blogging was still slow. I praised weeds mined images from 2006, and reviewed Anna Pavord’s The Naming of Names.

swamp milkweed
Swamp milkweed.

heuchera and lysimachia
Heuchera and lysimachia

In March, the gardening season kicked in along with the spring ephemerals. I love to watch them as the snow retreats. I discovered Iris histrioides ‘Katharine Hodgkin’ had hitchhiked in with some minor bulbs from a friend. I enjoyed the floral foreplay that is March. I couldn’t get Duncan Shiek’s White Limousine out of my head.

<em />Iris histrioides ‘Katharine Hodgkin’
Iris histrioides ‘Katharine Hodgkin’

crocus
Crocus

tulips and cyclamen
Tulips and cyclamen.

April was a busy month. It hit 64 on the 3rd and the peepers came out in force. The early spring bulbs flowered in profusion. I reviewed Amy Stewart’s Flower Confidential. Kurt Vonnegut died. I did my first bloom day scan. We got hit by the Tax Day Nor’easter and Jade had a ball in the snow. I discovered that you could see my pickup truck from the aerial photos at local.live.com. I snarkily reviewed garden footwear. And turned 50.

Chionodoxa and verbascum
Chionodoxa and verbascum.

April bloom day scan
April bloom day scan

Me, Corey and Fred by the water garden.
Me, Corey and Fred by the water garden on my 50th.

In May, there were mulch races outside my office window. Such joy does spring bring to students’ hearts. We visited our son in Jacksonville, Fla., May 9. It was 69 F there. 81 F in Ithaca. Go figure. The rescued tulips bloomed, as did primulas, the double bloodroot and other spring favorites. In the wetland, the lone crabapple and marsh marigolds did their thing. I visited my friend Marguerite at MotherPlants nursery, where she and her partner supply the burgeoning green roof trade.

Mulch races.
Mulch races.

Rescued tulips
Rescued tulips

Primulas
Primulas

Lone apple
Lone crabapple.

Demo dog houses at Mother Plants.
Demo dog houses with green roofs at Mother Plants.

I kicked off June, with an exploration of sex, antiquities and modern garden statuary in bondage in Honey, does this peplos make my butt look fat? My Early June picture purge will fill you in on what actually was going on in the garden. I had fun with Fun with fish and Photoshop. I celebrated the saving of the pink famingo factory, the anniversary Doc Ellis’s LSD-fueled no-hitter and the release of my favorite CD of 2007, Gogol Bordello’s Super Taranta. Also took my best garden picture to date. June is all about the light.

Nectoscordum
Nectoscordum

First peony from seed.
First peony from seed.

Fun with fish and Photoshop.
Fun with fish and Photoshop.

Acoustic version of Supertheory of Supereverything

June light, borrowed scenery
June light, borrowed scenery

July. High summer. Cuisse de Nymphe roses. Verbascum. More great weeds. Sunsets. From Idiocracy, Brawndo’s got what plants crave. A Living Wall Installation. Lots of bees, despite CCD. Pink filipendula.

Cuisse de Nymphe roses.
Cuisse de Nymphe

Verbascum.
Verbascum

Sunset.
Sunset.

Bee on echiniceae.
Bee on Echinacea

Bee on verbascum.
Bee on verbascum.

Pink filipendula.
Pink filipendula.

In August, I ‘Simpsonized’ myself. The bananas in the garden outside my office made a statement, along with the blue alliums. I went to a tomato tasting to sample crosses between modern cherry tomatoes and heirloom varieties. There was a surfeit of purple in the garden. I made a floral mandala.

Me simpsonized.
Me Simpsonized. I should have added more gray.

Bananas in Minns Garden
Bananas in Minns Garden

Experimental cherry tomatoes.
Experimental cherry tomatoes.

Echiniceae
Echinacea

Floral mandala
Floral mandala.

September. I played around with video to record plants in motion. A sod sculpture went up at Bluegrass Lane. Saw Nanci Griffith at the State Theater. Considered what statuary might look like in the garden. But September is really the month for grasses.

Statue in the garden.
If I could afford statuary.

September bloom day scan.
September bloom day scan.

Secret garden anemone.
Secret garden anemone.

September morn'.
September morn’.

Water garden.
Water garden.

Grasses.
Grasses

October brought Colchicum autumnale ‘Alboplenum’ and Eupatorium purpureum ‘Joe White’. Cover crops blanketed the veggie garden. The Dalai Lama visited Ithaca. Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize. First frost came the 16th. We discovered that the beavers had been busy. Fall colors were only mediocre. Janis Ruksans shared his bulb expertise with our rock garden group.

Colchicum autumnale ‘Alboplenum’
Colchicum autumnale ‘Alboplenum’

Eupatorium purpureum ‘Joe White’
Eupatorium purpureum ‘Joe White’

cover crops
Cover crops in the veggie garden.

Frosted dahlia.
Frosted dahlia.

Mediocre fall color.
Mediocre fall color.

Scilla armena, Photo by Janis Ruksans, used with permission.
Scilla armena, Photo by Janis Ruksans, used with permission.

In November, Bill Millers perennials class planted a bulb labyrinth at Bluegrass Lane. Jay Hart’s ‘Terrain art’exhibition opened at Mann Library. Mornings were frosty. Textures got fuzzy. I shot Art of Horticulture class projects.

Bulb labyrinth at Bluegrass Lane
Bulb labyrinth at Bluegrass Lane.

Transitions by Jay Hart, used with permission of the artist.
Transitions by Jay Hart, used with permission of the artist.

Variegated Polygonatum
Variegated Polygonatum

Frosty morning.
Frosty morning.

Fuzzy grasses.
Fuzzy grasses.

December’s short days featured bittersweet, the mystery of the Christmas Amanita, and I confessed to my houseplant problem.

bittersweet
Bittersweet.

In the Liberty Hyde Bailey Conservatory.
In the Liberty Hyde Bailey Conservatory.

December Bloomg Day scan: Bittersweet and lunaria.
December Bloomg Day scan: Bittersweet and lunaria.

Thanks to all of you who stopped by and shared comments, as well as all you lurkers out there. Best wishes for a safe, healthy and peaceful New Year.

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9 thoughts on “2007 Year in Review”

  1. Hi Craig!
    Big applause!!
    Very nice, I like your Bloom day pictures.
    The doghouse where beautiful, I think my dog will have one of this in the shade for the summer 😉
    I think I shal do the same in my blog in Sweden,a good idea.
    It´s nice to be here and read and look at your pictures.
    Best regards Ken

  2. Wow! What a great year in pictures. Dave = Jealous of the photography!

    Keep up the blog and I’ll keep up the visiting. Happy 2008!

  3. Thanks for the kind words, David. Craig’s photography secret = take lots of images and edit hard.

    And congrats on your re-election. Thanks for stopping by during canvassing season. Feel free to drop in sometime should you feel like a walk in the garden.

  4. Pam at Digging http://www.penick.net/digging couldn’t get her comment to take. (Anyone else having problems? Email me at cdcramer@twcny.rr.com.)

    She sends this via email:

    Craig, I don’t mind at all. In fact, I copied the idea of a year-in-review from Chuck at Whoreticulture and Carol at May Dreams.

    I tried to comment twice on this post yesterday, but they didn’t go through. I’ll try again. I enjoyed seeing a year in your garden all at once. It reminds me of how beautifully varied your seasons are compared to here. Pam/Digging

  5. Nice review! I can see from your terrific pictures that I don’t visit your blog as often as I should, however 2008 is a whole new year…Happy New Year!

  6. Well, excuse me, but I had my year in review up on 12/27. But it’s not nearly as comprehensive and, of course, yours and Pam’s pictures are way better.

    Happy new year!

  7. What a wonderful review! Thanks so much for sticking to that resolution to blog more often… it’s been a fun year of following along.

    By the way, I know what you *think* is your best photo… but all of them were good in all honesty. And I particularly like your “Water Garden” pic in this post, and a couple of the frosty scenes as well.

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