Sunday at the Farm March 19, 2023

 

This is a leaf bud from a water oak.  It's so pretty.  The trees are so pretty when they just begin to leaf out.

I drove up on Sunday to piddle around.  The house has already been cleaned for our Airbnb guests, so I stayed outside.  It started out pretty cold but warmed up a bit when the sun came out.  One more near-dangerous night tonight because the temperature is dropping into the 30s, but I think it is not going to freeze.  All the seed sowing and planting I've done would all be for naught if it freezes.

I planted 5 green fennel in rose buckets in the Rose Garden.  The fennel is for the swallowtail butterflies.  They lay their eggs on fennel.  Last weekend I planted a couple of bronze fennel in the Rose Garden, but they aren't very showy, so I'm putting in some green ones.

I planted a White Star Creeper in one of the rose buckets.  It is a little perennial white flowering ground cover that will help keep the soil from drying out in the rose bucket.  Very sweet with teeny tiny leaves.  

And I planted 2 thyme along the edges of a couple beds, also in the Rose Garden. 

I decided to put a large plant in a bucket in the dry shady part of the Star Garden.  I bought a Split Leaf Philodendron and planted it in a half barrel.  It won't withstand a winter, I will have to over-winter it in the greenhouse.  It's easier to manage plants in pots in dry areas as opposed to dragging hoses around.  I went to Kraus Springs in the hill country last weekend.  We visited their garden, and I was inspired by all the plants that he had in pots.  

I bought 10 or so of my beloved sedums and planted them in the pots in the Medicine Garden.  I lost quite a few during the drought last summer.  They are all so adorable.  

I need to work on getting plants into the pots around the pool next time I'm here.  I have gotten very interested in the Mangave family of plants.  They are a cross between manfredas and agaves.  They are more vigorous than agaves and manfredas and, unlike a lot of agaves, they don't die after they bloom.  The colors and textures and shapes are wonderful.  And they cannot take over-watering, very drought tolerant.  They are perfect for around the pool because there is no irrigation.  Both of my Stonecrop came back beautifully from last year despite the drought.   Xeriscape plants are the way to go over there.

I watered all the spots where I sowed Hyacinth Bean seeds last weekend.

Walked and walked and looked at everything.  Spring will be beautiful (as long as it doesn't freeze!).