Days at the Farm 03/12-16/10

Homestead Purple Verbena is one of the earliest spring blooming plants. It blooms well into the beginning of summer and sporadically through the heat of summer. It will put on a good fall show once the weather gets a bit less hot. It spreads quickly, taking root along the stems, and pieces of it can easily be lifted and planted in another part of the garden.

I spent several days here, a last hurrah before I go back to work. What a productive several days it has been!

• I finished laying down crushed granite in the Greenhouse Garden. It looks fantastic. It was a chore though.




• I made progress on laying down crushed granite in the Star Garden.




• My husband is building a boardwalk down to the Orchard that replaces a path lined with cedar logs. It now cries out for some flowering trees along the way down. But that is a next year activity. Trees should be planted in January so that they have time to get established before the searing Texas heat.




• I began repairing the area around the back porch that suffered from quite a bit of erosion during the recent heavy rains. My husband is going to install gutters along the back to prevent it from happening again (hopefully). I have begun installing some landscape edging in the back as well to keep the crushed granite paths looking presentable.




• I filled the second bed with soil and peat moss that my husband built in the Grass Garden.




• I worked in the Rose Garden weeding and spraying herbicide in the paths.




• I sowed lots of seeds - Cosmos, Asclepias Cinderella, Snow Nymph Salvia, white Cleome, and Fireworks Gomphrena.




• I planted the remainder of a flat of Verbena Bonariensis in the Long Border.




• I moved lots of Dahlberg Daisy into the Long Border that had sprung up all over the Rose Garden - it is a prolific reseeder. There is lots more to move.



• I planted some corn - sweet corn and black popcorn that my son gave me for Christmas.




• Walked around and observed the many, many things that are breaking dormancy. The Soloman's Seal, the hydrangeas, White Mist Flower, Joe Pye Weed, African Hostas, ferns, Rusty Blackhaw Viburnum, Mexican Mint Marigolds, Veronica Speedwell - and on and on.




• There are many butterflies already, nothing like what it will be. I saw what looked like a Goatweed Leafwing, but it kept moving so quickly I couldn't get a picture.




• I planted some scented geraniums in the Infinity Garden. One of them has a sweet and nutty fragrance called Concolor Lace. Attar of Roses has a rose fragrance. Orange Fizz smells of citrus. Clorinda smells of cedar. Scented geraniums have uses beyond simply enjoying the fragrance when rubbed between your fingers. They have medicinal uses. The steam-distilled oil is used as an anti fungal, an anti-depressant, and an antiseptic.




• Tuesday brought a fine, steady rain that lasted all day. I worked in it until it became a little too steady then retreated inside to clean house.