Goodbye Shastas.

I pulled out most of the shasta daisies this morning. While I love the white flowers in bloom, I despise the way they flop and turn black as soon as the blooms are open. They wilt in the shade and fry in the sun. They don't belong in my garden. I left a few clumps that will eventually be removed when I've got something in mind to replace them.

In the perennial bed, I planted a few echinacea that were purchased from the clearance rack. Carla paid for them. I thinned out a few other plants and cut back the early spring bloomers. I missed the chance to collect seed from the Dame's Rocket. I'm sure they'll reseed all over.



Echinacea Harvest Moon and Summer Sky replaced the Shastas in the shrub island. The ground is so dry here. I filled the holes with water a couple of times and planted directly into the soppy mess. I'm counting on rain this weekend.



Carla came by to clean the boat. She's so funny. She noticed the crape myrtle was in full bloom. Across from it, I finally settled on a spot for the red flowering crabapple I picked up for $4.75 this past spring. I know, bad time to plant a tree. Probably too tight a space too.



The hibiscus are going strong. The Japanese Beetles are doing a real number on a few plants. This one is mostly untouched, until now that I've mentioned it.



Every morning, just as the sun appears through the trees out back, I notice this corner of the rose garden. Hybrid teas aren't for me, either. They've been given a reprieve until the fall. I plan to give them to Marty, a customer at the store. She's bringing me about 50 different daylilies. I'll probably put most of them in this bed. It's this corner that really makes me feel like I have a cottage garden in the backyard. I like the different plants, the heights, colors, textures. They just work together. Coreopsis Full Moon is a bright, butter yellow. The pink roses are smaller than normal and almost done. The agastache punctuates at the back. I had sunflowers blooming until the squirrels found them last night. Such is life.



The squash are done too. I'm thinking of planting another batch for a fall harvest. Maybe we'll get some rain before Labor Day. I've got the seeds. I just need to check the almanac for a good planting date. I'd really like to get a second round of beans too. I've only eaten a handful this year. It's been so hot and dry.



Speaking of hot and dry, today we're going to reach the mid 90s again. Tomorrow, 98. No rain to speak of in many many days. I've been watering, but I'm just trying to keep a few things alive. I don't really expect much growth. After such a wet winter, it's hard to imagine just how dry the soil has gotten. Even a foot down, the shovel stirs up dust.

It's 86 degrees already. Work this afternoon will be tedious at the store. I need another glass of water.

Misty Morning.

Last night's rain gave us three-quarters of an inch. The yard, as expected, was refreshed this morning. People seem nicer. Heat and lack of rain makes the customers grouchy. More is expected tonight and Friday.

The Stargazers are cracking. This year, they're almost 5' tall.



The centerpiece of the Crape Myrtle bed is blooming.



It's a hot pink.



The wall of butterfly bushes have grown in completely to block the backyard.



You have to turn the corner before you can see back here. It's filling in nicely. The meadow, not so much. As usual, click to embiggen.



It's 82 degrees, sunny, and muggy. The high today is forecast to reach the upper 90s. Someone mentioned 100 degrees at the store. In any case, it's going to be hot.

Azaleas are blooming.

Across the street, the azaleas and wisteria are in bloom. That's 18 days ahead of last year. The dogwoods are blooming too.



In my yard, a single azalea bloom was found yesterday.



My two clematis vines are growing by leaps and bounds. I've never had luck with these before. Maybe ignoring them helped.





The Muskogee Crape Myrtle is leafing out. It's way too early for this.



The maple trees in the gully.



The Asian cabbages are bolting.



In the perennial bed, I think I have problems. Reseeds.



And I planted out 10 brugmansias. I'll take Nell's advice. If a frost does come, I'll use containers and buckets to cover everything I can.



It's 54 degrees. Another upper 80s day is in the forecast. By Tuesday, 90.

Forgotten Camellia

Just beyond the top of the dead oak tree, there's a clump of shrubs that used to be part of the gardens here. They were likely planted years ago by Mrs. Russell, before the trees reclaimed the area. There's a stand of quince that bloomed even in heavy shade. I moved some of these to the yard two years ago, although mine haven't bloomed yet and seem unlikely to do so this year.

Surrounded by orange ditch lilies, crocus foliage, and mahonia, there's a single camellia. The blooms are the same as those on the shrub in the yard. I wonder if she took cuttings and propagated this one herself. I wandered out back yesterday to get a closeup. This spring, once there's new growth, I plan to take cuttings from this shrub myself. I'm thinking of planting a few along the back yard. Azaleas, abelia, and other blooming shrubs will be added when the time is right. I've already started propagating the spireas.







It's St. Patrick's Day. Wear something green. It's 36 degrees this morning. No frost. The forecast calls for 65 today.

9:33am - Spent the last hour "propagating" things. I've pruned some hardwood sticks and shoved them in the ground where I want them to grow. If it works, I'll have a backyard full of spring and summer blooms. If not, I've lost only an hour of time, outside, with a cup of coffee. I stuck Sweet Shrub, camellias, mock orange, forsythia, spireas, vitex, Korean lilac, weigela, althea, pussywillow, and crape myrtles. I think that's all.

New growth, new blooms, new foliage:

My fragrant, unknown spirea is starting to bloom.



The Korean lilac is leafing out.



Peonies.



My "dead" loropetalum isn't quite dead yet. Nell Jean was right.



Stuck cuttings of forsythia and mock orange. I may be too late for these to root, but the very wet soil should help.





Peach blossoms will be here by the weekend. The plums are smart, they're waiting.



New growth on the Oakleaf Hydrangea that I've tortured since finding it in the backyard in the summer of 2007.



Red Pussywillow is blooming.



And lookie here, my tulips are going to actually bloom this year. A testament to the cold winter we had. Only two out of the 40 bulbs I planted in the fall of 2007, but hey, that's two more than I had last year.



It's been a good morning already. I'm off to shower and work in a few.

Contemplating Purple, Pink, and White

There's the root mass of an ancient crape myrtle in the backyard. I cut it to the ground shortly after moving in. It blooms pink, the color of bubble gum. It's the starting point for the Crape Myrtle bed. Last year's growth is now about 6' tall. Powdery Mildew attacks it every summer. Now that the oak tree is down, the increased sunlight should help.



In this bed, I have echinacea, both purple and white, veronica, purple and white, Russian sage, and a packet of cosmos seeds that will be sown in late April, pink and white. Along the back edge of the perennial bed, there are altheas, or Rose of Sharon, moved here from the front of a house in Winston-Salem several years ago. They'll be used to form an edge along the top of the broken concrete retaining wall at the gully. They bloom purple and white.



To make way for these shrubs, which need more light than I have allowed them in the perennial bed, I need to move my Snowball viburnum. Maybe that will be done today. Maybe tomorrow. I'm still trying to find a suitable location.



It's sunny and 30 degrees. We might reach 60 today.

12:04pm - I've been to Carla's to unload the stone she purchased last night. It was on the back of the truck. Then I went to the store to pick up the stone she gave me from the leftovers. It was another $10 deal for some edgers that were used in the store last summer. They don't match the house exactly, but the red will be fine of what I intend to use them for this year. Tomorrow, she'll come over in the morning to help me set them where I want them.

I also moved the Rose of Sharon shrubs.



The snowball viburnum found a new home along the edge of the woods near where I hang my hammock in the spring. It'll do for now. I also moved two pyracantha to the impromptu path along the dead oak tree trunk. A few years, they should fill in and block the rotting carcass. I had already moved the vitex to behind the swing.

It's 48 degrees. The tomato seedlings are getting their first taste of the outdoors. I've got them in the driveway, shaded by the truck. There's a light breeze which should help harden them off a bit. They've gotten leggy in their enclosed containers. I'm hoping to pot up the four Marseilles fig cuttings today. Maybe after I get back from the mountain.

The Snake Pit

I'll get to the snakes later, but first a list of what I did this morning.

I built a compost bin. Sort of.



I put it in an out of the way place. I need two more regular sized pallets instead of those small 3/4 pallets.



I moved the crape myrtle. I know, I just couldn't stand it any longer.



I laid out a rough area for the recycled brick and concrete patio I plan to build this winter. I'm doing it now because I know I'll change my mind a few times during the process. It's inevitable. I can't wait to get rid of that dead oak tree. Three more weeks, we should be chopping it up.



I moved the pink brugmansia to the hydrangea bed. There are more brugs here now than hydrangeas, but that could change any day. They're rooted and ready to plant. Kongmansia has lost all its leaves again. If it survives the winter, good for it.



I planted a couple more white crape myrtles and mowed the front yard. That's where the snakes come in.

The snake pit. It's periwinkle and weeds. I thought I would like it, but this stuff is a thug. It's already 4' into the lawn and is just over a year old. I've got to get rid of it. I mowed it all down today.



The lawnmower claimed another victim. Don't ask me what kind of snake it was. I don't know. I don't care. It was a snake.



I'm looking for suggestions of what to do on this sloped bank. It's shady, gets about 2 hours of summer sun along the driveway and none along the street. It's dry, heavy clay and stone. Against the house, I have hucheras, gardenias, tea olives, knockout roses, lavender, artemesia, some grasses, and bluish salvias. I'm thinking shrubs would work well on this slope, but the mulching...oh the mulching.







Other items worth mentioning today:

Spider lily.



Miss Huff and Yvonne.



Just waiting for the seeds to ripen. It went quick this year.



81, mostly cloudy. A good chance of rain this evening and overnight. Muggy, again.