Weekend at the Farm September 5 - 6, 2015

 These are Moonflower buds.  The buds are twisted and they untwist as they open.   

 The same bud, slightly unfurled.

Henry's second birthday party (Mr. Potato Head theme, smile) on Saturday.  To the farm after that, we arrived in the early evening.  Back to Houston very early on Labor Day Monday.  Blake, mom and dad and I went to the lake to visit Josh, Amy and new, tiny baby Koy.

• It had obviously rained very hard some time this week.  It's very wet, and some of the iris I planted last week have been completely washed out of the soil.  That will easy to rectify, though.  It was great for the roses, and many of the shrubs are blooming their hearts out.  The zinnias in the Long Border and the Rose Garden look cheerful and bright.  Beyond a little weeding, the only thing planned for the weekend is to stake various plants and small trees and cut back plants that have gotten too big for their britches.  My Senna trees, my Castor plants, my Pringle Aster for starters need to be staked.  Some of my morning glory and Cypress vines have gotten out of hand and must be cut away from whatever they are climbing into.  My gingers need a barricade-like structure erected because they want to lean over into the path.  And my Four O'Clocks need the same - they want to flop over into the path. Bert built a barricade for me in the Rose Garden with cedar about 4 inches thick to contain my Noisettes - they have a waterfall-type growth habit if they are not trained up a pillar - and that will be just the thing for my gingers and Four O'Clocks.  
• I rose with the sun Sunday morning and began weeding in the center bed of the Star Garden, this bed is the very first bed I built after the house was finished.  I built it on top of the burn pile because nothing else would grow there.  After that I built triangle beds around the center to form a star, hence the name of the garden.  Since then I have put in many beds so I can continue to grow plants that capture my interest.  I pulled up all the Obedient Plant.  The runners never come up with the roots, so I still have hundreds in the bed.  But it looks much neater now, and Obedient is finished blooming until late summer next year.  Now my Butterfly Rose has more room to stretch, and it is almost time for Pringle Aster to begin blooming.  So all the attention is on those two plants now.
• Raked up the fungus growing on the gravel in the Vegetable Garden and threw it into the woods.  Horrible stuff.  It spreads when I walk on it.  I raked some up in the Star Garden too.
• Cut away Anisacanthus that was growing into the paths in the Star Garden.  That will being blooming very soon, it is a fall bloomer.  Cut away low-growing branches of Pink Vitex that were growing into the paths as well.  Trimmed away Almond Verbena that was in the way when you walk by it.
• Repaired iris rhizomes in the front bed that had washed up in the rain.  That is caused by run off from the roof.  We need gutters.  Did some weeding and cut back the leaves on all my iris to about six inches, pulled away dead leaves, and generally cleaned up around them.
• Spent some time in the Rose Garden.  It is very pretty in there right now.  Valentine, Lady Hillingdon, and Chorale in particular are in full bloom.  I pulled up some Day Flower weeds that had sprouted since last weekend, but I'm definitely making headway on getting rid of them.  I deadheaded zinnias in the Long Border and the Rose Garden.  I spread seed from the zinnias in various places in the Rose Garden.  I pulled weeds in the Long Border and cut away Cypress Vine that was crawling all over my Antoine Mari rose.  
• Cut away hops vine around the goat wire arbor in the Star Garden until it was passable.
• Came in during the hottest part of the day and made some soup.
•  Pulled up Mexicali Rose that has spread everywhere throughout the Boardwalk gardens.
• Went down to the Orchard with the wheelbarrow and pulled up 50 or so salvia plants.  I'm sick of looking at them.  Deadheaded zinnias and spread the seed of the dried ones.  I have lots of zinnia seedlings, but I don't think they will make it to bloom before the first freeze.  It hasn't been a good year for my zinnias.  I haven't had very many.  I'm not sure why because I have seeded as many this year as I have other years.  Raked up fungus and threw it into the woods.
• Adjusted the sprinklers.
• Sprayed herbicide on the driveway and a spot in the Star Garden that I missed last week.
• My husband built my ginger barricade.  Much improved over there.  The paths are passable. 
• One of the gingers that I bought at the bulb mart last year is blooming.  It is not a very impressive flower.  That's what I get for buying an unnamed variety for a cheap price.  That was probably in some member's back yard and they wanted to get rid of it so they dug it up and donated it to the plant sale.  Or I could be just really spoiled.  The gingers that I have growing throughout my gardens, all the same variety, have blooms that are a foot tall, and they spread really rapidly.  Really spectacular.