Weekend at the Farm February February 25 - 26, 2017

This is my new Julia Child rose.  She is still tiny in stature, but the flowers really pack a punch.

I arrived Friday afternoon shortly after Bert. Temperatures dropped to the upper 40s and Saturday was cool and sunny.  Sunday, cool and cloudy - it never cleared off, but that's fine, much easier to work in that weather.

• Saturday morning the first thing I did was spray my roses with fungicide - for blackspot which they already have, but I can at least try to keep it from getting worse.
• I loaded the cub with mulch a couple of times and finished mulching my Mojito Colocasias along the boardwalk.  I also got about halfway finished mulching the area along the boardwalk where my White-by-the-Gate Camellias are planted.  I managed to get mulch around one of the camellias and the whole area around it - it's a big area.
• I made up some sugar water Friday evening when I arrived, and I fed the bees.  I'm determined to get some honey this year.  I haven't harvested for two years.
• Next I headed to the Medicine Garden.  I raked out the beds - so many leaves - and wheeled them in my wheel barrow over to the compost pile.  I have two huge piles of leaves that I'm building up for use later in the Daffodil Border (after my daffodils quit blooming I will dump the leaves in there to keep the weeds down).  I spent quite a bit of time raking.  
• I planted four lambs ear in the Medicine Garden.  I love the pretty white furry things.  
• I loaded the cub with mulch a couple more times and began mulching in the beds I that cleared out in the Medicine Garden.  It's a big area with lots of beds, so I didn't get finished. 
• I decided that the path straight through the middle of the Medicine Garden needs more definition.  So Bert cut down some dead cedars and I made borders with them.  It looks good.  I think we will need three more trees cut down in order to get the whole thing done. 
• Sunday.  I worked on the Medicine Garden for a long time.  I'm almost out of mulch unfortunately, so I won't be able to finish it until I have more delivered.  There are still a couple of car loads left in my mulch pile, but I will need that to keep the weeds down until help (in the form of 10 yards of mulch) arrives.
• I planted a bunch of seedlings that I started in peat pots under grow lights.  I planted them in the Long Border, the Rose Garden, the Orchard, and the Star Garden.  I don't know why I bother, the seeds I sowed directly in the ground last weekend have already sprouted.  And they look healthier than the ones I've been babying for weeks.  I guess I just do it for something to do during the winter.
• I raked up pine needles from under the pine trees that grow along the trails and spread them under the blackberry bramble in the Orchard.  Two loads in the cub cadet.  The pine needles are working to keep the weeds down really well in the places where I have already used them.
• I planted two Wendy's Wish salvias in the Orchard and two Blue Bedder salvias in the Long Border.
• I planted two aloe vera plants  in a pot in the Medicine Garden and two comfrey in a pot, also in the Medicine Garden.
• I spent some time raking in the Vegetable Garden and doing some general clean up.
• Transplanted an Indigo Spires from the edge of a bed in the Star Garden over to the Long Border.
• Watered here and there in the Rose Garden and the Medicine Garden.
• I fertilized all my fruit trees in the Orchard and all the roses in the Rose Garden.
• Looking good everywhere except the Boardwalk Gardens.  They need mulching.  I've done a bit, but there is a lot of area there, and it will take some time - and I need to get more mulch delivered!  

White Ducher Rose and Purple Homestead Verbena Feb 26, 2017

 

New Growth on my Red Buckeye February 26, 2017

This is my favorite tree.  It breaks dormancy so beautifully.  Look at the new leaves opening up.  Wow.  And the leaf buds are really special, but I was too late and didn't get a photo of one of them.

 The leaves branch out from these pretty pink leaf buds.

 It is a flowering tree, and this is what the flower buds look like.  Whe they are open they are red tubular flowers.

 And look at the unusual leaves.  This is just a really, really great tree.

Before and After - The Medicine Garden February 26, 2017

I was mulching in the Medicine Garden on Saturday and it struck me that it needed a lot of clean-up.  When you look at something all the time sometimes you don't notice that it's getting pretty shabby.  I had already decided that I needed more foundation plants in that garden, so a couple weekends ago I planted five Nikko Blue Hydrangeas and a Strawberry Bush. I'm putting in more foundation plants because many herbs are annuals.  I can't afford to buy herbs every year to fill the Medicine Garden.  That will take care of some of the face lift.  Anyway, back to the before and after.

Here is the Medicine Garden before Bert and I started our little improvement:

 In the picture below Bert had cut down two cedars and laid them on the ground to create the beginning of the path.  

 

 Below, two more cedar logs were added and I have begun mulching on either side of the logs.

 Below, I am using green metal landscaping strips to make the circular shape around the sculpture.  I'm not quite finished.  I need more mulch and one more green strip.  But it's a good start.  I'd also like to get a few yards of decomposed granite and freshen up the paths. 

Mexican Plum February 25, 2017

My Mexican Plum tree us in bloom.  Last weekend there was one flower, this weekend it is almost in full bloom.

Rolf Fiedler Ipheion (Star Flower) February 25, 2017

More pictures of my pretty little star flowers.

French Sorrel and Chives February 20, 2017

These are two things growing in my Kitchen Herb Garden right now.  French sorrel and chives are both perennials, but they particularly love the cool winter months.

Panorama Photos of the Star Garden in Winter Feb 20, 2017

Above, this view is standing at the front of the house near the driveway.

Above, I am taking the picture from the rear of the garden behind the house.

Above, I am taking the photo from next to the shed on the side of the Star Garden.

Above, this area borders the driveway, the main path leads to the Rose Garden.

More Daffodils February 20, 2017

Right now I have eight varieties of daffodils blooming:  Ehrlicheer, Grand Primo, Ice Follies, Seventeen Sisters (also known as Avalanche), Sweetness, an unnamed paperwhite, my little narcissus odora, and my doubles.

Star Flower February 20, 2017



Star Flower (or Ipheion) is a small bulb that multiplies rapidly.  This is another plant that I have growing all over the place - in the Orchard, the Star Garden, the Rose Garden, and paths to the Boardwalk.  If you stick a bulb in the ground, a few years later you will have a clump like these below.  This little flowering bulb is just about to get really pretty.  It's bloom time is very early spring.  After it blooms the greenery will quickly turn brown and die back.  Next winter it reliably springs up again, but lots more of it!

New Growth February 20, 2017

These are some randomly selected photos of new growth in my garden.  I am a lover of winter because of this very phenomenon right ere:  I love to see all the plants emerging after winter.  I watch every single change with the greatest of interest and endless fascination.

Below, this is my Ehamanii coming up.  The stalks will reach 6 feet tall with hot pink dangling flowers at the top. 

Below, this is kind of cheating because iris are not deciduous.  These Clyde Redmond iris are always green.  But they really stand out amongst all the brown around them.

Below, these are my Indigo Spires salvia coming up from the roots surrounded by Cleome seedlings (which I should thin out, but I never have the heart to pull up seedlings). There is also a blue flowered Althea in this bed that has begun to just barely leaf out but you can't see it in this picture.  I dug up three or four salvia clumps out of this bed a few weeks ago and moved them to the Long Border.  They have been leaning into the paths for years and they needed to be moved, I finally did it.

Below, this is Homestead Purple Verbena.  It is always green as far as I can tell, maybe we just haven't had a harsh enough winter to kill it back.  I have this growing everywhere thanks to my efforts all winter long to transplant from unwanted places to "wanted" places.  The photo below is one of the buds.  They are so cute!

Below, this is like pineapple sage but it is peach sage coming up in my Kitchen Herb Garden.  I'm happy about this one because sometimes this does not come back.  It is a tender perennial for me.