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.

Weekend at the Farm November 4 - 5, 2017

Above, this is La Marne rose.  She is pretty in the spring, but she really is spectacular in the fall.

Sam and Charlie's first and third birthday party on Saturday, to the farm on Saturday afternoon.  Bert was hunting with William and joined me on Sunday.

• I did nothing but stroll around on Saturday.  Made mental notes of what I wanted to do on Sunday.
• Ray and Debra came by on Sunday morning.  Deb brought me some native milkweed seeds.
• I pulled up most of the ageratum in the Star Garden that I didn't get to last weekend.  It's dropping its wispy seed everywhere.  I also gave the plants a hard shake over the natural area where the Mexican Sunflowers are blooming right now.  Maybe I'll get some fall color in that area next year - orange and purple are complimentary colors.   Seeded the bare area in the Star Garden with Standing Cypress and Coreopsis.
•  My seedlings are popping up in the Rose Garden (Standing Cypress, Coreopsis, Moss Verbena).  It's a thrill to see it every time.
• I spread seed in lots of places in the Star Garden, the Orchard, and the Rose Garden.
• Watered here and there in the Rose Garden.
• Sprayed paths in the Rose Garden and the Star Garden with herbicide.  Almost out of herbicide, need to get more.
• I sowed several packages of Larkspur (Galilee Blend) in the bed with Carefree Beauty and some poppy seeds as well.  Spread more coreopsis and poppy seed in the bed where B R Cant used to be.
•  The butterflies are amazing.  I had never grown a plant that attracts butterflies more than zinnias - until I began growing Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia).  I saw all at once on a cluster of three Tithonia plants two Monarchs, several of the iridescent blue swallowtails, a Painted Lady, a Giant Swallowtail, several Longtails, a Gulf Fritillary, and a Sulphur.  What a show, and it went on all day long.  If you love butterflies I highly recommend Tithonia (also an excellent reseeder).
• I spent a lot of time in the Rose Garden.  It's so beautiful in there right now.  I raked throughout and did some weeding (although there are not many weeds in the Rose Garden right now.  Pulled up spent zinnias - the big plant that was throwing off so many dark rose-pink flowers is offically gone, I loved her while she was there.  I threw the flower heads in various beds throughout the Rose Garden.  My Butter Pat Chrysanthemums are beginning to bloom.  Their cheerful yellow flowers are a happy thing to look at.  I deadheaded the roses.
• I found some poppy seeds in my seed box and threw those in the bed by the front gate.  I forgot I collected the seed last year.
• Planted 6 or so daffodil bulbs that had worked their way to the surface last summer - planted them in the Rose Garden where Iceberg used to be be planted.  I don't remember what they are, so I'll have to wait for them to bloom.  Planted six or so Ehrlicheer bulbs in the Shade Garden in the bed with the night blooming jasmine.  They also had worked their way to the surface - with the help of the armadillos.
• Mulched around the Belinda's Dream roses in the Rose Garden.
• My Heavenly Blue Morning Glories are in full bloom, so pretty.  And I have a Hyacinth Bean vine growing on the arbor at the entrance to the Orchard, also very pretty.  
• Bert finished the new arbor at the entrance to the Rose Garden.  It looks really good!
• I had a wonderful weekend.  Headed to Houston Monday morning.

Heavenly Blue Morning Glories November 6, 2017

One of my favorite vines.  So easy to grow from seed, and so pretty.  These vines are growing on an arbor leading into the Star Garden, right at the front of the house.  One of the truest blues in nature, and there are so few true blues that occur in nature, so that makes them really special.  I will enjoy them until the first frost, then the vine will die, but I will be left with lots of seeds for next year.