Clyde Redmond Iris March 13, 2016

I have this variety of iris growing in many places throughout my garden, but they are only blooming here right now.  Must be some unique little micro climate.

Forsythia March 12, 2016

In the below photo my forsythia is blooming, partially obscured by verbena Bonariensis.  Also seen in this photo are roses, daffodils, cannas, day lilies, rudbeckia, poppies, and Phacelia.

Purple Phacelia March 11, 2016

A few more pictures of this little wilding.

Banana Shrub March 11, 2016

I have 3 Banana Shrubs growing in my gardens.  Two of them are growing along the walkway to the Orchard, and one is growing in Max's garden.  They bloom in the spring, they are blooming right now.  The flowers aren't particularly significant, and when the shrubs are not in bloom the greenery looks like a common shrub that grows in most yards, but the smell makes them very special. It is ripe banana.   You can smell it when you are standing on the opposite side of the yard.

Weekend at the Farm March 11, 2016

Arrived Friday afternoon. The garden smelled of ripe banana.  My Banana Shrubs are blooming. The scent permeates the garden in an even more pronounced manner in the evenings.  The Almond Verbena is loaded with buds.  It will take over right as the Banana Shrubs finish blooming.

Walked round and round looking at my gardens.

Saturday morning, up early and ready to work!  It's all about the compost on Saturday.

Filled the cadet with compost and drove down to the boardwalk. Spent a couple of hours weeding and putting compost around the White by the Gate Camellias, the Mojito Colocasias, several White Butterfly Gingers, and some of my Oakleaf Hydrangeas.  I noticed 3 Oakleaf hydrangea seedlings growing in the dirt next to the flowerbed.  Cool!  I always assumed you had to root them from cuttings, so I never bothered with it, but these either sprouted from seeds or underground stolons, although the seedlings are pretty far from the mother plant.  I'm going to transplant them to a spot that I want to fill.  

Ate some breakfast then filled the cadet with compost again and spread it around the rest of my Oakleaf Hydrangeas, some gingers, the other White by the Gate, some Colocasias near the Orchard, and some frustratingly slow growing plants that I can't remember the name of right now.

Prepared the beds and sowed two rows of Kentucky Wonder pole beans, one row will climb up the trellis and the other one I will have to build a support for.  Prepared the other bed that has a trellis and sowed some Tendergreen Burpless cucumber seeds.  I only have one more empty bed.  Not sure what I'm going to plant, probably more of something I'm already growing.

Added lots of compost and planted 15 Nicotiana plants in the Medicine Garden.  I want a wonderful smelling night garden over there with my nicotiana and my night blooming jasmine.

Cleaned out some areas in the Medicine Garden and moved the fallen leaves to another spot. 

Sowed two packets and the remains of a third packet of chive seeds in the Medicine Garden near all the parsley I have growing.

I only had one more wheel barrow of work left in me. Put compost around my Shenandoah cannas, my Mutabilis Rose and my Gruss an Aachan rose.

Sunday morning, up early.  Sat in the Star Garden on the bench we brought from Houston and drank my coffee, listened to the birds sing.

Cleared out a particularly snarly bed with Copper Canyon Daisies, orange and yellow lantana, and Cigar Plant.  Pulled up lots of Tuber Vervain.

Cut away the last of the dead debris in the Star Garden.  No more sticks.

Prepared the soil in the Long Border and sowed Anise Hyssop seed in several places.

Spent a couple hours in the Orchard weeding and putting compost around a couple of my new roses.

Ate lunch, walked around one last time and headed to Houston to have dinner at Will and Kim's house.

The First Irises of Spring March 9, 2016

Chinese Snowball Bush March 11, 2016

Viburnum Macrocephalum Sterile.  This charming little tree has an exceptionally long bloom time.  Some of the white flower clusters are completely formed, some of them are still immature and green, and some of them are still little brown buds.  They take a long time to form those pretty white clusters, so I would say their bloom time is about 3 months total.  That's impressive, rivaling anything I know of, even longer than crepe myrtles.  They are rather rare.  I ordered mine on the Internet.  What makes this plant particularly floriferous is that it is sterile.  It wastes no energy on making seeds.