Potting up, planting out, and things that bloom.

It's Sunday. Another month and I can create the full year of pictures. The circle bed feels very empty without the Thundercloud Plum.



Oh, what to plant here?



Some pictures were taken yesterday. Like the dianthus pinks maiden that are blooming again.



The "orange" rose.



Mountain bluet



And a camellia. I thought this was C. japonica, but it's got to be sasanqua, right? Where's Nell?



I planted a few plugs of Little Bluestem in the meadow garden. I hope it does take over.



7 lantana cuttings got potted this morning.



Two white, 5 Miss Huff. I'm starting to think the seeds I got were mislabeled. Miss Huff is supposed to be sterile. So maybe this isn't Miss Huff after all, but another lantana. That's fine. I like the flowers.



I've spread some broken bags of mulch on the rear bed where I pulled out ivy yesterday, half price and all. I'll spend most of the day today raking leaves in Larry's yard and shredding them. I'll be mulching the north beds where hosta, ferns, and cherry laurels live. I'll scatter a little here and there around the house too. I think I may just use the lawnmower to collect them into rows. There's a LOT of leaves out there in his yard.

It's 48 degrees with a high of 78 in the forecast. A bagel and coffee before heading out.

1:13pm - I've collected and bagged 3 sacks of leaves from Larry's yard. The sack is a queen sized bed sheet folded in half and sewn together. I put one against the stone wall on the north side of the house. The other two were spread in the back yard behind the upper potager and over the mulch I spread this morning. I just think it's more consistent looking.



While cutting the grass (mulching leaves), I noticed that I have defined edges. I like edges.





The high has been raised to 84 degrees. It's 72 and sunny.

Sunday

It's Monday and still no word on when the internet will be back on. So I'm at the library again. My laptop has died completely. Ugh.

Yesterday, I spent some time moving things in the perennial bed. I also planted 5 hardy mums and 10 perennial asters. But the big change was on the path. I mentioned before that I wanted to make a circular bed where the birdbath is. I've already moved the knockouts and a couple butterfly bushes. I forget now what else got moved, but the path is done. I still need more stone to finish the path along the gully's edge.









Most of the stone came from the ditchlilies near the mailbox. I killed two more snakes pulling these stones out.



Sunday's picture, before I reworked the bed.



It's hard to see in the photo, but the helianthus is blooming. Carrie gave me these plants.



It's cool and rainy today. I forgot to check the temperature. Light showers should persist most of the day. Tomorrow, I plan to move three leyland cypress from the stone wall on the north side of the house. I'll be planting Carolina cherry laurels along that wall. They grow fast and huge, so I'll be shearing them into a hedge next year. I have 16 from the 18 I raised from seed.

Sunday

It's Sunday and I have the day off. All week I had planned to work on the kitchen today, hopefully getting the beadboard installed on the wall behind the kitchen sink and around the window. But the sun is peeking out every now and again making it very difficult to think about staying inside. So much to do in the perennial bed. I'm ready to cut back lots of plants and move some things around. The ground is a bit too wet. Maybe tomorrow evening.



It doesn't help that the tea olives are in bloom filling the yard with their fragrance.



Good thing I've already started scraping paint and caulk from where the old cabinets were.



12:00pm - all the large holes are patched with drywall compound. All the caulk has been scraped free. Waiting for this coat to dry. Will being sanding this afternoon. Expecting to take days to get the walls smooth enough to paint. It will not be perfect, but it will be close.

Looking Back/Forward

I went looking this morning for an entry I made this spring. I found it, but it wasn't where I thought it would be. We're a day away from the official start of fall, but something about the angle of the sun is different this morning.



It took me a while to realize it's the missing oak tree that has changed the garden. More sun comes through earlier in the day. We had another .5" of rain last night, and the mist hanging in the air was perfect for photographing what's left of the perennial bed this morning. I grabbed my coffee and camera and hit the door.

The castor beans are starting to split and should probably be removed soon. I'll toss them into the gully and hope some seeds germinate next year.



Looking forward, I remembered an idea I had some time ago concerning the perennial bed. I need to expand my path. To the left of the birdbath, I want to move some plants, mulch, and stone. You can see the stepping stones I've been using to get back there.



This area would become a path. On the left is the gully, Rose of Sharon, and lots of privet. On the right, KnockOut Roses and Buddleia (crocosmia and others too).



The path would reconnect at the Yvonne's salvia.



It would create an oblong semi-circular ovalesque bed that I'd be able to walk all the way around. I'll get to that this winter when I can see the bones of the garden better. In the meantime, I've got to start moving more Rose of Sharon seedlings, a couple forsythia I planted back there, and an unknown deciduous shrub that has a red flower in late spring. It's not quince or Sweetshrub.



It's 64 and sunny this morning. It's nice outside. The hummers are protecting their plants. Yesterday, my mom asked where I hung my feeders. I pointed out all their favorite plants. She loved the pineapple salvia. Today's high should be in the upper 70s. More rain in the forecast for the evening. Not even gonna complain.

Today, I start working on the walls in the kitchen. For the first time since Wednesday, I didn't have to drink coffee made on the bathroom sink.

Another Sunday

A new rudbeckia.



Blue Girl Hybrid Tea Rose. $5.



It's 77 and partly cloudy. It's a nice day. The leg is doing great.

Sunday

High in the mid-80s. No rain. Watered a few things this morning before work. Drip watered the Althea Carla and I planted last week. Spent some time sitting down.

Sunday

Last night I decided not to take the Lortab before bed. I had taken one about 9pm after my parents left. All that hobbling around the yard had really taken a toll on my leg. It was badly swollen so I elevated it again and packed it with ice. I only woke up once during the night and slept til after 9am. The swelling was gone this morning but came back as soon as I started moving around. I still need coffee in the mornings.

From my bedroom window I saw something I knew I had to get a picture of. It's one of the wintersown Red Texas Star hibiscus that I moved from the perennial bed to the shrub island months ago. It's just over 4' tall. The other two are budding too.



I made my way out to the perennial bed for the Sunday ritual. I checked on the white guara I moved last week and had only watered twice before getting stoned by the lawnmower. I think it's a goner. I still have the pink. Hopefully a few seeds from the white one dropped before I moved it. If not, I'll try again next year.



I think this is one of the calendula seeds I tossed out earlier in the spring.



A Cherry Brandy rudbeckia bloom. This is the third and final plant to bloom. It's much closer to what they had advertised. It almost makes me want to take back everything bad I said based on the two earlier blooming plants. Almost.



The weedy underbelly of the front bed. The roses, salvia, lavender, etc are doing great. Other areas are overgrown and need to be revised again next year. I think my eucalyptus has died. The morning glory swallowed it at some point. The datura that popped up here (I did toss out seeds in February) has engulfed it completely. Jackie's spirea is still doing well near the garage door. It's bloomed a couple times since I transplanted it from Virginia.



And finally, the Sunday picture. In December, I'll put them all together into a slideshow to track the progression, seed to seed. I'm very curious to see what will be standing after the first frost in a couple months. Really? That soon? Ugh.



It's 74 degrees and mostly cloudy. Accuweather says we have a 30% chance of afternoon thunderstorms. Weather.com doesn't agree and says it will be sunny, well, now. We'll see who is right. Both agree that there's no more rain in the forecast until Friday.

August 16th. Two thousand and nine.

This morning I spent a couple hours in the perennial bed. It is Sunday after all. I pulled all but the largest cosmos. I'm sick of them. I collected lots of seed and tossed the plants into the gully. I'm sure there will be some volunteers next year and I will weed them out of the perennial bed. In place of the cosmos, I dug the agastache from the white bed. There were 6 large clumps. I cut it way back and watered it well.



The Golden Jubilee was deadheaded too. I scattered the seeds all over the area.



I moved a rose campion to the perennial bed too. Lamb's ear got moved to the front bed along the top of the wall. In between, I'll plant dianthus to spill over the wall.

Nicotiana from the white bed also got moved. These are from seeds I've tossed out this summer, I assume. They're tiny and haven't bloomed yet. I pulled the sunflowers near the trellis. Too much rain, too much drought, and the goldfinches have really made a mess of them. Next year I plan to only sow seeds from black oil sunflowers found in bird seed mixes. The goldfinches love them and I like that they have more than 1 flower on each plant.

I watered all the things I've planted this week, the daylilies, the black and blue salvia, all the plants I shoveled into place this morning, and a few odds and ends that looked thirsty. I collected more seeds, pulled some weeds, and shovel pruned other things that have passed their prime. I can't remember now all that I did, but that's no problem.

When I was done, I took my camera with an empty memory card, and walked the entire length of the perennial bed making notes in my head, snapping an image every couple of feet. The images, necessary in late February when I get itchy to be in the garden again, will come in handy as I move things around and plant this year's wintersown seedlings. It's my way of record keeping. Not all of the pictures are pretty. Not all of them are in focus or have great composition. It's utilitarian in purpose and will be viewed over and over again during the winter.

Sunday's picture.



For those interested in the details, here's the August 16, 2009 slideshow. It's 77 degrees with 83% humidity. Cloudy and overcast, they say we've got a 40% chance of afternoon showers. Same forecast for the next 3 days. Off to work.

Another Sunday

The hardest decision I had to make today was whether to lay there when the alarm went off, or get up, shower, coffee, and head to work. I really didn't want to get up this morning. It's already 89 degrees. The forecast is for 96 today. Hottest day of the year, if we reach that.

The perennial bed is starting to look ragged and very overgrown. I just can't bring myself to pull plants yet even though I know some really ought to come out. I'm waiting for the seed, yeah, that's the ticket.



The white hibiscus has a red center and did not come true.



The Coreopsis "Full Moon" will continue until frost if I keep it deadheaded. In full sun, several plants are trying to set seed. This one in the shade is hanging on.



My poor brugmansias. The show is nearly over. They wilt like this every day until the sun passes over the house. Around 3pm, they're back in the shade and perk up quickly.



Watering is on the agenda this evening when I get home from work. I need to spend some time constructively staring (and swatting mosquitoes) in the white bed. I'm not happy with it at all. Not even the daturas are blooming well with the little rain we've gotten since June.

Althea

At the back edge of the perennial bed, I put in a row of Rose of Sharon plants a couple years back. The idea at the time was to create a hedge that would mark the boundary and provide a backdrop. Another plan that hasn't worked as well as I thought it would, I want to move them this winter. As a deciduous plant, they can be rooted during the winter outdoors in a cold frame using sand as a medium. They need more sun. I'm going to use them along the top edge of the gully. They'll provide the screen hiding the new secret garden I plan to build down there.



The largest castor bean is about 10' tall. It's the one in the perennial bed. It gets more sun than all the others.



Yvonne's salvia. These were started indoors in late February.



Sunday's picture.



I've been really lazy the past few weeks in regards to collecting seeds. With several hot days and no rain in the forecast, I hope to get back on track. There's a lot of seed ripe for the picking. Cosmos, rudbeckia, and four o'clocks are dropping seeds like crazy. The Salvia subrotunda and S. Coral Nymph is ready too. I bet there's more if I just took the time to look around.