In a freakish year we’ve had them blooming in February. I expect some in mid-March at least. Forsythia is just in full bud. Look along the top of the hills around the main parking lot for a yellow haze. That’s Forsythia x intermedia ‘Courtasol’ or Gold Tide® forsythia (for your own mental well-being I won’t go into my tirade on trademarked plant names versus cultivar names). This is one of a fairly recent group of dwarf forsythia that also posses good blooming traits. In a few days or a week it should be screaming yellow. But will it give me spring fever?

And speaking of screaming. We got our spring annuals in a couple weeks ago so we all became planting banshees (some became planting She-Rahs but I won’t say who – okay, if you come real close I will whisper in your ear).

In a week we put nearly 7600 pansies (Viola x wittrockiana) and almost 550 stock (Matthiola incana) in the gardens. These give us some extra color that lasts until danger of frost passes in mid-May. They are what we call cool season annuals because they tolerate frost and generally start frying when temperatures reach the 80′s. You will find these in the Garden for Everyone, the Border Gardens, the Dick Wood Formal Garden, the Madeline F. Elder Greenhouse, the big corner sign at 38th and Michigan, and around the Sutphin Fountain.

I was looking for some inspiration for my planting around the fountain when it was time to order the plants last September so I looked at the upcoming exhibitions schedule. My best match appeared to be the one on the prints by Gemini/GEL. Looking at their website I found a Frank Stella print that was intriguing and aesthetically pleasing. It’s titled Furg (StateII).

I have no idea what the title refers to and to be perfectly honest for my purposes it doesn’t really matter. I merely used it as my muse. It was the first time I had been able to tie a planting design with an exhibition.

I think my interpretation came out very nicely. But still no spring fever.

On a different tangent but still involving spring annuals I can report environmental progress in the growing of these plants. Our suppliers have been changing their growing flats. The new system uses about half as much plastic and the flats can be used multiple times. The image shows the old system on the right and the new on the left. That’s all well and good but it doesn’t give me spring fever.

We’ve been receiving boxes and boxes of bare-root perennials this week. These are just what the name says – plants with no soil around the roots, just a little peat in a plastic bag. It’s a very cost effective method of shipping. You just have to plant them pretty damn fast. I also got my flat of Helleborus foetidus ‘Gold Bullion’. I’ve wanted them for years. That should have infected me with at least a mild case of spring fever.

But alas Babylon, it did not. What will it take? Last week-end I went to Tractor Supply to see the baby chicks. I held several, talked to one. I mean, we are talking baby chicks here people. Baby chicks!

Land’s sakes, if that doesn’t give you spring fever what the hell will? There is a rumor that temps will be in the 60′s the first week-end of April. That would do the trick possibly. In the mean time I’m making do with a serious case of Dengue Fever I caught a couple weeks back. For the best in Cambodian pop out of California they cannot be beat. Here’s their video for Sni Bong. They make me wish I had a Tiger Phone Card. Where’s the cool damp cloth for my forehead? I need to set my incubator. Maybe if I held a baby goose……..