I worked from Burton on Friday which was a short day because of the holiday. Bert showed up after golf. The mornings are getting just a touch cooler - or maybe I should write "less hot".
When I was here last Wednesday I watched a group of 6 turkeys hang out next to the Rose Garden in the shade under the post oaks. That was really neat.
Friday evening after work I spent some time pulling weeds out of the long bed that leads to the pool. There will surely be foot traffic on that path during the wedding. I guess I will have to plant something there because it looks very bare. But armadillos tear it up - most of my gardens are blocked with barriers, so they really do a number on the unprotected ones.
Saturday. Up before daylight. Out at first light. I moved a passalong hot pink phlox to the Rose Garden and re-positioned 6 or so clumps of iris in the Dining Room Bed. Laid down landscape strips, landscape cloth, stepping stones and gravel along the window area.
I sowed Cosmos and Zinnia seeds in the Rose Garden. I tucked them next to weeds to hide them from the rabbits. Once they get a little bit big, the rabbits don't seem as interested.
Spot watered in the Rose Garden.
I spent some time cleaning out the big bed between the house and the pool. I pulled Virginia Creeper off the trees. I'm okay with it as a ground cover, but I don't want it in the trees. The post oaks are fragile enough as it is. I trimmed up the mystery shrub in there so that it didn't look so random. I pulled out bad vines - greenbriar, peppervine, and dewberry. Trimmed the white Turkscap away from the garden edges.
In the evening I went back out and worked in the Rose Garden for a while. I pulled up peppervine, pulled weeds, and did some more watering. I was sweating profusely as usual, but it definitely felt better than July and August evenings.
Bert killed an armadillo, but I have not caught any in the traps since we've been here.
Sunday. Up before daylight. Out at first light.
I raked, blew the path, and laid down landscape cloth on the path to the pool. Laid down gravel. A pounding rain will be a problem because of the slope, so when it rains I'm hoping for long but gentle until after the wedding.
I filled some blank spots in the Vegetable Garden with Maya sunflower seed. I guess I sowed the 16 x 2 bed too deep because not one single seed sprouted. Very curious. Not even one. So I re-seeded that bed. They might get taken by the freeze before they bloom, but you never know. They won't be blooming in time for the wedding, but life goes on after that date.
I weeded in the Vegetable Garden for a while, but those flat-to-the-ground weeds are everywhere. Spray is required, and my sprayer is broken. Thinned sunflower seedlings.
I dumped a few more loads of gravel in the pool path.
Filled the bird baths.
I worked in the Water Garden for a while. I cut back all the Colonial White verbena. Pulled weeds. Watered the artemisia.
Raked the Greenhouse Garden paths.
In the evening I went back out and raked in the Rose Garden, pulled some weeds and did a bit of spot watering.
Monday. Labor Day. Up before daylight. Out at first light. I continued raking and laying gravel down on the path to the pool. But I got bored of that pretty quickly.
I took a strip of chicken wire and a ladder and some ties to the Rose Garden. I tied the chicken wire to the top of the entrance arbor. There are only wooden bars across the top, and my Alamo vine and Hyacinth Bean vine were hanging down through the top. Now they will grow on top of the arbor.
I decided to give my Mock Orange a light pruning. I kept getting dive bombed by what I thought were the bumble bees, but I finally looked into the shrub and saw a wasp nest. I'm grateful they were giving me courtesy buzzes instead of stinging me. Close call.
I worked for a long time in the dry part of the Star Garden. I spot watered and pulled weeds. Did some raking. Cut back the Southern Wood Fern because the heat had charred the tops of the fronds. Pulled up lots of basket grass from beds.
I'm making progress. I'm trying to baby some things that might look good in the fall, I'm trying to get a fall show for the wedding. So I cut down all the spent cannas, and I am watering them every time I'm here. All the salvias have been sheared in the Rose Garden and the Star Garden. All the basil plants in the Rose Garden have been sheared. And of course, if it's a fall blooming perennial or a fall blooming vine, I'm paying attention to those. I will get most of my color from them. Water, water, water is the name of the game in this drought oven we are living in.
Set up my sprinklers and headed home.
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