Nikko Blue Hydrangeas May 20, 2017

The blue color of my Nikko Blue Hydrangea flowers was so vivid this weekend.  Really pretty!



Weekend at the Farm May 18 - 21, 2017

This picture was taken looking out our bedroom door.  While the bee balm is blooming it blocks the view down the hill which my husband does not like.  But it's temporary.  This bee balm will bloom for a another couple of weeks and then I will cut it down to the ground. 

Josh and Amy went to Roatan and I babysat Koy for the long weekend in Burton.

• The rain barrels on either side of the front porch were the usual hit.  Koy spent all the time I would allow splashing in the buckets and throwing rocks into the water - an endlessly fascinating activity.  We drove around in the cadet a lot, and we took lots of aimless, wandering walks.  And she spent a lot of time torturing Grey Kitty, Cosmo and the dogs.  We picked blackberries until she got pricked and stopped liking the game, she ate all the berries as she picked - none of them went into the bowl.
• I pulled weeds when I could.
• I watered in the Rose Garden here and there.
• I trimmed the shrubs along the front of the house.  They looked terrible.  I cut a few of them all the way down to the ground.
• Pulled up some spent poppies in the Star Garden.
• I gathered up the dead greenery from the Ehrlicheers next to the Dwarf Flowefing Almond shrubs and sowed some zinnias.
• I staked the Pringle Aster. 
• And I gathered up unruly coreopsis so that it wasn't leaning on some of my mums and iris.

The First Bloom of the Tetraploid Mix I Planted Last Spring

I planted 48 day lily roots a couple of months ago.  They were sold as a packages with no names assigned to them.  This is the first bloom.  Tetraploids make huge blooms.  This one is six inches across at least.

Anise Hyssop May 19, 2017

Last year I bought a big packet of Anise Hyssop seed.  I'd tried to grow it before and had no luck  Some of the seed took hold last year and I had a good showing of it.  This year I had a lot of plants survive the winter (it's a tender perennial) and lots of seeds sprouted.  Wow, they look great this year.  They have grown to about three and a half feet tall, very full, throughout the Orchard and some in the Long Border.  The bees are crazy for it, it's an amazing show watching the bees.

 The flower below is actually Henry Duehlberg, a reseeding salvia.  This salvia is an amazing find.  A blue salvia that reseeds - unheard of!

Lamb's Ear, Tansy and Aztec Sweet Herb May 13, 2017

These plants are side by side in my Medicine Garden, and they all looked healthy and pretty, so I snapped a picture.  

Tansy was once widely grown as a medicinal but it has fallen out of favor (because it doesn't cure any of the things it was thought to cure).  These days it is still recognized as a natural insect repellent, and it can be grown in the vegetable garden as a companion plant to keep bad bugs away.

Lamb's Ear was also once used widely as a medicinal (due to its styptic, antiseptic, and anti inflammatory qualities), but now it is grown just for its pretty white color and fuzzy leaves. 

And Aztec Sweet herb is an ancient herb that can be traced back to the Aztecs to treat respiratory complaints and gum disease.  The leaves are really sweet when you chew them.

Day at the Farm May 13, 2017

Two years ago I planted a bunch of day lily roots - skinny, pathetic little things - that I ordered from one of the Dutch bulb companies out of season (they were on sale super cheap).  This year they are finally blooming, they have sent up lots of thick sturdy stalks.  This is the first bloom.
 
I arrived before Bert on Friday afternoon.  I drove to Blake's on Sunday morning for a Mother's Day get together.  M and D, Nan and Lisa, Josh, Max and Chelsea and Blake's family and Mr.H's mom and brother were all there.

• Friday evening I picked green beans and we had them for dinner.
• Saturday morning I loaded the cub with mulch.  I weeded and mulched near the conveyor belt structures.  I also mulched the small asparagus bed in the Vegetable Garden.  I used the last of it in the Thryallis bed by the pool.  
• I staked bee balm in two beds in the Star Garden.  I also staked the Four O'Clocks in the bed by the dining room window.  I've never tried to stake my Four 'O Clocks before, I usually just start whacking at it when it falls into the paths.  We'll see how effective that is. 
• I made a batch of blackberry jelly.  I thought I had enough berries for two batches, but not quite unfortunately.  There are still a lot of berries on the canes, so hopefully I can get one more batch of jelly made - a total of three this season.
• I pulled up some spent poppies and sowed zinnia seed.
• Watered all my potted plants.
• I watered in the Rose Garden throughout the day.
• I pulled up some cilantro in the Vegetable Garden that had gone to seed.  In its place I sowed some Opopeao amaranth seeds.

Observations of the Weekend May 13, 2017

 I had completely forgotten that I planted some Easy Ned day lilies in the front flowerbed last year when I separated some clumps.  I noticed them just as I was leaving this morning, so I got out of the car to take a picture.

I have a really good start on my vines this year.  My white Coral Vine is all the way to the top of the pointed goat wire arbor in the Star Garden, there are even a few blooms on it which is strange since it's a fall bloomer.  And there is also some Cypress Vine blooming on the same pointed arbor.  On the other side of that arbor I sowed some Moonflower, and it has taken hold of the support.  And in the Orchard I sowed some Hyacinth Bean seeds, and they have sprouted.  I sowed those a week or two ago.  On the front gate arbor I pulled up all the morning glory seedlings that had sprouted from last year - they are Venezia, and I don't like those at all - and sowed some Heavenly Blue Morning Glory seeds.  They have sprouted also but have not quite yet produced any tendrils.  And I sowed some Blackeyed Susan vine seeds and Moonflower seeds on one of the conveyor belt supports, and they are doing well.  I also sowed some Blackeyed Susan vine seeds on the small arbor in the Vegetable Garden, and they have taken hold of the support and are beginning to climb.

Carol stopped by Saturday morning, and we agreed to trade Swiss Chard for blackberry jelly.  Bert is going to her house next week to get some fire wood she wants to get rid of.

The garden is ablaze with flowers - yellow blackeyed susans, yellow coreopsis, orange and red cannas, pastel roses, orange and yellow daylilies, white ox eyed daisies, white altheas, orange Mexican sunflowers, colorful zinnias, purple and blue salvias, pink bee balm, purple verbena, pink and orange coneflower, pastel larkspur, white mock orange, red and white nicotiana, pink cleome, red shrimp plant, purple basil, blue and pink vitex, blue, pink and white hydrangeas, pastel poppies, red phlox, and purple agastache.

The bulldozing is completed.  Now it is up to us to be good stewards of the land and convert it back to its original state.  For right now, that means doing nothing.

The armadillos are out in force now.  They are turning all my mulch over and making a big mess everywhere.