Weekend at the Farm June 13 - 14, 2015

Used the last of the Kiowa blackberries to make a cobbler.  I have a few Quachita plants in the Orchard, they ripen about three weeks later than the Kiowa, so they are just turning black.  They produce smaller berries and the plants are thornless.  Although the Quachita  are a lot less painful, I prefer the Kiowa.

Arrived Friday afternoon.  Rained Friday evening pretty hard for about 20 minutes.

Worked in the Rose Garden Saturday morning.  It was a mess in there.  I pulled up all the Blackeyed Susan plants that were still blooming but fading.  I cut back all the Verbena Bonariensis that was leaning into the paths and threw the flower heads into the wild garden and the bed with the Crinums.  I cut away moss verbena growing into paths.  Weeded around Soncy rose in the front bed. Cut away the last of the Ox Eye daisy flower stems.  Pretty hot out there.

Hitched the trailer to the car and tried to go buy some mulch at Papescapes, but they had their gate closed.  I called before I went to make sure they were open, and their message indicated they were open on Saturday.  Damn country businesses, they close whenever they feel like it.

Helped Bert pick up yaupon and beauty berry that he cut along the trails.  The trails want to grow wild, and it's constant work keeping them clear.

Weeded in the La Marne bed and seeded it with Cleome seeds.  Sowed some more zinnia seeds around the dwarf flowering almonds.

It rained Saturday afternoon which was perfect for watering in my seeds.

Lazed around Saturday afternoon.

Walked the gardens with Bert, and we road around the property.  When we walk the gardens we weed as we walk - so hard to pass by a weed without pulling it up!

Saturday night dinner tomato salad and blackberry cobbler, both from the garden.

Sunday morning was grey and rainy.  I walked around with an umbrella and spread fertilizer around some of my shrubs and elephant ears.  Finally stopped raining mid morning.

Cleaned out the bed that leads to the Boardwalk. Cut away spent Ox Eye blooms, weeded, cut back parsley that had gone to seed.

Weeded here and there as I walked around.

Bert got stung by a wasp.  He is highly allergic, so I stuck him with an Eppi pen - first time I have ever done that.  Seemed like it hurt him pretty bad, worse than the sting.

Ate tomatoes fresh off the vine for lunch.

The Philippine Lilies are getting tall.  They aren't close to blooming yet, it will be about another month.  Every year I have more and more that are bloom-size.  I spread seed every year, and it takes about 4 years before you get some decent blooms.  They may bloom before that, but they aren't much to look at.  The gingers are about to begin blooming.  That is always a colorful time of year.  So pretty, and some of them are wonderful to smell.  Lastly, the Montbretia are loaded with buds and the bright orange color is just beginning to appear.  This will be my best year for the Montbretia.  They spread really quickly, but I really haven't gotten many blooms in past years.  Rain makes all the difference.

Potatoes from the garden for dinner. 

More rain.

Early to bed.

Mexicali Rose June 14, 2015

 

Mexicali Rose is a shade-loving plant.  Big, tropical-looking leaves with a huge flower.  All that sounds great, but unfortunately it is a monster.  It spreads at an alarming rate.  Each stems pulls up pretty easily, but the root system doesn't come with it.  The root system would have to be dug up.  And it is smelly when it is pulled up, really smelly.  The smell lingers on your hands.  I will be arm wrestling this plant for the rest of my life.  Still, it has a certain. lushness to it that I think really adds to the Boardwalk Garden.

Jacob Cline Bee Balm June 14, 2015

 Bee Balm is a reseeding perennial. I planted two small plants of Jacob Cline this spring, so I do not yet have an impressive stand of bloom, but I'm hoping that next year, due to the aggressive nature of bee balm, that it will be outstanding next year..  I have two other varieties of bee balm, both of them are pink.  They begin their bloom-time earlier than Jacob Cline.

 I love the pretty buds of bee balm.

Illustrus Colocasia

I bought 10 plants from Brent and Becky Bulbs this spring.  I have some of these growing in the Shade Garden.  They are beautiful and they return really well year after year.  I planted some along the Boardwalk and six or so in several of the new shady beds in the Star Garden.

Weekend at the Farm June 6 - 7, 2015

This is a Bee Balm bloom.  This plant came up from some seeds that I sowed last year.

Arrived on Friday afternoon.  Mom, Dad, Lisa W, Nan, Blake, Josh, and Sammy came up for the day on Saturday.  The kids spent the night.

My Lanie dog got sick and died on Friday night. Bert took her to the vet and she was put on an IV.  But she died at 3 a.m.  We brought her body home and buried her on the property.  It wasn't easy digging the hole, and we even had some help from the neighbor.  Eric drove his tractor over and started digging the hole, but he stopped because he was sinking so bad in the wet ground.  I finished the hole myself.  We buried her Friday evening.  Bert went to Papescapes and bought four huge, flat rocks to cover the grave.  Animals will dig up up buried animals, we learned that the hard way when we buried Kaiser years ago.  Such a gentle, beautiful dog, she will be greatly missed.

We picked berries and made jelly.  Celebrated Bert's birthday, Mom made a carrot cake.

Nan, Lisa, Josh, Blake, Sammy, and Bert and I swam after Mom and Dad left.

Watched the Belmont.  American Pharoah won the Triple Crown.

Air conditioner that feeds the main part of the house gave out about 5. The master bedroom air conditioner in Houston broke last week.  We will spend almost 15 thousand dollars in the space of three days replacing both of them.  I call this a bad week.

Sunday breakfast for the kids.  Walked around with Sam looking at flowers.  They left about 10.

Weeded, weeded, weeded.

Cut back Tuber Vervain in the Spicebush bed.  It was crowding my two Spicebushes.

Sprayed herbicide on the few places I missed last weekend.

Watched butterflies - Tiger Swallowtails, Gulf Fritillaries, and Giant Swallowtails, and the zillions of tiny ones that move too quickly to identify.

Deadheaded my butterfly bush.

Messed with the sprinklers in the Medicine Garden.

The Montbretia are loaded with buds.  I'm looking forward to their bloom time.  The blue Vitex are blooming, such a beautiful blue color.  The Galilee Hydarngea that Ashley gave me several years ago is blooming.  I'm so surprised.  It was the size of a potted plant, and I stuck it in the ground without expecting it to make it, and now it's blooming.  A Big Daddy Hydrangea next to my Spicebushes is blooming.  I gave up on that shrub years ago.  It never did well.   There were actually two of them, and I moved them several times hoping to get a better performance out of them, I finally threw one of them away.  I attribute the hydrangea blooms to all the rain we have had.

Watered all my newest roses in the Star and Rose gardens.

Sowed some Purple Prince Zinnias in the Star Garden.

Carol came by and picked berries.  I was glad to give her some, they would have gone to waste.

Flat tire on my car.  I'll be glad when this week is over.  The bright spot in an otherwise dismal week was being with family

Peters Purple Bee Balm May 30, 2015

Took some more pictures of the bee balm because it is still so pretty.

 This is Peter's Purple Bee Balm with Easy Ned Day Lilies just beginning to bloom and a big Agapanthus bloom in the forefront.  The Black and Blue Salvia and the white Four O'Clocks are just beginning to bloom too. 

Weekend at the Farm May 30 - 31, 2015

Arrived Friday afternoon.  No rain for the first time in many weeks.

• Saturday morning I picked blackberries for a cobbler.
• Spent most of the morning clearing out paths in the Star Garden.   Plants want to grow toward the light and away from other plants, so it is a constant effort to keep the paths clear.  No one likes to brush up against branches, etc as they stroll.  Trimmed back my Harlequin Glorybower and my Almond Verbena.  Cut back my thyme and Catmint that was growing in the paths.  Transplanted several clumps of thyme to the bed by the AC units.  Staked the Montbretia and White Mist Flower.  Used the hedge trimmers on the anisacanthus.  Cut back Ox Eye Daisies and threw some in the Erhlicheer bed, but mostly just threw them in the compost pile.  I'll probably live to regret that because they reseed like crazy. Weeded, weeded, weeded.  I basically cut anything that was was even slightly growing into a path.  Hauled many wheel barrows of debris to the compost pile.
• Pulled up the last of the Love in a Mist, weeded, and sowed some zinnia seeds.
• Cut lemon balm back in the Kitchen Herb Garden because it was crowding my basil.  
• Made Spanish Bean Soup.
• Read my book for a long while.
• There is a crazy female cardinal that spends hours every day flying into the window in the dining room.  Over and over and over.  This has been happening for the last three weekends.  I feel really sorry for her.  It has to hurt!  She bangs into the window  hundreds of times a day - I am not exaggerating.  It's quite distressing.  Bert and I go to the window and wave violently trying to scare her, but seconds later she is back - bang, bang, bang.  She starts about 6:30-ish in the morning and wakes me up.  
• Sunday morning 6:30 dozing on the couch because I couldn't sleep.  The bird woke me up banging on the window.  I stopped counting at 200.  It's still going on as I write this.  My husband just walked in and declared he's going to shoot her.
• Worked on my climbing roses tying up the long canes to their supports.  American Beauty, Peggy Martin, and Climbing Pinky.  Still need to work on Fortune's Double, it's in the Rose Garden going nuts from neglect.  And it has the most vicious thorns of all of them.  It might as well be a blackberry vine.
• Had to drive in to town first thing to buy a new herbicide sprayer.  Mine stopped working, and the top priority for me this weekend was to spray herbicide in every path and drive.  With all the rain it's a mess.  Also bought 3 bags of mulch and a pack of purple zinnia seeds.
• Spent several hours in the Long Border and Star Garden weeding and laying down bags of mulch.  Hauled many wheel barrows of debris to the compost pile.
• Sowed some Moonflower seeds that I saved from last year, some by the front trellis on both sides, some by the trellis at the entrance to the Long Border, and some on a chicken wire trellis in the Star Garden.
• I'm happy to see that my Cypress vine is starting to climb nicely in the Long Border and on two arbors in the Star Garden.  And the Hops vine in the Star Garden at the entrance to Max's Garden has tiny buds on it and looks really healthy.  I love vines, but I don't always have luck with them. I try nearly every year to grow morning glory vines on the arbor at the entrance to the Long Border, but they never seem to take off.  Usually that's a water issue, but this year something seems to have eaten them right at the base of the vines. They had already started to climb up the chicken wire, so it is doubly disappointing.  Usually if I can get them to the point that they are climbing I am home free - rabbits, deer, insects - I have beaten all of them.  Last year I had beautiful blue morning glories on the front arbor. Love them!
• Tied up my BeeBalm and Pringle Aster in the Star Garden to keep them from flopping all over. Pringle Aster gets pretty heavy, we'll see how successful I am.
• Rested for a couple of hours and read.
• Sprayed herbicide on the driveway, in the Rose Garden, in the Star Garden, in the Vegetable Garden, and the Orchard.  Hot work!
• Walked around Sunday evening and enjoyed the fruits of my labors.  The Long Border looks good, parts of the Star Garden look good.  The Rose Garden looks really bad, needs a lot of work.  The Orchard is chock full of ripe blackberries.  I should pick them, but don't have the energy.
• The cannas are particularly pretty and showy this weekend.  Also, the BeeBalm is really pretty.  Gorgeous weather this weekend.  I was glad to be in it.