San Antonio Rose Amaryllis June 29, 2022

 I drove up for the day to water, and I was pleasantly surprised to see 2 of my San Antonio Rose amaryllis in bloom.  If they have ever bloomed before, I surely don't remember when.  I got these bulbs years ago at a plant swap hosted by Anne Thames.

Day at the Farm June 15, 2022

 

This is red shrimp plant.  

I drove up early in the morning and worked from the farm so that I could set up the house for our next Airbnb people.

• It is extremely hot and dry, so there were very few weeds to pull.  
• I spent the whole day going out and dragging hoses around to all the dry spots, setting the timers and retreating back inside to work.
• I cut away a few plants in the paths, but nothing much has changed since I was here last.  It's too dry for the rampant growth that I often have this same time of year with normal rain fall.
• I watered my roses in pots.
• I watered the pots around the pool.
• All my thyme in pots in the Star Garden has died from lack of water.
• I increased the run time on all the sprinklers. 
• I pulled up one tomato plant and cut away branches on others.  That will have to do until I have time to come back and pull them all up. 
• Headed home around 6:00.

Crinums June 3, 2022

 The dark pink one is Ellen Bosanquet.  Like all crinums the greenery is massive and unruly.  But if you have the space, they are beautiful to grow.

Inland Sea Oats June 3, 2022

 Inland Sea Oats are a native grass.  They like shade.  They are very showy right now when the oat-like seeds are green and the grass is so green.  Once you have inland sea oats you will always have them.  This fall when the seeds become ripe I will sow them at the Meadow's edge.  These are growing in the Greenhouse Gardens.  I also have some growing in the Shade Garden and in the dining room bed.  

Weekend at the Farm June 2 - 4, 2022

 

This is the mess I saw when I arrived on Friday morning.  No telling how long that poor armadillo had been stuck in that cage.  I can't really piece together what happened.  I don't know if the caged armadillo made the mess or one was trapped inside the garden and was trying to get out.  The huge piles of dirt and the holes don't look like the caged armadillo could have done all that.  The holes of the cage are too small.

I drove up early Friday morning and worked from the house.  Bert came up after his golf game.

• Throughout the day I pulled weeds.  
• I cut to the ground all the Spiderwort in the front beds and threw it in the Meadow since it is native.
• Picked eggplants and tomatoes from the Vegetable Garden.  
• I pulled out all my spent Sweet Peas from the buckets in the Vegetable Garden.
• Watered my roses in buckets in the Rose Garden.  
• I sprayed herbicide on wooly croton and camphor weed in the Meadow.  
• Sprayed herbicide  in the Star Garden on a few spots that I missed last weekend.  The purslane is rampant in one spot.
• After work I went out and worked in the Rose Garden.  I pulled up spent wildflowers, deadheaded Ox Eyes, pulled weeds, did some spot watering, and trimmed plants away from paths.  I transplanted a few gomphrena growing in the paths over to other places in the Rose Garden.
• Saturday.  Outside by 6:30 and working.
• I tried to stay on task cleaning up the Star Garden.  We have Airbnb guests coming next weekend, so I wanted to get the paths cleared of plants leaning in.  I cut down wild petunia.  Pulled weeds.  I cut down to the ground lots of salvia so we can get a second flush in the summer (and to let other plants get to the sun and bloom).  I transplanted a few gomphrena from the Rose Garden paths into a few places in the Star Garden.  Deadheaded Ox Eyes.  Cut away sassafras drooping low to the ground.  Trimmed my white mistflower away from paths.  
• The sky got extremely dark and it rained hard for about 10 minutes.  Only 10 minutes unfortunately.  We need rain around here.  It's getting droughty.
• Watered the pots in the Star Garden.  
• Raked up debris in the places where I was working. 
• Worked in the Rose Garden some more.  I cut back a lot more salvia and deadheaded more Ox Eyes.  Pulled weeds.  I really cleared it out.  
• I worked until noon and retreated inside for the hot part of the day.
• About 6:00 I went back outside and continued working until 7:30.  Culling, weeding, cutting away from paths.
• Sunday.  Outside by 6:30 and working. I've been getting up at 5:00 and having my coffee, then outside by 6:30.  That works really well for me in the hot summer.
• I spent some time in the Water Garden pulling up crabgrass.  I was outside of the garden reaching my hand through the goat wire fence because all the crabgrass was growing next to the fence.  I cleaned up morning glory and cypress vine that was creeping across my plants.  Deadheaded white salvia.  Cut back white trailing lantana - I'm not quite ready for that to take over and it was crowding my white pentas.  Spot watered.  Pruned the white climbing rose (blanking on its name right now).  Deadheaded Ox Eyes.  Pulled the Louisiana iris out of the fountain, I'm going to let it dry out for a couple of days.  Cut away Mexican Buckeye branches that were growing too low.
• Raked in the Greenhouse Gardens.
• Sprayed herbicide in the Shade Garden paths.  Cut away ferns and snakeroot that were leaning into paths.  Cut down elephant ears, Sweetspire and Chinese Bloodroot that were spreading into paths.  Raked a bit.
• Raked a bit in the Rose Garden, sprayed a little herbicide.  Pulled weeds.
• Planted 2 amaryllis with the others in the shady part of the Star Garden that I brought from Houston.  
• Cut away tomato branches that were leaning into paths.  We won't get anymore tomatoes, too hot - the fruit won't set.  
• I prepped beds in the Vegetable Garden and sowed the rest of my buckwheat seeds for green manure.  It is growing in most of the Vegetable Garden now.
• Dumped several truckloads of debris in erosion spots.
• I cleaned out some peppervine in the Circle Drive.  
• Headed home to Houston about 2:00. 

Balsam May 28, 2022

 This is the first time I have grown Balsam.  It is in the Impatiens family.  This variety is a sun lover and thrives in the heat.  The seeds are large and they germinate really quickly.  This would be a great plant to grow with children because the seeds are easy to handle and the plants spring up quickly.  Its nickname is Touch-Me-Not because the seed pods burst open when they are touched even slightly - another fun thing for children.

Balsam is a traditional Asian medicinal herb used to treat such ailments as snakebites, ingestion of poisonous fish, rheumatism, warts, and fingernail coloring.  The leaves are edible and taste mustardy when cooked.

All in all a really cool plant.  It will be in my seed purchasing list from now on, and I hope for volunteers next spring as well.