Update: seed starting and ranunculus

It's a gorgeous day here for some gardening. It seems spring has officially begun, whether the calendar says so or not. I even spotted a few yellow butterflies flitting around the backyard.

After one more trip to Home Depot for more Jiffy Pots (we don't use enough tp to ONLY use the tube cups...I'll have to start saving them earlier next year!), I have got seeds started for each variety that needed an indoor start. My poor little green house is stuffed to capacity!!

Also, exciting news.....I have one teeny tiny ranunculus sprout!

I'm very excited. I bought a few tubers a while back knowing that they aren't really hardy in zone 6B, but hoping I could get them to grow in a greenhouse. I've had to clear out a few of the pots of ranunculus and relocate them to my windowsill while the food seeds are going, but I think I'll be able to put them back in there in a few weeks!

I also spotted a couple pea sprouts as I was walking around the garden.

And this friendly little bit of sunshine.

I'll take another picture when it opens up all the way.

Last year's flower garden

Since I can't get much of a start with this year's garden, I thought I'd share some pictures of last year's flowers.

Miniature Parade Rose: Can't say this little guy did a while lot. There was only the one bloom you see, and it promptly died after it finished flowering.

My zinnias turned out beautiful and attracted lots of butterflies. They also grew to about five and a half feet tall! They also ended up with powdery mildew all over the stems and leaves.

The hosta put out some lovely purple blooms. I might have to plant more of these. They really liked my north facing wall.

 This dahlia grew to huge proportions. The flower was 6-8 inches across! Very pretty, but not all of the bulbs I planted sprouted (only two of the nine!).

Ok, so these aren't of flowers, but this is my garden "helper" Seger (yes, he is named for Bob). First seen helping me check over the flower beds and then napping in the sun after a hard day's "work."