Bloom Day

It's June 15th. Last night a wind storm came through and tore down a tree two streets over. The power was off for almost 5 hours. It warmed up a bit in the house. No painting was accomplished in the dark. And now, the blooms.

Echinacea "White Swan"



The first Sunflower.



Hot pink Four O'clocks.



Red Four O'clocks.



The first zinnia. Why are they always pink in my yard?



There's a vitex blooming in the pokeweed jungle.



Dahlia.



Om, nom, nom. The next squash is being created.



White Butterfly Bush. This is one of the two I have. I grew this one from seed.



This creature was spotted this morning hanging from the bottomside of a weed I missed last week on the slope. I think it's molting into something I've never seen before.



It's 72 degrees. Another hot day is on tap. Rain possible. Storms likely. Robert will be here by noon to help with the countertops. I'm off to take a test.

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.

Editing.

First, there's a poll on the sidebar. I'd like to know how many people are reading my blog. It's just a curiosity thing, certainly not scientific at all.
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On the north side of the house, I planted 18 Carolina Cherry Laurel seedlings last fall. Surprisingly, in little sun and frozen ground, they've all survived, I think. I spaced them 18" apart, knowing that was too close at the time. I'll need to remove every other one soon and replant them elsewhere in the yard. As an evergreen, they'll work nicely around the borders of the backyard eventually reaching the height of small trees if I let them. Instead, I'll pinch and snip and force them to branch out into shorter, stockier plants.



A few feet away, I planted cuttings that were rooted from Carrie's Elaeagnus. They're in the Neighbor's corner. The plants I took cuttings from were easily 12' tall and possibly just as wide. They were huge. They're too large for the space I have them in for sure. They'll also be moved to the edges of the backyard, possibly in front of the dead oak tree as suggested by Tim from Atlanta.



The silvery foliage should play nicely with the vitex I recently installed. That particular plant has now been moved to three different locations since I purchased it last spring. It now has a full sun site and should bloom profusely for years.



Also in the Corner, I have another Leyland Cypress that will find a home around the edges of the backyard. It was originally installed in an attempt to block the view of a bomb shelter and garage that belongs to my peering neighbor, Cat. She was best friends with the woman that gardened here for 40 years. She's got mixed feelings over what I've done to the yard so far.



There's a pyracantha near the upper meadow that needs a new home too.



I've already moved two of these from shady spots along the top edge of the gully. I will probably transplant it soon into the same area near the dead oak tree.



Several rooted gardenias need a new home. I'm currently thinking about the hill along the street between the ancient oak tree and the dying red dogwood. I think a hedge of gardenia would be a nice way to block some street noise while providing for a more private front yard. It's a shady area in summer, with very little direct sun.

Two pampas grasses need to find a permanent home somewhere in the yard. One is currently behind the swing, just in front of the dead oak tree. I'm not crazy about these grasses, but I do love the plumes. Both have been moved multiple times and have never put down enough roots to make transplanting a problem. I was worried they wouldn't survive, but sure enough, there's new growth on both. As they grow very large and continue to spread, I need to give them a lot of room.



Along the end of the driveway, there are three cuttings of Snowball viburnum that survived the winter. I'll have to find new homes for them.



I've already moved the one that was along the edge of the gully, the parent plant for these three cuttings. Again, lots of space will be needed for these large shrubs.



I keep finding myself drawn to shrubs and plants that mature into large specimens. I blame the towering trees in the backyard. Trying to place a miniature shrub into a space that's currently framed by 100' tall oaks is not the easiest thing to do. Many plants will be overwhelmed by the scale of these trees. And yet, I still need space to plant the flowers I'm growing from seed.

One image I keep returning to for inspiration can be found on a blog header from my sidebar. I'm not unrealistic. I know that it will take years to achieve the look I want in my backyard. It's a waiting game. Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

It's 45 degrees. Rain will be coming again this afternoon, sometimes heavy. On Sunday morning, I'll start moving the plants I listed above.

Looks like we made it....

There you are, lookin' just the same as you did, last time I touched you.

Cuttings struck and planted in 2009.

Mophead hydrangea



Oak leaf hydrangea



Snowball viburnum



Vitex "Shoal Creek"



Red Pussywillow



6th St Fig



Boxwood euonymus



Others that look like they made it: Elaeagnus x ebbengei, variegated weigela, forsythia, lots of gardenias, redtwig dogwood, white pussywillow, and brugmansias.

Not everything was as fortunate. There should have been a vitex cutting here.



I'm not being naive. Winter is not over yet, but the coldest weather should be well behind us now. It's going to be a beautiful weekend.

A Good Morning.

It's been raining now for more than 36 hours. It's just a light drizzle mostly so there hasn't been much in the way of accumulation. It's in the low 70s and cloudy, of course. Tomorrow, we should see some sun.

In the "meadow", I tossed out lots of chaff from various collected seeds. The red clover I scattered a couple days ago is starting to germinate.



I started the morning by having a cup of coffee. Then I headed to the north side of the house. I dug out three of the Leyland Cypress trees I had planted last year. They'll get way too large for this area. I moved them to behind the future patio space. I want to block a few yard lights that shine into my bedroom windows.



When I move established plants, I use my Dad's method. He taught me how to plant tomatoes this way. Dig a hole. Fill it with water. Dig another hole. Fill it with water, repeat and refill all the holes with water at least twice. Even though we've had two days of rain, the soil is dry a couple inches down. I did the same thing when I planted the 16 Carolina cherry laurels along the wall. I staggered them a bit and didn't get a straight line. They'll need a good bit of pruning in a couple years to keep them in check, but they bloom in spring and provide food for birds. Plus, they're evergreen. Hopefully they'll block the nosy bitty and the duplex next door.



You can barely see them. I wintersowed the seeds last October.



Next, I worked on some of the things at the end of the driveway, including more $1 clearance plants. Most of this was planted in the perennial bed. I'm more interested in collecting seeds than what they look like this year.



I dug up three knockout roses from the shrub island. I planted them on the slope behind the tomato patch, just in front of my new blueberry bushes. I cut them back hard and will not be disappointed if they don't make it. Consider this my ode to freeway on-ramps.



I gathered 3 butterfly bushes from the edges of the woods, mainly those that had blooms I really liked, and put them where I had the roses. They got cut back hard too. Next spring, I'll cut them all back to the ground to regrow at the same rate.



Around the other side of the fig, I planted several Turn of the Century hibiscus cuttings that were rooted several months ago. A couple of white ones were tossed into the mix as well. I can't wait for next spring.



I planted out three rooted vitex cuttings too. A couple went into the crape myrtle bed where lots of tiny echinacea seedlings have popped up. Another went on the slope just down from the blueberries.



Yesterday, I cleaned the cloning machine and refilled it. It was back up to the right temperature this morning, so I made 7 cuttings of pineapple salvia. Over the winter, I'll turn those 7 cuttings into about 35 more. I have a plan.



I dumped the soil from the sweet potato vine planter by the basement door. Not a bad harvest. I'll dry and store these tubers to create new plants next year. The white ones are from the black plants. The red ones are from the green plants. It's the opposite of what I would expect.



Yesterday on my way back from the library, I collected a few seed pods from the datura I got my original seeds from. They're drying in the basement too.



And finally. Yes, finally...the laminate for the kitchen counters arrived. Kim called me yesterday to let me know I could pick it up as soon as they checked it in. I brought it home at lunch and laid it face down on the dining room floor. I know my cat, but more importantly, I don't want to ruin the surprise.



Wednesday and Thursday are my days off this week. I'm planning to work in the kitchen, mostly. The plan is to finish the beadboard and as much of the molding as possible. I'd like to be ready to install the laminate by the weekend. If the rain continues overnight, I'll probably plant a few more things from the end of the driveway. I really need to get the snowball viburnums in the ground this week if I expect them to survive the winter.

I almost forgot the white crape myrtle I planted too. It's very close to the fig, but I have an idea to move the fig in the spring. I think it would do better with more sun.

In case you haven't figured it out, the leg is doing fine these days. It's a little stiff in the mornings, and late at night if I've been on it for a while. I'd say it's at least 97%.