Daffodils Beginning to Bloom February 21, 2015

I have  several named varieties of daffodils planted in this wild setting.  Ice Follies, double campernelles, narcissus odorous, a few Carltons, and some wildings that were given to me and that I "saved".  The little narcissus odorous are blooming right now, the others bloom later.  They are not at their peak yet, but they are so pretty.

My New Project February 19, 2015

I am creating a path along the far side of the Medicine Garden.  I envision this being the path that people use to walk to the wedding ceremony site.  I have begun laying out the path with green metal landscaping strips.

 Above, this curve in the path is pretty wide, so it is ideal for a bench of some kind.

 

Above, on Thursday this is as far as I got.  I needed one more landscaping strip.   

 Friday early afternoon.  The granite had been delivered, and I had started lying it down.  I had 6 more landscaping strips, so I finished the path's curve in the photo above.  The cedar flowerbed that looks mostly like leaves is a bed filled with Elderberry.  I have an Elderberry "orchard".  I am determined to make elderberry wine.  So I am transplanting all the elderberry offspring that come from the two mother plants I planted last spring. 

 Above, all the space in the top of the photo will have granite spread throughout it.

 In the photo above, I will place one of my landscaping strips between the Elderberry bed and the horseshoe pit.  All of that area will be filled with crushed granite.

 Above, another image of the area that will have granite spread throughout.

Above - progress so far.

Rocky and the Evil Serpent

 This is what my Rocky dog does all day. 

 One day Rocky will catch it, but until then the evil serpent will continue to torment my poor dog, swimming just out of reach and squirting water in his face.

Weekend at the Farm February 14 - 15, 2015

This paperwhite is from Nixon Lake Road.

Beautiful weather, although I hear a cold snap is coming sometime next week.

• Pruning the roses is the big project for the weekend.  Hopefully I will get all of them pruned over the next two days.  I pruned three on Friday afternoon.  Saturday morning I pruned eight.  
• Raked the Rose Garden on Friday afternoon, but all I did was make a bunch of piles of leaves.  Still need to haul them away.
• Friday afternoon I also dug up some more plants around the pool and moved them.  I moved some Cigar Plant to one of the new beds I built.  I dug up and re-planted two clumps of yellow lantana and one one clump of orange lantana into that same bed.  And I planted one clump of yellow lantana in the bed leading to the Boardwalk.  And finally I planted a Senna in the Hot Border next to the Vegetable Garden and one Senna in the bed with the Cigar Plant and lantana.  It gets hard to remember everywhere I sticking stuff.  I have to pay close attention to it now and as summer approaches in order to make sure it does not die from lack of water.  This morning I was looking for the Senna I planted - I couldn't remember where I planted it at first - ah - the Hot Border (mental note).  I really want the Senna to make it.  Senna has beautiful yellow flowers in the spring and fall.  And the Cloudless Sulphur butterflies lay their eggs on it.
• Met mom and dad in town for lunch.  They were checking out the bed and breakfast they are renting for the wedding weekend.
• After lunch Bert and I went to Home Depot and bought more lumber for the pool decking.
• I pruned three more roses when we got home.
• Replaced the leaking faucet on the sprinkler system in the Rose Garden and watered the garden.
• Various small daffodils have begun to bloom.  My narcissus odorous and the little "found" ones are beginning to bloom throughout the garden.  Daffodils are such sweet flowers.
• The neighbors are building a house to the right of us.  They were here this weekend with guests.  Sadie barked all day at the noise.
• Saw some of those white sucking insects on one of my roses today.  Horrors.  I sprayed insect oil on them.  I don't want to see that kind of insect spread.  I had a real problem with them in Houston for a while.  If they get out of control it's pretty nasty. 
• Watered here and there with my watering can - my new transplants, my new plants, and some of my young roses in the Rose Garden.
• Couldn't sleep so I got up before daylight on Sunday and sat outside on the porch with the dogs and a cup of coffee.  We listened to the roosters crowing and dogs barking in the distance, coyotes howling, and we even heard a turkey gobbling over and over again.  The dogs bark at every sound during the day, but in the dark early morning they never bark.  It's always a very peaceful time.
• Sunday morning I pruned four or five more roses.  There are about 15 more to go.  I gathered up all the leaves I raked up yesterday and put some around my Fortune's Double and dumped the rest on the edge of the neighbors' property.  The fact that they are building a house is cramping my style.  First of all, my favorite Rose Garden dumping ground is about to be taken away, and second - I'm out there early, probably 7:00, maybe earlier.  Hello someone says - I look up, there are the two of them.  No, I don't want to see you in my private space.  Jeez.  What happened to my seclusion?  If you're going to be there, don't be visible at 7 in the morning when I'm not expecting to see anyone.  I haven't even brushed my teeth.  I don't want to speak.
• William, Kim and the kids came and spent the night so nothing of consequence was accomplished after that.  Played with Zelda in the fort (which she calls the little house).  Henry is getting to be a lot more fun, smiling and walking.
• Made chicken and sausage gumbo.
• Vacuumed and mopped the living room, kitchen, dining room and guest bedroom.  Cleaned the guest bathroom, shook out the rugs, changed the sheets, did a bunch of laundry.  
• Cut back the butterfly bush in the Star Garden.
• Started lightly raining for most of the afternoon.

Sweet Pea Seedlings February 15, 2015

 I'm determined to have sweet peas this spring (the rabbits eat them if I'm not vigilant), so I planted them in a big bucket and surrounded the bucket with chicken wire.  I strung twine around so the peas would have something to grab.  It's quite an engineering marvel!  I have the same set up in one of my flowerbeds right next to a path (surrounded by chicken wire to keep the pesky rabbits away). 

Irises Beginning to Take Off in Preparation for Spring February 15, 2015

I have many varieties of bearded irises.  Most of them I have been given, or I have saved from deserted properties.  They are old fashioned types.  But hardy and tough.  Of course, I guess they all are pretty tough because the have an excellent drought tolerance due to the thick corm that stores water and doles it out in times of drought.  Irises are early spring bloomers, so they will be long gone by the time of the wedding.  Too bad, they are very elegant flowers.

 Above, Janine Snapp gave me these.  I won't know what color they are until they bloom this year.  Janine found them outside of the bloom time, so she didn't know what color they were when she gave them to me.  They are surrounded by wildflower seedlings, Ox Eye Daisy, and a dormant Dwarf Flowering Almond shrub.

 Above, I have had these irises for years.  Some of them are Paul Redmond  irises, but most of them are purple beardeds.  I also have Parrot Glads in this bed (still dormant), some thyme, and some wildflower seedlings.  There is also a double red Althea (not pictured) growing in this bed.

Above, another view point.
Below, all the irises in this bed have been here for years - Paul Redmond and some pink beardeds.  The tree growing in the background of the picture is a Harlequin Glorybower.

 Above, these irises were also given to me by Janine, so the color will be a surprise.  Verbena Bonariensis seedlings, Mexican sedum, and oregano are also in this bed.  The shrub just barely in the photo is a Pink Cloud Kolkwitzia amabilis shrub.

 Above, I dug these irises up from the yard of a deserted house on Nixon Lake Road last year, so I don't know what the color is.  There are also some gold irises in this bed that I bought at the Bulb Mart two years ago.  In the foreground of the photo are Candida rain lilies.

Above, more Janine irises as well as some Ox Blood lilies, Ox Eye Daisy, and Corn Flags.  I have chicken wire around most of it because the rabbits ate my Corn Flags last year and I didn't get a single bloom.  I am being pro-active this year and protecting them. 

New Decking Around the Pool February 14, 2015

 There are three reasons why I am happy that we are decking over the flowerbeds.  First, they are mostly clay due to hauling in tons of it to stabilized the pool when it was installed.  It's pretty hard to find a plant that likes clay.  The second reason is that I don't want to pay for a sprinkler system around the pool, and it gets really dry in the summer.  And finally,  it's hard to keep it cleaned out.  It's on a very steep slope, and it is hard to stand steadily in order to weed it and maintain it.

 We will buy some clay pots and make several groupings of plants in various places. 

 The green shrubs in the photo above will remain.  I can't face digging them out.  And it will break up the decking, I think it will look nice.

 The area in front of where Lanie is standing in the above photo will also be decked.