My dreams have been filled with water gardens lately.  Perhaps it has something to do with watching Greg Wittstock’s daily vlog showing awesome ponds and waterfalls or the fact that I check my water garden installation countdown timer at least once per day.

But there’s a good chance it’s also because I’ve come down with my annual case of spring fever.  At least this year I have a treatment plan, and I’ve been following it to a T.  After returning from my trip to Orlando and Leu Gardens, I went to work building my seed starting station, and got my coleus, impatiens, and begonia seeds started last weekend.  Much to my surprise, though the coleus are supposed to have a germination time of 10-14 days, I already have baby seedlings!  I’m growing Wizard Golden, Giant Exhibition Palisandra, Black Dragon, and Kong Rose.  All have germinated, and I haven’t killed them yet–whoo hoo!

I’m trying three types of impatiens: Lollipop Fruit Punch Rose, Impreza White, and Xtreme Lilac — they are just starting to germinate as well.   I’ve also planted Funky Pink begonia seeds,  but that tray is still silent. They are supposed to have a slightly longer germination time of 10-20 days, though, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.  Can you imagine a garden full of these beauties?

This last week has been full of spring-y activities for me, starting with a 60 degree day that allowed me to get out and water the entire garden.  We’ve had a terribly dry winter, and I’m worried about losing everything I planted last year.  While I’ve tried to get out and water when I can, there’s not much you can do when the ground is frozen, and I need a good 5 hours to water the garden.  Luckily, that 60 degree day happened to line up with an afternoon I had already taken off of work.  Mother Nature was definitely on my side this week!

While running the sprinkler on one side of the garden, I was using my watering bucket to give a nice drink to my Encore Azaleas.  The 5-gallon bucket has a couple of small holes drilled in it at the bottom (I plug each with a piece of wine cork while I fill the bucket), which helps me make sure I’m giving each plant enough water.   These azaleas are supposed to be evergreen, but they all have a brown tint to them, and the lavender ones  are turning especially brown.  From what I’ve read, it could be due to a lack of winter precipitation, the single-digit temperatures, or juglone from the black walnut trees.  (Whatever the actual cause, you’ll notice I’m blaming circumstances outside of my control.)  Hopefully they bounce back for a spectacular spring show.

The dogs were happy to get out and help, though they were getting a bit frustrated that I stopped after every lap on our lunchtime hike to move the watering bucket.

The very next day I attended an orchid workshop at Powell Gardens.  As the horticulturist welcomed us, he asked, “Do you guys want to see all of the greenhouses or just go straight to the orchid greenhouse?  We have plenty of time.”  Um, are you kidding me?  I didn’t wait to see what others cared to do, practically shouting, “I’d love to see them all!”

We started in the greenhouse designated for the Heartland Harvest Garden, where they were storing the tropical plants like this Kumquat tree and starting seeds for food-producing plants that will fill the garden.

We entered another greenhouse that stored a random assortment of non-hardy potted plants and their treasures brought home from the Northwest Flower and Garden show.  (P.S. that show is TOTALLY on my gardening bucket list.)  There were some awesome blooms in there, like this Fiji Hardy Hibiscus (Full sun, Zones 5-8) and Biltmore Ball Gown Abutilon.

We visited the seedling greenhouse, where they grow annuals for all of their gardens plus the Kauffman Memorial Garden, then dropped in to the cactus and succulent greenhouse.  Don’t these containers just look made for Pinterest?

Finally, we arrived at the tropical greenhouse, which was like walking into a jungle.  Toward the back was the focus of our workshop: orchids!  We learned about the 7 types of orchids they have in their collection, the basics of care for each, and then learned how to repot the most common type: Phalaenopsis, aka Moth Orchids.  I love orchids and have wanted a living room full of them since visiting the conservatory at Lewis Ginter Botanical gardens last December, but have held off until I learned how to *not* kill them.   Mission accomplished (in theory–we’ll see how it plays out), and I’ll dedicate a future post to sharing what I learned.

By the end of the week, I was a mix of happy, content and exhausted–I’d better build up my gardening stamina before spring arrives, huh?  It’s good to have weeks like this in February, even if it does fill my dreams with visions of waterfalls, ponds, and lush gardens that make me yearn for spring.  The forecast is calling for a few chances of rain this week, and I hope it holds.  While rain may keep me inside, the garden needs it and hey, I’ll have my seedlings and online plant sales to keep me distracted.  One week at a time, we’re getting closer to SPRING!  Have you had a chance to get your spring fix yet?