Christmas on Saturday with my side of the family. It was at my house in Houston. Gretchen and family were there. Drove to Burton on Saturday night after we cleaned up the party. Stayed through Monday and drove home for New Year's Eve with Mom, Dad, Nan, Lisa, and the New York contingent. Dinner at Café Annie's.
- I trimmed the Yuletide camellia here and there trying to encourage a little more branching. I really hate to cut a camellia since they grow so slowly.
- I transplanted 40 or so plants from paths into flowerbeds. I moved Homestead Purple Verbena into beds throughout the Rose Garden, and I moved Ox Eye Daisies into the flowerbed that is adjacent to the path that leads to the Boardwalk. I now have that long bed almost completely filled in with daisies, and I think it will be very pretty in the spring. That has been a fairly sizeable project for me because they have to be dug up and moved there. Up to this point that bed has basically been just mulch and a few random plants here and there. I watered them in.
- Raked here and there.
- I laid down chicken wire in various paths in the Rose Garden. I read somewhere that deer don't like to walk on strange surfaces. We'll see how effective that is. I'm not holding out much hope. It certainly does a number on me, though. I've tripped over it about 10 times now.
- Next morning I was sore!
- I moved a dozen or so transplants to various beds including the front flower bed. I decided that the verbena would look pretty there as well as keep down weeds and slow down erosion.
- I fertilized my parsnips, beets, and garlic in the Vegetable Garden. Also did a little weeding. It's important to keep the weeds away from the veggie seedlings.
- I put some fertilizer around my little species gladiolas that are just coming up.
- Decided to go down to the Orchard and putter around for a while. But I ended up doing a great thing! I tackled the Swamp Sunflower problem. I have a skinny bed at the back of the Orchard in which I planted a couple of clumps of Swamp Sunflower two years ago. That is a massive, unruly plant that spreads quickly. And it has quickly grown out of that spot and needs to be moved again. I cut away all the dead vegetation. Then I dug out clumps of it and moved it over to the meadow. The part of the meadow that is at the bottom of the hill is one the wettest parts of our property. I tossed the clumps of plants into the standing water (we have had a lot of rain lately). I planted some here and there in that part of the meadow, but most of it I just set in the water. I transplanted 10 or so clumps - heavy! It was hard work, but if they take off, they will be amazing in the meadow. It's (I think I have finally found the perfect spot for these giants) the perfect spot for my Swamp Sunflower.
- Headed home about 2:30.
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