At the Farm During the Pandemic October 7 - 9, 2020

 

• Arrived at the farm on Tuesday evening just after our AirBnB guests left.  One of them painted a picture of the front of the house and left it for us as a gift.  We love it, so nice of them!
• Wednesday.  Worked.
• I added several bags of manure and humus to one of the beds in the Vegetable Garden and planted two collards.
• I bought a wonderful grass at the Arbor Gate called Blond Ambition blue gramma.  The seed heads are positioned horizontally on the stems rather than vertically.  Really unique.  I wish now I had bought all they had. I planted it near my bunny grass along the back path.
• Yesterday evening I noticed some new vole piles (they pile up the dirt that they burrow out of their tunnels) very near one of my new camellias.  Noooo!  Not my expensive new camellias!  I ran the hose down in the tunnels for a long time.
• Dinner at Volare in Brenham for my birthday.
• Thursday.  Worked.
• I had Bert cut down two olive trees in the Star Garden.  They were trees given to me as gifts many years ago.  I really had no place to plant them, so they have always been languishing in two shady spots in the Star Garden.  Olives are not understory trees!  In one spot I planted a Two Winged Silverbell (Halesia Diptera) which blooms white flowers .  I plan to leave the other spot open because the olive tree was blocking easy access to one of my flowerbeds.
• Leaves are starting to drop.  Another summer gone.  What happened to the time?  Thinking about it makes me feel very wistful.  
• Bert took the blower to everything around the house including the Shade Garden and the Greenhouse Garden.  It looks really good.  Another group of guests arrive on Saturday.
• The Pringle aster, although still covered with white flowers, is on the wane.  The blue and the white mist flower will be blooming soon as well as the Texas aster.  And the Barbados Cherries in the Medicine Garden are blooming now.
• The Giant Swallowtails are really making a big showing right now.  They are the largest butterflies in North America, so how lucky am I that they are in my region of the country! 
• When the sun went down I sprayed my roses in the Rose Garden for black spot - of course I'm already seeing black spot, so too late again.  Why break my record for missing the mark. 
• Friday.  Took the day as vacation although I had to join several work conversations through the day.
• I worked in the Orchard for about 45 minutes.  I weeded, did some hand watering of my rosemary, new lantanas and fig tree.  I sprayed some herbicide.  I raked a bit.  And I surrounded a couple of my lantanas with pine needles because they are planted in a dry spot.
• I worked for a while on the bed right at the fence by the shed.  I cut back all the wild petunia, pulled up dried lily sticks, pulled weeds, and roughed up the soil.  I spread Ox Eye seeds over the whole bed.  Watered them in.
• I hand-watered the Long Border really well.  I will be gone until Tuesday evening, so they needed a little support.  I raked the path that runs along the length of the bed.  And I raked out parts of the bed.  There is a huge pine tree adjacent to the Rose Garden and Long Border.  And it has made its end of summer needle drop.  Lots of needles drop into the Long Border.  That's my best pine straw spot, so I am not complaining!  I sowed Ox Eye Daisy seeds in the spots that I raked.  One of the sprinklers hits those spots, so I should see some good germination.
• I hand-watered all the beds in the Rose Garden.  I tied back some zinnias, mulched some plants with pine straw, tied up some Peggy Martin canes and raked.  
• Watered all the pots around the pool and in the Medicine Garden. 
• Re-positioned all the sprinklers in the Star Garden, the Greenhouse Garden and the Rose Garden.
• Throughout the day I was busy weeding, weeding, weeding.
• Filled all the rain barrels along the front porch.  They are wooden barrels, and when they are not full the wood shrinks.  Best to keep them full with the hose if it is not going to rain.
• Headed back to Houston.

Thryallis October 9, 2020

 This is a shrubby perennial that I highly recommend.  It has a very long bloom cycle.  It's very colorful.  For some reason I am not a fan of yellowbell plant.  But I love thryallis.  It is a deciduous shrubby perenail, and I cut mine down to the ground every winter to keep it from getting leggy. It is pretty drought tolerant.  Two of mine are in a spot that gets no regular water.

Barbados Cherry in the Medicine Garden October 8, 2020

 I have three barbados cherry shrubs in the Medicine Garden.  I've had them for 13 years.  They are good shrubs, nothing to write home about.  The flowers make small cherry-like berries that supposedly are edible, but I've never eaten them.  The birds like them.  I planted them in the Medicine Garden because they are edible.  That garden (originally - I've moved away from this somewhat) is planted with plants that are edibles, medicinals, and usefuls.  Other plants in that garden are Gotu Kola, valerian, catnip, elderberry, wormwood, horsetail reed, turks cap, gingers, hojo santo, bay tree, oregano, henna, lambs ear, tansy, St. Johns Wort, and rosemary.  But now, I also have some bulbs, some Ox Eyes, a camellia, several hydrangeas, and others that don't immediately come to mind.

Sugar Cane in my Vegetable Garden October 8, 2020

 I have a small plot of sugar cane in my Vegetable Garden.  I grow it for my grandchildren.  It's a fun way to involve them in gardening.  All you have to do is lop off a section of the cane, peel away the hard outer covering and chew on the sweet stalk. If you don't cut the stalk down, roots will sprout from every joint.  You could plant the rooted joints if you wanted to grow more sugar cane, but I'm content with only a few stalks.  Sugar cane has a long growing season, so it needs warm weather.  This has been one of the most fun things I have ever grown. 

Yellow Butterfly Vine Looked Pretty This Morning October 8, 2020

 This vine is an excellent bloomer.  It has an extremely long bloom season.  It will always have a place in my garden.  Look at the center of the second picture.  The seed head looks just like a butterfly.  I've blogged about this before, but it is adorable, worth a second (or third) comment. 

New Gold Lantana October 8, 2020

 New Gold lantana is the first hybrid lantana that I recall.  Now there are many gorgeous varieties.  I remember seeing it growing in barrels as I drove by houses in Westador (the subdivision I lived in some 20 years ago).  I fell in love with it back then.  Now, it seems that it is everywhere - but how could you not love it?  It gets enormous.  Butterflies LOVE it.  This lantana grows by our pool.  I have never watered it, not one time.  It blooms its heart out all summer in 100 degree heat with no irrigation whatsoever.  Amazing.

At the Farm During the Pandemic September 28 - October 6, 2020

 

One of our Airbnb guests painted this picture of our house and left it for us as a gift.  A random act of kindness!  Bert and I were delighted.

• Monday.  A cold morning, fall is in the air.  It's so beautiful right now.
• Before work I hand watered in the Greenhouse Gardens.  
• Many of my Vegetable seedlings have emerged.  As I always write, it gives me a little thrill every time when I see seedlings emerge.  Such a miracle.
• I sowed Tickseed all along the Hot Border amongst the Rudbeckia Maxima, spider lilies, Senna tree and day lilies.  If all goes well, that border will be absolutely beautiful in the spring.  Watered them in with my hand sprinkler.  A few more hand-waterings and they should be good to go all winter.
• After work I prepped a 4x4 bed in the Vegetable garden with humus and manure.  I sowed some lettuces, a row of parsnips, a few carrots, a few Swiss chard and a few Zeolite calendulas.
• Tuesday.  Even cooler than yesterday.  And sunny.  So beautiful.
• Before work I watered my Fortune's Double, Zepherine Drouhin  and Ballerinas by hand.
• I also watered the dry part of the Vegetable Garden and the Hot Border with my watering can.
•  During lunch I seeded Johnny Jump Up seeds in the Orchard and in the front bed.
• After work I drove around the property looking at the wonderful native grasses that are beginning to throw out their seed heads.  I have many varieties, and I am so frustrated that I don't know all their names.  I immediately afterword went to the computer looking for pictures to identify them.  I know one of the varieties is switchgrass (which is a a great native), but the rest - I don't know except for little bluestem.  That one is easy to identify.
• Wednesday.  Worked.
• I sowed some Zeolite calenduals in one of my black buckets during lunch.
• Pulled up a big zinnia growing under the old dead tree in the Rose Garden.  I will be sowing seeds there soon.
• Watered in the Hot Border.
• Watered in the dry part of the Orchard where I sowed Johnny Jump Ups yesterday.
• Watered some of my new lantanas.
• Thursday.  Worked.
• I set out my sprinklers in the Rose Garden and the Star Garden in preparation for being gone for 4 days (Airbnb guests arrive on Friday and exit on Tuesday).
• I watered in the Orchard where I sowed seeds. 
• Watered my new plants.
• Headed back to Houston after work.