Seedy Sunday, Punxsutawney Predictions, and More

Six more weeks of winter is what Punxsutawney Phil predicted earlier today, even though we had a seasonably warm day in Connecticut. Today's temperatures reached the 50 degree Fahrenheit mark, which felt downright balmy after weeks of temperatures in the teens.

The weather agreed considerably with Seedy Sunday, an annual event held at Natureworks in Northford, CT. After arriving shortly after the store's opening today, I spotted three robins in the nearby trees and a flock of geese flew overheard to land in the adjacent field. (A loud welcome indeed!)

Natureworks has been teasing this event in their newsletter and on their Facebook page for the last few weeks now. This is my third Seedy Sunday, which serves as a great excuse to focus on spring and summer gardens in the middle of winter. I think it has also grown in popularity over the years. (This is the only day the store opens during the winter shut down between Dec. 23 and March 20.) Natureworks concentrates on selling organic and non-GMO seeds, and there was plenty to choose from today.

Here is a peek at what made it into my basket:

There seems to be a color theme here...

A few vegetables and herbs made the cut today.

This year I plan to focus more on flowers in the garden as opposed to edible plants. In past years I've devoted almost equal planting space to edible and non-edible plants. This is an idea I've been kicking around for a while now, and I've come to the conclusion that flowers may be more forgiving with my sunlight exposure than vegetables have been. I wasn't going to even start tomatoes from seeds this year but I was tempted by the Cosmonaut Volkov Slicing Tomato and Chadwick's Cherries seed packets. (Two packets is still less than last year's seven varieties that I started from seed.)

I also want to focus a bit more on gardening for my house rabbits. I plan on ordering willow cuttings (the bunnies love the leaves and branches) and growing more herbs that they can eat. Today I picked up fennel and wheat grass to keep them happy.

Gardening for bunnies may seem strange to some. But in
a house rabbit home, it makes sense to save money this way.

Seedy Sunday was well-attended during the 45 minutes I spent in the shop. The staff was helpful (as always!) and customers were courteous to each other as they shared viewing space in front of the seed rack displays. There were also several clearance items available, including books (I snagged two) and plants.

Seedling Update
I came home to find the daylily seeds that I collected and saved from the garden this past fall have finally sprouted! I was beginning to think they wouldn't emerge at all after reading online that they were suppose to have exposure to the cold before planting. Luckily, this wasn't a deal breaker.

A daylily seedling surrounded by neighboring pansies.

I am not sure what the daylilies will look like once they flower. I have several varieties in my garden, so I'm hoping for a weird - but beautiful - cross!