Weekend at the Farm October 26 - 27, 2013

Movie with Josh Friday night.  Shopping with Blake on Saturday.  To the farm Saturday evening.  One and a quarter inch of rain Sunday night.  Stayed Sunday and went to work Monday morning straight from the farm.

• Cleared some more of the land across from the house.  We're making progress.  I can't believe I thought it would only take five or six days of work to get the whole area cleared.  It's taken a lot more than that!  
• I dug up some gingers from the back yard in Houston.  I planted the gingers in the Medicine Garden.  It's pretty shady there.
• I also dug up a clump of bulbs from the yard in Houston.  They have never bloomed, at least not in my memory.  I don't even know what they are since I haven't seen any flowers.  After I separated all the bulbs (they were crowded and stuck together in a mass of roots) there were more than 50.  I planted some of them in the newest bed in the Infinity Garden.  I planted some next to the bulbs that I dug up on Nixon Lake Rd.  I planted some of them underneath the Bermuda's Kathleen rose and around the tree in the Rose Garden.
• Moved some Columbine seedlings that were growing in the path.  I moved them into the bed where the Ligularia is growing.
• Spent a long time in the Rose Garden deadheading.
• I pulled up one of the Mexican Sunflower plants that fell over under its own.  I gathered a bunch of the seed heads, and I am drying them out to plant next summer.
• We moved some cedar logs around the Rose Garden to define a path leading into the garden and a path to the arbor entrance at the Long Border.  It created a large area that I will seed with wildflowers.  I loosened some of the soil and seeded part of the area with Purple Tansy. 
• Planted 8 creeping Winter Savory in the Infinity Garden.  It is a perennial herb, and I'm hoping it will spread and cover up some bare spots.
• I planted 3 cabbage plants - one Early Jersey and two Veronica Romanesco in the Vegetable Garden.  

Blue Mistflower October 20, 2013

More Photos of Dutchman's Pipe Vine October 20, 2013

Cannas in Bloom October 20, 2013

Weekend at the Farm October 19-20 2013

It was so beautiful this weekend.  The weather was perfect.  I went up alone on Friday evening, and my husband joined me Saturday evening.

• The dogs and I went to The Antique Rose Emporium on Saturday morning.  It was a very pleasant outing just walking around their display gardens.  Everything was in bloom and the butterflies were thick.  I bought a Cramoisi Superieur which I have been wanting for awhile.  It is a red rose, and it is supposed to be a good bloomer.  I also bought a Horsetail Plant for my Herb garden.  Horsetail is very pretty, but it is also a medicinal herb.  Historically, horsetail has been used to stop bleeding, repair broken bones and as an herbal remedy for arthritis.  Horsetail contains silicic acid, saponins, flavonoids, sterols, tannins, potassium, aluminum salts, manganese, magnesium, sulfur and calcium.
• I planted the rose shrub in the Rose Garden and the Horsetail in the Infinity Garden.
• Raked pine needles up around a tree near the Rose Garden and mulched a half dozen boxes in the Rose Garden.  Pine needles make good mulch high in nitrogen.  And it's free.  Then I drove over to Ray and Debra's road because it is situated next to the edge of our property.  I raked up pine needles around the pine trees growing next to their road.  I mulched the Bulb Bed.
• Dug up some Spider Lilies to give to Janine Snapp.  I reset a bunch of them as well.  I planted some around a cedar tree in the Circle Drive.  And I thinned out some clumps.
• Pulled up lots of zinnias that were flopped over into the paths.  Cut back blackberry vines with the hedge shears.  Sprayed herbicide.  Pretty weedy.
• Sowed Chicory and Purple Tansy seed that my mother-in-law got me for my birthday.  Turned the soil over at the far end of the Long Border and sowed seed.  Also spread some seed in the bed by the Pink Vitex and in some sections of the Star Garden where nothing is growing.
• Picked up lots of Bluebells that had been uprooted by some varmint and replanted them.
• Cleaned the oven.

Four Days at the Farm October 10 - 13, 2013

We spent a great four days together.  We had a baby shower on Saturday for Nathan and Jessica.  We also got some good rain on Saturday morning and all day Sunday.

• Spent a lot time on Thursday cleaning up the Orchard.  I cut away loads of zinnias that were sprawling in the paths.  I cut away blackberry vines that were reaching their nasty arms into the paths.  Yuck.  Pulled weeds.  Fall is all about culling.  The weather lets up a little and the plants go insane!  Clip, trim, shear, hack - a lot of that goes on in the fall or a person can't walk through my gardens.
• Raked the Infinity Garden paths.
• Raked the paths in the Rose Garden.
• Raked the paths in the Shade Garden.
• Raked the paths in the Star Garden.
• Dumped most of the debris in the compost pile.
• Cleaned up the Vegetable Garden, and my husband put away the sheets of wire mesh that I use to hold up plants.
• Turned over four of the beds in the Vegetable Garden and sowed Southern Giant Curled Mustard seeds, Bright Lights Swiss Chard seeds, Red Winter Kale seeds, Chiogga, Red Bull, and Golden Beet seeds, Red Sails lettuce, and some more Royal Chantenay Carrot seeds, 
• I also sowed a package of Red Sails lettuce seeds in the Star Garden.
• I actually did a lot of seed sowing while I was there.  I sowed lots of flower seeds.  I spread Delphinium seeds in the Long Border and around the Joe Pye Weed.  Grandiflorum chinensis, alatum, and Belladonna.  I sowed Mckana Giants Columbine and Rocky Mountain Blue Columbine in various places.  The Columbine seeds I sowed last weekend next to the Greenhouse have already sprouted (I love it when a plan comes together).  I sowed Purple Queen Corncockle in the Daffodil Bed.  I sowed Ocean Pearls Corncockle in the Long Border.
• I sowed Sorrel seeds in the Infinity Garden.
• Last weekend I went to Arbor Gate and bought a few plants.  So I planted all of them: A Flapjack Kalanchoe in a pot in the Infinity Garden.  A White Duranta in the Long Border (they get really big and I needed an anchor plant).  Six Myrtle in the Infinity Garden, they were used in Knot Gardens in the 1500s.  A Joe Pye Weed in the Star Garden, a healing plant.  Two Peter's Bee Balm in the bed by the Master Bedroom (bee balm is bergamot, the ingredient in Earl Gray tea that makes it taste like Earl Gray tea).
• Planted 14 Snowflakes along the fence line in dappled shade in the Star Garden.  It is one of the wettest spots in the yard which Snowflakes like.  Covered them with chicken wire so the armadillos won't dig them up.
• Friday I cleaned house to get ready for the baby shower.  I vacuumed, cleaned the bathrooms, shook out and washed the rugs, cleaned the leather furniture, dusted, cleaned windows.
• On Saturday morning I mopped and laid down floor shine, put flowers in vases, and everything else that goes with having 30 people at your house.  It was a happy day and a happy party.

Torch Mexican Sunflowers October 13, 2013

I grew these once before.  They grow from seed, I've never seen plants being sold in the nursery, you have to grow them from seed,  I planted these about 3 months ago, maybe less.  They are about 18 feet tall.  I made the mistake of fertilizing them one time.  And they grew and grew and grew.  And they only just started blooming - too happy to bloom I think, a lot of green, no flowers.  All in all they are a bit of a disappointment because they got so out of hand.  The first time I planted these seeds they grew about six feet tall which is manageable.  No kidding, I will have to use the chain saw to get them down!  But they're pretty.  And a real stand out for fall.

Dutchman's Pipe AKA Scrotum Vine October 13, 2013

Giant Aristolochia, common name Dutchman's Pipe or Scrotum Vine, is a great vine to have in your collection for several reasons.  It is a conversation piece for sure!  But it is also the larval food for several butterfly varieties, the most beautiful one is the Pipevine Swallowtail.

One look at these photographs and you know how it got its common names.  The photo below is a look at the entire vine which covers the arbor at the front of the Rose Garden entrance.

The photos below are flower buds in various stages of growth.

Crazy, right?  Below is a flower in full bloom.  The flower bud flattens, darkens, and the hole is created in the center in a single day.  An incredible transformation.

To gauge how big the flowers are I put my hand next to it.