| Posted on Friday, August 29, 2003 - 03:00 am: |   
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Yesterday was hot and sunny. Dry. But many of my plants were droopy - even though the sprinklers were on the night before. Planters mostly. I barely had time to put down the paperwork I brought home. It was a garden 911. I grabbed the hose and started spraying.
Last night after my walk I gave a lot of areas some more extra drinks. I like going to work but I hate coming home to sad flowers.
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| Posted on Saturday, August 30, 2003 - 09:03 am: |
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A list of things to remember for next spring:
1. No more glads. I am tired of running after them and staking them only to have them fall over again. The period of time they are attractive does not warrant the time it takes to tend to them.
2. I had beautiful pansies here and I left them against my better judgement. Now the area is devoid of color ( although in 4 or so weeks the mums should bloom). And it has looked ratty for many weeks now.
3.Last year the boarder here was made up of New Guniea impatiens. It looked great until frost. So why oh why did I select ageratum this year? It looks just OK up close but from the sidewalk it's lacking impact. I like impact.
The larger oval has tall phlox which had a bad year - only a few good weeks and is now finished. The smaller oval has torenia which looks ok.
4. A few years ago I started planting wave petunias here and they have never let me down. It's been a lush and vibrant flower bed. This year I grew my petunias from seed. The spring was cold and wet. They were slow to take off. No flowers until the end of june I think. All summer I struggled with this bed. Whatever I grew did not meet the package description. They fast became leggy and I have been gutting them back for weeks. Very sparse flowering. Right in the front of my house. I am not happy. This is another area that is usually the last to loose color in the fall. Now it's an embarrassment.
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| Posted on Sunday, August 31, 2003 - 02:31 pm: |
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What a perfect day. Cool, sunny and dry.
I trimmed the iris fans. Some where supposed to be rebloomers but none of them ever did.
I also yanked a tall and leggy white liatris. It was never a favorite of mine and too floppy.
I did a lot of weeding and trimming (mostly dead cosmos stems and spent flowers).
My birdbath was overdue for a cleaning and I refilled the birdfeeder. |
| Posted on Friday, September 05, 2003 - 03:33 am: |
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Rain and long work days lave kept me out of the garden all week. I did run out to cut some flowers to bring to work yesterday morning.
One parent in my office for registration spent a lot of time admiring my garden pictures yesterday. I printed and put up about 20 of them. |
| Posted on Sunday, September 07, 2003 - 01:57 pm: |
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I did a bit of cleaning up today and deadheading all the cosmos. It's time to prepare for the fall.
The Caryopteris is opening and so is the Agapanthus. I am excited about both.
Last year I hardly saw one butterfly. This year I saw a few early on and then only those little white ones. Today an army of monarchs were feasting all over the place. It was marvelous to see. But I was busy outside and I did not have the camera. When I did go out to shoot them they insisted on posing in bad light or to high up. Maybe I'll look for them again later. None-the-less I enjoyed their visit.
And my fennel in the planters out front started flowering a few weeks ago. The tallest stems were easily well over 6 feet. I took some dried up flowers and put them in an envelope. I am hoping that I have some seeds. It all looks like dust. The flowers are a bee magnet. I cut a lot to put in vases and I'll take some to work tomorrow. The flowers are yellow and I think they will look great with some white cosmos and a fushia dahlia. |
| Posted on Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 07:25 pm: |
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Drowning in work.Go in early,stay late and take things home to work on.Except to quickly throw water a a few containers I have not looked at anything in my garden. Pity! |
| Posted on Saturday, September 13, 2003 - 03:35 am: |
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I want to try to get pansies this weekend and maybe some perennials that are on sale but I think the rain and wind will keep me indoors.
An aster I planted last year has buds, caryopteris is more open than not and agapanthis is opening. The zinnias are in their prime right now and the cleomes are thriving in our cooler weather. Monique's calandulas too. A second show now for them. The butterfly bushes are covered in butterflies, the orange asclepias is in bloom a second time (a first for me). The alstroemeria are also enjoying the cooler weather. The Japanese anemones are still pumping out blooms, inpatiens still look great and lots of other things too. Some mums are in bloom and others have loads of buds.
My garden enjoyment is not over yet. I just wish I had more time for it but the days are much shorter on both ends so it's hard. |
| Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2003 - 06:37 am: |
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Today is partly sunny, breezy and hummid. I plan to pot up some rose campion to give away at work. I got one plant in a trade 2 years ago this fall. It flowered last summer and this year was busy revealing many seedlings. Now there are tons of little plants. I will move some around my garden and give the rest away at work.
I will begin my fall clean up too. While the mums and asters are coming into their prime a lot of things are making my garden look raggedy. Amazingly as most of my cosmos are shriveling up I have 2 that are first starting to bloom and look marvelous. The dahlias are still going strong as are impatiens, salvias, begonias, alstroemerias, and a few other things that escape me just now.
No pictures now although I am continuing to shoot them. My son is installing a new computer and hasn't reconnected my cable on the last one.
He is also using the oldest computer (the original which has been rebuilt and updated several times) to create a server (he says) and will be able to make me a free website. I have no idea what he is doing but in between school projects this is being worked on.
I must get some potted mums this weekend to replace 2 planters in the front of my home. The containers that my daughter painted are still looking good and I will leave them for now. |
| Posted on Monday, October 06, 2003 - 04:26 pm: |
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We had 2 great days in a row weather wise. Cool and crisp. I did a bit of cleaning up out side andI pulled out dead cosmos and morning glory vines. the mums are opening and look quite nice. This is their time to shine. I just wish I knew how to trim them over the summer to make them grow in the nice round mounds. The way they look in the nurseries. |
| Posted on Sunday, October 26, 2003 - 05:49 am: |
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Wow I have't been here in a while. Here's what the above bed looks like now.
 Not a pretty site.
I spent a few hours yesterday planting bulbs and moving things around. I thought I had a lot of bulbs but now I see more areas that I want to add some to. Home Depot today.
I moved my Caryopteris a few feet to the right since it has been engulfed by the Polemonium.
I also move lots of Rose Campion plantlets.I have given away several of them. I think these will take over the garden unless I keep a good eye on them. The good thing is that it will only be every other year.
The mums are still putting on a good show. It's been a relatively dry October and but with the colder temps things are not drying out much. |
| Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2004 - 03:59 pm: |
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Well I have not been inspired to write about my frozen garden. It's been a colder snowier winter with temps averaging in the single numbers and teens for weeks. Yuch, I can't wait for it to be over. |
| Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2004 - 07:08 pm: |
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I spotted the first sign of crocuses nosing out of the frozen soil. We had temps in the 50's this afternoon. It won't be long now before color burst out all over. The days are getting longer and warmer. I was even able to do an outdoor power walk after work. How glorious! |
| Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2004 - 07:40 pm: |
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It's definitely warming up, at 6:15 it's 53F.
We have nothing sprouting in the yard, not even the lenten rose but we should soon.
I can't wait - I'm glad you had a good garden day and got in a walk besides. |
| Posted on Monday, March 08, 2004 - 06:46 am: |
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Yesterday I planted most of my seeds (several were from assorted garden buddies) and Greg put my light unit together. What will I do without him when he's away at college next year.
I cannot find my cosmos seeds and nasturtium. I know I ordered several. I will look around some more and if I don't find them by next saturday I'll get some more at the Hicks Nursery Flower Show. |
| Posted on Sunday, July 18, 2004 - 01:54 pm: |
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I am happier with the appearance of this spot this year. The one change I will make for next year is to use one color of verbena rather than 2. I will go with just the reddish one.
This next bed looks much better than last year too. Note for next year: skip the light pink petunias or use half what I have here in that color. More purple.
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