Arrived Thursday evening after work, Bert was already here. Friday was cold and sunny.
- The robins are everywhere, and they are cheerful, noisy birds. The morning was filled with their good-natured chirping. They were at every rain barrel and bird bath.
- I cut away dead vegetation from my perennials in the Star Garden - milkweed, salvias, cannas, etc. I weeded in the Star Garden for a while.
- I dug up 2 Rudbeckia Maxima in the Star Garden that were growing in bad spots (crowding other plants) and moved them to the Hot Border.
- I dug up 4 double orange day lilies in the Star Garden that had spread into the path and moved them to the Hot Border.
- Dug up some African Hostas growing in paths. I thought I had gotten them all several weeks ago when I dug up a bunch and planted them in the Hot Border, but now that spring is around the corner they are sprouting leaves and more became visible. I don't know why these little hostas are so notorious for escaping the beds and ending up in the paths, but they seem to do it a lot. I planted some of them in the Hot Border where I planted a row of them several weeks ago, and I planted some of them in the Shade Garden where one of my main stands of African Hostas grows.
- I promised myself that if this certain stand of daffodils did not bloom again this year, I would dig them up and throw them in the compost pile. They have been in the Ginger Bed in the Star Garden for years. I dug them up and threw them out. In their place I planted some Ehrlicheer bulbs that were growing too close to the white mist flower shrubs that I planted last fall in the Bulb Bed. The Ehrlicheers were finished blooming, so I pulled them up. There were 17. In addition to the four that I planted in the Ginger Bed, I planted some in the Greenhouse Garden and the Medicine Garden. And I found my favorite hand trowel while I was planting bulbs in the Medicine Garden. Yay! It was in the flower bed right next to where I had moved some woodland violets several weeks ago.
- Using the shovel, I dug up more of the ugly asters that are growing in the Star Garden and threw them out. That stand of asters had gotten too big.
- I decided to work on the Greenhouse Gardens and the Medicine Garden. The elderberry had creeped into the paths and was making a little elder forest in there. I sat down and scooted along the ground cutting the stems at ground level and putting a drop of poison on the cuts. Then, using the loppers, I cut back the woody stems of elderberry in the beds. Spring is coming, and I want the young plants but I don't want the leggy year-old growth. I cut back my henna plants. Raked the paths. Cut back all the red shrimp plant in the bed with the Port Hole sculpture - I've got a lot of red shrimp plant. Cut back the Turk's Cap. Pulled up dead ginger vegetation. Moved a big plug of hoja santa away from my new camellia. Still lots to do in those gardens - they are very large - but took a break for lunch.
- After lunch I hard-pruned my pink vitex in the Star Garden. I had to have Bert come out and cut some of the higher, thicker branches.
- I spent some time tying back my Nixon Lake paper whites in the Star Garden.. The greenery needs to die back, but I don't like it flopping all over the place. So I gather it up, bend it over, wrap twine around it and tie it up. Basically I make a little bundle low to the ground so it can go dormant while still looking presentable.
- After that I decided to go down to the Orchard and work on my grape vines. I pruned grape vines for about 3 hours, weeding here and there as well. That damn dollar weed has taken over in the JuJube bed. Luckily it has not infected any other bed down there. Things are pretty much in control in the Orchard (dollar weed not withstanding) because I spread pine straw over all the beds last fall. Nevertheless, some work is needed to get ready for spring. The day lilies are coming up which I always get a little thrill out of. And the crab apple tree is just beginning to bloom. Crab apple blossoms smell wonderful. I read somewhere that crab apple blooms are the best-smelling fruit tree flowers - which is why I planted one. And the flowers do smell wonderful. But citrus is the best of all in my opinion. Plum tree flowers also have a fabulous grape koolaid smell. I see that one of the grafted varieties of my three-in-one apple tree has died. And the grafts don't look too healthy on the other 2. Well, I can't worry about that now. I'm not going to replace the tree unless it dies, and anyway, I won't plant a tree unless it is winter. It is in bloom right now. So it's doing okay right now. I also pruned my Maggie rose while I was down there. More work to be done, hopefully I'll get down there again this weekend.
- That was it for Friday.
- Saturday morning, robins!
- I worked in the Medicine Garden for most of the morning. I spread compost and planted 6 comfrey plants near my new camellia. I also planted 4 Italian oregano near the camellia. While I was there I dug up several plugs of Hoja Santa and move them to better spots. I raked out the beds here and there and dumped the leaves in the wild parts of the Star Garden. Spread compost. I cleaned out all the leaves that were piled amongst my Cemetery Whites. I cut back the Turks Cap. I cut the three Barbados Cherry shrubs to the ground. I did some weeding. Raked the paths. Sprayed herbicide on the paths. All of that took a long time. I spent most of the day in there.
- Bert and I drove in to Carmine and poked around the antique shops along 290. I bought a metal sign to hang in the Vegetable Garden.
- I cut all the red shrimp plant down the ground in the Star Garden. Cut back the Pink Muhly grass in that bed and the adjacent bed. Raked.
- Sprayed herbicide in the Star Garden and the Vegetable Garden. I cut back lots of plants in the Star Garden - my Autumn Sages, Rusellia, etc.
- Weeded, weeded, weeded.
- I pruned my two large La Marne rose shrubs.
- Sprayed fungicide on the roses in the Star Garden.
- At dusk I cut back my trailing purple lantana in the Rose Garden. I worked there until dark.
- Sunday. The joyful robins were back making it another memorable morning.
- I went to work on the Long Border. I raked out all the pine needles and oak leaves in the 2 lower sections of the Long Border. Dumped them in the wild area adjacent to try and control weeds when summer sets in. I side-dressed all the perennials in the middle section of the Long Border. I pulled up as much of the wild white-flowered aster that I could that grows by underground runners in that section of bed. That aster is not pretty - it might be if it was massed somewhere else, but I don't want it in that bed. I dug up the swamp sunflower - pretty, but a nuisance because it flops over under its own weight and spreads aggressively. I moved it to the adjacent wild area - a good place for it if it can stay alive in the heat of summer without irrigation.
- I raked in the Rose Garden and weeded here and there. I finally dug up my dead noisette and covered the hole with compost.
- I moved on to the Star Garden spreading compost in the more neglected parts of the Star Garden. I also spread compost over the Red Shrimp Plant bed, around the cannas next to the Climbing Pinkie, around the asters that I thinned out, here there and everywhere - pulling weeds and laying compost.
- I dug up a dozen or so Naked Ladies in the Bulb Bed because they were crowding my white mist flower plants that I put in last fall. They really need a colder climate to bloom successfully. I get a few every year, but not enough to have such a prominent spot in the garden. They make huge greenery in the spring (therein lies the problem), the greenery dies away soon after in the heat of the summer, then it sends up a leaf-less stem in the fall with pink flowers. I planted them in the wild part of the Star Garden (out of the way). I tied back a dozen or so clumps of paper whites that were finished blooming. Weeded amongst them.
- Spent some time pulling up weeds intermingled with wild flowers in the Star Garden and side dressing the perennials.
- I dug up some amaryllis that I don't like and threw them on the trash pile.
- Sprayed herbicide on the paths in the Rose Garden.
- Fertilized my Snowball Bush, Veilcenblau rose, and Climbing Pinkie.
- At the end of the day, practically stumbling from fatigue, I went to the Rose Garden and sprayed fungicide on my roses.
- That was it for me.
- Drove in to work on Monday morning.
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