Herbs I Grow in Burton, TX January 10, 2015

I have many herbs growing in my gardens.  I love them.  An herb is any plant that has culinary, medicinal or utilitarian uses.  Some of my herbs:

Alliums - this family includes onions, chives, leeks, and shallots.  My favorites were dug up from a deserted house.  They are leeks.  They disappear in the heat of the summer, but return reliably in the cool weather.  They send up a huge ball-like cluster flower about the size of a tennis ball.  The leaves are a grayish green, wide and strappy.  I also grow chives, and I have some wild garlic that a friend gave me.  In my Vegetable Garden right now I am growing red onions and garlic.  Chives have mild diuretic, laxative, digestive, and antibacterial  properties .They are high in vitamin C, A, B and potassium.  They are also good plants to interplant amongst roses because they deter aphids.
Angelica - known as the herb of the angels.  This plant has religious associations.  Legend has it that an angel presented the plant to man as a cure for the plague in the 15th and 16th century.  Today, the seeds flavor liqueurs such as Vermouth and Benedictine.
Wormwood - I have a decorative variety (Powis Castle) and the "real" wormwood from which the liqueur Absinthe is made.
Bergamot - also known as Bee Balm and Monarda.  The leaves make a very flavorful tea.  Back in the day it was once known as liberty tea because it was what ladies served for years after the Boston Tea Party.
Borage - supposedly brings men courage.  As the crusaders marched off to war their sweethearts placed borage flowers in their cups.  It is said to dispel depression.  Today, its cucumber-y taste makes the young leaves a fine addition to salads, and the flowers are edible.  Rich in potassium and calcium.
Peppers - I always have peppers growing.  Peppers aid in digestion, circulation, and they reduce fevers.  Peppers used as ingredients in lotions will stop bleeding. I leave the last of my peppers on the plants, and they re-seed very prolifically.  I pull up the plants that are in the way, and I leave the rest growing.
Catnip - cats love it, of course, but it also makes a fine ingredient for tea.  It will re-seed very nicely if you let the flowers go to seed.  I also grow Catmint, in the same family but different.  Cats are not as attracted to it.  It can be used as a tea ingredient, but its silvery foliage and pretty blue flowers make it a great front-of-the-border plant.
Columbine - I grow the red and yellow Texas native, the Hinckley which is also a Texas native, and I also grow McKenna's Giant and a very pretty purple variety.  Columbine was once considered a healing herb, but now people grow it for its pretty flowers.  Columbine re-seeds very easily.  Columbine needs shade which makes it very useful - not a lot of flowers that grow in shade.
Comfrey - also called boneset, and knitbone.  Comfrey is a perennial with a long tap root.  I finally started growing it in a pot since the voles love those long, delicious roots.  Comfrey contains allantoin, a substance used in treating wounds and ulcers.
Chicory - easy to grow from seed, and I have a lot of it growing, but it never gets very tall because the rabbits love it.  It is a perennial.  The roots make a coffee substitute drink, and it is a popular Cajun beverage.
Elderberry - a perennial shrub that is shade tolerant, pretty dense white flower umbels in the spring.  The flowers and berries are edible.  The berries make the famous elderberry wine, and the flowers are often used to flavor tea.  It will spread pretty aggressively.  I planted mine last spring, and I already have new plants springing up in the paths nearby that I will have to transplant.
Fennel - a perennial herb whose leaves and seeds are used to flavor foods.   It is the larval food for several varieties of butterflies, so I always keep it around for that reason.  It is easy to grow from seed.
Feverfew - evergreen perennial with very pretty flowers, interestingly, bees do not like Feverfew and will not gather pollen from them.  It is an excellent migraine cure and fever reducer.  A useful plant because it stays green throughout the winter.
Germander - its use as an herb has fallen away, but it once was thought to be a cure for snakebite and a cure for gout.  Mine grows as a ground cover.  There are also shrub varieties.
Ginger - I have always grown gingers, but lately I have become more interested in them.  All ginger roots are edible, but some varieties are grown specifically to be more flavorful, and some are grown to be more decorative.  Some of them, for example White Butterfly ginger, have an absolutely wonderful smell.  The leaves can be used to wrap food in when it is being cooked.
Gotu Kola - a famous Chinese herb, perennial ground cover that has anti-aging properties.
Hops - Hops is a vining perennial, the flowers are an ingredient in beer-making.  Josh gave me my hops vines.
Horseradish -  I grow mine in a tub because they are supposed to be aggressive and very hard to dig up (long, tenacious roots).  Young leaves and roots are edible.  Horseradish is used as an antiseptic, antibiotic, and stimulant.  It is a laxative and a strong diuretic.  It cleans sinuses, treats inflamed gums, and aids in digestion and respiratory problems.  Pretty handy to have around.
Lamb's Ear - Pretty silver, fuzzy leaves that have a styptic quality.  Was used in the Civil War to stop bleeding under bandages.  Not easy to grow here in the humid south. I often have to replace it.
Lemon Balm -  Smells wonderful, the flowers are much-loved by bees.  Really good in tea to ease anxiety, insomnia, nervousness.  It is one of the longevity herbs (other longevity herbs are sage and gotu kola).
Mint - Not enough can be said about mint.  The Pharisees paid their tithes in mint, anise, and cumin in ancient Egypt.  Mint is mentioned in medieval plant lists.  They were grown in early English gardens and brought to Britain in Roman times. They grew in the 9th century convent gardens.  Chaucer writes of "a little path of mintes full and fenill greene!"  In mythology, Menthe was a nymph who was much adored by Pluto.  This angered Pluto's wife, Proserpine, who had her revenge by metamorphosing Menthe into the plant we know as mint.
Mugwort - perennial plant used in beer-making and other drinks.
Nigella - also known as Love-in-a-Mist.  A re-seeding annual, the seeds are used in baking.  An ancient plant that is mentioned in the bible - the black fitches.  The French use Nigella seeds as one of the four ingredients in their quatre epices.
Parsley - high is vitamin C, flavorful culinary herb.  Also a larval plant for my dear butterflies, so I always keep some growing.
Pennyroyal - from the mint family.  It is an abortifascient (causes babies to abort).  Traditionally planted around doorways and stuffed in pillows because of its reputation for deterring fleas.
Calendula - the greens are edible, cooked in stews for example.  The flower petals are edible as well.  These plants like cool weather; they will not make it through the summer.  Easy to grow from seed.
Rosemary - aside from the wonderful flavor the leaves impart in foods, the essential oils are used in lotions and shampoos.  In ancient times Greek scholars wore garlands of rosemary around their necks to impart wisdom and aid the memory.  Its reputation for aiding memory led to its use as a symbol of fidelity in lovers, and it was gathered into wedding bouquets and bridal wreaths.  Likewise at death, the loved one was remembered with branches of rosemary.  And rosemary and juniper berries were burned in the sick chambers.
Sage - one of the longevity herbs.  In the Middle Ages, it was used as a cure-all much like aspirin.  Should not be used by nursing mothers because it dries up the milk flow.  Conversely, if one wants to stop nursing, eat sage.
Sorrel - perennial bitter green, used as a digestive aid.  Edible, can be used in salads.
St. John's Wort - said to dispel depression.  Named after St. John the Baptist from the custom of gathering it on St. John's eve to be used in warding off evil. It has a long history of witchy use.  The flowers can be used as a yellow dye.
Henna - the famous dye used in Indian hand decorating and  hair dye.  The leaves and flowers are pulverized with an acidic agent such as vinegar to make the dye.
Tansy - the roots are used as as green dye, and the flowers are used to make a yellow dye.  Once used in Tansy Cakes to clear the blood of ill humors that collected in the body from the poor diet of the Lenten season.  It is also an ant and fly repellant.
Thyme - in addition to being one of our most beloved culinary herbs, it was known as a symbol of courage.  A sprig of thyme was sent to signal the secret meetings of the French Republicans during the revolution.  Soup made of thyme and beer was considered a cure for shyness.  The colonists covered their lard with thyme on the trip over since it made it more palatable (no doubt owing to its antioxident qualities).  Thyme has a long association with the Netherworld.  Many perennial plants were thought to be magical due to their tendency to remain green in the winter months.  Branches were thrown onto the coffins of loved ones to ensure passage into the next world.  It was thought that our souls inhabited the thyme blossoms.  Thyme can be a real pain because of it tangled growth habit, hence the saying, "To know humility one must weed the thymes."
Valerian - the roots of this plant are used as a very effective sedative.
Violets - the flowers of my pretty ground cover are edible.
Yarrow - no longer used as anything but an ornamental, it was once used as a healing plant to treat solders' battle wounds.
Roses - roses have been in medicinal garden for centuries.  The petals are used in salads, desserts, oils.  The hips are very high in vitamin C and used in teas.  Rose hips were used by the ancients to build blood and stamina.  Essence of rose is used in eye baths and as a sedative.
Aloe Vera - famous for soothing burns and other skin ailments.
Lion's Tail - properties similar to marijuana when smoked.  Very ornamental orange flowers.
Arugula - reseeding annual that is delicious in salads, aids in digestion.
Bay - small evergreen tree.  Oil can be used for skin diseases.  Mildly narcotic when used in tea.  Leaves put in the cabinets will repel insects.
Blackberry - leaves and berries very high in vitamin C.  Leaves can used in teas.  Berries make wonderful jelly and cobblers.  Diarrhea remedy.  Spreads aggressively.
Butterfly Weed - also called pleurisy root because it is a cure for that ailment.  Tea made from the root is a remedy for bronchitis, pneumonia and dysentery.  Larval food for the Monarch and Queen butterflies.
Echinacea - makes the gorgeous pink flowers that are so loved by all insects, but the medicinal properties are found (in all parts of the plant, but mostly ) in the roots.  They have a strong antibiotic that fights infection and is good for the lymph and immune systems.  It is also a blood purifier.
Hoja Santa - huge, gorgeous leaves that are used in Mexican cooking to wrap cheese, chicken, etc enchilada style.  The leaves have a distinct root beer flavor, hence its common name Root Beer Plant.  It can be taken as a tea to relieve nervous anxiety, stress, and restlessness.  Use sparingly, too much is a bad thing with this plant.
Horsetail Reed - source of silica, so it is good for the finger nails and to correct skin and hair problems.  Unusual and attractive plant that does not needs good drainage, can be used as a bog plant or put in a low place in your yard that collects water.
Sassafras - small tree or large shrub, very pretty red fall display.  The bark was once used to make root beer (now artificial flavoring is used).  Sassafras is used to make the Cajun spice "file".  An oddity that makes this plant interesting is that it has three different shaped leaves.  Birds love the berries in the fall.  Great landscape plant.
Mulberry - All parts of the tree lower blood pressure.  Mulberry is effective for coughs, colds, asthma, bronchitis, constipation, and pre-maturing gray hair.  The berries are delicious if you can get to them before the birds do.
Sweet Myrtle - evergreen shrub.  The leaves are antiseptic and astringent and can be used on bruises, acne, and hemorrhoids.  The dried leaves used to be stuffed in pillows.  Used to play a role in weddings as a symbol of chastity and beauty.
Oregano - important perennial herb.  Besides its culinary uses, it makes a good evergreen ground cover.  The bees love the flowers.  Traditionally used in teas to treat cough, menstrual pain, muscle spasms, head aches, and sore joints.  Essential oils used as skin antiseptic.
Castor Plant - oil from the seeds is used to make castor oil, that unpleasant medicine that was once used for all stomach problems.
Barbados Cherry - edible berries.
Turk's Cap - edible fruits that can be cooked down into jelly.  Larval plant for sulphur butterflies.  Shrub with pretty red flowers, likes shade.
Aztec Herb - perennial ground cover with little white flowers in the spring.  Leaves are very sweet, used by the ancient Aztecs as candy.  The high camphor content makes it unusable as a natural sweetener like Stevia, however.
Vitex -  deciduous small tree / large shrub.  Seeds are used in the same way that pepper is used.  Seeds contain a chemical said to quell the sexual desires of men and women, hence the common name Chaste Plant.  Used to be stuffed in the mattresses of young women in medieval times to keep them pure.  Leaves, berries, roots used to treat malaria, coughs, and dysentery.
Beautyberry - grows wild all over my property.  The gorgeous purple berries make a fine jelly.
Yaupon - grows wild all over my property.  Yaupon leaves have a very high caffeine content, the same as coffee.
Poke Salad - grows wild on my property.  The leaves make a fine vegetable, served in the same way as collard greens or mustard greens.  Poke has to be boiled and drained several times, or it is poisonous.
Day Lily - in addition to being very fine decorative plants, the unopened buds have long been used in Chinese medicine to treat depression.


  



  

Weekend at the Farm January 2 - 4, 2015

 

 My neighbors' dog, Hank, is making himself at home much to the consternation of my Sadie dog.

Arrived Thursday evening. It's been raining and cold for a week.  Everything is saturated.  No leaf shredding this weekend!

• I've steered away from leaf shredding in the Shade Garden.  I just rake the leaves off the paths and dump them into the areas where I have plants growing.  In the Shade Garden (which is a woodland garden) I mimic the forest floor - leaves and other debris fall, carpet the ground, and break up into healthy compost.
• Received some white Nicotiana alata seeds in the mail that I ordered last weeks.  5,000 seeds - you would think that would look like a lot of seeds, but it is a tiny packet.  I have planted them before, so I know they are tiny seeds.  But when you hear the number 5,000 you still can't help but think it will be a big package.  Not so.
• I also ordered, but have not yet received, Purple Loosestrife and Rose Campion seeds.  I have tried to grow Rose Campion from seed before but had no luck.  Rose Campion is a silvery foliage plant with hot pink flowers.  Purple Loosetrife has flower spikes that are similar to the fall blooming Mexican salvia, but it is a summer bloomer.  I've never had great luck planting spring seeds, don't know why.  But I would love to have these two plant additions to my garden.
• Other seeds I want to grow:  I used to have Hemlock in my Medicine Garden that I grew from seed.  It eventually disappeared.  Hemlock is a conversation piece plant.  I want to grow it again.  Valerian - I have grown it from seed before, and I still have some left, but I want a larger patch of it.  Borage - another herb, pretty blue or white flowers.  It is actually a little sprawl-y unless you pinch it.  Easy to grow from seed.  Laceflower - I have never grown it.  It is also an herb.  Marigolds, Feverfew, African Daisy, Gloriosa Daisy and Cosmos are some of the flowers I'd like to grow.  I'd also like to grow French Hollyhocks and more Columbine.
• The dogs and I were by ourselves most of the weekend.  We laid around, napped, walked. The weather was rainy and cold. Pretty nice.
• Saturday morning I raked pine needles and spread them around a couple of my roses in the Rose Garden, in the bed with my two new Banana Shrubs, and my White By The Gate Camellias along the Boardwalk.  I haven't quite finished spreading around the camellias - that area is pretty big.  
• I also raked lots of wet leaves and spread them around my Mojito Colocasias.  They are so beautiful, I don't want to lose them to a hard freeze.  
• Dug up the enormous root systems of the four Castor plants I grew in the Vegetable Garden last summer.  Three of them came up easy, one was a bitch to dig up.  Forked in lots of shredded leaves into two of the boxes, getting ready for spring.  I have big plans for the Vegetable Garden this spring with the help of some of those big buckets from Albert Myers:  sweet potatoes (I've never grown them, they sound like fun because you have to grow slips and then plant the slips), scarlet runner beans (I harvested some seeds from last year), tomatoes (of course), green beans, beets (planted about 6 weeks before the last freeze), peas (same timing as beets), potatoes (planted in late February if I can find them that early), chard (because it's pretty - about 3 weeks before the last freeze), peanuts (never grown them, should be fun), carrots (planted same timing as chard), squash (for the yummy squash blossoms), cucumbers, lettuce, and dill.  This will all change if I can't get a hold of those buckets from Albert in time.
• Made spit pea and ham soup Saturday afternoon.
• My dear uncle Brooks passed away on Saturday.  He was very old, but it is distressing nevertheless.  My most vivid recollection of him was not when I was a little girl, but rather when I went to his house in  Pasadena, and he he enthusiastically showed me the plumeria in his garden - 90 years old, but he still had plants he was excited about.  What a charming man, a hard worker, very old school, very devout. 
• Spent Sunday morning raking leaves in the Medicine Garden.  I dumped them in various flower beds in the Medicine Garden and in the beds in the circle drive.  Looks much better.  Still need to rake in the Shade Garden.  After that I will be done with the major cleanup of leaves for the year.  There will still be places here and there that need raking, but not truckload after truckload!
• About noon I made a pot roast for dinner, drinking the left over Chianti Classico I poured over the roast... at noon....
• Trimmed my Yuletide Camellias a little.  They finished blooming so I figured this was a good time.  I have them growing on either side of a faux door on my Greenhouse.  I don't want them to cover up the door.  I'm trying to train them into more of a column than a ball.  I hate cutting away at a camellia, they are such slow growers, I probably cut away an entire year's worth of growth.
• Fertilized my brussels sprouts and broccoli.  Vegetable Garden looks pretty good.
• Mulched the Kitchen Herb Garden.
• Mulched the red Autumn Sage along the back of the house, decided it's so weedy that leaf mulch wouldn't be strong enough, so I put down some pine needles.
• Bert arrived on Saturday night - he had the cub cadet with him.  So I was able to use the cub on Sunday to drive over to where there were lots of pine needles.  Raked pine needles and mulched the Erlicheer bed and some more of the space around the camellias along the Boardwalk.

Weekend at the Farm December 11 - 14, 2014

This is Archduke Charles rose, one of my newest.  It starts out as a pink blend, light pink centers and dark pink outer petals, then it darkens to red.

Took Thursday and Friday as vacation.  Arrived Thursday afternoon.

• Spent some time shredding leaves on Thursday afternoon.  I put some of them in the front beds where I planted the Ox Eyes last weekend.  I put the rest in the compost pile.
• Thursday I raked pine straw into piles on the trail next to the Long Border.
• Friday morning I raked pine straw on the trails and piled it into the cub. 
• I spent most of Friday morning cleaning out the flowerbed next to the house - pulled up Four O'Clocks that died from the cold, pulled weeds, repaired a spot where the dogs dig, and covered the area with pine straw.
• Raked leaves in the Star Garden Friday morning as well.  Piled most of them around the trees that are outside of the landscaped part of the side yard.  I don't like to get rid of leaves or burn them because they break down and help improved the soil. My husband likes to burn them, says they look messy.  Yes, they can look messy, but that's why I moved out to the middle of nowhere with no neighbors!  I can do what makes sense in my yard, not what looks right in my yard.
• Cleaned out the bed where the Pink Vitex is growing and mulched with pine straw.
• Vacuumed the whole house.
• Weeded, weeded, weeded.
• There are seedlings everywhere, spring should be beautiful.  
• Friday evening I turned over the soil in the lower section of the back flowerbed and surrounded the perennials with leaf mulch.  I will seed that bed with some of the remaining wildflower seeds I have.
• Went to JW's for dinner.
• Saturday morning up early.  Spread seed in the back bed.
• Raked and shredded leaves for a long while.  Turned off the machine to eat lunch and couldn't get it started again.  Boo.
• Started creating another path in Max's Garden.
• It was a warm day so I decided to spray herbicide, you never know how many more warm days we will have and herbicide doesn't work in cold weather.   Sprayed in the Rose Garden, the Orchard, the Star Garden, and the driveway.  
• I spent some time making paths in Max's Garden.  All the soil I shoveled out of the paths, I moved to some flowerbeds that my husband lined with cedar last summer. 
• Raked in the Vegetable Garden for a while Saturday evening.
• Sunday morning I shredded leaves.  I quit when it shut off due to a stick that got wedged in between the blade and the side of the machine.  I might pick it up later.  I got three, maybe four, truckloads dumped into the compost pile before I quit.
• My husband made another flowerbed space for me with cedar logs because I am working on breaking up a huge flowerbed in Max's Garden, and I need some place to put the soil.  As I create paths in this raised flowerbed I end up with a lot of good soil. 
• Dug dirt for a long time.  Dumped it in the beds I'm building. Hard work.  Made several new paths and transplanted several Autumn Sage and a Pink Muhly that were in the way.
• Fertilized the plants in the Vegetable Garden - celery, onions, garlic, broccoli, mustard, arugula, calendulas.
• Worked in the Vegetable Garden for a long time.  I moved all the tomato cages and stakes so I could rake behind them.  I cut back all the asparagus, spread fertilizer, and covered the beds with leaf mulch.  I had a lot of weeding to do in the big asparagus bed.  I really let that get away from me this summer.  I moved a half dozen Goldsturm Rudbeckia that had sprung up uninvited in the asparagus bed and moved them to the front flower bed.  Also fertilized the garlic and onions and mulched them.  I moved some Purple Phacelia that sprang up on its own in the Vegetable Garden last spring.  It was such a pretty plant, very low-growing (sprawling) pretty leaves, and very pretty little purple and white flowers that I didn't pull it up, I let it go to seed.  When autumn got here it was popping up everywhere!  So I dug a bunch of clumps up and moved them to various places in the Star Garden.  Hopefully they will survive their rough treatment - I find wild flowers do not tend to transplant well.
• Watered all the Ox Eyes I moved last weekend.
• Whew! I earned my keep this trip! Sunday evening - I'm beat. 

White By The Gate Camellia Blooms December 13, 2014

These flowers are so gorgeous!  They are the purest, most pristine white flowers - I am transfixed by their loveliness.

Before and After December 12, 2014

I cleaned out the flowerbed next to the house on Friday morning.  I pulled up all the Four O'Clocks that died back from the cold, pulled weeds, repaired an area that the dogs dig around in, and covered the whole area with pine straw that I raked up yesterday and early Friday morning.

Day at the Farm December 7, 2014

 This is White By The Gate camellia.

This is Debutante camellia.

My mother in law went into the hospital the day we returned from Disney World.  She died on Wednesday, December 3.  She will be greatly missed.  She was a Christian Scientist, so we only had a small service for her at our home.  Family on both sides were in attendance. 

• We drove to Burton on Saturday evening, we hadn't been there in two weeks.  All the leaves have fallen, the trees are bare.
• I shredded leaves on Sunday morning and filled the back of the cub cadet with the leaves.  I mulched with the shreds in the Rose Garden.
• The shredder stopped running after that.  We weren't able to get it started.  And all of a sudden it has a gasoline leak.  We loaded in on the trailer to haul it into the shop on Monday.  No more shredding for the rest of the day.
• I drove over to one of the trails we lined with left over rocks from the house construction.  I picked them up and loaded them on the cub cadet.  I used them to line the flowerbeds at the front of the house. 
• I spent a lot of time digging up Ox Eye Daisies in the Rose Garden paths and planted them in the front flower beds.  It should be pretty in the spring, and since they remain green all year long, it will be an improvement in those beds.
• I started the project of breaking the large flowerbed in Max's Garden into smaller sections with paths.  I dug a path, and I used the soil to fill in a bed that my husband outlined with cedar last summer.  It remained empty all summer, I never filled it with soil.  Finally finished it!  And I planted three clumps of Ox Eye Daisies on one side of it.  Not sure what else I will put in it, but I'm considering red Firespike.  I have pink Firespike in the Shade Garden that I grew from cuttings that I took from my Houston Garden.  I also have the red variety growing in my Houston garden, so I could get some cuttings from it.  That is a cheap option.

Day at the Farm November 23, 2014

 This is my Yuletide Camellia.  I have two of them, growing on either side of the faux door of the greenhouse.  Very pretty.  They are not prolific bloomers, particularly the one on the left, they probably need a little more indirect light than they are receiving.  I'm pretty good about fertilization, so I'm not sure about why they don't bloom more.  I also have a couple of White By The Gate Camellias and one Debutante Camellia. 

Came up on Sunday morning.  Saturday evening we went to Josh and Amy's house to meet my future in laws and her brother Eric.  Mom, Dad, Mark, and Jere were there as well.  Very nice evening and lovely meal.  Her folks are very nice people.

• Bought a set of red onions and some sweet pea seeds at a nursery near the house in Houston.  
• Turned over one of the beds in the Vegetable Garden, added some fertilizer, and planted the onions.
• Soaked the sweet peas and planted some of them in the barrel that I planted the lily bulbs in last week.  That's probably not a good idea, but I did it anyway.
• Planted the rest of them on a trellis in the Star Garden near the path so the wonderful scent can be enjoyed close up.  Surrounded the trellis with chicken wire - rabbits love sweet pea seedlings.
• I decided to surround the Orchard with chicken wire because I can't abide the rabbit activity down there.  They ate all my fall green beans, and I've had it with the little bastards.  I bought an electric staple gun  on Saturday, dragged the extension cord all the way down the hill and started stapling the chicken wire to the back side of the fence.  I used most of the chicken wire I had on hand.  Due to the length of the extension cord, the stapler's power was not 100%.  There is something wrong with the outlet down by the pool so I had to use one of the outlets at the back porch.  Not sure what to do about that, need to get an electrician out here I guess.  I got one side of the Orchard finished today.  I can't reach the back fence with the amount of extension cord I have, but if I use more extension cord the power of the stapler gets even weaker.  Conundrum.
• Raked pine straw that was on one of the trails and mulched my Lady Banks rose, under the butterfly bush, and under the Harlequin Glorybower.
• Spread grass clippings around my Sassafrass tree.  The crinums I got from Janine, which are planted next the tree, are really spreading.  There are half a dozen tiny ones coming up.
• It was a beautiful day - sunny and cool.  Such a great day. 
•