I took a vacation day and drove up for the day. I just needed to get my hands in the dirt.
- I tried as hard as I could to clean up only the big chunks - plants leaning into paths, plants that have fallen over, gigantic weeds, etc. It's hard to do that because I will suddenly realize that I've spent an hour cleaning out one little area and then - it's an hour gone.
- What a difference a weeks makes. We have had some rain, I don't know how much, but it has also been cloudy which has really provided relief to my gardens. There has been a whoosh of growth, and lots of things are blooming. The pink and the red Oxblood lilies are popping up. The Hurricane lilies are coming up. Most of my roses are blooming. The Gomphrena, Celosia, and Turnera are very pretty in the Rose Garden. The cannas are all in bloom. Butterflies are fluttering here and there.
- I planted a Huisache at the top of the Long Border. It stays pretty dry there, so I finally decided to put a drought tolerant little native tree / shrub there. It is a fierce little tree with long thorns and yellow fluffy round flowers in the spring. It is out of the way of all paths, so the thorns should not be a problem.
- I planted a Texas Kidneywood in the Water Garden. It blooms white flowers, not profusely, but the scent is amazing. It will fill the garden with a wonderful smell when it's in bloom, and the leaves are very pretty and lacy.
- I planted a little Senna tree in the Hot Border. Now I will have yellow flowers in the spring with my Retama which is planted nearby and yellow flowers in the fall with my Senna. Senna is a small, short-lived tree, but it sets seed that sprout pretty easily.
- I planted a tiny Red Buckeye in the Star Garden in the bed where the Harlequin Glorybower used to be. When one of the people at Buchanan's saw it in my cart they told me that it was a slow grower. That's okay. I'm very patient. I garden in decades, not seasons.
- I worked in the Rose Garden for some hours pulling up basil growing in paths, pulling big weeds, getting rid of dayflower (it is in bloom, I don't want it to set seed). I fertilized most of my roses. I watered here and there. Moved my sprinklers around.
- Next I worked in the Star Garden. I pulled weeds. I cut plants away from my Passalong Pink verbena that were crowding it. I cut away dead branches off my Snowball Viburnum - it suffered greatly in this drought. I cleaned out the Dining Room bed for a bit. I cut down some red cannas that had fallen over. I thinned out the zinnia seedlings. I sprinkled baking soda on the Nostoc algae. Baking soda is working, but I'm not sure it's cost-effective.
- I finally planted the little tree that Debra gave me last year. I have had it in the Vegetable Garden in a little pot all last winter and all summer. I finally put it in the ground. Unfortunately I had to cut the tenacious roots that had grown out of the bottom of the pot and into the ground. And then when I took it out of the pot the soil just fell apart. Well, it's a little native Acacia of some variety, and I am hoping it will survive. I put a sprinkler on it to give it a little encouragement. I planted it in a sunny spot in the Greenhouse Gardens.
- I worked in the Water Garden for a bit. I cut away morning glory vine that was crawling over plants. But other than planting the Kidneywood and pulling a few weeds, that garden is in really good shape.
- In the Vegetable Garden I cut away sugar cane that had fallen over.
- In the Hot Border, in addition to planting my Senna I cut away dead stalks of Giant Rudbeckia. They all look dead without a bit of green growth, but I don't think they are dead. We'll see soon enough.
- Put all my tools away and headed home.
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