The Water Garden May 28, 2022

I often refer to the Water Garden as the White Garden or Mom's Garden.  

Below, white Spiderflower. 

White Pillar althea.

Mrs. James Hendry crinum.  Crinums are Southern, period.  They can't be grown up north.  The blooms of this variety are particularly lovely and highly scented.  

Below, white yarrow and a perennial artemisia given to me by my neighbor Debra.

Below, another variety of perennial artemisia given to me by my neighbor Connie 

White yarrow and white zinnias.

 

Time at the Farm May 24 - 30, 2022

 

This is a closeup of white yarrow.

I arrived on Tuesday evening after work, Bert was already here.  Saturday through Sunday I kept Blake's kids.  Sunday we had a pool party - Mom, Dad, Nancy, Lisa, Nathan and his family, Josh and the girls, Luke, and Blake's crew plus her new Springer Spaniel puppy Bailey.  

• Wednesday.  Worked.  The weather was very cool, so we caught a break there.
• Up very early before work and outside to the Rose Garden.  I spent about an hour pulling up spent Tall Poppy Mallow.  I thought that made a very pretty show this spring, I was very happy with it.  Such a vivid color! Of course, at some point there will be work with wildflowers because you have to pull them up after they set seed. 
• During lunch I spent more time in the Rose Garden and the Long Border pulling up Tall Poppy Mallow and cutting the stems back of the Ox Eyes. I pulled up lots of the wild aster that has taken hold in the Long Border.  You have to put some oomph into pulling that up, and it spreads by stolons, so it will never be completely gone.  It's not my most hated weed, but it's close to the top. It flowers a white flower, but it's not showy enough to be allowed to stay.
• I walked the Meadow.  It doesn't look too bad actually.  I was feeling pretty discouraged about it last week, but some weeks ago I sprayed herbicide on a lot of patches of invasive grass, and I feel like I did  some good.  I see a couple of Basketflower blooming out there which I'm very excited about.  I gathered seed with Connie Gwyn last summer - a lot of seed - and spread it in the Meadow.  It likes moist conditions, so I spread it at the bottom of the hill.  I only see a couple, but  the viability of wildflower seed is pretty robust, so I will hope to see more later this season or, more likely, over the next several years.
• I pulled weeds in the Star Garden, but it looks pretty good in there.  With the mulch I spread and the new fencing, the mulch is staying in tact and really preventing a lot of weeds.  In the past, armadillos have turned the beds upside down and the mulch "shield" does not work.  
• I dreaded going into the Rose Garden Tuesday evening because I feared the armadillos had gotten in.  But no!  Not a sign of them.  The fencing is working, and it is a game changer for me mentally. 
• After work I sprayed herbicide in the Star Garden and the Rose Garden.  
• Thursday.  Vacation.  Very cool morning.
• Up early, but lingered a bit drinking coffee and walking around.
• I worked in the Vegetable Garden from 7:30 until 12:30.  It was pleasant work due to the weather.  I weeded every bed, I don't think there was a weed left standing after I was finished.  I cleaned up the Grandpa Ott morning glory vines that had taken over amongst my carrots.  I will have the grandkids pull them all up this weekend.  I pulled up all my onions and dug up all my potatoes.  Trimmed the grape vine along the fence wherever it was encroaching.  I will kill it this fall or winter since it is a male.  I don't want all that trouble for no reward.  Picked tomatoes.  Raked the paths.  Sprayed herbicide everywhere.  Turned over the the soil in half a dozen or so beds and sowed buckwheat.  I'm going to use it for green  manure.  First I will let it flower for my bees, but before it sets seed I will turn it over into the soil.  I sowed a packet of Aji Charapita pepper seeds in a bucket.  It's never too hot for peppers.  I sowed a packet of Cardinal basil in a bucket.  I turned some buckwheat plants that I sowed some weeks ago over into the soil in a few spots. 
• Sowed dahlia zinnias here and there throughout the Star Garden.
• In to the house during the hot part of the day.
• Sprayed herbicide in the paths of the Water Garden. 
• I moved some Gomphrena seedlings growing in paths over to beds in the Rose Garden.  They got pretty droopy almost immediately - it's hot, but I think they will make it. They didn't look good the next day either, but I am hopeful.
• Friday.  I worked in Orchard for half the day.
• It looked pretty good in there.  I pulled up all the Tall Poppy Mallow.  I attacked the crab grass and other weeds. Cut back some fruit tree limbs that were in the way.  I cut down peppervine and poisoned the tips. I cut back a bunch of salvia to the ground.  Poisoned ant piles.  I planted 2 Heliopsis in the apple tree bed.  Sprayed herbicide on the paths.
• I sprayed some patches of Bahia grass in the Meadow.  
• In to the house at noon to work. 
• Saturday and Sunday and Monday - kids, kids, kids.
• Monday I watered and set up the sprinklers for the coming week. 
  
  

Endless Summer Hydrangeas May 28, 2022

 In the picture below I have gingers, hydrangea and woodland violets growing next to a Strawberry Bush.  Behind the gingers I have red Turk's Cap.  These are all growing in my Medicine Garden.  All the plants I just listed (except the hydrangeas) are usefuls or edibles.

Coneflower May 28, 2022

 I have some nice displays of coneflower in the Orchard.  I have good clumps in the fig bed, the apple bed, the front bed, the Jujube bed and here and there where seeds have taken hold.  Coneflower, or echinacea, is an excellent herb to have around - I will never harvest it, but I like to know I could if I ever needed to.  It is an antioxident, an anti-inflammatory, it lowers blood sugar and improves immunity to battle infections and viruses. Bees and butterflies love it.

Flowers Blooming Now May 27, 2022

 Maggie rose - very good smell

One of the few lantana that the voles didn't get.  I must have planted 40 of them last year.  I have a small handful left.

Giant Rudbeckia

Giant Rudbeckia

Passalong Pink verbena

Canna

Canna

Canna

Crinum

Blue Satin althea

Fruity Pebbles gomphrena

Perl d'Or rose

All the Beautyberry are in bloom.  The flowers are not significant, but much loved by the bees.

Grandpa Ott morning glories

Grandpa Ott morning glories

Sweet pea

Pink Vitex May 23, 2022

 I prune about a third of my Vitex shrubs every winter.  Sometimes I prune even harder than that.  It makes them bushier and they produce more flowers.

My Blue Vitex Looked Pretty This Morning May 26, 2022

 

Double Red and Strawberry Smoothie Altheas

 My altheas are in full bloom.  Double Red is very showy, but her growth habit is a bit unruly - sort of floppy.  I've never pruned my altheas, but I know it's okay to do it.  Many are pruned to look like lollipops and other shapes.  Thinking about it, Strawberry Smoothie is also kind of sprawling, but it sits in the middle of a wide bed so it is not in the way.  Strawberry Smoothie is a prolific bloomer.  It is my favorite althea - and I have many (a double purple, a double pink, a single blue, two varieties of single whites and a double pale pink with a red eye, and a lavender single with a red eye.