Weekend at the Farm June 23 - 24, 2015

 This is Scarlet Wave canna.  It is growing at the entrance to the Orchard.  The bright red flowers are great to have in the garden, but I'd say this is my least favorite canna of all the ones I grow.  The flower form is not as shapely as the other varieties.

 Arrived Friday afternoon.

First thing that happened Saturday morning, 7:00, Bert got stung by 4 yellow jackets right when he walked out the back door.  There was a big nest built on the door frame.  I administered an eppi pen right away because he gets really bad reactions to them.

Worked in the Orchard all morning.  Cloudy and humid, but it's the sun that's a killer.  So I count myself lucky.  Shoveled to loosen the soil and pulled up weeds and salvia and zinnias that were growing too close to the path.  I cleared two of the biggest beds and one of the smaller ones.  I have a long way to go.

Started cutting away the dead blackberry canes in the Orchard.  Blackberries grow on one year old canes.  After that the cane dies or else continues to live looking really ugly but it will not produce berries.  The old canes have to be cleared out or they will really make a thorny mess. The job of clearing blackberry canes is by far the worst job in the world.  Painful and hot, I hate it.  But I made a start on the job, didn't get nearly done but it's better than before.

The Sam Houston peach tree in the Orchard fell over, rotted right at the base.  This is one of those unexpected chores that nature throws your way, like when we decide to take a pleasant ride around the property and come upon a massive tree that has fallen across the trail.  I had to cut away all the branches before I could begin the work I intended to do which was weed and turn over the soil. Bert came down and cut up the trunk and big branches and hauled them away.  Peach trees aren't long-lived trees according to my books, and that has certainly been my experience.  I've lost both of mine.  I won't miss them though.  Peaches are hard to grow with any success.  This winter I will plant more plums.  I like plums, and they are cooperative trees - they produce fruit!

Bert and I drove to the back of the property where a mustang grape vine grows low enough to reach (thanks to a tree that fell over).  We picked some grapes to make jelly, but unfortunately there aren't quite enough that are ripe.  

Made some chicken noodle soup.

Rested for a while during the hottest part of the day.

Seeded the beds in the Orchard that I cleared with zinnia seeds.

Cleaned out a bed in the Vegetable Garden and seeded it with zinnia seeds.  Had to retreat indoors after that - too hot to bear!

Sunday morning woke up to rain.  Bert and I sat on the front porch in the rocking chairs, drank coffee and watched the rain.

The Almond Verbena tree is in full bloom and smells heavenly.  The scent hangs over the entire Star Garden.  

First thing Sunday morning I started weeding in the Long Border.  Bert got me some mulch and I needed to use some of it to lighten the trailer before we drove it down to the Orchard.  I waned to mulch where I just weeded on the Orchard.  The mulch turned out to be soil.  I guess some kid scooped up a load from the wrong pile, and my husband doesn't know dirt from mulch.  Bummer, but I used it anyway.  Cleaned up a patch in the Long Border.  I was almost finished when I got stung on the arm by a yellow jacket.  There was a nest in one of my rose bushes.  That was the end of cleaning in there!

Went down to the Orchard and started cleaning up another bed.  I pulled up lots of Mexican Hat that had gotten massive and was sprawled all over the place.  Mexican Hat is a perennial and I'm sick of it, so out it goes.  I cut back blackberry vines that were leaning into the paths.  I got the whole bed cleared out, only left the coneflower.

Swam in the pool and drank a beer.  I sweated buckets today.  The pool felt really good.

Deadheaded the pink Vitex in the Star Garden.

Moved the butterfly bush and Texas tarragon from the pool area to the Star Garden so they could get regular water.

In for lunch and a nap, that's it for me for this weekend.

Zinnia Season Begins! June 27, 2015

Celosia June 27, 2015

 These are young Celosia plants.  I grew them from seed that Brenda Cornett gave me.  I planted some seed in the Star Garden, the Orchard, and the Vegetable Garden.

Montbretia June 27, 2015

 Bright orange flowers!  Montbretia's small bulbs multiply very quickly.  I read about these bulbs in Scott Ogdens southern bulb book.  They don't thrive in dry soil.  The bulbs survive and return the next year, but they don't flower.  I finally moved them to another spot and they are very happy in their new location.  The greenery dies back after they bloom.

 Hank the neighbor dog.

Spider Lilies June 27, 2015

 The greenery of these bulbs is so healthy looking and pretty.  I dug up these bulbs from the house on Nixon Lake Road.  They die back after the first freeze and come back in the early spring.  Many spider lily varieties like wet conditions such as pond edges, but this one seems happy in average conditions.  I will be able to divide the clumps next year, they multiply really quickly.

My Four Thousand Dollar Sculpture June 20, 2015

We drank these two bottles of Petrus wine on my dad's 70th birthday.  They cost $2000 each.  He kept them all this time, and he gave them to me a few months ago.  I varnished them so the labels wouldn't wash away.

Pineapple Lily June 20, 2015

Pineapple Lilies are so named because the flowers look exactly like the fruit.  The flower below is just a bud - how cute is that?  Eucomis comosa, or pineapple lily has a huge bulb.  I couldn't believe it when I received the bulbs in the mail!  There are several varieties ranging from this color to dark pink.  They can accept some shade or protection from the afternoon shade.

Above, the flowers open from the bottom up.

Red Shrimp Plant June 20, 2015

I dug up two clumps of shrimp plant from the house on Nixon Lake Road.  They limped through their first summer, which was last summer, and this summer thanks to the rain they look healthy.  They tend to get taller and leggier.  And the clumps get bigger each year.

Above, I planted them in a bed where we have a ship's porthole hanging from a tripod. My sister picked it up at a garage sale and gave it to me many years later when she couldn't figure out what to do with it.

Above and below, it is easy to see how it got its name.

Weekend at the Farm June 13 - 14, 2015

Used the last of the Kiowa blackberries to make a cobbler.  I have a few Quachita plants in the Orchard, they ripen about three weeks later than the Kiowa, so they are just turning black.  They produce smaller berries and the plants are thornless.  Although the Quachita  are a lot less painful, I prefer the Kiowa.

Arrived Friday afternoon.  Rained Friday evening pretty hard for about 20 minutes.

Worked in the Rose Garden Saturday morning.  It was a mess in there.  I pulled up all the Blackeyed Susan plants that were still blooming but fading.  I cut back all the Verbena Bonariensis that was leaning into the paths and threw the flower heads into the wild garden and the bed with the Crinums.  I cut away moss verbena growing into paths.  Weeded around Soncy rose in the front bed. Cut away the last of the Ox Eye daisy flower stems.  Pretty hot out there.

Hitched the trailer to the car and tried to go buy some mulch at Papescapes, but they had their gate closed.  I called before I went to make sure they were open, and their message indicated they were open on Saturday.  Damn country businesses, they close whenever they feel like it.

Helped Bert pick up yaupon and beauty berry that he cut along the trails.  The trails want to grow wild, and it's constant work keeping them clear.

Weeded in the La Marne bed and seeded it with Cleome seeds.  Sowed some more zinnia seeds around the dwarf flowering almonds.

It rained Saturday afternoon which was perfect for watering in my seeds.

Lazed around Saturday afternoon.

Walked the gardens with Bert, and we road around the property.  When we walk the gardens we weed as we walk - so hard to pass by a weed without pulling it up!

Saturday night dinner tomato salad and blackberry cobbler, both from the garden.

Sunday morning was grey and rainy.  I walked around with an umbrella and spread fertilizer around some of my shrubs and elephant ears.  Finally stopped raining mid morning.

Cleaned out the bed that leads to the Boardwalk. Cut away spent Ox Eye blooms, weeded, cut back parsley that had gone to seed.

Weeded here and there as I walked around.

Bert got stung by a wasp.  He is highly allergic, so I stuck him with an Eppi pen - first time I have ever done that.  Seemed like it hurt him pretty bad, worse than the sting.

Ate tomatoes fresh off the vine for lunch.

The Philippine Lilies are getting tall.  They aren't close to blooming yet, it will be about another month.  Every year I have more and more that are bloom-size.  I spread seed every year, and it takes about 4 years before you get some decent blooms.  They may bloom before that, but they aren't much to look at.  The gingers are about to begin blooming.  That is always a colorful time of year.  So pretty, and some of them are wonderful to smell.  Lastly, the Montbretia are loaded with buds and the bright orange color is just beginning to appear.  This will be my best year for the Montbretia.  They spread really quickly, but I really haven't gotten many blooms in past years.  Rain makes all the difference.

Potatoes from the garden for dinner. 

More rain.

Early to bed.

Mexicali Rose June 14, 2015

 

Mexicali Rose is a shade-loving plant.  Big, tropical-looking leaves with a huge flower.  All that sounds great, but unfortunately it is a monster.  It spreads at an alarming rate.  Each stems pulls up pretty easily, but the root system doesn't come with it.  The root system would have to be dug up.  And it is smelly when it is pulled up, really smelly.  The smell lingers on your hands.  I will be arm wrestling this plant for the rest of my life.  Still, it has a certain. lushness to it that I think really adds to the Boardwalk Garden.