My Scarecrow December 3, 2017

Boo Deer!

More Pictures of Debutante Camellia December 3, 2017

Day at the Farm December 3, 2017

This morning glories are still going strong since the weather is so warm.
Saturday morning at Mom and Dad's going through their furniture etc that they cannot take to their new place.  Saturday night over to Will and Kim's to put the train set together.  Sunday to the farm.  We spent the night, and I drove in to work on Monday morning.

• We put the scarecrow together finally.  The deer are eating my roses in the Orchard.  Maybe it will help.  Thank goodness they do not disturb the roses in the Rose Garden.  The Orchard backs up to the woods so the deer feel safer.
• I dug up 10 more bunch grass plugs and planted them in my meadow.  That's 20 so far, a drop in the bucket, but better than nothing.  I will sow native grass seed in the spring, but this is a little head start.
• I scraped up one wheelbarrow of mulch and spread it over a weedy spot in the Star Garden.
• Rain!  It rained for the remainder of the day.  I did no more work other than pull a weed here and there.
• Turned off all the irrigation.

Wheelbarrow of Lettuces December 3, 2017

This wheelbarrow is just outside the kitchen door, very convenient for picking the little fresh micro-greens for sandwiches and salads.  

December Roses December 3, 2017

Above and below, this is Franzisks Krueger, a great bloomer for me.  I have her growing in the front flowerbed.

Below, this is Marie d'Orleans.  When the bloom is completely open the petals all form points like a star.

Below, old faithful, La Marne.

Below, this is La Vesuve.  She is still a small shrub, I have not had her but for a year (is my recollection), but this is a large shrub rose.  I'm looking forward to seeing her covered in blooms.  I love the shape of the pretty pink flowers.

Below, a pink / pink blend called Antoine Mari.

Below, this is Mutabilis.  The flowers start orange then fade to pink.

Below, Mutabilis again.

Below, Marie Pavie.

Below agin - Mutabilis with several colors of blooms displayed.  It's nickname is the Butterfly Rose.

More Pictures of My Debutante Camellia November 25, 2017

Thanksgiving at the Farm November 22 - 25, 2017

 Above, this is a Buckeye.  My book says it is a common butterfly, but I'm always surprised and delighted to see one in my garden, so I certainly do not think they are common.  

 The two photos above are Red Admiral.  A very distinctive butterfly.

 Above, this is a Julia.  The undersides of the wings are golden, unfortunately I was not able to get a picture of them.

We were 11 for Thanksgiving - Mom and Dad, Nan and Lisa, Ashley, Alan and the kids, Max.  I arrived on Tuesday evening, Bert was already here.  The usual cleaning on Wednesday.  Thursday the weather was cool and sunny.  Lovely day.  Nan and Lisa spent the night, Mom and Dad stayed at the Ant Stree Inn and came back on Friday for brunch. 

• Friday afternoon I mostly just walked around and picked a weed here and there.  A little watering in the Rose Garden.  Bert headed to Groesbeck to hunt with William and friends.
• I walked the meadow and took stock of the seeds I scattered several weekends ago.  I am very pleased to see that I have lots of seedlings.  I'm depending solely on the rain to keep them going, so to see that many was really great.
• Saturday.  I filled the cadet with mulch twice from my almost-gone-mulch-pile and went down to the Orchard to weed a particularly weedy bed, the one with the three-in-one apple tree.  I pulled a weed that only grows in two places here, I guess the seed came in with a load of mulch.  Man, it's tough to pull up.  I brought the shovel down there with me to loosen the soil.  Pulled weeds and cleaned out the bed of spent zinnias and moss verbena, then mulched over all.  Raked all through the back of the Orchard.  Did some spot weeding and mulching with the left over mulch.
• The day was warmer than Friday and Thursday, butterflies aplenty.  I spotted some Julias and a Buckeye.  There are many, many varieties of bee-like insects on my Butterpat Mums - so interesting.  
• More watering in the Rose Garden - have to keep my seedlings alive!  
• I raked up a truck load of pine needles in my good spot near the Rose Garden and, after spreading a heavy layer of mulch around my Lider #9 Satsuma, I piled pine needles high around the tree - trying to protect the graft for the winter.
• I spread the rest of the pine needles over a weedy spot in the big backberry patch near the front of the Orchard.
• I took the loppers to the Rose Garden and cleaned up the Heritage Rose, there were lots of thick dead canes in the middle of the shrub, and I'd been meaning to get to that chore, finally did.
• Weeded under the two Noisettes.
• Ray and Debra came by to return the trailer.  They had an old-fashioned cast iron sink in the back that they had replaced at her mom's house.  They were just going to get rid of it, so I asked if I could have it.  I'll use it as yard art, fill it with soil and plant something in it.
• Sunday - where does the time go?  I filled the cadet with mulch and mulched a few trouble areas in the Star Garden.  
• I decided to work on my meadow, so I drove around the property and dug up 10 native grass bunches.  I cushioned them with the remaining mulch in the back of the cadet.  After collecting my grasses I drove to the meadow, raked away some of the hay that I had laid down over the soil several weeks ago.  Dug 10 holes, filled them with water, and then planted my grasses.  I planted them all in a group.  I'd like to do many more groups of grasses this winter to really get myself started.  I will buy native grass seed in the spring, but I've tried seeding grasses before without a lot of luck, so I don't want to rely just on that.
• Watered my blooming Yuletide Camellia to reward it for being so pretty right now.
• Raked in the Orchard and generally cleaned up.  Mulched the other apple bed in the Orchard.
• Raked in the Star Garden.  The leaves have not really begun to fall - I mean the Big Leaf Drop - but I raked to clean up nevertheless.
• Raked in the Vegetable Garden and did some general cleaning - stacked tomato cages more neatly, trimmed the Spanish Eyes vine growing on the goat wire trellis, weeded.
• Picked green beans. 
• Transplanted a couple Ox Eye Daisies from paths over to flower beds in the Rose Garden.
• Cleaned the master bath and bedroom.  
• Bert got home from Groesbeck around 2:00.
• Headed in to work on Monday morning.