Friday noon bought clothes for Henry and Oliver. Bought a sparkly purse and sparkly bracelet for Zelda. Stopped at the Antique Rose Emporium and purchased three roses. Arrived at the Farm around 3:00. Nathan , Jessica, and Oliver spent the night Friday night, and we all went to Austin on Saturday for Henry's birthday party.
- Bought Marie D Orleans, introduced in 1883, Archduke Charles in 1837, and Rosette Delizy, introduced in 1922. Delizy is a small tea shrub. The outer petals are dark pink and the center petals are yellow. Charles is a China rose with red outer petals, pink center petals, and the flowers darken to red as they age. Marie is a dark pink tea rose. I haven't decided which shrub will go in what spot, but I know where I am planting them. I'm planting one of the roses in the bed I cleared out last weekend in front of the picket fence around the air conditioners. Another one will be planted in the front bed where my Belinda's Dream inexplicably died. The third rose will be planted in the Rose Garden. I am going to dig up the Pearlie Mae. Pearlie is not a good performer.
- Collected Gulf Coast Penstemon seeds from the Star Garden and spread them in the border outside of the Rose Garden.
- Collected Castor Bean seeds from the Vegetable Garden and put them in a baggie for planting next spring.
- Staked my three tomato plants that I put in the ground several weeks ago. Unfortunately I was about a week late, and they had already fallen over. I put a cage around them and tied them to stakes to help them straighten up.
- Cut away some obtrusive growth in the Vegetable Garden.
- Poured rain on Sunday night. Five inches in the rain gauge. What a relief.
- Planted Archduke Charles in front of the picket fence.
- Fertilized the La Marne Roses.
- Planted Rosette Delizy in front of the house where the Belinda's Dream was. Fertilized and mulched.
- Cleaned out the bed where the Living Easy was planted and planted Marie D'Orleans. Pulled up Living Easy, pulled all those deep-rooted-evil weeds, fertilized and mulched.
- Spent time in the Vegetable Garden cutting and hauling away those massive Torch Mexican Sunflowers. They fell over in the storm that came through early Sunday morning. I was admiring them only the day before. Getting them out of there really made a positive difference in the appearance of the Vegetable Garden, though.
- My husband and I went out to one of the trails and picked up some rocks that we had put there many years ago when the house was first built. As one would expect, the corral boards we used to make the beds in the Rose Garden are all starting to rot. We loaded them into the cub, and I used most of them to replace three boards. Pretty hot, didn't make a career out it.
- Spent an hour or so clearing out debris around my Lady Banks rose and in other places throughout the Long Border. I pulled up Four O'Clocks, Swamp Sunflower, and zinnias. Pretty soon I will be seeding the Long Border with wildflower seeds. Lots of Swamp Sunflower had fallen over, so I cut them to the ground. I pulled some up that were growing in the wrong spot. I cut away Hyacinth Bean vine that was growing into the cannas and the Antoine Mari rose next to it.
- Cleared away weeds around the Soncy rose.
- Mulched here and there - around the Peggy Martin rose, Lady Banks, and Archduke Charles.
- Mulched all the La Marnes.
- Cut back all the French marigolds in the Vegetable Garden that were growing in the path. Cut arugula away from the tomato plant.
- Pruned Mml. Franziska Krueger.
- Fertilized the tomatoes.
- Things look pretty good. I'm caught up. Is everything perfect? No, but I have command over it. Yes!
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