The Seventh Day Project: February

 

Abutilon is an old-fashioned plant that I hadn't seen for years until I came across it last spring at The Garden House in Solon Springs, Wis. Also known as flowering maple or parlor maple, it came inside for the winter and is blooming despite some serious neglect on my part.

 

Now we're getting into the really hard part of winter around here. I've grown tired of the snow and the cold, but there's still a ways to go before the crocus bloom. February has been the most challenging month so far of my Seventh Day Project that started in August. Despite the noticeably longer days, it looks an awful lot like January. Snow, silhouettes, seedheads, conifers, structures. But sillydoggarden lives inside as well as outside, and we have blooms of abutilon and rosemary to share. Check out the project in the sidebar, top right.

It's a good time to give the houseplants and outdoor refugees a good grooming. Maybe this weekend I'll take an afternoon and clip and cut back and wash the dust off foliage. Some of the plants need a good leaching in the sink. And, with more daylight, it's time to start fertilizing again, too.