Ligularia

I've decided to plant more perennials in my garden, when I have read the description of many perennials in other blogs. And I thought of Ligularia growing for several years in my semi-shadow garden.

I grow these two varieties of them: Ligularia 'Przewalskii' (Golden Ray) and Ligularia dentata 'Othello' (Golden groundsel) 

 
I've recently watched at another variety of Ligularia dentata 'Desdemona' (Bigleaf Goldenray) in the magazine, and would like to purchase it. These Ligularias attract a large number of butterflies and other insects in my garden.

So I've written in my 'Garden plan 'to do':

1. to divide roots of an old Ligularia

2. to find a place for divided parts in semi-shade

3. and to plant them with fertilizers in fall

Can anyone who has an experience advise me:
how should I better divide the roots: by hands or a shovel? 
Thank you!

Seeds and Bulbs

The weather forecast promises warming at the end of the week and the next week. So I decided to go to the Garden Center and buy the vegetable and flower seeds for my garden.
I grow a lot of different flowers, but I purchased more perennials: 2 varieties of carnations (Dianthus), sweet peas (Lathyrus odomtus), flowers for rock garden, monarda (Monarda), blue bells (Campanula), columbina mix (Aquilegia), veronica blue.

As I got a gift, ‘The Vertical gardening’ book, I’ve bought also some nasturtium (Tropaeolum) seed. 

Last fall I told myself: I would not buy gladioli and dahlias, because it's hard to keep them in winter. But again, I could not pass by the bulbs. Here are the white gladioli (Gladiolus), red crocosmia (Crocosmia) and different dahlias!

I grow a small amount of vegetables and have the greenhouse for the vegetables that need extra warmth. I choose vegetables that can grow up during our short summer.
First I picked the seeds of tomatoes, zucchini (yellow), beans (yellow) and cucumbers.

 If the summer is cool and often rains, the insects fly rarely and pollinate poorly.  So I’ve chosen varieties of pollinated cucumbers and of a hybrid F1, that doesn’t need  to be pollinated. 

Tomatoes are grown only in the greenhouse, because at the end of summer might be cold at night. I picked  seeds of small tomatoes. What else is important: these tomatoes are not high and are suitable for a small greenhouse.

I usually have some beds with carrot, beet and lettuce. I love to cook traditional Russian soup ( borscht ) with some beets, carrots and potatoes. So I’ve bought 3 packs of beet seed, round and long ones and also herb seeds: basil, dill, parsley, celery. But I will sow them all 
a little, near my kitchen.

Now I need to plan where I'll plant and sow all my purchases!
But there is still time, spring will come at the end of March here.

What are you, my friends-loggers, going to sow and to plant in your gardens?

Maggie Was a Magpie

 There is a little feeder for small birds such as sparrows, titmice, finches, thrushes Fairfield, goldfinches, robins on the apple tree in my garden. I've put some food there: sunflower seeds, oat, bread crumbs.

 

But magpies decided to feast there and were trying to squeeze into a small feeder.
When I got closer to it - there already was nothing!

 'Maggie was a magpie, a very pretty bird'

Author: Porter G.

Maggie was a magpie,
A very pretty bird.
To say that Maggie was a thief
You’d think would be absurd.
But just like all her family
She liked to look around
For pretty little objects
That were waiting to be found.

One day she carried home a knife,
As sharp as sharp can be,
It spoiled poor Maggie’s feathers
For it cut them all, you see.
Maggie didn’t like that
And she threw the knife away,
And decided not to steal again,
For her, crime did not pay!