It is raining like crazy.

So I've been in the basement most of the day. It's 55 degrees and pouring.

I had a couple bags of TopSoil. It's not the best stuff in the world to use, especially with indoor container plants. It compacts, has a lot of wood chips, and no nutrients.



So, like you do, I screened it.



Then added some perlite.



I've got a 5 gallon bucket of mulch now.



I repotted a lot of the brugs. The soil I used for those just wasn't re-wetting when I watered. I lost a few cuttings. I still have at least 16 of the yellow and white. I've got 6 nicely rooted pink cuttings. One is struggling.



I also potted the Confederate Rose. It's pouting.



There's lavender that rooted in the cloner. I'll move it out to the hoophouse when I put it up next month.



All told, I've only lost 6-8 cuttings so far. Everything is growing like nuts. I'm going to have to prune some things soon. It's so hard to toss the cuttings. I just know I'll stick them in the cloner and need another light rack by New Year's.



The larger brug cuttings are doing well too.



And because I was bored, and had the concrete, I've made a small birdbath that I'll bury in one of the beds in a few weeks. I topped it with sand and used an old light fixture shade to make the depression. The large bowl is smooth and I'm hoping the concrete slides right out when hardened.



It's almost time to eat now. It's been a fantastic day. Good music, good coffee, good plants, it's almost as nice as working in the garden itself.

I forgot. I also sowed seeds of Winterberry, collected on Thanksgiving day from a tree near my parents' house. I sowed more Cornus florida too. And then I sowed Frasier fir seeds collected from the Christmas trees at the store. And finally, Japanese Maples. I had them inside in a baggie. In just a week, I've had some mold develop. I hope they'll survive. Sorry Kris, I'll have to send you seedlings instead.

Flash floods, roots, and snow?

Last night, the National Weather Service issued flash flood watches for most of NC. They'll be in effect until the last band of storms pass through around 9pm this evening. It was supposed to rain all day today, but it appears the first storms didn't form until they were well north of us. Virginia is getting hammered right now. It's misting rain here.

While checking the weather last night, I noticed something odd.



Snow. Yep. If it happens, it'll be the earliest snowfall I can remember in 36 years. Last year, we had an early January snowfall that got all the meteorologists in a tizzy around here. It's too early! they all screamed. Global warming! they said. Weather patterns are changing for sure. Anyone that reads the Farmer's Almanac already knew that snow was being forecast for us in early December. We'll see if it holds true. Today's high should reach the mid 60s.

My to-do list today is short. My back, better yesterday, is bothering me a little this morning. I've got some things that need to be potted in the cloner. The first roots have appeared overnight on the Honeycomb buddleia cuttings. I'm very happy about that. More should appear over the next week. Lavender, cotoneaster, and other buddleia are ready to be potted and placed under lights.



In water for more than a month, the Confederate Rose is rooting nicely too. Top growth has been dramatic over the past week. The wood heater warms the basement to the mid 80s when the fire is really roaring. I'm sure that has something to do with it.



I've also got a few seed packs to sort and label. I need to take a quick trip to the Post Office. And there's coffee to drink. Lots of coffee. It's cloudy and 43 degrees.

This is the end...

The killer awoke before dawn. He put his boots on.







The basement smells great this morning.



The Ecuador white that was supposed to be a yellow is now the subject of a test. I plan to leave it to the elements to see what happens. I have plenty of white cuttings and will take more from the new growth over the winter.



I cut down Kongmansia. This one was a purchased plant and has done nothing all year. Spider mites have attacked it since the day I planted it.



It's alone in the living room window to see if it will root. I want to keep it isolated even though I treated it yesterday. I need to clean my windows too.



The largest stalk of the Confederate Rose was cut down too. I've never successfully rooted these, so we'll see what happens. I was able to grow two of these from seed this year. They were wintersown in late March. The other one has performed poorly in the perennial bed, being planted out not long after I injured my leg.



They are supposed to root easily in water. I stuck one in the cloner, the other three are being treated like brugs. White bumps should form and grow into roots.



I took cuttings of white lantana, Miss Huff lantana (she has thorns!), Provence lavender, and rosemary. Again, lots of trial and error here. My fingers smell of rosemary.



It's 50 degrees up from a low of 37 last night. Tonight, mid 30s and probably a light frost will settle. I've got a few more things to do before work this morning. Most notably, I want to move more of the firewood into the basement.



11:03am - Three wheelbarrows of wood have been transported to the basement. Lots more left out there. I got bored with that pretty quick and decided to do something more destructive. I set the two outer posts for my backyard "gate".





On Thursday, the concrete should be set well enough to attach the two fence panels I bought this summer for $1 each. Still not sure about the color they'll be painted.



Between the two center posts, copper pipe, removed from the basement a few weeks ago when all new plumbing was installed, will be used as a trellis for some scrambling annual vine. I'm thinking morning glories.



Only a little pineapple sage is left. I had to chop down 6 plants to make room for the posts.



I didn't bother taking cuttings. I did collect another batch of seed.



Having a late breakfast of bagel and cream cheese. Working late again this evening. I have another hour I could spend in the yard, but there's very little I can do right now.

A Quick Makeover

Ok, so I'll admit, I'm an impulse gardener. I buy plants because they're on clearance. I plant them with the understanding that it's only temporary. So goes the front bed under the living room window. This is also the most important bed in my mind because it's right beside the walkway to the front door. It should be a little more formal than the perennial garden. I also need things that do well in shade. For a few hours each morning, it gets spotty sunlight. Direct sun comes around 10 am and again around 3pm for just an hour or two. All told, I'd say 4 hours of sun is the average with some dirt receiving more, some much less.

A few weeks ago, I moved three knockout roses into the upper portion of this bed. I hated it. I filled in with purple salvias. I hated it more. The Green & Gold Euonymous was looking ratty. The roses weren't settling in well and had not bloomed again. Sure, they were in shock, but so was I. The plan had not come together the way I wanted it too.

When the lantana arrived at the store, I bought three kinds. The yellow, red/orange, and purple were planted on the slope with Provence lavender, a few variegated grasses, and several other really weedy looking plants. As of yesterday, I was still disgusted with the way it was filling in. I can't have this growing next to my front walkway. Dangerous as it may be with crumbling brick, I don't need people recoiling in horror at the sight of my mishmash. Here's the picture from yesterday.



Having been off on Sunday, someone at the store took it upon himself to pull a shelf of Forever and Ever hydrangeas that were not 100%. I took it upon myself last night to purchase two. At $5 each, who could resist, right? This morning, I moved a lot of things. Normally, I wouldn't do this with temperatures threatening 90 degrees. But the forecast for the next 4 days calls for heavy afternoon thunderstorms. If it doesn't rain, I'll water everything twice a day for a week until they regain their composure. What lives, lives. If it dies, another impulse will come along shortly.

The roses were moved onto the lower slope where they can get at least 4 hours of sun. The Euonymous went out into the azalea bed where they can die peacefully for all I care. The salvias were scattered in among the roses on the slope. The lavender was moved around to spread it out a bit. On the upper part of the bed, I planted the red hydrangeas where the Green&Golds were. I did leave the double yellow datura. It's about to bloom and I want to see if it's worth keeping before shoveling it.

The upper bed. I still need something to fill in the blank spots. I'd like a groundcover and some perennials, but I'm going to have to see what I can find on clearance.


Datura.


Persian Shield was planted in the front bed. I love the foliage. It doesn't love me.


Did I mention I planted a tea olive at the corner of the house. I didn't think so.


I still need some height. Hopefully the climbing hydrangea planted a few weeks ago will help soften this corner in a couple years. I plan to build a trellis soon for the chimney to replace my temporary wire trellis.


From the other direction.


So, impulses fulfilled for the day, I must admit I stole some ideas from other gardeners whose blogs I read. Cameron has Spanish lavender growing with her knockouts. I've had better luck with Provence (French), so I planted that instead. Nell has Persian Shield growing with Purple Queen. Along the top of the rocks I use to hold back the soil from the slope, I stuck some fresh plucked plugs. Last summer it rooted easily and should fill in quickly. I planted extra hoping it will spill over the top of the wall. The Pinks Maiden dianthus disappointed me in that space, but I left it anyway. Maybe it'll survive the winter.

Now I have to shower and get ready for work. Cycle counts begin today for every living thing in the store. If it's got roots, I have to count it. It's going to be a long 8 hours.

The lantana that came out? I planted it around the yard in various places, but mostly in the daylily border along the bottom of the wall. I also put the coreopsis Early Sunrise and Moonbeam in this border. I spread them out along the entire length with some in both sections. The purple went into the perennial bed where the Lemon Mint Bee Balm was. Some of it was uprooted on Thursday during a wind storm. What's left was sheared back and is putting out new growth.