| Posted on Sunday, August 31, 2003 - 11:56 am: |   
 |
Checked the garden late - almost 9:00. I almost never get to sleep that late. Went to my neighbor's house and dug up 60 Hibiscus coccineus seedlings, potted them in 4 1/2" pots and put them under a growing bench to give them some sun protection. Watered the garden. Spent the afternoon and evening in Chattanooga at the Tennessee Aquarium. We got year passes when we went in the spring.
|
| Posted on Sunday, August 31, 2003 - 12:11 pm: |
|
Checked the garden about 8:30 am - drank my coffee outside with the dogs. Nothing is too dry yet. The pineapple sage is finally going to bloom - it has gotten huge but no buds until now.
Went out about 12:00 noon and watered all the pots. We had a brief rain shower while I was watering the greenhouse. It wasn't enough to soak the ground. The single Clematis integrifolia seedling that sprouted is adjusting to the greenhouse. Everything in there is pretty overgrown and I've got my work cut out to get things down to over-pwintering size. Looks like I could have lots of cuttings.
|
| Posted on Wednesday, September 03, 2003 - 11:40 am: |
|
Yesterday I broke down and watered the most recently planted parts of the sunny dry bed and the dogwood bed on the north side of the house. We haven't had significant rain in almost three weeks and with the heat things are looking parched.
Today I watered the usual pots and beds and greenhouse - plus the raspberries. My DH loves his raspberries, gotta take care of them.
I'm working on my fall planting preparations. Killed the grass in the area of a new raised bed, walk and border. Got the stuff together to do a walkway, concrete mold, mixer (the little Odd Job kind) etc. I'm thinking of using concrete stain to match the brick colors of the house. There's a great concrete supply near me that is really for contractors but they sell to homeowners, too. I'll be making some other concrete and hypertufa stuff, too. Got a great book called "Making Concrete Garden Ornaments". It covers everything you need to know to make troughs, mosaics, sculpture. I can't wait to try some stuff. I'm going to make a base for my sundial and some large planters with "Arts and Craft era" details.
I looked for some mini-succulents for the new desert terrarium we set up for my son's birthday present - a leopard gecko named Neville. No luck so far on really small things that stay really small. I think I'll have to order some lithops and tiger jaws, etc. from someplace like Logee's.
I haven't taken any pictures since we went to the Tennessee Aquarium and I have to charge the batteries for the camera. It looks like it might rain, Oh Please, Oh Please.
|
| Posted on Friday, September 05, 2003 - 10:48 am: |
|
I did lots of watering today. There seemed to be rain all around us but not here, yesterday. But the temperature is cooler and cloudy - doesn't feel as humid. Almost feels like fall is around the corner.
There are caterpillars everywhere. Took one off a tomato plant. There was a cool, white, fuzzy one on the Clematis 'Duchess of Edinburg'. And a swallowtail caterpillar on the Agastache, hmmm....
I've been coming up with a plan for semi-annual open garden/plant sale next year (one each in the spring and fall). It will give me a deadline for garden projects and a way to sell excess plants (very reasonably) I grow from seeds and cuttings. Then I won't have to winter over extras - so many die that way. And I can recoupe some of the cost of pots and soil I use.
I sure have a lot of BIG pots of tender perennials that ought to go in the greenhouse this winter. I will have to decide how to handle this pretty soon. |
| Posted on Tuesday, September 09, 2003 - 01:35 pm: |
|
I've been doing minimal gardening for a couple of days: watering and a bit of dead-heading. I've been so busy with Book Fairs and birthday preparations for my DS - not that we're making a big deal this year.
Worked on my gardenbuddies album - moving pictures and albums around. Its more organized now and I learned a good bit about what can be done. I'm consolidating some of my old web page into the albums (they are so much easier to update, move and remove).
Went to take pictures to add to my September album and only took a few. Nothing much new and although it is still pretty colorful - there's not much outstanding. We really need some rain - but we're getting cooler temperatures and it is helping.
|
| Posted on Sunday, September 14, 2003 - 10:23 am: |
|
Haven't posted anything here for a couple of days. The garden is fine. The cooler temperatures were nice for a few days. This morning was warm again. But, we might get rain this evening - please, please, please!
I'm hoping to get a load (or two) of manure this next week and my DH has promised to help me get it unloaded and spread. I have a ton of projects to work on but I need help for most of them.
I found a wonderful web site for artists. It could very likely help inspire me to new art projects the way GardenBuddies inspires me to new garden projects and plants.
|
| Posted on Friday, September 19, 2003 - 02:31 pm: |
|
Yesterday my DH and I got a truckload of horse manure - really aged horse manure. It hardly smells at all. I'm working it into the new beds. It should be a great help.
I planted a vitex today that desperately needed to get in the ground. And the Angelica seeds came from Kaveh, too. |
| Posted on Monday, September 22, 2003 - 05:38 pm: |
|
It rained - finally! It was a long soaking rain, too. I think I've been a bit depressed since it hasn't rained in months...so it is such a relief. I hope we get some regular water now through the fall.
I've been working on the new bed: laying out the path and getting together the soil amendments. The more I work on it, the smaller it looks...and I planned to plant how much stuff here? The central path takes up some room - but it is too wide to work without it. Good thing I've got several more beds planned. Its just that new bed preparation is so much work.
I'm going to a plant swap next Saturday. Plant swap..HA! I don't really need to bring anything home. I'm trying to decide what to take. I have plenty of gallons of verbena bonariensis, baptisia australis, lychnis chalcedonica, gaura and valerian and lots of pots (4 1/2") of campanulas (percisifolia alba mostly) plenty of foxgloves and some rosemary, dianthus knappii, lychnis coronaria alba, Swamp Hibiscus, filipendula vulgaris. BUT I REALLY DON'T NEED TO BRING MORE PLANTS HOME. Maybe I'll just give some stuff away and make a few gardening friends nearby. The only plants I really want to add this fall are one fairly large Loropetalum, and a PG Hydrangea 'Tardiva'. I have tons to plant already. What I really need to trade for are 4"x4" landscape timbers, soil amendments and bags of concrete mix.
|
| Posted on Thursday, October 02, 2003 - 08:14 am: |
|
I started cleaning up plants in the greenhouse so I'll be able to fit what needs to go in there shortly. Some things will come out. I'm going to put the clematis - pots and all (15 or so) into one raised bed (that the peppers and tomatoes are coming out of shortly) and mulch them well. The small antique roses, too - but they're not in the greenhouse. The vines are going to be a challenge. The Mandevilla and Passionflower are growing all around the the roof and sides and through a lot of other plants (cane begonias, etc.) I have Jasmine growing out the vents and the bougainvillea is huge and growing out the vents, too. All of these need to be re-potted and cut back. I could do some serious propagating from cutting if I had room and a use for them.
I've got to deal with some giant non-hardy plants that are outside, too. The potted strobilanthes is 4 ft. tall and sprawls a good 6-7 feet. I think I'll whack the Cat Whiskers (I now have 2 in big pots) and the plumbago back quite a bit. I'm seriously thinking about putting them in my coldframe (fits on the other raised bed once I dig the dahlias that are in there now) instead of the greenhouse. The variegated confederate jasmine and sages (pineapple and Mexican) could go in there, too. They can almost take our winters.
Last year I took cuttings of heliotrope, evolvulus, callibrichoa, rosemary, verbenas, alternantheras about this time. Hmmm...I better get busy.
I've got a big job ahead cleaning beds. The dry garden is due to have the guara cut back (still blooming though) and clean out the old cosmos stalks. I want to put some grasses in that area. The central area has become a mish-mash. With the reseeded cleome (lavender-pink not white like the originals) and the Knockout Rose I have introduces pink into that bed. I may not put Tithonia there next year (but the butterflies love it so much - I'll want to have it somewhere). I'm not going to get away from the orange altogether, with the Candy Lilies and cosmos sulphureus. I'm happy that the Euphorbia myrsinites has moved itself to a nice rocky spot along with my collection of creeping sedums. That is working out nicely. This whole bed needs some serious re-thinking - a good winter project.
I'm just rambling. Ah, well. so much for the rest. Back to cleaning up.
|
| Posted on Friday, October 03, 2003 - 10:46 am: |
|
Did a bunch in the garden this morning. Fixed the lattice on the fence in back and added the wire fencing to the wood fence I built earlier this summer. This is to support some Clematis durandii and antique roses (Francesca or Moonlight) and keep the dogs from using it as a shortcut. I added the topsoil to the mulch of aged horse manure that I spread a week ago and forked it into the soil of the new bed. It is already vastly improved. Now I'll set out the plants I planned to plant there and look at them there for a bit and see if there need to be changes. I'm sure I am expecting to put in too much. I wanted to put rosemary in the middle along the wood/wire fence but I want to put it in a raised porous container (that's attractive) so it will have adequate drainage. A large chimney pot would be nice. I wanted to put Mutabilis rose in the corner and baptisia between that and the Vitex along with Agastache rupestins. Other things I had planned to put in are: Veronica, Artemesia-Southernwood, Euphorbia dulcis-Cameleon, Campanula percisifolia alba, Campanula glomerata, Lychnis coronaria Alba, Stachys lanata. I'm also planting both Just Joey roses, and Apricot Nectar in that bed. |
| Posted on Saturday, October 04, 2003 - 01:30 pm: |
|
The new bed...so far.
|
| Posted on Friday, October 10, 2003 - 06:32 am: |
|
Its been a few days but I planted a bunch of stuff in the new bed: 5 roses (2 Just Joey, Apricot Nectar, Francesca and Mutabilis), 3 Clematis durandii, 3 Baptisia, 3 Veronica, 3 Rue, 5 Agastache rupestins, 3 Stokesia laevis, 3 Scabiosa ochroleuca, 5 Campanula persicifolia 'alba', 3 Centranthus ruber, 1 Euphorbia dulcis 'Chameleon' and 1 Artemesia 'Southernwood'. I've still got to get some porous raised containers for the two rosemary plants that I want to put along the fence. I'm going for salmon/peach/warm red/white/lavender/blue. There will be room (I hope) to tuck some edging plants in. Maybe white phlox subulata and grape hyacinth bulbs and a couple of Campanula poscharskyana - oh, and creeping thyme.
We’ve had some pleasant rain and more is expected today – light but over much of the day. It should be good for the garden as well and the fall color.
The fence is really see-through and the other side will be planted, too. It will be the wilder stuff – and a bit dryer. I’m planning a Loropetalum (purple leaf variety of some kind in the corner. Other possibilities I have already are: White cone flowers, true Queen Ann’s Lace, Coreopsis, Lychnis coronaria ‘alba’, Caryopteris incana, Cherokee rose, iris (I’ve got tons of tall German type – but wouldn’t Iris pallida be pretty), verbascum, pennisetum (fountain grass), gaura, verbena bonariensis (that will be all over – its already started on its own between the Vitex and the ‘Diana’ Altheas in the more formal area.
There’s another area along/outside the fence (like that one) that runs besides my growing benches that will be planted in wilder, more moisture loving plants: Veronicastrium, cannas, miscanthus sinensis, Asclepias ‘Ice Ballet’.
This will take me the rest of the fall and much of the winter. I’ll be working on the shade bed areas, too. The shady side of the greenhouse, under the dogwood on the north side of the house and beside the new storage building. I certainly have no shortage of projects or plants to plant.
|
| Posted on Tuesday, October 14, 2003 - 02:23 pm: |
|
I have spent many hours over the last couple of days rebuilding my GardenBuddies Gallery. I have made a ton of changes and will be doing away with my old page, the one I created in html code. Everything is in the new gallery and is much easier to organize and update, remove, rotate - plus there are so many features - comments, number of views.
My garden is enjoying the cooler weather and the work is backing up but, hey, I've got months to clean up and plant. I did take some pictures today, the dahlias are outstanding.
My dogs have been truants again. My DS and I had to retrieve both yesterday morning (and Streak was on the long (30 foot)leash. It had been a deterant to going over the fence until now but it does make it easier to catch him. They were back at the house of the people who found them last week - several blocks away, but in our neighborhood. They even went over/through a heavy briar patch and creek in less than 15 minutes trailing a 30 ft. leash without getting snagged. Later the same day - Abbey jumped the fence and we found her in the yard next door.
What to do?
|
| Posted on Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - 10:41 am: |
|
I spent the morning cleaning the greenhouse. I pruned everything except the passionflower and the mandevilla. It is so much brighter and neater. I untangled all the clematis, too. They'll be ready to go out into the raised bed for the winter.
I spent over an hour (a very long hour) shearing back gaura and pulling dead emilia and cosmos from the front bed. Two huge loads of stuff. It is neater and I can see now where I can put the grasses. I got one of those collapsible debri containers (a big one - large trash can size). Those are soooo handy.
After looking at pictures of the same bed last year I want more salvia again. There were plenty of salvia plants but they got crowded out by gaura, emilia and boltonia. Even the cleome had trouble competing. I'm going to have to watch that next spring.
I've also got an infestation of liriope in that bed. It must have been planted by the previous owner under the tree that came down in the tornado. It wasn't significant until I developed the flower bed and now its popping up all through the other plants.
I think I'll just move it up to the now-bare area under the Natchez Crepe Myrtle. Its starting to shade out other plants and I can mix it with bulbs. Oh yeah, I've got to get bulbs still.
|
| Posted on Sunday, October 19, 2003 - 07:08 am: |
|
We (well my DH did - but I found out how to do it) got the greenhouse heater working. The pilot light needed cleaning. Today we will install the automatic vent openers.
We got the chipper back from Carl's uncle (he actually owns it - but we store it). I have a pile of stuff to chip.
|
| Posted on Tuesday, November 11, 2003 - 12:05 pm: |
|
Haven't posted an entry here in a while. I've been pretty much still on maintenance mode. We haven't had anything like a freeze yet so everything is still growing happily. Once it does freeze (or close) I'll be composting tomato and pepper plants and preparing dahlias for the winter. Getting out the portable cold frame. I've done some clean up in big sunny bed. I've got 300 plus bulbs arriving any day. I've just called a tree service company to put me on their list of places to dump wood chips - all they want to dump.
I've been putting off spraying some new bed areas with Roundup (I just hate using chemicals).
I did collect some seeds from Erigeron annuua - fleabane and Goldenrod. I know there are some much improved varieties of Goldenrod, especially, but I'm going to encourage the wild ones out in the way back. I'm thinking of using Soldaster in the more 'cultivated' beds.
I've still got to decide what will winter over in the greenhouse. The Strobilanthes is huge and it got mealy bugs last winter in the greenhouse (one of the few plants that seemed to have pest problems). I’m thinking of letting it stay in the cold frame along with some other almost hardy things. The Pineapple and Mexican sages are gigantic, too. And they both started out as small plants in the spring. Maybe I'll put them in the cold frame if they fit. Then if they make it, great, if not they're replaceable.
I am planning a good bit of winter seed sewing - several varieties I ordered much earlier require several months of cold so I figured I'd wait and let them stratify naturally. I've already picked up a few things to start inside - and I haven't even begun to look seriously.
|
| Posted on Friday, November 14, 2003 - 01:14 pm: |
|
What a busy couple of days. I was fortunate not to be needed for Jury Duty. I had to call every day all week to find out if I was needed but was finally released on Thursday night. Whew! It was a good thing, too. I whacked back all the big non-hardy potted plants yesterday and put them in the greenhouse. Today I dug and cleaned dahlias. Tomorrow I will divide and store them. This is a major job. Its hard to believe that at this time last year I only had one kind of dahlia given to me by my neighbor. I took cuttings of that one and had 9 plants in the spring. Now I have 17 different named varieties and a couple of unidentified kinds. Most have multiiplied and I have dozens of the one I rooted from cuttings.
The garden is beginning to look pretty bare. There are a few roses still blooming. The heliotrope and evolvulous haven't been zapped by frost yet. Some of the zinnias are still holding up.
Once the cold takes its toll I'll start working on the 'bones' of the garden: putting in walkways and edging.
|
| Posted on Wednesday, November 26, 2003 - 06:17 pm: |
|
Well, we finally got a freeze. I pulled out the tomatoes and peppers, most of the zinnias and other tender plants that bit the dust. I got out the portable coldframe. I pulled the clematis out of the greenhouse - I'll bury them in the raised bed with mulch along with the baby roses.
I've put the potted rosemaries, small stroblanthes and ruellia in the coldframe. I'll be putting some winter sown seeds in there, too, shortly. We finally installed my auto vent openers on the greenhouse - and they work like a dream. Why didn't I do that before!
Several new beds are coming along now. And I'm getting clearer about what is going where.
Looks better and more organized as it gets cleaned up.
|
| Posted on Friday, January 30, 2004 - 04:44 pm: |
|
I haven't done much outside. I am collecting rocks from all around the yard for an edging in the garden near the greenhouse. I also tried to creat a sweetgum ball free zone in our backyard today. Its been a particularly abundant year for them and one can hardly walk without sliding on them. However, there are at least as many that haven't fallen as those that have - five mature trees worth, too. Oh, well - the birds love them.
I got an order of seeds from Thompson & Morgan (as if I need more seeds) so I'll be starting seeds inside shortly. Salvia patens, Euphorbia 'Summer Icicles', Tanacetum 'Jackpot', Dahlia 'Bishops Children', Hare's Tail (Lagurus ovatus, Quaking Grass (Briza maxima) and some different Verbascums. Plus some of the usual: Salvia 'Blue Bedder', white cleome... Do I really need more of much else?
I think there are still enough cold days left to put some things outside to 'winter sow'. I meant to do it earlier but its worth a shot. I've got a few that require several weeks of cold: Cimicifuga, Euphorbia amygdaloides, Vernonia, Physostegia and some collected goldenrod. I'll try Astrantia major 'Ruby Cloud', and Sweet Cicely again. I've tried them without luck so far.
I'm thinking of ordering some plants from Green Mountain Transplants rather than start so many things from seed - I don't really need dozens of everything.
|
| Posted on Monday, April 26, 2004 - 11:21 pm: |
|
I've been so busy in the garden I've barely had time stop and think no less write anything about it. Its also taking my mind off waiting until May 15 to find out if my picture gets in the show in Memphis.
Anyway, I've been spending a lot of time in the back yard in the greenhouse garden. Here are some shots of the progress.
This is the bed I planted last year with the poppies starting to bloom. I'm planning to put a trellis of some sort on the right side and plant a rose and clematis.
Here are three of the angelicas planted.
I've had a major breakthrough in planning this week. I'm moving a fence to include a part of the garden that I have difficulty keeping up because its outside the fence. My neighbors don't mind and it will solve other problems like camouflaging the air conditioner. I'm very excited about this.
Oh, and we're looking into rebuilding the deck. Our existing deck is becoming dangerously worn out. The back of the house is not attractive as it is and the new deck will be a huge improvement. I want also to put a shed roof out over the basement door and a potting area. We're looking at putting a screened porch on the upper deck. I'm excited about this, too.
|
| Posted on Monday, November 22, 2004 - 04:15 pm: |
|
I hadn't posted any journal entries since April. Wow! A lot has happened in the garden since then. My good idea about the fence is done as is the new deck/screened porch. Check out my Garden webpage if your interested in pictures. I'm am planting shrubs/small trees now. I have reached that admirable time in life when I have a teenager that is motivated by money to help do heavy jobs in the yard. He and his 14 year-old friend (who have started a lawn mowing/raking business - we were one of their first clients) agreed to dig 15 large holes for my new shrubs. We're talking heavy clay here with lots of gravel in some places. They did a wonderful job. It took them all Saturday morning They woke me up at 8:00 ready to start - but they watched a movie during part of the time - I wasn't paying them by the hour - LOL. I have planted six of the plants so far including the 7-gallon Chionanthus virginicus, 2 Ilex glabras 'Shamrock', one forsythia, variegated willow and a Raphiolepis 'Majestic Beauty'. I'm amending the soil quite a bit. My plan was to finish up the next day or days but it started raining that night and hasn't stopped (except to mist) since then. So I'll get to that shortly. I still have the 6 Camellias, 2 more forsythias and a Cleyra in three gallon or larger pots to plant. I have a bunch of smaller things, too: one Callicarpa, Aronia arbutifolia 'Brilliantissima', one Leucothoe fontanesiana 'Girard's Rainbow', a small Thuja 'Green Giant' and T. 'Emerald', several Junipers, two evergreen variegated Euonymus shrubs, and one trailing wintercreeper variety. I'm moving the Smokebush that's planted in the front yard to a more favorable location in back. There are about three well-established Crepe Myrtle seedlings in my front bed I need to move and a fairly large Ilex opaca that decided to grow near my front steps.
That will make a dent in the woodies - and I thought that would take me all winter. I need to plant the 300+ bulbs - mostly daffodils in the next week or so. I may enlist help for that, too. They have already volunteered (for pay, of course).
I'm going to plant the bed near three of the camelias and Leucothoe with Helleborous, Heuchera and Solomons Seal. These are waiting patiently in pots along with dozens (maybe hundreds) of other plants that need planting - the curse of the plant addict. Eventually I'll get all the Clematis and antique roses out of the nursery bed and into their permanent spots, too.
I've had a wonderful idea for recycling plant material from pruning, etc. into garden ornaments/trellis/furniture. We had several 3-4" trees including maples that had to be removed from along the fence line so we could rebuild the fence. I'm going to use the trunks and branches for rustic arbors and seating. One fair size redbud had to go, too. I'll do something especially nice with that wood. I've even been stripping leaves from privet prunings to use in decorative items around the garden.
I've been sticking seedlings of fennel, achillea, phlox, coneflowers, dogwood trees in pots as I find them springing up in the grass and in beds around the yard where they won't be able to stay or there are too many already. I had to dig up a huge clump of goldenrod from a spot that will become a critical part of the path soon. I'm moving it out to the fence border, too.
Ah well, enough for now. Too bad its still pouring out or I could be out there working on all this stuff instead of just writing about it. |
| Posted on Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 02:58 pm: |
|
This is what I have been up to in April.
I've been really working on the area beside the house/inside the new fence (built just over a year ago). I've built new terraced beds and got the s-curve pathway that runs through that area outlined in landscape timbers (ready for sod). I've weeded the remaining beds (removing every speck of goldenrod - it's just too aggressive) and hauled in soil supplements (already added them to a couple of areas.) I set up a large window box under the basement window and built a trellis around the window. I planted 3 roses and a Cryptomeria japonica 'Black Dragon' that have survived in pots for much too long.
In other areas, I dug up the area in front of the greenhouse and put in pavers. I did a bunch of cleaning in the front, dry bed (50' x 15'). Still need to deal with the overzealous boltonia, tansy and some self-seeded crepe myrtles.
I moved up 9 flats (36-cell packs) of seedlings. I didn't know how the annual poppies would do - they were pretty crowded. But it appears I didn't lose many. Now I've got piles of foxgloves and poppies along with lots of other things in the cold frame. I've still got lots to move up inside under lights. I cleaned off the outside growing benches - saving the perennials I'm going to put in new beds.
I fertilized the greenhouse - first time in months. |
