A Day at the Farm - 10/09-10/10

Friday night to Max's game. He had three touchdowns. Good game for Max. Saturday morning to the farm. Lots to plant. Left early for home - birthday lunch at America's.

• Planted 3 flats of perennial Dianthus in the Star Garden- Diamond Coral, Melody Pink, and Floral Lace Violet Picotee.
  
• Interplanted 20 pink and yellow ranunculus with the Dianthus.
  
• Planted 3 Siam Tulip Emerald Chocozebra in the path down to the Orchard that I bought at the annual Bulb and Plant Sale, my favorite plant sale. This group of gingers - Curcuma alismatifolia are commonly called Tulip Gingers because they look like a tulips in silhouette. Emerald Chocozebra has slender green leaves and the flowers are cone-like. They will make very modern-looking flower arrangements. Siam Tulips are native to the lime rock hills of Thailand. They like to be completely dry and parched in summer and then become waterlogged during monsoon season. That's a challenging habitat for a Texas gardener to reproduce! But I'm going to put them in partial shade and hope for the best.
  
• Planted 200 Tulipa clusiana var. chrysantha 'Tubergen's Gem'. These are species tulips. They naturalize here in the south. They are the native tulips that grow wild in various Mediterranean countries. They aren't the fancy tulips from Holland that, in Texas, you have to chill and then dig up after they bloom. They are bright yellow on the inside and red on the outside. They stay small. They are very charming, known for the habit of following the springtime sunshine - the flowers are closed in the morning nodding toward the east, the flowers open wider and wider as the sun rises, by noon they are spread flat and looking up at the sky, by 4:00 they are closing their petals for the evening. I planted them around my Sam Houston Peach tree in the Orchard.
  
• Planted 12 tall bearded iris called Prissy Miss. They are pink. I planted them around the apple trees - hoping the pink apple blossoms and the pink iris will bloom at the same time. We'll see.
  
• Planted 25 Montbretia bulbs in the Rose Garden in the same box as the Living Easy rose (which is orange like Montbretias) and a few in the box with my Honey Sweet rose, also orange. They are good multipliers.
  
• Planted a dozen Nada Crested Iris along the boardwalk down to the Orchard. These irises are unusual in that they like dappled shade. They should be happy in their spot.
  
• Finally, I got two treasures from the Bulb Mart - a Mayhaw tree and a Celeste Fig tree. Mayhaw is a southern fruit tree. The fruit is not good to eat, but Mayhaws make very good jelly. Mayhaws are a little smaller than a golf ball. Celeste fig is an old southern favorite. I really do not like figs. But, I have an orchard and an orchard needs a fig tree. Anyway, I planted both of them in the Orchard.


• All of that should be dug up and ruined by the time I get back to it. Armadillos.


• Sunday morning before I left I laid down chicken wire acrosee the tulips and irises I planted.


• Adjusted the sprinklers.