La Marne in December

Weekend at the Farm December 9 - 10, 2016

 One sad, brave zinnia blooming in 40 degree weather.

John Glenn died yesterday, he was a true hero.  We revere movie stars like they've done something important.  But John Glenn was the real deal. 
I took Friday off and arrived Thursday evening at the farm, Bert was already here.  Went home on Saturday afternoon to join the family at Lights in the Heights at Josh's and Amy's house.

• Cold!  In the low 40s and high 30s.  The sun came out on Friday and the day was beautiful.
• My daffodils are about halfway finished peeking out of the earth.  I'm a spring / summer / fall person (never been that person that loved the cold weather), but I love this part about winter - the new beginning of the never-ending cycle of growth, dormancy and re-growth. 
• I spent a few hours on Friday morning planting 200 Sweetness daffodils in the Daffodil Border.
• Right when I was finishing who should show up but the Revenuer.  He wanted to take a look around the property, no doubt our taxes will spike - again!
• Turned the compost piles and separated them into two piles that are partially composted and one pile to put our scraps, greens, and browns.
• I dug out as much of the Hojo Santo as I could from the bed that leads to the Rose Garden.  I planted two white Baleria (Philippine Violets).  I threw the huge leaves in the compost.  Hojo Santo makes great compost - huge leaves.
• I pulled up the dead Mexican Torch Sunflowers in the Vegetable Garden.  I pulled off all the seed heads and threw them in the compost outside the Vegetable Garden, in the Hot Border, and in the Star Garden.
• After lunch I went back outside and planted the remaining 175 Sweetness daffodil bulbs in the Daffodil Border.  I'm so excited to see my efforts when spring gets here! 
• Saturday.  I raked pine needles and loaded the cub with a huge pile of them.  I drove down to the Orchard and weeded the small blackberry patch at the very back.  I mulched the area really heavily.  With the remaining pine straw I weeded a section of bed where the grape arbor is and mulched it.
• Raked the whole Orchard, not many leaves get in because of the fence, it's mostly the leaves from the fruit trees.
• I planted my three orange clumping Baleria and the two purple ones I bought last week.  I planted them in another bed along the path that leads to the Rose Garden.  Both of those beds really didn't have much growing in them.  They used to have a big colony of Penstemon growing in them, but over time it sort of disappeared.  It was pretty when it was blooming, but when it wasn't blooming in the spring it just looked kind of weedy, maybe that's what all perennials look like when they aren't blooming, but Penstemon particularly so.
• I mulched both beds.
• Watered my collards and mustard greens growing in the Star Garden. 

Sunday December 4, 2016

The family, with the exception of Blake and Mr. H who are busy with newborn Charlie, went to BCN to celebrate Amy's PhD on Saturday night.  Bert and I went to Burton on Sunday morning.  I drove in to work on Monday morning.

• It rained all day on Sunday, and it was grey and cold.  I mostly alternated between cooking and laying on the couch watching reruns of Nurse Jackie on my Ipad. 
• But I did plant about 125 Sweetness daffodil bulbs in the Daffodil Border.  It was raining pretty steadily, so I didn't press on even though I have 375 left to plant.
• I moved about half a dozen plugs of Homestead Purple Verbena from paths into several beds in the Rose Garden.  It will be a sea of purple in the Rose Garden this spring if disaster doesn't strike (and I don't expect it to).
• I cut down a bunch of my gingers in the Star Garden because my paper whites are coming up.  
• As soon as I have some time - a full weekend - I am planning to dig up all the Hojo Santo in the bed that borders the path to the rose Garden.  I have several white Philippine Violets to plant there.  The Hojo Santo spreads at an alarming rate, so my focus this winter and next spring is to eradicate it in  that area. 
• The leaves are about halfway finished dropping.  This winter I am piling them up in the unfinished area in the Star Garden that is adjacent to the driveway.  They will keep the weeds down in there, but will not deter the Philippine Lilies that have taken up residence in that area.

Cigar Plant November 26, 2016

The orange and yellow looked really vivid this weekend!  I don't have this plant sited correctly.  It is sitting in mostly shade, and it should be sitting in mostly sun.  But, it's doing okay.

November Roses

This is Madame Antoine Mari.  She is a pink blend:

 

This is Marie can Houtte, she is a yellow and pink blend, my newest addition to the Rose Garden.  The flowers get pinker with age:

This is Carefree Beauty:

This is La Marne:

Giant Ligularia November 26, 2016

I love this plant.  The leaves are beautiful all year, and in the fall it throws up thewe pretty yellow daisy-like flowers.  It will stay evergreen all winter if there are no really hard freezes.  Here in the Brenham area that rarely happens, but it happened last year.  It's nice to have flowers in a shade garden, but to have flowers that look like they belong in a sunny garden is really nice!

Thanksgiving Weekend at the Farm November 23 - 27, 2016

This is a cluster of Copper Canyon daisies.

It was Mom, Dad, Nan, Lisa, and the two of us for Thanksgiving.  Carol stopped by.  This year all the kids were with the other side of the family.  The weather was perfect!

•  Wednesday I dug up all the Americrinums that had completely taken over one of my beds in the Rose Garden.  I threw them in the ditch down the road.  I didn't want to offer them to anyone because I dislike them.  This is the bed in which I'm going to plant my rose.
• Friday, rainy and cold.  I drove to the Antique Rose Emporium and bought a Marie van Houtte.  She is a yellow and pink blend.  I had her once before but she died.  This one is in a much better location.  I looked around for some perennials to buy, but I didn't see anything I couldn't do without.  I bought a couple of variegated sages and three French sorrel plants.
• Bert went hunting in Groesbeck with Will so I was by myself.  I spent a lot of time walking around the gardens, didn't do much at all except plant the rose and mulch the bed.
• I also raked away mulch in five spots in the Orchard and seeded them with wildflower seed.  I still have some seed left despite all my efforts to use it all.
• Saturday.  I raked up pine needles in the trails, two truck loads of them, and spread them under one of my big blackberry beds.  I threw rakefuls down and pushed them under all the prickly canes with the end of the rake.  It was so weedy under there this past last summer, this should really help.  I hated to use my precious mulch in there, and it occurred to me that I should use the pine straw that falls into the paths.  Excellent.
• I cut the seed heads off a dozen or so Philippine Lily stalks and spread them in the shady part of the Star Garden and in various places throughout the Circle Gardens.
• I planted my new herbs, all perennials, in the Kitchen Herb Garden and fertilized them.
• I dusted my cabbages with insecticide.  While I was there I cut a bunch of seed heads off my Mexican Sunflowers and threw them into one of the beds in the Orchard.  The Orchard is a good place for those giants.
• Took a walk around the property about one o'clock.  The weather turned out so pretty today even though it started cloudy and cold.
• I left early Sunday morning to go to Houston and babysit Koy while Josh and Amy decorate their house for Lights in the Heights.

Weekend at the Farm November 19 - 20, 2016

I went to Blake's house on Saturday morning and took to Sam to Target.  We spent two hours looking at the toys and I bought him whatever he wanted.  Went to MacDonalds for a happy meal.  Charlie is adorable.  Arrived at the farm about 4:00, Bert was already there.  Drove to work on Monday morning from the farm.

• Sunday morning I dawdled quite a bit getting up.  I didn't have much that I wanted to do.  
• I gathered seed from my Philippine Lilies and spread it in the Shade Garden and the un-landscaped areas of the shady parts of the Star Garden.  
• I pulled up two more big clumps of anisacanthus in the Star Garden.  I spread mulch around the edges of one area and seeded it with my wildflower seeds.  I spread compost over the second area and turned over the soil, then spread seed.
• I raked the paths clean where I was working.  
• Watered in the Rose Garden throughout the day.
• I walked down to the Orchard around one o'clock and was surprised to see that all my salvia and zinnias had died from the cold we had last night.  I didn't think it had dropped below freezing, but sure enough everything was gone.  So I pulled up all the zinnias and salvias.  It took me about two hours.  I also ran the hose around my Jujube.  There were piles of dirt around the tree where voles had pushed it out to make room for their tunnels, so I figured they had taken up residence around the roots of my tree.  Sure enough, after the water ran for awhile my boots sunk down into the mud around my ankles.  So I mushed it down all around the tree.  The voles will go some place else, but hopefully someplace less destructive.  I threw a lot of the zinnias flower heads in the beds and the area behind the Orchard, but most of it I just threw into a trash heap.  I have a bunch of zinnia seeds that I bought this spring but never used.  I'd like fresh colors next year.
• I sprayed fungicide on my roses right at dusk.

Weekend at the Farm November 12 - 13, 2014

 This is La Vesuve rose. 

I arrived Friday evening.  Bert went hunting with Donald and Albert, so I was by myself all weekend.

• Saturday morning I took Rocky and Buddy to the vet.  Rocky is scratching at himself again and Buddy's eye looked really bad.  The vet says we should have Buddy's eye removed.
• Seeded wildflower seeds in a few spots in the Rose Garden and the Star Garden.  The Orchard is still beautiful with zinnias, so I don't want to pull them up and seed the Orchard yet.
• I pulled up the marigolds in the big bed in the Vegetable Garden to get ready for seeding it with wildflowers.  To heck with vegetables, the nematodes are getting them anyway.
• I dusted my cabbages and collards with Seven dust.
• I cut away lots of anisacanthus in the Star Garden in preparation for pulling it all up and seeding the bed with wildflower seeds.  I cut back the dead canes of my Mexican salvia.
• I worked on the Kitchen Herb Garden for about two hours.  I yanked up several really big, dead sage.  I also cut back and dug up a Beautyberry that was totally in the way.  I weeded.  And I mulched the entire area.
• I walked and walked and walked - from the Rose Garden to the Star Garden to the Orchard.  What a beautiful day.
• I spent some time working with the compost pile.  I hauled away lots of dead Mexican Sunflower branches and I used the pitch fork to turn the compost.  I'm going to use it tomorrow to mix into the big Vegetable Garden plot.  If you ever want to see some really big, scary-looking spiders, a compost pile is the place to be.
• Weeded here and there.
• Enjoyed the day! 
• Sunday.  I began by pulling up all my anisacanthus in the long bed in the Star Garden.  I had to pry it up with a shovel to start, but after the initial effort it pulled up pretty easily.  There was also a lot of Wedelia growing around it and the adjacent Ehamanii canna.  I pulled up as much as I could easily reach, I will dig up the rest after the canna die back.    Wedelia is very difficult to pull up.  I edged the area with mulch and seeded the middle area with wildflowers seeds.
• I moved on to the Vegetable Garden.  I loaded up my wheelbarrow with compost and mixed it into the bed that I cleared out yesterday.  The compost was infested with ants so I had to be pretty careful.  I smoothed out the soil in the middle and edged the entire area with mulch.  I spread wildflower seeds in the middle area.
• Fertilized my cabbages, mustard and collard greens.
• I watered here and there in the Rose Garden.
• The butterflies are still beautiful and plentiful..  So pretty.
• Left about 3:30 to go to Blake's house.  Spent the night because she and Josh had to leave very early to go to the hospital.  Little Charlie will be here tomorrow!

Blue Bedder Salvia November 13, 2016

This is a really pretty salvia that has a very long bloom time.  It bloomed all summer long and it is still blooming.  The old flowers become very white, so the plant looks like it has two different color flowers blooming on it at once - unique.  This is the first year I have grown it, so I don't know if it will come back - it is labelled a perennial, but we'll see about that come spring!

Mustard Greens in a Pot

 

I have always thought that mustard greens are so pretty in addition to being edible.  I plant them in my flower gardens every year.  When they go to see they produce really pretty flower stalks that are covered with yellow flowers much loved by all insects.

Pink Autumn Sage November 12, 2016

This is Autumn Sage's time to really shine.  It blooms its heart out in late OCtober / November.

Butter Pat Chrysanthemum November 13, 2016

I bought two of these plants at the Round Top Herb Fair last March.  I'm always on the lookout for fall blooming plants.  These are putting on a good show this year.  They spread by underground stolons (and I think by seeds as well), so I will be able to separate them soon and have more stands of them throughout my gardens.  Butter Pat is an old-fashioned favorite, like Country Girl mum.  The flowers must be delicious because there were insects all over them this weekend!

Perle d' Or Rose November 13, 2016

I brought this rose back from the brink of death, it had one sad little cane that was mostly brown.  So I am particularly proud of it.  It is a Polyantha rose with peach flowers.  The color is unique and therefore a good one to have in your garden.  It stands out amongst the red and pink roses.  The tiny little buds are perfectly formed and so pretty.