A Weekend at the Farm Feb 18-19 2012

This is a Rolph Fiedler Ipheion. The flowers are deeper blue than the Whisley Blue Ipheion, and the leaves are wider.

There was five inches of rain in the rain guage. Many places in the gardens are rutted from water erosion. The ruts will have to be repaired and the areas will have to be adjusted to prevent future problems. Sometimes my repairs work and sometimes they don't. I'm not an engineer! Many vole tunnels collapsed from all the rain. The ones in the yard that collapsed will have to be repaired as well. But I'm thrilled with the rain. All the tanks are full, and the pastures are turning green.

• I planted a double red Althea 'Amplissimus ' in the Star Garden. Altheas are shrubs that can get pretty tall (8 feet) unless you prune them back. They have an upright habit. They don't sprawl. I think I'm going to get one for the Long Border too, or maybe a Vitex. Something purple or pink. Anyway, this one is supposed to be red. We'll see - I suspect it will be deep pink. When I google it, it looks dark pink. Because of the upright growth habit Altheas work well in my garden. I have narrow paths to walk around, and big shrubs get in the way. Altheas bloom in the summer. Not many shrubs bloom in the summer. Most are spring or fall bloomers. So Altheas add a lot of value to the landscape for that reason. At my home in Houston I have two Altheas. I have a white one and a double purple one. I really like them. Crepe Myrtles have replaced them in modern landscapes. I can certainly understand why - crepe myrtles are very beautiful. But altheas can fit into a smaller space. My neighbor gave me two cuttings of a double pink althea. I treated them pretty rough, and I'm not sure they made it through the winter. I will be very happy if they made it.
• I also planted two Buddleia - Dark Knight (in the Star Garden) and Pink Delight (in the Long Border). I was going to plant the Dark Knight in the Long Border as well, but I decided I would rather have an althea or a vitex in the Long Border. These are replacement plants for the ones I lost in the drought.
• I planted three Mother of Thyme and three Ne'we Ya'ar Sage in the Kitchen Herb Garden.
• I planted three Tansy in the Medicine Garden.
• I planted six Amazon Neon Purple Dianthus in the flower bed I built last weekend.
• One of my Ballerina rose is almost dead. It was fine last week, some leaves were yellowing, but it looked fine. This is vole damage. In November the voles pushed a big pile of dirt up in the box in which the Ballerina is planted. I should have flooded the box with water then, but I didn't. I guess they have been snacking on it ever since. It's something how quickly a plant turns from seemingly healthy to dead. I flooded the box with water until the soil collapsed, then I filled the hole with soil, We'll see if I can save it.
• I planted some gingers in the Shade Garden that I dug up from the back yard in Houston. I'm on a mission to dig up all the gingers in the back yard of my Houston home. They are crowding out the roses, they are entirely out of hand.
• Pulled up chocolate mint, pennyroyal, and Gotu Kola that were taking over in the Medicine Garden. Everything went in the compost pile.
• Trimmed debris away from the asters, the butterfly weed, the Buddleia, the thryallis, the cannas, and a few roses.
• Roasted some golden beets from the garden for a salad made with raddichio from the garden. Cooked the beet greens, wilted with garlic and chevre for dinner also. Very good!
• Cut one of the Savoy cabbages to bring home and forgot it.
• Moved some lantana that was growing in a bad place around the pool.
• Built another flower bed in the Star Garden. I have enough soil for maybe one more, maybe two.
• Weeded in the Orchard for a while. The Red Baron Peach is about to bloom. It's loaded with buds.
• Moved the Mexican Plum to the Orchard. It was in too much shade. Hopefully it will thrive in its new spot. It has never done well where it was.
• Mulched here and there. Happiness is a big pile of dirt. :-)
• I have a plan for an arbor off the corner of the shed. I want to grow a white Lady Banks Rose over it. They get enormous. Really, really enormous. The yellow Lady Banks I am growing in Houston is massive.