Dirt Therapy

January 19, 2024 January Our year started with snow, ice and frigid temperatures in mid-January. Our temperatures stayed below freezing for almost a week. I think it was the most consistent cold that we've experienced since moving here. Fortunately, it was a dry snow so there wasn't too much damage. Once again, we almost lost the azara and I'm afraid there would have been some breakage if I had not kept knocking the ice off. February 14, 2024 February In past years, it seems that inclement weather seems to hit around Michael's birthday in mid-February. After the January snow and ice, this month was actually quite tame. Nothing exciting to report - mostly birdwatching . Early flowers like hellebores, cyclamen and crocus begin to bloom in mid month. March 3, 2024 March I got into a walking routine which I'm happy to report I am continuing this year. You get to the point where you feel guilty if you miss a day. I do miss days occasionally but I'm learning that ...

Although major rose pruning is not done until late February into early March, there are a few things I do to get roses settled in for the winter. First, I wait until the first frost has occurred before I do anything. That happened on December 1 this year, a little later than normal. If you do any pruning prior to that, new growth will be encouraged, and it will just be nipped later. I will then do minimal pruning, about 1/3 of the plant or to about waist-high. It does not matter how you make the cuts. More precise pruning will be done in late winter. Giving roses a slight pruning at this time will decrease the damage from strong winter winds. Roses are not deeply rooted, and any long canes can spell trouble. Pick off any remaining leaves, if possible. I know that can be a big job if there are still many leaves left on the plant but you don't want leaves, especially diseased leaves, left to fall and harbor spores for next season. Clean the area around the base of the rose. Rake out ...

By the time I made my way around to the Desert House, my battery was getting low and I didn't photograph many of the plant labels. I took mostly wide views of plant groupings anyway because I was attracted to the structures and combinations rather than individual plants. This was an amazing display. Adonsonia digitata Dasylirion wheeleri Adenium obesum (Desert Rose) Euphorbia geraldii Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

I failed to share any of these photos previously on Instagram, partly because I wanted to label everything, and I knew that would require some work. I did not recognize 90% of the plants in the Kyoto Botanical Gardens Conservatory. I tried to get photos of the tags although that was not always possible and some plants did not have labels. So here is what I do have. In Part 2, I will show the desert house (or was it called "Cactus House")? I forget! The conservatory was amazing and a huge complex (the photo above is only a minor portion of it). It is a maze of buildings, and we got lost on more than one occasion. Unfortunately, the outdoor gardens were not as nice and needed work. The conservatory made up for that though and it was well worth the visit. A few pics taken outside the conservatory which did look nice - And now, proceeding inside. If you don't see a caption, that means I didn't get the name but wanted to share the photo. Heritiera littoralis (Looking Glass...