A Day at the Farm April 1, 2012

This is the Long Border, next to the entrance to the Rose Garden. It is at the height of its spring glory. Really lovely.

I went up by myself for the day because I knew the poppies would be in full bloom. I didn't want to miss the show.

• I planted some gingers that I dug up from home. I planted several clumps in the Shade Garden and several clumps in the Circle Drive. As always, quite a bit of work because of the matted roots that have to be dug out.
• Fertilized in the Shade Garden.
• Harvested some spring carrots, some parsnips, and some asparagus. We have gotten a lot of asparagus this year!
• Planted 3 Millionaire eggplants. It's probably a little too early to plant eggplant by a few weeks. They like it hot. But, they might as well sit in my garden instead of a nursery shelf.
• Planted 4 Comfrey plants in the Medicine Garden. Some common names for Comfrey are Knitbone, Woundwort, and Healherb. It is a good addition to my Medicine Garden, and I'm happy to have found it at Buchanan's Nursery in one of my weekly forays to the nursery during my lunch hour.
• I planted 3 Leucantha All Purple near the Triumphator Lilies. I can't understand why none of my Leucantha came back from last year. Really strange. I had some growing in the Long Border and in the Star Garden, and none of it came back after the winter.
• Finally, I planted 4 Catmint in one of the new beds. Catmint 'Walkers Low' has a silvery-blue cast to it which I admire very much. It grows in an attractive rounded form, and it has blue flowers. I think it is very pretty. It is an herb, and the leaves can be used to flavor meats.
• Sprayed herbicide in the Orchard and the Star Garden.
• Sprayed fungicide on the Hollyhocks. I had to cut away all the leaves on the Hollyhocks in the Orchard. They were covered in rust. It would be wonderful if someone would discover a cure for rust. It's pretty horrible.
• Pulled some weeds, but the summer weeds have not started growing in force yet, so this is a nice in-between time. It was hot today, though.
• Put tomato cages around the tomatoes.
• Made a lengthy inspection of everything. My seedlings of Rose Campion and Morning Glories are coming along.

Poppies in the Star Garden

Poppies In and Around the Orchard

Pretty spectacular.

What's Blooming Now - Hinckley Columbine April 1, 2012

My Hinckley Columbine is growing at the edge of the Shade Garden. Hinckley is a Texas native. Columbine is an evergreen perennial, very valuable in the shady landscape. They reseed freely. I dig up seedlings out of the paths and replant them in other spots in the garden. They transplant very easily. The flowers are so delicate and interesting-looking.

Columbine have interesting spurs on the backside of the flowers.

The above picture is an unopened flower. It looks like a rocket ship.

What's Blooming Now - Missy Prissy Bearded Iris 04/01/2012

This is the first year the Missy Prissy Irises have bloomed for me. I planted them last fall, and they didn't bloom that spring. They are putting on a good display this year, though. I bought them at the Houston Garden Club Fall Bulb Mart. I like to buy irises at the bulb mart. I don't like to order them through the internet because I think they have more of a risk of drying out during the shipping process.

New Bench in the Orchard

My husband bought the two metal bench ends from Adkins Architectural Antiques and built this bench. He painted it green to match the fence. Very picturesque.

More California Poppies