Texas Orange Lantana April 17, 2024

This is when Texas orange lantana looks best, in the spring when it's very compact.  By the end of the summer it is huge and woody, stems sticking out everywhere.  I'm sure there is a way to make it look better, but if you do nothing, it's kind of a mess by mid-summer.

 

Archduke Charles April 16, 2024

 Archduke Charles looked pretty this morning.  

Weekend at the Farm April 12 - 14, 2024

 

I staked several clumps of flowers leaning into Paths in the Star Garden.

I sowed lots of Cosmos seed in the Star Garden

I potted up a Colonia White verbena for the plant swap, it's not native, but it has a storied past.  George Washington grew it at Mount Vernon and wrote about it in his plant journals.

Saturday.  Spent all day at the Antique Rose Emporium for the NPSOT NICE program engaging with their customers about planting natives.

Did nothing after that, I was kind of tired, plus I have never been able to jump into garden work halfway through the day when it is already hot.

Sunday.  Up early.  I helped Bert repair the tri-pod in the Rose Garden that holds up my once-blooming climber (can't come up with the name at this moment).  The tri-pod fell over  in the high winds we had last week.

I worked in the apple bed in the Orchard.  I turned over the soil, cleaned out the bed, and sowed lots of cosmos and zinnia seeds.  I pulled up lots of Brown Eyes while doing it.  But I have a terrific display of Brown Eyes coming in May down there, and I can spare a bed. Weeded while I was down there.  Did some clean-up.  I'm trying to get that garden under control before the dog days of June and the mean dog days of July, August and September.  

I potted up 10 4 inchers and sowed Alamo Vine seed for the plant sale.  Also collected some for Michael.

I planted a Carolina Buckthorn in the Boardwalk Gardens.  

I planted a Martha Gonzales rose in a bucket in the Rose Garden.  Weeded a bit while I was there. 

I sowed the Rattlesnake Master seeds that Michael gave me.  I sowed them under the shade of a Mexican Buckeye.

Lastly, I planted an Asclepias tuberosa next to the other ones I planted  a few days ago.  And I planted an Asclepias incarnata in the wet bed near the button bush.

Weekend at the Farm April 6 - 7, 2024

 

I repotted my Mission from Mars mangave, and I used the broken pot to plant Painted Desert mangave.

I pulled up artemisia in Water Garden.  That will be a lifelong task.

I ran the weed eater across some rescue grass in the Meadow so that it wouldn't go to seed.

I ran the weed eater across some weedy growth in the Rose Edge Border.  The entrance to the Rose Garden was looking pretty shabby.

Pulled up Cleaver weed that was crawling all over the area next to the Vegetable Garden.  I did that way too late, and I will have a big problem with that weed next year.   Cleaver has the sticky balls that cling to everything - dog fur, clothes, etc.  On the bright side, it is edible.

I weeded the beds in the Vegetable Garden.

Turned the compost and created a new pile.

Added compost to the long bed in the Vegetable Garden and sowed corn seed.  Pulled up poppies to make room

Raked in the Vegetable Garden.

Planted 2 Asclepias tuberosa, 6 Strawberry Fields, 3 Twistleaf Goldenrod, 1 Fireworks Gomphrena, and 2 Cleome.

Spot watered in the Rose Garden.

I potted up an Inland Sea Oats and 2 swamp sunflower for the plant sale.

I put a Frosted Elegance mangave in a pot, and I put a small Pineapple Express into a new pot, the old one was broken.

Cleared out tall winecup from around the althea seedlings that Tommy gave me.

I watered in the Greenhouse Garden, I see some of the groundcovers trying to make a comeback.

My Virginia Creeper groundcover plan is working.  I'm very proud of it.  I'm starting to get some pretty growth on the ground in the Shade Garden and the Circle Drive.

Sprayed herbicide in the Rose Garden, the Star Garden and the Orchard.

I cleared out part of a bed in the Orchard and sowed a bunch of zinnia seed.

Siberian Iris April 12, 2024

 This clump of Siberian iris looked so pretty this morning.  This is the best year I have had with this plant.  I think this is year 4 since I planted it, and this is the first really good show I've gotten.  It takes some years for a clump to get this mature, so it's not surprising.  But I planted other Siberians at the same time, and they aren't blooming like this one.  So, I assume I'm seeing something extra special!

The Meadow March 31, 2024

 The tall wine cup and perennial sunflowers in the Meadow looked really cheerful.

At the Farm March 28 - 31, 2024

 

I met Bert up here on Thursday evening.  Friday is a holiday.  We drove home early Easter Sunday morning and had brunch with the Big six and Max and family.

Friday.  I picked up Deb at 8:00 and we drove to Sandtown and dug up some Prairie Indian Plantain.  I put one clump in the wet bed by the Dining Room and two clumps under a Mexican Buckeyes in Mom's Garden.  We found some Engelmann Daisy and dug some up.  I planted mine in the Rose Garden.  And I finally dug up some wild penstemon after all these years and planted it in the Meadow.

Beautiful spring day.  

I weeded in the Vegetable Garden, thinned out the squash and zucchini, cut away marigolds that were too close to the veggies.  I pulled a feed bucket of soil into the path of a sprinkler so that I could plant my marjoram, but I got distracted and wandered away from that chore.

I cleaned out the Mountain Laurel bed in the Star Garden of all the Purple Phacelia and put the seed in a sack for Debra.  I mulched around my Amsonia that I planted last year.  I turned over some compost into the soil and planted 3 of a different variety of Amsonia - Arkansas Blue Star.  I am so damn excited about it!  In the adjacent bed I planted another one.  

I worked on the pots by the pool.  I potted several new Mangaves and a Senecio variety.  I put trays under them and spent time arranging them.  I have several more to plant and a couple need to be changed out of their pots.  

Headed to Los Patrones about 1:45 to meet with Ann, Richard and Michael to discuss our NPSOT plant sale.

Back outside after that.  I planted 4 sweet marjoram in a feed bucket in the Vegetable Garden.  I also planted an interesting plant that I got at the plant swap, can't remember the name and a New Gold lantana.

Saturday.  I did some weed eating in the Meadow where rescue grass was going to seed.  I also cut down some yaupon along the trail.

I dug out all the Henry Duelberg in the bed that was part of the original Star Garden.  It got too big for its britches.  I potted some of it up and put it in the Vegetable Garden and dumped the rest in the Meadow.  I added compost to the large area that I cleared out, and sowed zinnias.

Cleared weeds out of lots of bed here and there throughout the gardens.  It was a lot of sticking my hand near areas where I couldn't see what was underneath, I hate that because of my fear of snakes.

I have one bed in the Circle Drive where the Virginia Creeper is forming a beautiful ground cover.  As I planned.  I love it when a plan comes to together.  And the Virginia Creeper in the Shade Garden is coming along, it doesn't look as purposeful as the little bed, but it's getting there.  Yay.

There are lots of bearded iris in bud.  They are so beautiful.  I look forward to their fantastical blooms every year.

I spent time in the Water Garden digging out yarrow away from my Texas Kidneywood, white milkweed, and my Mrs James Hendry crinums.  It has really take over.  I left the rest since it is thick with bloom stalks. 

I finished planting the Arkansas Amsonia.  I cleared out a bed in the Rose Garden and planted 4 of them plus a seedling of another kind of Amsonia that Ann gave me at lunch the day before.  I put in a New Gold lantana nearby in the same bed.  I put several more in the Mountain Laurel bed in the Star Garden and several next to the dwarf flowering almond shrubs (that have never really impressed me).