Poppies - not a good choice for North Georgia gardens?

Perhaps your Poppies are doing well and I suppose that could be because they are in a sheltered sunny place. Mine are getting ample sun, but "sheltered" is almost impossible to achieve in my garden. So, for that reason I wonder if they are, in general, a good choice for North Georgia gardens. It's windy in March in this place and sturdier plants may be a better option. It's hard to beat these colors, though!

So far only two are in bloom; when I bought a flat last fall, the grower told me they were "mixed colors". Now we'll soon see what the others look like!

Daffodils

The photograph representing the title was taken March 6, 2011 at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia in Athens, where fields of daffodils welcome visitors in late winter.

Now blooming inside the SBG conservatory.

Barbara Barker & The Dirty Dozen

Yesterday, I attended a workshop by Barbara Baker, author of Container Gardening for Health. The workshop was about growing herbs in containers, and it was good, but it was the book that clinched the value of the workshop for me.

I had heard about and paid attention to The Dirty Dozen list before, but, as is so often the case in our busy lives, pretty much forgotten all about it. If you need the same reminder I got from Barbara yesterday, here it is:

Peaches
Apples
Sweet Bell Peppers
Celery
Nectarines
Strawberries
Cherries
Lettuce
Grapes (imported)
Pears
Spinach
Potatoes

These are the fruits and vegetables that have been identified to have the greatest pesticide residues (after washing!).

I don’t know about you, but I am going to investigate how I can organically grow a cherry tree and some peppers in containers. We’ve all got to start somewhere!

White Helleborus

I didn't know I had white Hellebores in my garden until the other day; I thought I only had pink ones. Delightful enough, but finding a white one (one, so far!) makes me treasure this plant even more.

This is what it looked like on Saturday.

And yesterday . . .

. . . and today! Isn't it a gorgeous flower?

Last night's storm has really cleared the air. The sky is as blue as can be today. The temperature about ten degrees below yesterday's, but still very pleasant for the first of March.