Pretty Canna Bloom in the Garden this Morning May 24, 2021

 

Sangria Wine Crinum May 24, 2021

 The foliage of the Sangria Crinum is a very pretty burgundy.  So for those gardeners that like colorful (non-green) foliage, this plant is a great addition to the garden.  It is very slow to multiply.  I have had this crinum variety for at least a decade, and the clump is not substantial which is a disappointment to me.  Having said that, if you own crinums you know that the foliage of most varieties is so messy and takes up so much space.  The foliage on this crinum is very mannerly and delicate in comparison, and that is a big plus if you have a small garden area but you want to grow crinums.  I consider it a stingy bloomer.  But it was blooming this morning, and the blooms were very pretty.

Time at the Farm May 17 - 23, 2021

 

This is Standing Cypress, the yellow color is rather rare.

• Monday.  Vacation day.  
• I went straight down to the Orchard to work.  The incredible explosion of Brown Eye and Tickseed and Tall Poppy Mallow happens within a 4 week period.  The Orchard went from orderly to jungle-looking in that space of time.  It's hard to pull up flowering annuals, but they were completely covering up my daylilies.  I also pulled up Henry Duelberg salvia that was interfering with my daylilies.  It is still extremely colorful down there despite the amount of wildflowers I pulled up.
• I pulled up lots of ageratum.  I don't like it to get dense in there.  Too hard to spot snakes.  But unfortunately the ageratum was already covering some of the beds, so I fearfully pulled it up.  
• I began trimming my grapevines, I don't like those to get out of control.  It makes it so hard to prune them in the winter if I have allowed them to weave in and out of each other.  I cut back to where I see grapes.  It is a constant job, so it is always a work in progress.  But I try to keep after it.  An ounce of prevention...  I cut away growth on the main trunk of each vine, the main trunks of the vines should be kept clean.  I have 3 grape vines.
• Weeded, weeded, weeded.
• I loaded the truck twice, piled high with vegetation that I pulled up.  
• The basil that I sowed everywhere last year re-seeded, and several of the paths in the Orchard were covered in basil seedlings.  I pulled up the large ones and need to spray the rest.
• The blackberries are ripening, so I ate berries as I worked.  I need to pick a bowlful to bring inside.
• Inside for a late breakfast.
• Back outside to the Orchard to do more culling and weeding.  Two more truckloads of debris.
• I spent some time in the Star Garden creating and erecting chicken wire barriers against the Four O'Clocks and the iris and here and there in other spots.
• I cut back lots of Ox Eye daisies that were flopping over. 
• Worked in the Rose Garden for quite a while pulling up Tickseed and cutting away plants that were getting in the way of day lilies. 
• I planted the last several David Verity cuphea in the Rose Garden and one in the Star Garden.  Also planted a milkweed that I had on hand.  And planted several Mexicana sedums in the Rose Garden.  Love that stuff, although the gold Mexicana is even better. 
• It poured rained for a long time, so I was forced inside.  Didn't do much after that. 
• Tuesday.  Worked.
• Before work I sowed a few zinnia seeds in the Star Garden.  And I sowed a few French marigold seeds in the Vegetable Garden.
• During lunch drove to town for groceries for Bert's 70 birthday party.
• Sprayed herbicide in the Orchard.  It's supposed to rain, but I went ahead and sprayed anyway.
• The sun came out, so I sprayed herbicide in the Rose Garden here and there.
• Rain - steady after work, so nothing was accomplished in the garden.
• I walked briefly out to the Meadow.  It looks really pretty right now.  Brown eyes, horsemint, spotted bee balm, Eastern Gamma Grass, Standing Cypress, Tall Poppy Mallow, Canadian rye grass, native sunflowers,  red Gaillardia, Indian Paintbrush, Indian Blanket, Texas thistle, Coreopsis, Mexican Hat, and others - all blooming right now. 
• It stormed and poured rain all night.  I worried and worried after the cardinals that are nesting in the Veilchenblau rose at the Rose Garden entrance.  How will they fare? 
• Wednesday.  Worked. 
• Made gumbo for Bert's birthday party.  Smoked turkey leg, collard greens and shrimp.
• After work I clipped and staked and pulled up various things.  
• Came up on another copperhead right by my hand as I was pulling weeds near a Rudbeckia Maxima.  It was under one of the giant leaves, and I was pulling a weed right next to that leaf.  Yuck.  I had Bert come out and shoot the poor thing.  I don't want to get bitten.  I've become quite fearful of them.  Mentally, I am afraid I'm getting a phobia.  
• I re-potted a Pink Pop agastache.  I originally planted it in a clay pot that was too small because it was the only thing I had on hand.  But I pulled a waning coreopsis out of a larger pot and put the agastache in that.
• Walked the Meadow taking pictures with my new app called Seek.  It identifies native plants and gives me information on them.
• Thursday.  Worked.
• I cut away Sweetspire growing in the path in the Shade Garden and in the Circle Drive paths.  
• Pulled up a very thin vine in the Shade Garden that creeps along the ground.  It snakes all along the edge of the Shade Garden every year.
• I deadheaded Ox Eye daisies in the Circle Drive beds.  
• I did something super-awesome over the lunch hour.  I moved about 20 purple colocasia from paths in the Shade Garden over to beds.  Sweaty work.  And the soil in the Shade Garden is dense with roots - almost impossible to penetrate without a lot of effort.  But I got them all moved to other beds in the Shade Garden.  Yay for me.  I have been dreading that chore.  Last summer you couldn't even walk in that path because of the purple colocasia growing there, and I promised Bert that the next year I would move them. Promise kept. 
• Deadheaded more Ox Eye in the Circle Drive beds.
• Weeded in the Archduke Charles bed.
• After work I sprayed herbicide along the outside and here and there inside Mom's Garden, the paths in the Shade Garden, and a few spots in the Star Garden.
• Dinner in Brenham for Bert's birthday.
• Friday.  Worked.
• Deadheaded some Ox Eyes here and there.
• Did some clean up in the Vegetable Garden - staking and cutting plants away leaning into paths. 
• I turned the soil in the long narrow bed and sowed some grey stripe sunflowers in the Vegetable Garden.
• Bert got me set up with my new toy - my flamethrower - and I burned up a big swath in the Meadow of invasive grass.  Amy Thomsen told me to burn it, not to wait until next season, so that I can burn the seeds. Then she said I'd probably have to do another burn to get whatever germinates after that.  It is extremely hot work, and I was covered with soot when I stopped after only 20 minutes - I was dripping sweat.  Sweat was getting in my eyes.
• Made a pot of beans and a cake for Bert's birthday party tomorrow  The entire family - both sides of our children will be all together for the first time in many years.  Pictures will be taken for sure!
• After work I went back out to the Meadow and did some more burning.  
• Saturday.  Bert's 70th birthday party.  16 adults and 10 children.  It was a madhouse because it rained most of the day.  All of us (and 4 dogs) stuck in the house.  We eventually moved out to the porches - front and back - and talked and / or smoked cigars.
• Sunday - Oliver, Wes and Finn spent the night.  It rained all day Sunday and no gardening was attempted.  

Pirates Pearl May 22, 2021

 I have really started to love this plant.  I planted it for the first time last summer.  It is a great front of the border plant.  It is a tender perennial per the description, but last winter was so cold that I don't use it as my experience with this plant.  None of mine made it through last winter.  But in one spot, I had some re-seeding which is interesting.  I see some little plants coming up in the Rose Garden.  I bought about 10 plants this spring and planted them in my mom's garden which is an all-white garden.  They bloom profusely like an annual does.  It's a great plant.

 

Painted Lady Beans May 23, 2021

 I sowed some beans on the front arbor some weeks ago.  They have just started to climb, they will get thicker on the arbor before they fade out.  They are very pretty heirloom beans.

Strawberry Smoothie Althea May 21, 2021

 My first Althea blooms of the season are coming from Strawberry Smoothie.  My grandson Sam helped me plant this 2 years ago.

Yellow Flowers May 21, 2021

 Lots of yellow flowers in the gardens right now!

A Gift from my Mom

 She supports my desire one day to have chickens.  In the mean time, she bought me these little chickens.  I love them!

The Star Garden May 3 vs May 17

 When I took photos on May 3rd the Star Garden looked very white and blue:

Mow, just a few weeks later, all the yellow flowers are blooming and the garden looks quite different.

Black and Blue Sage May 17, 2021

 This sage does not re-bloom well at all.  Nevertheless, I think it is worth cutting down to the ground after it finishes blooming because it really looks scraggly if you don't.  Regardless of that less than glowing description, I think it is worth planting because the blue is so unique, and the foliage is a chartreuse kind of green which is unique.  This plant is a total hummingbird attractor.  Very entertaining watching the hummers at this bed. 

Clasping Coneflower May 16, 2021

 Out of all the seed I sowed last fall, this is the only stand of clasping coneflower that looks really good.  This clump is in the Rose Garden.

 

Oakleaf Hydrangea May 16, 2021

 My Oakleaf Hydrangeas looked pretty today.

Time at the Farm May 10 - 16, 2021

 

This is a picture of a Columbine flower.  They are almost finished blooming for the season, and I didn't take any photos of them.  But they were very lovely this year.

Mother's Day at my house in Houston  with Bert, Mom, Dad, Nan, Lisa, Josh, Amy and the kids.  Drove to the farm after that.  Arrived about 6:30.  Took a long walk about, but no work.

• Monday.  Worked.
• Hand watered the plants next to the Greenhouse.
• I watched a Question Mark (so named because of the little question mark on the underside of the wings) butterfly emerge from a cocoon in the Rose Garden.  It caught my eye because I saw it fluttering wildly.  I thought it had been caught by a praying mantis or something, so I walked over to take a look which is when I saw that it was coming out of a cocoon.
• The Terminix guy was here in the morning and killed a coral snake under the arbor that he came upon while spraying.
• I sprayed herbicide on the path that leads to Mom's Garden.
• I sprayed herbicide in the part of the Star Garden closest to the house. 
• And I sprayed the driveway and the Rose Garden.
• I pulled a salvia away from my little butterfly bush in the Rose Garden and staked it with chicken wire. 
• Went down to the Orchard with the ladder and picked plums.  But they were a sorry lot.  I guess there will be no plum jelly this year.
• Weeded in Mom's Garden and tied back some rose canes on the climber.
• I messed with the fountain some more, got rid of the rocks at the bottom of the tank and put a small bucket upside down on the bottom.  The suction cups will hold more successfully on the bucket than they will on the rocks.  
• It's getting hot and the mosquitos are bad.  It's not the hard slog of summer yet by any means, but it's coming.
• An armadillo dug a deep hole in the bed around the old dead tree in the Rose Garden.  And voles have sucked under several of the plants I planted last week.  Well, more zinnia seeds I guess.  One of the zinnias that I've been nursing along in the Mom's Garden ended up being pale pink.  It's a white garden, so I'm annoyed. 
• After work I created more chicken wire barriers.  
• I watered in the dry part of the Star Garden pretty extensively.
• Walked the Meadow for a long time.
• Tuesday.  Worked.
• Weeded for a long time in the Star Garden.
• Did more watering in the dry parts of the Star Garden.
• Weeded in Mom's Garden for a bit.
• I am very pleased that Bert is re-building the Boardwalk.  It is rotting in some places, and he wanted to tear the whole thing down and replace it with decomposed granite.  That is a huge problem for me because he doesn't do the shoveling of the rock - I do!  The Boardwalk path is very, very long, and the upkeep would be horrible.  First of all - all downhill, so every time it rained really hard it would wash away the decomposed granite.  And, we would have to buy some sort of edging along both sides of the path.  The entire idea would have been expensive and extremely hard to maintain.  Well, after some spirited debate, he decided to replace the rotten parts of the Boardwalk.
• Wednesday.  Worked.
• After just writing on Monday how hot it's getting, a cold front moved in.  Cold, rainy and cloudy.  Suits me just fine!
• I began pulling up floppy poppies and pulling out ageratum.  I'm basically clearing away both of those things from around my roses and other foundation plants.
• Bert found rats nests in both his cars.  Last time it happened, it was a rats nest in my car, and it cost $700 to fix because they ate the insulation off the wires.  Lots of critters in the country - wreaking havoc.  
• Bert went to the dirt place and got me some mulch, about two yards.
• During my lunch hour I spread mulch.  I came upon a copperhead underneath some Ox Eye daisies that were flopped over.  I picked up the pile of daisies to spread mulch under them, and there it was.  Bert shot it. 
• I spread mulch in several beds, weeding and cleaning up as I went. 
• Amy, Connie and I drove over to Connie's property to do some plant rustling.  She has so many fascinating native plants!  Of course all the great bunch grasses are growing there, but the most special things we found were zillions of liatris and even more zillions of Maximillian sunflower.  Since liatris are bulbs, I dug up 5 big clumps and put them in the buckets I brought.  But I'm not bothering with the Maximillian sunflower.  I'd rather go back in the fall / early winter and gather seed.  I prefer sowing native seed than trying to dig up plants.  I mean, with as many Maximillians she has - talk about a target rich environment - I could stand in one spot and gather a thousand seeds.  I'll take that any day over digging up one plant and hauling it over to my Meadow.  Natives go into shock really easily.  They aren't bred specially to survive a life cycle of growing in a pot, travelling to a nursery, unloading, sitting in the nursery for weeks, waiting to be purchased, then hauled home, dumped out of their pot and planted in the ground. 
• Thursday.  Worked.
• Over the lunch hour I cleaned out a bed in the hinterlands of the Star Garden and mulched well.
• After work I planted the liatris I dug up the day before with my plant friends.  Watered them in well and also watered the Indian Plantains.
• Mulched around the Kordana roses that Amy gave me for Christmas.
• I walked and walked and walked the Meadow and all the gardens until dark.  What a wonderful time of year.
• I sprayed herbicide on the Pepper Vine and Dewberry that is taking over in the lower part of the Meadow.  That is potentially a real problem.  I also sprayed lots of Beautyberry.  It's pretty, but I don't want shrubs in my Meadow.
• Ann Thames sent me a text that hornworms were eating her Nicotiana, so I went out there where I have them planted and picked some off my plants.  The ones that I grew from seeds have really been assaulted by caterpillars. I will try to protect the ones I got from her better than I have done with mine. 
• Friday.  Worked.
• Before work I pulled up a bunch of spent poppies and Tall Poppy Mallow in the Star Garden. 
• I planted two milkweed plants and mulched around them.
• I went out to the Vegetable Garden and tied green landscape tape to tag some of the white larkspur so that I can sow the seed in Mom's Garden.  I don't want to end up with pink or purple in there.
• During lunch I did some weeding and mulching.
• Walked the Meadow after work.
• Saturday.  Koy and Cleo's recital in Houston, lunch afterwards, and The Arbor Gate after that.
• What luck, I found David Verity Cuphea at the nursery.  I have had my eye out for that because it is a cuphea that will withstand our cold here in 8b.  I bought 5 or so.  Bought some more sedums and some bedding plants - red Profusion zinnias.  It is rare that I buy bedding plants, but I thought I would put them in the front beds so that they look more organized than the Cottage Garden look.  
• When I got back to the farm I worked in the Rose Garden for a couple of hours.  I did some spot watering of all the roses.  And I erected chicken wire fencing around some of the beds.  The armadillos are out in full force leaving destruction in their wake everywhere.  Pulled weeds and deadheaded the blue salvias and some of the roses.  I also began pruning the Zepherine Drouhin climber at the front of the Rose Garden.
• Sunday.  Straight out to the Water Garden to spot water around the hydrangeas, the Sea Foam camellia (which is slowly coming back from the freeze with a few leaves, they grow so slowly as it is), and the sweet shrub on the other side of the Greenhouse. 
• Poisoned poison ivy sprouting up under the Mexican Buckeyes.  I'm so damn scared of that stuff.  I can't believe it's taken hold in those beds.  I'm just getting over a bout of poison ivy, so I am particularly scared of it.
• Trimmed back the white petunias that were crowding my white salvias and white verbena.
• Did some general weeding in all the beds in the Water Garden.
• I spent about 2 hours on the front beds.  I pulled up spent poppies, lots of brown eyed Susans, and zillions of ageratum.  I cut all the spiderwort to the ground and pulled some of it up.  I cleared out around all the roses and day lilies.  I cut back dead canes.  
• I came upon a copperhead under some day lilies in one of the front beds.  But we couldn't find him again once Bert got there with the gun.  I kept working in there, but I was very creeped out. 
• I planted 5 Profusion red zinnias in one of the front beds.  I mulched everything as I cleared.  
• I spent about an hour in one part of the big bed in the Star Garden basically doing the same thing.  I pulled up poppies, brown eyed Susans, ageratum. and of course - weeds.  I planted a milkweed and 2 David Verity cuphea in that large space.  Mulched everything.
• Worked in the Vegetable Garden for a bit pulling up Tall Poppy Mallow, Brown Eye, larkspur, and spiderwort.  Pulled weeds too, of course. Began clearing out the narrow 16 foot bed so that I can sow grey stripe sunflowers.
• Amy and two of her and friends and Debra came over about 5:00 to see the gardens.  They stayed about an hour and we walked through every one of them as well as the Meadow (or as Amy calls it - my small restoration project).
• As per usual, I walked the gardens all evening until darkness forced me inside.  

An Early Look at my Hydrangeas May 12, 2021

 The hydrangeas look so healthy this year.  There are lots of buds on them and a few large heads.  The large heads will get pinker, but they looked pretty today.