Weekend at the Farm October 8 - 9, 2016

Arrived Saturday evening.  Blake, mom, Amy, Nancy and I had high tea at the Hotel Granduca to celebrate Charlie's impending arrival.  A little mini shower of sorts.  Bert arrived at the farm earlier in the day.  Sunday morning was very cool, in fact I had a jacket on for a short time.

• I had 15 yards of mulch delivered on Tuesday, so it was waiting for me when I arrived.  Sunday morning I jumped right in hauling mulch.  I began mulching the in the Circle Drive beds.  They always look dry and malnourished.  They definitely needed mulch!  There are a lot of large beds in that area, and I soon grew tired of that and moved on to another place.  But I got two of them covered completely and several partially covered.  I grow gingers, rain lilies, Philippine lilies, African Hostas, Sweetspire, and bridal wreath in the circle beds.
• I put a couple of wheel barrows of mulch in a bed where I had planted a bunch of my Hurricane Lilies several weeks ago.  And I covered a bed located in the hinterlands of the Star Garden where I planted some Hurricane Lilies and I have a very tiny Hydrangea growing alongside some iris.  It doesn't get much water, so mulch will help out a lot.
• The butterflies are amazing today.  They are everywhere.  I sat in the Star Garden and ate my lunch so I could enjoy the insect activity.
• I mulched, mulched, mulched.  I did a lot of work in the Star Garden.  It looks good.  
• All day long I watered the Rose Garden.  I have a sprinkler that shoots up water in a very small area, so I use it to water all my roses.  The Rose Garden looks so pretty.  I don't really have very many roses blooming - lots of buds, though, getting ready for the fall spectacle.  But the Moss Verbena, the Homestead Purple Verbena, the Swamp Sunflowers, the Buttercup Turnera, and the zinnias are amazing.  The butterflies - amazing.
• I watered my Bulb Bed - the Pearlbush, Sweetshrub, and Big Daddy Hydrangea were really dry.
• Most of the day was spent walking from the Rose Garden to move the sprinkler and back to the Star Garden to mulch.  But I also gazed and gazed at the gardens and the insects and the butterflies.  What an unforgettable day.
• Bert and I took a walk around the property at dusk.  We haven't done that since Lanie died. 
• I left for work on Monday morning and drove straight in to work.

Strange Caterpillars

 

 These caterpillars covered my butterfly weed this weekend.  They are not Monarch butterfly larva.  I don't know what they are.  Very interesting looking.  The general rule is that furry caterpillars are moth larva and smooth caterpillars are butterfly larva.  But that does not always hold true.

Life and Death Struggle

What a lucky "in the right place at the right time moment".  I was looking at my zinnias in the Orchard and something didn't look quite right on one of the flowers.  Upon walking closer to investigate I saw that a praying mantis had captured a butterfly and was overpowering it and preparing to eat it.  I watched it for a long time and took these pictures.  Praying mantis are very hard to spot because they look just like a leaf or a branch.

Weekend at the Farm October 1 - 2, 2016

 This is a little cluster of Ox Blood Lilies that were blooming in the front flower bed when I arrived.

Arrived Friday evening.  Bert drove separately Friday morning to mow.  The weather is gorgeous!  No humidity, cool, perfect.

• Saturday morning I went out first thing and cut away plants leaning into the paths.
• I spent some time tying back my Climbing Pinkie and Cl. American Beauty roses on their supports.
• Went into the Rose Garden and pulled up a dead Belinda's Dream rose.  I ordered some iris from Shreiner's Iris Gardens, and I planted them in the empty spot.  I planted:
• Bollywood - yellow standard and lavender falls with yellow edges
• Fal Fiesta - pale orange standard, orange falls
• Badlands - dark purple
• Ocelot - peach standard, dark purple falls
• American Classic - standard and falls are white with dark blue edging
• Over Alaska - pale blue standard, dark blue falls
• Who Need A Prince - yellow standard, burgundy falls

• Iris are so elegant and varied in their colors and patterns. I love them. 
• I took the loppers in the Rose Garden and spent some time cutting away dead rose canes. 
• I spent some time in the Shade Garden clearing the paths.  I didn't have to work too hard because Bert took the blower in there and blew off all the paths.  It looks great in there.
• Nathan, Jess and the kids arrived about 5:00 to spend the night.  They left early in the morning to go on a train ride somewhere in Burnett, TX.
• Sunday morning I went straight out to the Rose Garden and sprayed fungicide on my roses.
• I moved a half dozen or so plugs of Homestead Purple Verbena growing in the Rose Garden paths over to various places in the Star Garden and the Rose Garden.  It is a beautiful flowering perennial ground cover, a real show stopper in the spring and fall.  I love it.
• Sunday was so beautiful.  There is something about the sunshine in the waning summer and the fall.  Maybe it is special because that same sunshine in 100 degree heat and 100% humidity a mere week ago was so relentless.  The Candida rain lilies, Schoolhouse lilies, hurricane lilies are all blooming in the Rose Garden.  So pretty!  I have several hundred zinnias that sprung up in the Orchard after I mulched.  They are all about a foot tall.  Barring any disaster I will have an amazing display in October just before the first freeze.  I'm looking forward to that.
• I found a packet of Nasturtiums and Kraus Parsley that I bought but forgot to plant.  It's late for the Nasturtiums, but I went ahead and stuck them in the ground.  I might not get flowers before a freeze, but I could get some leaves for salad greens.  The packet of parsley has 750 seeds.  I broadcast them over an area in the Vegetable Garden that I roughed up.  The packet says I should plant them after danger of frost.  I always grow mine through the winter months, and they grow just fine.
• Spent some time in The Orchard just snipping here and there with my scissors.  It's in great shape, no weeds and a lot of zinnias about to bloom.  The butterflies were floating all around me.
• I planted the Montbretia bulbs that I dug up about three weeks ago.  I planted them in between the La Marne roses in the Star Garden.  Then I dug up some more of the Montbretias that are growing in the wrong place and planted them in between the La Marne roses as well.
• I puttered in the Rose Garden.  Everything is in such good shape there is not a lot to do except admire the butterflies and bees and flowers. 
• I got a wheelbarrow full of white rock that was left over from a load we bought months ago and dumped it on a muddy spot in the Rose Garden.
• Headed home about 4:30.  Bert is staying until Tuesday because I'm having a load of mulch delivered Tuesday morning. 

Candidas and Hurricane Lilies October 1, 2016

Pringle Aster October 1, 2016

I love Pringle Aster even though it is a very floppy plant.  Fall bloomer like most asters.

Red Firespike October 1, 2016

Firespike is a shade plant.  I have the red variety and the pink variety growing in my gardens.  The pink ones have not begun blooming yet, in fact they are just now forming buds which I find curious.