Beautiful weather. Sunny and cold.
- I spent a couple of hours puttering and weeding in the Star Garden in several problem areas. Winter weeds.
- I raked in the Rose Garden and dumped the leaves in the wild part of the Star Garden. Pulled some weeds.
- I drove out the road in the cadet and shoveled up some rocks.. I filled in a few wash outs in the Rose Garden. I don't want to turn my ankle in a hole.
- I raked leaves down the hill from the house and dumped them in the wild part of the Star Garden.
- Dug up an Autumn Sage that had rooted underneath another Autumn Sage, and I planted it next to the Greenhouse. Then I dug up a small clump of Giant Rudbeckia and planted it next to the Autumn Sage. In that bed now I have a Hartlage Wine Sweetshrub, 2 native grasses (can't remember what variety I planted), some parsley, a few columbine, and the Autumn Sage and Rudbeckia. The bed directly across from it, next to the Greenhouse is empty now. The columbine that used to grow so prettily there has all disappeared. I will have to figure out something to plant there. And then I will have to struggle all summer to keep it alive...
- I walked and walked. Such beautiful weather!
- Sprayed herbicide here and there in the top part of the meadow - there is a very prolific grass that will take over if I don't do something about it. Right now it is young, short and thick. Now is the time to spray.
- The Meadow looks good. So many seedlings. Can't wait for spring!
- I also sprayed herbicide around the outside of the Vegetable Garden and at the edge of the new long bed. Tomorrow if the forecast is clear I will get serious about trying to get rid of weeds that are growing in the paths.
- Sunday. I started right to work in the Orchard and beds at the entrance to the Orchard. I cut and poisoned the blackberry canes that were growing in my iris bed. I trimmed back the Beautyberry that sprang up uninvited in the Boardwalk Border. I cut away all the dead canna vegetation and pulled up blackberry canes. The blackberry bed borders the canna bed and is near the iris bed. Runners always get in to my flower beds and have to be either pulled up or poisoned. I pulled weeds. I cut away the Philippine Lily stems throughout the Orchard. I have quite a crop of lilies in the Orchard now. Lots of them are mature enough to bloom and many more are close to being mature enough to throw off blooms. I also have a good many along the boardwalk. I started seeding the Orchard and Boardwalk beds a couple of years ago. I'm beginning to reap the rewards - and it is indeed rewarding! I cut back the swamp sunflower dead vegetation. Last year I tried to dig up and move all the swamp sunflower from the Orchard over to the Meadow. It spreads so aggressively that I have another full bed. I will consider moving this group over to the meadow some time this winter. It is too tall and unruly to be in the Orchard. It is perfect for the Meadow. I raked in the Orchard and dumped the leaves in to blackberry beds where I saw weeds starting to get pesky.
- I spent some time cutting down yaupon (and poisoning the cuts) in my clearing adjacent to the Meadow. I dragged it all to the debris pile along a nearby trail. That is the hardest part. The area that I have cleared of yaupon is getting bigger! It is my lifetime project. Bert calls projects such as this "make-work", and indeed it is.
- I planted 3 Country Girl mums that I bought at the Arbor Gate several weekends ago. I planted them in the Star Garden. I need some color in the Star Garden in the fall.
- I made two cuttings from the mums, scraped the stems, sprinkled them with root hormone and stuck them in pots of soil. It would be so great if they root! I did the same a couple of weeks ago with some cuttings, and the greenery is still alive, so they seem to be taking off. Plenty of time for disaster to befall them and the experiment will fail, but so far so good.
- I dug up two small seedlings of Henry Duelberg salvia in the Orchard and moved them to the Rose Garden. They were growing right next to the edge of the beds, so they were not going to be able to stay there. I planted them next to Belinda's Dream. I'm sure I will regret that - too crowded, but it's done.
- Two summers ago my neighbor Debra gave me a sack of bulbs. She wasn't sure what they were called, only that the flower was white. I planted some of the bulbs in the bed at the edge of the Shade Garden where they would get some sun. It was also a space that needed something, but also a space that I didn't pay much attention to. Since I didn't know what they were, I wasn't keen about planting them all over my gardens. I threw the rest in the woods. They turned out to be Spider Flowers, so they are good bulbs. Today I searched for the bulbs I threw in the woods, dug them up and planted them in the Star Garden in 3 places.
- I took my super-strong weeding implement and dug up several dozen Philipping Lily seedlings in the paths of the Circle Drive beds and planted them in the Shade Garden. Those seeds love to take root in the white rock paths of the Circle.
- Drove in to work on Monday morning.
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