Weekend at the Farm December 13 - 14, 2019

This is my Yuletide Camellia.

Arrived Thursday evening.  Home on Saturday afternoon for Lights in the Heights party at Josh's house.  Sam and Charlie spent the night with me on Saturday night.

• Friday.  I walked around all the gardens to decide where to plant my two new camellia japonicas that I purchased from The Arbor Gate.  Planting camellias at the age of 58 is proof that I am in a very optimistic phase of my life because they grow very, very slowly.  I guess I think things are going pretty well!  I walked through various gardens with the shovel in my hands and stuck it in several places to see if the soil was loose or matted (from the cedar trees).
• I planted Coral Delight Camellia japonica in the Medicine Garden.  This is a good spot for a camellia - dappled sunlight and pretty decent water source.  The flowers are a deep coral-pink.  Camellia sinensis is the plant used for tea in China (and in Lipton tea).  My camellia is a japonica - a decorative, merely a representative of the medicinal herb.  But still fun to have in the Medicine Garden, I think.  I bought a large one.  They grow so very slowly.  It was laden with buds, so it looks like a very good bloomer.  I think I will love it!  
• I planted Royal Velvet in one of the Star Garden beds that line the walk to the Rose Garden,  Royal Velvet has flowers of deep red.  While I was there I cleaned up the area a bit - cut away the Philippine lily stalks, picked up twigs, pulled up some dead winter vegetation.  I also laid down some compost around my Sweet Olive and the Giant Ligularia. 
• The lady at Arbor Gate advised that I should add shale to the holes that I dig for the camellias, so I bought a bag of shale chips, mixed it with compost, and layered it generously at the bottom of the holes that I dug.  Watered the camellias in well.
• I also bought a White Pillar Rose of Sharon.  White flowers are so showy.  This is a semi-double.  I planted it near the front arbor.  I used some of the shale I bought.
•  And I planted 3 salvia nemorosa Blue Marvel.  I love the nemorosas, but I haven't had real good luck with them.  I have planted them in the early spring, but I think I will have better luck planting them now so that they have more time to establish themselves.  They look better in mass, but they are $9 each.  I'd love to have 20 of them planted together.  
• I did quite a bit of raking.  I loaded the cadet 3 times with leaves and dumped them in the Daffodil Border.  I'm almost finished with that, then I want to put some in the wild part of the Star Garden.  This is an important time of year.  I have to use fallen leaves for mulch in many parts of my gardens.  I can't use purchased mulch in all my gardens, I could never afford that.  So I need to rake leaves and use them.  Eventually, if I don't act within the first month after they fall, they scatter to the woods and they are gone.  
• I also raked up 2 truckloads of pine needles and laid them down in the Orchard.   
• Dug up two clumps of Butter Pat mums that were growing in the path in the Rose Garden and transplanted them to a bed. 
• I took 3 Country Girl mum cuttings, sprinkled them with root stimulator, and stuck them in a pot.  I will try to grow some new plants, don't know if it will work.
• Saturday.  I finished laying down leaves in the Daffodil Border.  Yay!
• I raked more leaves and laid them down in the wild part of the Star Garden.
• And I raked up a big truckload of pine needles and spread them in the Orchard underneath the big blackberry bed.
• I dug up 4 clumps of day lilies in the Orchard and moved them to the Rose Garden.  Not a great time to move day lilies, but they were totally shaded by a plum tree.  They have basically been disappearing over the last two summers, and I wanted to move them before they became dormant.  They are in a very sunny spot now.
• I helped Bert clear out some yaupon that was crowding a trail.  I poisoned the cuts after he cut them down, and then we dragged the debris out of the way.  That was quite a bit of work.  
• After that, we went to the clearing that I began last winter, and he used the electric saw to cut down some of the thick yaupon.  We dragged it to our debris pile.  I spent another hour lopping small yaupon, poisoning the cuts and dragging it off.  It is pretty in there, lots of woodland bunch grass, beautyberry and farkleberry with dappled sun shining through.  It is a long term project with no end in sight, but I'm determined to see it through until I can't do it anymore.
• Headed home about 2:00.