More Rescues

My neighbor and I went early Saturday morning to an abandoned house and dug up some treasures.  I collected about 25 Ox Blood Lilies as well as a clump of bearded irises, a clump of Campernelles, and four alliums of some sort.  I am surely going to hell for all the skulking around I'm doing with my shovel.  Last weekend  I actually filled a large baggy with water, went to the Arbor Gate, surreptitiously took a cutting of a Cramoisier Superior, stuck it in the baggy that was hidden in my purse, and slunk off with my treasure.  That's horrible!  And it doesn't matter that no one will love them more than me or take care of them better than me.  It's still wrong.  But I can't stop!  

Above, alliums of some variety

Above, Ox Blood Liliy bulbs.

Above Bearded irises, purple flowers based on others that were blooming nearby

Some Minor Activities Feb 16, 2013

On Sunday I had some time to move a few plants that have long been in my thoughts to shift around.

I made this bed in the Rose Garden a few weeks ago.  I moved two Harlequin Glorybower trees that had suckered off the mother plant over to this bed.  They haven't leafed out yet, which is, of course, the best time to move them.  HBs are pretty little trees / large shrubs.  They have pink flowers in the spring followed by persistent, bright red and blue fruit.  The leaves are very large.  I climbed behind the fence and cut away the yaupon that was growing near the fence.  I'd like to cut a swath along the back of the fence wide enough for my husband to mow.  It will look a lot nicer than having the woods encroach right up to the fence line.  Sounds like a good project!  

I moved 6 plugs of Mexican Sedum from a bed in the Star Garden over to this one.  It is a spreading, evergreen, spring blooming groundcover.  I moved three Strawberry Candy daylilies from underneath the Harlequin Glorybower over to this bed and planted them in the left of the photograph.  In the far left is oregano which flowers in the spring and is much loved by the bees.
Coming up in the middle of the picture are the mystery bulbs (I have stuck a couple of tomato cages in the bed to keep the dogs from trampling them while they are still little and tender.  In the background are two deciduous Kolkwitzia amabilis 'Pink Cloud' that haven't leafed out yet.  Next week I will put a nice layer of mulch over the bed.  By summertime it will be very full and pretty.  The sedum is useful because it will spread and cover up the empty space.  (The bulbs and the daylilies recede once the weather gets warm.)

These are irises that Janine Snapp gave me.  I planted most of them in a bed I just built.  I cut off the long fronds so the plants wouldn't have to waste any energy on keeping them alive while their roots get established.  I planted four of them around the birdbath in the Star Garden.  I'm hoping the fronds grow just to the lip of the birdbath.  That will look pretty.

Face Lift for the Boardwalk Feb 16, 2013

On Saturday afternoon I stained the boardwalk with opaque stain.  It is called Redwood.  It's really orange, unfortunately.  But, in my experience, the outdoor structures fade so quickly that it really isn't a permanent mistake.  And the stain was non-refundable which made the decision to keep painting a pretty easy one.  The Boadwalk is about 150 feet long, maybe longer.  I stained the entire thing in about three hours.
The top of the boardwalk:

The middle of the boardwalk:

The end of the boardwalk - I ran out of stain with two little steps remaining.  My husband added some gasoline to the dregs so I could finish, but I forgot that the man at the hardware store told to add water if I wanted to extend the amount.  So it was ruined, and I couldn't use it to finish.  I'll just stain the two little steps, it really doesn't matter.  We're not competing in any contests.

Weekend at the Farm Feb 16-17, 2013

Everything I use to plant new plants:  a wheelbarrow, some compost, a shovel, the plants (which came in the mail with their root ball wrapped in plastic), fertilizer, and a watering can.  I dig the hole, fill the bottom of the hole with compost, sprinkle organic fertilizer in the hole, fill the hole with water so that the area gets very wet, and then I plant the tree or shrub or plant.

•  Planted two Late Blooming Bottlebrush Buckeyes (Aesculus Parvifloar var. Serotina) that I bought from Woodlanders.  I planted them in one of the new beds I made a few weeks ago.  It is in a shady spot; these suckering shrubs don't like full sun.
• Planted a Southern Crabapple tree (Malus angustifolia), also purchased from Woodlanders, in the Orchard.
• Planted three Indian Pinks (Spigelia marylandica) from Woodlanders in one of the new beds I built last week.  It is adjacent to the bed where the Bottlebrush Buckeyes were planted.  The plants were packed in plastic bags and looked literally like balls of dirt.  There wasn't even a dead branch attached.  I saw which way the top of the plant was with two of them because there was just a hint of green, but I had to make an educated guess with the third plant.
• Pruned the La Marne roses by cutting them with shrub shears.  I didn't do any careful pruning, I just cut them like a hedge of ligustrums.  These roses are so twiggy with so many eye buds that I figured it wouldn't harm them.
• Watered the Mexican Plum, the two Mayhaws, and the Blueberry I potted up several weeks ago.
• Watered the new roses:  Lady Banks, Veilchenblau, Peggy Martin, and American Beauty.
• I stained the Boardwalk with a color called Redwood.  Very orangey-looking.  But, it's done.  It took me three hours of steady work sitting cross legged on the boardwalk.  I'm glad no one was around to see me walk up the hill when I was finished.  I could barely stand up straight.
• I shredded leaves on Saturday and Sunday.  Bags and bags of shredded leaves.   I mulched the lower section of the Boardwalk gardens, some of the beds in the Shade Garden, some of the beds in the Circle Drive, and I laid down a layer of leaves in the new bed I'm building.  As I was working I recalled Max helping me one weekend fill a flowerbed with soil.  He told me it was hurting his back.  Well, of course it's hurting your back!  That's why they call it work.  Work hurts your back, hence the expression back-breaking work.  If it's not hurting your back it's something else - exercise or a vigorous past time.     
• Planted some irises that Janine Snapp gave me.  I put most of them in my newest bed, and I planted 4 of them around the birdbath in the Star Garden.
•  I dug up 2 Harlequin Glorybowers that had suckered off the mother plant.  I planted them in the Rose Garden in the new bed I made several weeks ago.  They will probably turn into problems because it will be difficult to pass through the path.
• Mulched the Columbine in the Infinity Garden.  
• Fertilized various plants with liquid fertilizer.
• What a beautiful weekend!  I was outside every moment of it.
• My husband and I moved the guest bedroom mattress into the living room in front of the fire place and slept in front of the fire on Saturday night.
• I saw a Tiger Swallowtail butterfly today.  So pretty!  Only the second I have ever seen in Burton.
• Everything is looking so green and ready to spring forth brilliantly.  Spring is just around the corner.
• I dug up four or five shovelfuls of Mexican Sedum and moved them over to the bed next to the dining room window.  I planted them in front of my mystery bulbs.  
• I dug up three groups of Strawberry Candy daylilies that were suffering under the Harlequin Glorybower and moved them to the same bed that I placed the sedum.  Now this bed has a large stand of oregano, two Kolkwitzia flowering shrubs, the mystery bulbs, two Johnson Amaryllis, daylilies, and sedum.  I might grow some morning glories on the picket fence that sits on one side of the flowerbed.           

Excelsior Spanish Bluebells February 8, 2013

There are about 200 Bluebells in this picture growing along the boardwalk.  And there are another 100 or so growing on the other side of the boardwalk further down the hill.  They will bloom in another month or so.  So pretty.  All the plants along the boardwalk are deciduous or partly deciduous, so this is the only green along here in the winter.  Because of that, the green color always looks especially vivid.

Coralberry Beginning to Leaf Out - February 8, 2013

My camera doesn't do these pretty plants justice.  Coralberry is one of the first plants in the Shade Garden, or any of my gardens for that matter, to leaf out.  The leaves are round and bright green.  In the winter they form purple berries along the underside of the branches that the wildlife are very fond of.  Coralberry colonizes by branches that lay down on the ground and take root.

Daffodil Mystery

This daffodil bulb produces solid yellow flower clusters.  I assume it is some sort of Paper White, but I don't know what it is.  I bought 20 Grand Primo bulbs from the Bulb Hunter web site, but unfortunately I got a mix of Ehrlicheers, Grand Primos and this unknown bulb.  Pretty, but I like to know what I'm getting.