Progress On My Small Acreage Prairie Restoration December 17, 2017

A lot has happened since the first post I did several months ago all excited about the dozen or so species popping up in my freshly bulldozed acreage. 
We cleared the land some time in late May / early June.  Not good timing, but one does these things when the people are available to do the work. 
Immediately, crab grass began growing.  I was uncertain what to do about that - was crab grass better than nothing in terms of protecting the soil from the sun burning up all the microbial activity?  I ended up doing nothing.  The crab grass seeded and there you go, billions of crab grass seeds were released. In hind sight, it seems obvious that I should have at least mowed the area to keep the crab grass seed from maturing and setting seed.  But the other thing that was going on was that 1) it was 100 degrees outside and I was not real anxious to go outside and walk around and think about next steps that involved a lot of work in 100 degree weather and 2) I was reluctant to mow down the native plants that were taking root.  I had hoped that I was going to see growth from a seed bank that held billions of native seeds resting in the soil just waiting for sun and space.  But no, crab grass.
The next thing we did is mow the top half of the clearing and spread two round bales of native grass hay across the area.  This was an effort to stifle crab grass growth, compost the soil, and mulch the soil.  By this time we were coming in to fall, in fact this was around the end of October. 
November passed with little activity beyond me spreading hay over the top half of the clearing  over a couple of weekends.  After the hay was spread, about two weeks after that, I raked away the hay forming circles of space, and I seeded the areas with Tickseed and Standing Cypress. I did this in maybe ten spots in the top half of the cleared area.  The seedlings have taken off - the weather has been very cooperative.  I did not seed the lower areas for several reasons.  We had those massive rains with Hurricane Harvey, and all the seeds that I spread in early fall (resulting from seed-gathering forays with Amy) were surely washed down the hill  (I expect to see some interesting growth in the spring (if the crab grass doesn't stifle it) due to seeds pouring downhill) and also because - one thing at a time!  I can't take on all these challenges at once.  After all, I have about 2 acres of gardens I'm already contending with.
During December I dug up bunch-grass plugs from around the property and transplanted them into the clearing.  Most of my efforts were in digging up what I believe are Little (big?) Blue Stem plugs.  So far I have dug up 42 plugs of native grasses.  I think most of them are Blue Stem, but there are other varieties as well.  All of them send up tall seed heads (some of the grasses I found on the property have adorable seed heads - real treasures).  They should be very pretty, they are certainly pretty when I drive around the place and look at them.  I think I will have better luck with the grasses taking off if they are moved in the winter while they are dormant.
I plan to try seeding grasses in the spring as well, but this winter effort is just to sort of get me going and get something established. So, when I plant these plugs, I am raking away the hay that I spread as mulch and compost, digging holes and planting my plugs.  Then I sort of "scooch" the hay back around them to protect them from drying out and also so that the hay can continue to decompose and fertilize.
I transplanted some verbena plugs from the back part of the property over to the clearing, I did that today, actually.  This is perennial evergreen native verbena. I have a lot of it in the back of the property.  I transplanted five plugs.  Hopefully it will thrive.  I'd love for it to take hold here.
I see a lot of mature tickseed in the clearing.  This is not from my seeding efforts, this is from the bull dozer work.  It's fairly near the Vegetable Garden, so clearly it is resulting from my throwing seed heads in the compost pile and then the bull dozer dragging it across the area immediately adjacent to the Vegetable Garden.  Whatever works!  I'll get some pretty flowers in the late spring from that.
One thing I really need to do is walk around and pick up all the patty squash lying on the ground.  That's another thing the dozer work did - spread squash seed all over the place.  I had 50 or so squash plants pop up after the dozer work.  The plants have since died off but the patty squash they produced are lying all over the ground near the Vegetable Garden.  I don't want them to re-seed again next spring.  I need to gather them up and throw them in the fire!
So, there we are with the state of things in my small acre prairie. 
 

Weekend at the Farm December 15 - 17, 2017

This is White By The Gate Camellia.  The whitest of the white camellias.

The company gave us Friday off in preparation for driving to Marble Falls for our 2 day marathon Christmas party.  Bert and I drove to the farm to spend the night on Thursday.  Bert took the dogs in to Brenham for boarding on Friday morning.  We drove to Horseshoe Bay on Friday afternoon and returned to the farm on Sunday morning.

• Friday morning I watered in the Rose Garden.  I have all the water turned off at the source because in cold weather sometimes the timers will pop off and the water will just run until we discover the problem.
• I cut several castor bean plants down to the ground level that had flopped over due to the cold.
• Bert spotted some horse droppings on the trail that the neighbors' horses had left behind.  We drove around, and I collected them and mulched the roses in the Orchard.
• I plucked lots of seed heads off my Fireworks Gomphrena and spread them around in the Orchard and Star Garden.
• Cut the drying, seed-loaded branches off my Swamp Sunflower in the Orchard and threw them in the soggy part of the meadow.  Maybe some seed will take root. 
• Bathed poor Buddy before Bert took them to the vet to board them.
• Cleaned toilets and sinks.
• On Sunday when we returned, the first thing I did was drive around the farm and dig up grasses.  I planted 10 grass plugs in my meadow, and I also planted 4 plugs of the wild perennial verbena that grows on the far side of our property.  If that would take off here in the meadow, I would be very pleased.
• I spent an hour or so raking up pine needles in various places on the property where pine trees grow, loading them on the cadet (two big truckloads) and mulching the Bulb Bed.  The Bulb Bed backs up to the shed.  My Pearlbush and a Spicebush grow in that bed , the rest of the bed is covered in pink rain lilies, a few amaryllis, some iris, and those little red flowered bulbs that I can never remember the name of.  It can get a little weedy.  I didn't bother to weave the pine needles through the green growth of the bulbs, I just piled it on top.
• Made a stew to contribute to the Christmas family gatherings.
• Drove in to work on Monday morning.

Day at the Farm December 10, 2017

Saturday I babysat Koy and Cleo at my house so that Josh and Amy could get ready for Lights in the Heights.  Saturday night, party at Josh and Amy's.  Sunday Bert and I drove separately to the farm, and I drove in to work on Monday morning.

• There was clearly a freeze sometime last week although it was more like a dip below freezing and back up because not everything was lost to the freeze, only plants here and there.
• There are three roses that I want to move this winter.  They are not in good places, either too crowded or not enough sun.  I moved the first of the  three roses on Sunday - Martha's Vineyard.  I dug it up out of the shady part of the Long Border and moved it to the spot where Iceberg used to be.  I think I pulled a muscle in my back when I did it, it was a pretty big transplant, and my back is sore today.  Pulled up lots of Coreopsis growing in that space and moved two large plugs of it to the front bed leading into the Rose Garden, the rest I just yanked up. Spread mulch around the rose.
• I cut seeds off one of my white Philippine Violets and threw them on the ground in the Medicine Garden.  Maybe I'll get some seedlings in the spring.
• I cut the tops off my Hojo Santo and threw them in the compost pile.  Hojo Santo makes excellent greens in the compost.  Huge leaves. They were freeze damaged, but no need to let them wither on the plant when they can be of good use in the compost pile.  They say you should not cut back the dead vegetation on plants because it provides them with protection all winter.  But Hojo Santo is so invasive that I don't care to do anything that will help it along.
• I pulled lots of seed heads off my Fireworks Gomphrena and threw them down in the Star Garden and the Orchard.
• Deadheaded roses.  I probably should have left them alone so the hips could turn red, but I didn't. 
• Cut away some gingers that had flopped over on top of my Nikko Blue Hydrangeas.  Threw them in the compost pile.
• Pulled up freeze damaged Mexican Sunflowers in the Rose Garden.  Threw them in the wild area in front of the Rose Garden.  I'll deadhead them later.
• I dug up 12 more large plugs of native grasses and planted them in 4 spots in my meadow.  That's 32 grasses so far that I have dug up from around the property and planted in my meadow.
• Sunday night I came down with a stomach bug, and I was awake all night throwing up.  Yuck, miserable.  Slept in for an extra hour or so and drove in to Houston to work. 

Mexican Sunflower November 25, 2017

Mexican Sunflower is still blooming its heart out in the Star Garden, the Rose Garden, the Meadow, and the Vegetable Garden.  Today I saw one blooming in the woods far from everywhere.

My Scarecrow December 3, 2017

Boo Deer!

More Pictures of Debutante Camellia December 3, 2017

Day at the Farm December 3, 2017

This morning glories are still going strong since the weather is so warm.
Saturday morning at Mom and Dad's going through their furniture etc that they cannot take to their new place.  Saturday night over to Will and Kim's to put the train set together.  Sunday to the farm.  We spent the night, and I drove in to work on Monday morning.

• We put the scarecrow together finally.  The deer are eating my roses in the Orchard.  Maybe it will help.  Thank goodness they do not disturb the roses in the Rose Garden.  The Orchard backs up to the woods so the deer feel safer.
• I dug up 10 more bunch grass plugs and planted them in my meadow.  That's 20 so far, a drop in the bucket, but better than nothing.  I will sow native grass seed in the spring, but this is a little head start.
• I scraped up one wheelbarrow of mulch and spread it over a weedy spot in the Star Garden.
• Rain!  It rained for the remainder of the day.  I did no more work other than pull a weed here and there.
• Turned off all the irrigation.

Wheelbarrow of Lettuces December 3, 2017

This wheelbarrow is just outside the kitchen door, very convenient for picking the little fresh micro-greens for sandwiches and salads.  

December Roses December 3, 2017

Above and below, this is Franzisks Krueger, a great bloomer for me.  I have her growing in the front flowerbed.

Below, this is Marie d'Orleans.  When the bloom is completely open the petals all form points like a star.

Below, old faithful, La Marne.

Below, this is La Vesuve.  She is still a small shrub, I have not had her but for a year (is my recollection), but this is a large shrub rose.  I'm looking forward to seeing her covered in blooms.  I love the shape of the pretty pink flowers.

Below, a pink / pink blend called Antoine Mari.

Below, this is Mutabilis.  The flowers start orange then fade to pink.

Below, Mutabilis again.

Below, Marie Pavie.

Below agin - Mutabilis with several colors of blooms displayed.  It's nickname is the Butterfly Rose.

More Pictures of My Debutante Camellia November 25, 2017

Thanksgiving at the Farm November 22 - 25, 2017

 Above, this is a Buckeye.  My book says it is a common butterfly, but I'm always surprised and delighted to see one in my garden, so I certainly do not think they are common.  

 The two photos above are Red Admiral.  A very distinctive butterfly.

 Above, this is a Julia.  The undersides of the wings are golden, unfortunately I was not able to get a picture of them.

We were 11 for Thanksgiving - Mom and Dad, Nan and Lisa, Ashley, Alan and the kids, Max.  I arrived on Tuesday evening, Bert was already here.  The usual cleaning on Wednesday.  Thursday the weather was cool and sunny.  Lovely day.  Nan and Lisa spent the night, Mom and Dad stayed at the Ant Stree Inn and came back on Friday for brunch. 

• Friday afternoon I mostly just walked around and picked a weed here and there.  A little watering in the Rose Garden.  Bert headed to Groesbeck to hunt with William and friends.
• I walked the meadow and took stock of the seeds I scattered several weekends ago.  I am very pleased to see that I have lots of seedlings.  I'm depending solely on the rain to keep them going, so to see that many was really great.
• Saturday.  I filled the cadet with mulch twice from my almost-gone-mulch-pile and went down to the Orchard to weed a particularly weedy bed, the one with the three-in-one apple tree.  I pulled a weed that only grows in two places here, I guess the seed came in with a load of mulch.  Man, it's tough to pull up.  I brought the shovel down there with me to loosen the soil.  Pulled weeds and cleaned out the bed of spent zinnias and moss verbena, then mulched over all.  Raked all through the back of the Orchard.  Did some spot weeding and mulching with the left over mulch.
• The day was warmer than Friday and Thursday, butterflies aplenty.  I spotted some Julias and a Buckeye.  There are many, many varieties of bee-like insects on my Butterpat Mums - so interesting.  
• More watering in the Rose Garden - have to keep my seedlings alive!  
• I raked up a truck load of pine needles in my good spot near the Rose Garden and, after spreading a heavy layer of mulch around my Lider #9 Satsuma, I piled pine needles high around the tree - trying to protect the graft for the winter.
• I spread the rest of the pine needles over a weedy spot in the big backberry patch near the front of the Orchard.
• I took the loppers to the Rose Garden and cleaned up the Heritage Rose, there were lots of thick dead canes in the middle of the shrub, and I'd been meaning to get to that chore, finally did.
• Weeded under the two Noisettes.
• Ray and Debra came by to return the trailer.  They had an old-fashioned cast iron sink in the back that they had replaced at her mom's house.  They were just going to get rid of it, so I asked if I could have it.  I'll use it as yard art, fill it with soil and plant something in it.
• Sunday - where does the time go?  I filled the cadet with mulch and mulched a few trouble areas in the Star Garden.  
• I decided to work on my meadow, so I drove around the property and dug up 10 native grass bunches.  I cushioned them with the remaining mulch in the back of the cadet.  After collecting my grasses I drove to the meadow, raked away some of the hay that I had laid down over the soil several weeks ago.  Dug 10 holes, filled them with water, and then planted my grasses.  I planted them all in a group.  I'd like to do many more groups of grasses this winter to really get myself started.  I will buy native grass seed in the spring, but I've tried seeding grasses before without a lot of luck, so I don't want to rely just on that.
• Watered my blooming Yuletide Camellia to reward it for being so pretty right now.
• Raked in the Orchard and generally cleaned up.  Mulched the other apple bed in the Orchard.
• Raked in the Star Garden.  The leaves have not really begun to fall - I mean the Big Leaf Drop - but I raked to clean up nevertheless.
• Raked in the Vegetable Garden and did some general cleaning - stacked tomato cages more neatly, trimmed the Spanish Eyes vine growing on the goat wire trellis, weeded.
• Picked green beans. 
• Transplanted a couple Ox Eye Daisies from paths over to flower beds in the Rose Garden.
• Cleaned the master bath and bedroom.  
• Bert got home from Groesbeck around 2:00.
• Headed in to work on Monday morning.

Day at the Farm

Here are more pictures of my cheery morning glories.  So pretty!

I went up for the day to do a little work before the Thanksgiving holiday.

• I cut back severely the Four O'Clocks in the bed by the dining room.  They were really encroaching on the Marie Pave roses growing there.  I also spread some mulch to smother the tiny little weeds that are trying to pop up. 
• Cleaned up and spread some mulch in a bed in the shady part of the Star Garden that was a little weedy.
• Trimmed the Almond Verbena so that no little branches brush up against you when you pass by.  I walked around the Star Garden and cut away anything that was brushing against me as I walked past - the red cannas, salvia, Vitex.
• I cut away all the flower stalks of the Philippine Lilies in the Circle and throughout the gardens.  Those things can make the place look really unruly.
• I raked away the leaves in the Shade Garden that were covering all the lily seeds I spread over the last several weeks.  Bert blew the leaves off the driveway right on top of where I'm trying to grow lilies.  Sometimes we are at cross purposes!
• I cut down all my gingers in the ginger bed so that my daffodils just popping up won't be over-shadowed.  I've read conflicting information about cutting back gingers before the greenery dies off on its own.  Since they won't bloom again on the same stalk one account indicates you can cut it down.  Another account says the greenery should be left in tact to provide energy to the bulb (it's not technically a bulb, but whatever).  I don't know what the right way is, but I cut them all down , so it's done.
• I planted 3 Delphiniums in the Rose Garden in the bed with the Duchess de Brabant.  I've never grown delphiniums.  I bought plants rather than try to grow them from seed.  If they do well I will try seed next time.
• I planted two blue barleria cristata (Philippine Violets) in the Greenhouse Garden.  There was a bed that really needed something in there.
• I planted six blue Columbines in the Greenhouse Gardens.  I just love Columbine.
• I added some compost to two beds in the Vegetable Garden and planted some 1015 onions.  And I filled a pot with soil and planted four onions.  I set the pot out in the Star Garden.
• Spread some double peony style poppy seeds in the Rose Garden.
• Watered here and there.
• Walked around a lot in the Rose Garden and the Star Garden.  Cleaned up here and there, pulled weeds.  Pulled up the last of the zinnia plants in the Rose Garden, threw the flower heads in various beds for next year's flowers.  I pulled ripe seed heads off my Fireworks Gomphrena and threw them in various beds for next year's flowers.  Pulled up Tickseed seedlings in places where I think they will crowd other plants, particularly my iris.  It's astounding how many seedlings of Coreopsis I have in the Rose Garden.  I could pull up hundreds and they wouldn't be missed. 
• Cleaned the oven.
• Bathed poor Buddy.
• Sprayed pesticide around the house.

Day at the Farm November 9, 2017

Yellow bugs with three rows of black spots across their backs (they look a little like lady bugs) are wreaking havoc on the petals of my Butter Pat chrysanthemums and my roses. I don't know what they are, but they are really making me mad!  I've seen them before, but I don't recall them making such a mess of my flowers before. 

This weekend Nan, Lisa and I camped at the Renaissance Festival, arrived Friday early evening and left on Sunday morning.  We had a good time - an interesting experience.  Sunday I drove straight to the farm and joined Bert, drove in to work on Monday morning.

• Cut away spent branches off my Mexican leucantha.
• Noted that some of my daffodils in the ginger bed in the Star Garden are all the way up.  I will cut back the gingers next time I'm there.  Those daffodils never bloom which is strange, I can't imagine that I would plant daffs that are not good for my region.  I don't remember what they are, maybe Chines Sacred Lilies?  Anyway, this year I'm going to cut the gingers down to the ground to see if the daffodils will bloom without the gingers looming over their heads. 
• Checked on my seedling beds to make sure they are getting enough water. 
• Cut away some Philippine Lily stalks, need to get the rest of them next time I'm there.  The seeds that I've been spreading everywhere are starting to sprout.  That's good. 
• Bert used the blower and blew the paths in the Shade Garden and the Star Garden.  Leaves are falling everywhere.

Debutante Camellia November 12, 2017

My Debutante Camellia is just beginning to bloom.  This was one of the very first shrubs I planted when we built the house, so I have a warm spot in my heart for this ole gal.  I don't want to think how many shrubs I have lost through the years, but I have managed to keep this prize alive.  It has very pretty peony-style flowers. Camellias are notoriously slow-growing shrubs as can be seen by how small this shrub is after 10 years of growth!  I love camellias, though - winter bloomers that like shade - they give me color in the season when little else is blooming,

Yuletide Camellia November 12, 2017

This is very best year of bloom that my Yuletide Camellia has ever had.  It looks really pretty.  Interestingly, it's the same year that the other one died.  I had two - one on either side of the faux door to the greenhouse.  Last summer one of them up and died.  I was so surprised since they were both pretty mature.  I guess it was a water issue.  Anyway, this one looks really beautiful.