Thursday, November 12, 2009

The basement is dry.

For the time being, anyways. Ida has swept a large band of storms south from Virginia. At the moment, the largest cells are moving through the Triad area of NC. They should be here by noon. We've gotten another 2.5" of rain since yesterday morning. A roaring fire and a couple fans dried the basement floor overnight.

There's still some color in The Wild. It's been almost a month since I've seen hummingbirds, but the bees are still clinging to the pineapple sage.



In the cloner, the first roots are appearing. This one is Miss Huff.



This is a Montauk Daisy. I've never tried rooting these before. Looks like it works.



This morning, between rain showers, I hope to take more cuttings from several butterfly bushes. Yesterday I took cuttings of white. I know someone that needs some variety in her life. The new ones will go into the cloner. The white ones were stuck in soil and placed in a zip lock bag on the light rack. We'll see which ones do best.

Off today, no other big plans. Might do something on the kitchen. Might take a mid-morning nap. It's 45 degrees outside. It's windy.

4:03pm - I didn't do much. I planted a pampas grass I had bought a couple weeks ago. I also planted three cotoneasters in their temporary winter spot. I took cuttings, of course, and stuck them in the cloner. I also moved the Leyland Cypress I planted almost two years ago between the driveway and the basement door. It'll get much to large for that area. It now lives with the others behind the orchard. In its place, I put the Hollywood Juniper I bought this spring. I think the randomness of that evergreen will be more interesting in that area.

I also did a little work on the kitchen. I got the last piece of beadboard next to the behemoth done. I also installed the chair rail in the little vestibule that leads outside.



Two more pieces of each and that will be done. Maybe later. I need a nap. Must have been all the chili.



It's 50 degrees and has been raining on and off all day. I've got a fire in the basement and the house is comfortable. I've got to chop some more wood this weekend.

4 comments:

Kris said...

Hi Tom. A question - that pineapple sage, is that an annual? Tender perennial? From what you post they attract a lot of bees, unlike my Yvonne's salvia (which only attracted hummers this summer).

Hope the basement stays dry....

Tom - 7th Street Cottage said...

It's an annual for me. Some have it overwinter in my zone, but I haven't yet.

It does attract a fair amount of bumblebees. They use their jaws to rip open the bottom part of the flower so they can reach the nectar. It's quite amusing to watch up close.

L. D. said...

Your kitchen job is really shaping up. I like your entire look. You have a pet, I don't know if I remember seeing it but maybe it is a cat. I can look back at your older blogs.

Conny said...

Your chili looks just like mine. :>) How did you keep it from fogging up the camera lens? Yumm.

Just read your post for today (11/13): the Cloner looks intimidating.

Have a great weekend.