Tuesday, July 21, 2009

I've been inspired.

And so I've created a rose garden. Right now it's just a lot of dead bermuda grass and clay on a very sunny "corner" of a new path. But each rose I plant gives me a chance to work a lot of soil around the plant. I add lots of organic stuff and stir well. I'll be putting down cardboard and mulching with leaves in a couple weeks. The grass was killed with RoundUp several weeks ago.

I moved Mr Lincoln, my "orange" rose, a Sunny knockout, an unknown lavender hybrid tea rose that I got for $1, and because I needed a sunny spot for it, a Confederate Rose (Hibiscus mutabilis). I had wintersown this one and apparently forgotten that I had planted out one container. I found it this morning under some flopping echinacea.



On the corner, there's an old pink camellia that was nearly 30' tall when I moved in. It was so big, it blocked all the sun out in the backyard. If I was to grow tomatoes, it had to come down. Hopefully the new growth will make it through this year's winter. The stump is pretty large.

I'm sure it's not the best time to move roses in the South, but they're all fairly new and had barely begun to put out new root growth. I'll just have to watch the watering for a week or two. And we're forecasted to have lots of rain this week.

It's 75 degrees and cloudy. :)

I performed a few more injustices this morning too. I pulled out all the red spider zinnias and convolvulus. I transplanted a few things, rudbeckias, melampodiums, datura, and helianthus.



I moved a couple of young hibiscus.



That red Texas star is not happy.



I also moved some echinacea that were wintersown.





I sowed some seeds and transplanted some white crape myrtles.



I moved the Korean lilac into the driveway border. The rudbeckia here got pulled.



The loropetalum near the front door got a new home in the white bed.



A tea olive from the backyard took it's place in the corner.



I saw a butterfly I couldn't identify.



The stargazers in the front bed got relocated too. I didn't chop into a single bulb like I usually do.



I planted one of the lobelia. I want to see how it performs here over the next few days.



I tossed all the pulled plants, seeds intact, into the gully. Volunteers, maybe?



A lone Stella D'Oro is blooming near the mailbox.



Now, I think I want to paint my bedroom.

7 comments:

lynn'sgarden said...

So, Tom, you on vacation?? Always working so hard! Rose bed looking good. I was bummed my loropetulum didn't survive! Wait, thought the house painting was DONE...lol!

Tom - 7th Street Cottage said...

Just off for the day. My last two days off, I did nothing. Having to catch up. LOL.

The painting is done, sort of. I just don't care for the color. And I want a new feel to the bedroom.

LeSan said...

Wow. Looks like the constructive staring session was very effective. With results like that I am going to have to give it a try. LOL

It is all looking very "ooh" and "ahh" at your place. Your hard work is really paying off.

Jean Campbell said...

I think your butterfly is a Buckeye. If you find black and red caterpillars on your snapdragons, the Buckeye left eggs there. They use many different plants as hosts.

I have good-sized white crape myrtles to transplant, but I'm waiting until they go dormant in the fall.

It's all fun. I have bermuda grass to pull and vines to dig where I'm renovating the stump bed.

Tom - 7th Street Cottage said...

Thanks LeSan. A lot of what came from that session in the backyard got done today.

Nell, I'm not going to let rules and things like that get in my way. People say you can't do things at certain times, well if they die, so be it. I'll replace it with something else.

Heather said...

Your new bed ought to look beautiful soon! I never wait for the 'right' time to move things either. My stuff usually makes it. Good luck!

Kris said...

Tom, nice butterfly! Did you WS that? ;-D