Arrived Wednesday evening. Left Friday morning to shop and cook and get ready to go to the lake for Dad's birthday. Picked up Sam and Charlie on the way Saturday morning.
- Thursday morning I weeded for a little bit in the Star Garden. Also watered the pink Vitex, Pearlbush and Snowball Bush. Fertilized the Pearlbush.
- Went out to the Rose Garden to do a chore that I have been putting off for many months. Two years ago when I planted my Zephirine Drouhin climber on the cedar tripod my husband built, I put chicken wire around the rose. Rabbits love new, young roses. I never pulled it off. Weeds and vines had started to grow inside the chicken wire and I couldn't get to them. So I cut away all the chicken wire. A lot of branches had grown through the wire, so I had to cut each one out. Weeded around the rose.
- Next I worked on my two Ballerina roses. Ballerinas have a cascading form. I cut away all all the lowest branches which were not looking good anyway due to the lack of sun they get. I cut away all the dead twigs - Ballerinas are twiggy. They look much better. And I was finally able to get underneath them and pull up weeds as well. I'll be able to keep them much more tidy now.
- Got stung twice by yellow jackets. There was a nest in one of the Ballerinas, I didn't see it until it was too late. Now my hands will swell up and itch like crazy. What a damn nuisance, I'll be up all night.
- Next I worked in the Star Garden. I pulled up (or cut down to the ground depending on how mature the stalk was) a bunch of Hojo Santo that was coming up in the paths and in non-Hojo Santo beds around it. That's great compost material - Hojo Santo leaves are huge. Cut back Four O'Clocks leaning into paths.
- Fertilized my Dwarf Flowering Almonds and watered it in. I'm getting pretty sick of these shrubs. They are extremely slow growers. My least favorite plant is a slow-growing plant, no matter the variety. If the flowering almond shrubs looked pretty along the way on its journey to being tall, I would like it. And I have three of them. I thought they'd look good growing in a row in the Star Garden. That was five years ago.
- I count seven dead roses in the Rose Garden. I think I've lost the last of them. I lost Lady Hillingdon, Monsieur Tillier, Soncy, Chrysler Imperial, Marie van Houtte (this is the second time this rose has died for me), Julia Child, and Chorale. Brutal summer.
- I picked up half a dozen Ehrilcheer bulbs that had been dug up by the armadillos. I'll replant them in the fall somewhere.
- Went down to the Orchard to admire all the work I did last weekend. I pulled a few weeds and headed in to the house for some lunch.
- That was pretty much it for me this visit.
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