Dear Diary: April 6

I'm happy to have gotten some work done the past two mornings, and expect to put in a solid five or six hours today as well before I knock off for a bike ride. The Macy's Flower Show runs till tomorrow, but for me it's over: I photographed Bill Schaffer's arrangement yesterday. I begged off the shoot of the work-in-progress Wednesday night. After doing Michael Bruce's, I was wiped out the next day (and in fact I think being so tired contributed to the lapse in judgment that caused the comic bike crash) and didn't want to repeat the mistake. Bill and Christian took some point and shoot photos and also a video, which made me a little sorry I missed it.

So here's the Macy's flowery goodness for your enjoyment:

On the windowsills, etc.:

• I have a pineapple top rooting in a jar of water (plunged into the water yesterday)
  
• I have more tarragon seedlings than I know what to do with
  
• My Schlumbergera seedlings, planted last spring, have put out a number of full-sized leaves so I think that potting on will be called for very soon
  
• H. 'papilio' x 'emerald' is still showing a fine seedpod and a robust stalk leading up to it so I don't think it will abort. It's starting to show signs that it's going to ripen and split any day now
  
• H. 'appleblossom' x 'gervase' is likewise maturing nicely
  
• H. 'supermarket' x 'papilio' looks a little puny but the stalk is still robust so I don't think it's aborting. Ditto for 'trader joe' x 'papilio'
  
• H. 'trader joe' x 'gervase,' class of 2011, has survived its potting on although some bulbs are sulking and leaves are yellowing -- but only one per bulb and I see some new leaves coming up
  
• the scrap of Dodo's Nopalxochia that I picked up doesn't look terribly promising, but then it also doesn't look any worse than it did two weeks ago, so I'm not giving up on it
  
• I pulled up four seedling maples (cotyledons plus one set of true leaves) from the ground around a little grove of dwarf cut-leaf maples by the Horticulture Center. Two of them show absolutely no signs of shock
  

I am wondering whether any of my hardy hibiscus have germinated yet, but that means a trip to the basement. Perhaps later.