A Day at The Farm 09/11/2011

Still no rain. Arrived Saturday night. I lost one of my large rose shrubs, a Belinda's Dream, in the Rose Garden. That's 3 roses this summer. I've lost 2 gardenias, the Sweet Olive, 2 butterfly bushes, my rock rose, my Veronica Speedwell, 5 blueberry bushes, lots of herbs in my Infinity Garden, and lots of miscellaneous perennials. It's really sad and getting very expensive.
We spotted some amazing birds today! Gorgeous Baltimore Orioles. They are a deep orange with an all-black head and black wings with distinctive white stripes. I attached a pictures at the bottom of this page. At one time I saw three at one time. They were drinking the sugar water in the hummingbird feeders. And they were drinking from the bird baths. Texas is in their migratory path, but I have never seen one!
I planted 3 Kerria Japonica plenifora (Japanese Rose) that I ordered online. I've never ordered live plants from the internet before. Japanese Roses like some shade. I planted them in the gardens along the boardwalk.
I also planted 2 Amorpha fruticosa (False Indigo) which are native. They have purple flowers, they grow about 10 feet tall. They are airy plants with thin bladed leaves. They are the larval plant for Lepidoptera butterflies.
I planted 3 Helene Von Stein Lambs Ear in the Long Border and 6 in the Infinity Garden.
I planted 8 Blue Spruce Sedum in the Long Border. They are pretty silver-grey succulents. They bloom yellow flowers in the spring.
I planted 2 Provence Lambs Ear in the Infinity Garden fr some silver effect.
I planted 4 Ne'we Ya'ar Sage in the Infinity Garden, also for the silver effect.
I planted 6 Orange Thyme in the Infinity Garden, trying to replace some herbs that have died during this horrible summer. This thyme variety is also silver-grey.
I watered all the roses in the Rose Garden. That effort takes hours, it is no fun. But they are all in distress.
I watered around the Greenhouse.
Sunday morning was really nice. Fall is beginning to be in the air. It can't come soon enough.


These pictures don't do these birds justice. They are a brilliant orange color!