Rabbit spray and repeat
Test & repair Shrubbler lines and emitters.
Tree & Shrub fertilizing: Coates came on April 13.
Orders: See here
Amendments:
Here's what I toted home from Newman's and had to schlep to the back alley potting bench area:
5 bags (1.5 cu.ft.) of mushroom compost
5 bags (1.5 cu.ft.) of composted cow manure
5 bags (2 cu.ft.) of small pine bark mulch
Black Gold potting soil 6 bags . . .. . . . (16 quart = half cu.ft.)
The cow manure and mushroom compost were very heavy. It was over 20 bags, some quite heavy. I am 71. Owww.
In the last week of March I spread the compost and added composted cow manure where needed, and freshened some mulch.
The quantities I got should be plenty for planting when orders come in, and for lots of spot mulching.
April 30
Why Do I Do This??
And I did it today, scooping the Apricot Lemonade cosmos out of their tiny cell packs and planting their tiny selves out into the garden. I could barely handle them they were so limp and small.
Too soon. Too soon. It's only April!!! Nights are still in the 30s, although just above freezing.
I put the most robust ones in a plastic container inside the vase shaped terra cotta pot.
I took the blanketflower seedlings out of the hydroponic system and potted them up, but they were so embedded in the thick sponge material of the plug that I couldn't get them loose.
I'm sure I lost a couple already, but the green leaves of the others makes me think some might survive?
It's still April. Seedlings are far too small. Nights are way too cold. We'll see what comes of my impatience.
I need to refine my seed starting set up. I only have the one little light stand with 4 small trays. The other seeds I planted have been put in cell packs and left outside in the sun on warm days, but brought in every night. Some of those seedlings did better than the ones under lights.
I need to develop a process for next year if I want to start seeds indoors. And I'm not sure starting in the hydroponic system is a go.
April 29
As April Closes
A little hail yesterday and some sprinkles, but not enough to register in the gauge. And yet everything looks refreshed. But many nights still flirt with freezing and the heat still comes on in the house.
Camomile has daisy flowers opening, more yellow than I remembered.
Tulips have been up for a while, Tequila Sunrise was first, now the ones I planted 2 years ago are opening.
(The crabapple is completely gone by now.)
The redbud has had brilliant magenta buds for a while and is now opening them.
Even some little orange geums are opening.
Ajugas in front are brilliant dark blue, but the size of the patch is small and sketchy. They are so brilliant in flower, catching the sun, but hard to photograph in full bright sunshine.
Dark purple irises along the side fence are blooming, all on one side, to the left. no blooms in the patch to the right.
The tiny Little Lanterns red columbines have been in bloom for a while, and continue on.
Swallowtail columbines are just beginning to bloom -- the foliage still looks sparse but will bulk up in May. Dark purple phaeum geraniums are also flowering, but hard to see!
The two trees that are completely leafed out and full now are the Vanessa parrotia and the Seiryu Japanese maple. Everything else is just budding.
The Spanish broom has bloomed in late April in other years, but his year shows only the most timid signs of flowering soon. It's been too cold at night for it to open up I think.
The redbud is flowering well for such a little tree.
April 26
Crocosmias planted
 |
| In September, when I had them in a pot. 18 more planted in the ground now. |
I planted 18 crocosmia corms in the kitchen courtyard today. I need to remember they take forever to show above ground. They don't bloom until late in the season, but their butterscotch warmth and delicate wands of columbine-like spurred flowers are worth waiting for.
And taking forever to show above ground: amsonias. The Blue Ice plants by the patio table have the tiniest bits of green peeking above the soil, at least three of the five do. Two others show nothing.
The Blue Ice amsonias in the guest room window garden are well up. Different conditions.
I water both sets really well, but the ones growing at the foot of the Virginia Creeper are very, very late and much smaller. (The Jones amsonia in the kitchen courtyard is barely up, still a tiny wisp of two leaves after a couple years now.)
The crabapple blossoms are finally going by today.
April 24
Finally, finally
After endless April chill, a roaring furnace in the mornings and clouds with chill winds that ripped the main stem off the new Summer Love clematis and tattered the strawberries . . . a nice weekend. Really nice.
The Sugar Thyme crabapple continues to bloom on and on. Spectacular.
The viburnum is in full bloom, but the shrub itself looks a little small-leaved and hard to photograph. The cold, I suppose. It is fragrant every time I pass by to the potting bench.
Everything is so much more tolerable when the winds abate and the air is pleasant and I get a whiff of scented blooms. Sigh. 😔
Tulips are open, but the Tequila Sunrise colors are a light pink, some bright yellow, mostly salmon, nothing warm or richly colored. I'm not a fan. . . waiting for the former Cafe Noir and the white and deep orange and purple of Island in the Sun to come out. I like those better.
Planted the tiny Blackfoot daisies out among the rocks at the driveway corner today. Sheesh. Mojave sage (all 8 of the ones I planted) croaked. The dwarf lavender did too. The horehound marrubium never reappeared this spring. This is the Corner of Death.
Will the blackfoot daisies persist?
April 20
Oof
The rising temps and trend toward nicer weather was a mirage. It's cold and windy, I had to bring the just planted strawberries inside and everything else I just transplanted is getting whipped by cold winds. It's 29 - 30 degrees when I wake up and the top temp during the day won't get out of the 50s. That's cold when the wind blows so strong.
I need to remember that until May it isn't really planting weather, even though a few nice days make me think so.
April 19
Warmer Now
The cold biting wind has abated and although it's hovering at freezing at dawn, upcoming days will be nice, sunny and calm with nights forecast above 30 degrees. I planted some things up. The strawberries in troughs, for one thing. The Summer Jewel red salvias in pots.
Maybe it will be in too much shade there, but at least I can keep this drier in a terra cotta bowl with gravel mulch.
I think it was getting too wet in the kitchen courtyard, as I needed to keep nearby geums and veronicas moist. In any event, it was declining, with strange contorted branch ends and very little foliage.
In its place between the two brown rocks in the kitchen courtyard, I'll put the miniature grass Pennisetum Burgundy Bunny that is on order.
The grass will introduce a shape and color other than small-leaved stiff green mounds. The red grass fronds will punctuate the center of this space with upright narrow forms and with movement in a breeze.
It is supposedly small enough not to hide the tall wands of Totally Tangerine geums or the red agastache or the stiff purple candles of the veronica behind it. Directly in front of it will be the low spreading catmint.
We'll see. An experiment as everything in this constantly morphing spot is.
April 18
Ack
I always do this -- buy tender plants too early. I got these wonderfully lush, green, healthy strawberry plants at Payne's earlier this month and left them, unplanted, in the troughs where they will go eventually buy the kitchen door. Lots of sun, warm temps. Then . . . cold, biting wind and freezing nights tattered the leaves badly. About a third of the delicate stems broke off.
Only then did I bring the poor things inside for protection. After the fact. Ack.
But they still look okay and I'll plant them out in a few days when the bitter cold diminishes. Looks like fair, warmer weather and no freezing nights for the whole end of April. If May gets cold or windy again, I'll cover them with dishtowels.
April 15
Cold and windy
Plant orders are starting to come in now and I picked up some things at Waterwise. But it's cold and windy and not very sunny. Lots of cloud cover. Temps are mostly in the 40s (including today when the front slider is wide open as Pella is replacing it. . . brrr) Even when it gets into the 50s or low 60s in the afternoons, the wind makes it unpleasant.
For the next week night times hover at freezing, so I still can't set up and leave the hoses. Watering is a pain.
But oh, the beautiful crabapple! And tulips too.
April 11
Got a lot done!
I've observed I work so slowly and get so little done at my age now, but this weekend much was accomplished. The weather was warm, the air was calm and cool, and it was pleasant.
Installed the bridge over the creekbed to the rain barrel. Jim put it together and I shimmed it into place. It's a little wide for the area and it's too new-looking, but once it fades and the plantings green up it will disappear into the garden.
What an improvement to walk over this little bridge to get to the rain barrel without twisting my ankle on the creekbed rocks. I love it.
Also got a couple 'Las Vegas' hollyhocks planted in the blank space in front of the Virginia Creeper covered fence. I dithered all winter about what to put there, and this works. The tall spikes will break up the expanse of fence and vine. I have three more coming from Bluestone Perennials, and will put one more by the fence, and two to fill out by the rain barrel.
In the brown urn is the 'Sweet Summer Love' clematis from Park Seeds, complete with the slinkies anchored in the potting soil for them to climb.
The Sunshine Blue blueberry from Park Seeds came and is in the white pot next to troughs of strawberries (not planted yet) that I got at Payne's.
The strawberries are 'Seascape' and are everbearing.
How nice it will be to step outside the kitchen door and have blueberries and strawberries to pick. I hope!
I also got another Veronica pectinata to fill out draping over the brown metal edging by the driveway. Looks like I lost the orange globe mallow there.
And I got a few more 'Pink Chintz' thymes to fill in -- I need to add some compost and soil to raise the level in spots.
I dug up the smallest blue fescue when the bridge went in and it's in a red pot with the other now.
A lot got done. Much more to come.
Note: Two, not one, but two rabbits in the front yard today. Sprayed rabbit repellant and I set both Havahart traps.
April 9
Returned from California
After 8 days away, we returned and so much has greened up! As soon as we got back, I got everything watered -- everything, including the irises by the fence and the stuff in the common area. All watered.
I sowed seeds in various systems -- check it out here: Sowed seeds: 4/9
Surprise -- the peony I thought I had killed at transplant is showing some shoots now. Tulips have fat buds.
End of March
Compost
The last 10 days of March before we go away for 8 days to California, I wanted to get prep work done. Spread the composted cow manure, add mushroom compost, water. Get the ground ready for when we return on April 9 and I can sow seeds, order from Waterwise, and 🚀start things.
Until the very last few days of March it was too cold. Or windy. Or gray and overcast. Mornings it takes a while to get out of the 30s. Afternoons in the 40s when the wind blows or the skies are dark, it's not pleasant. But I was able to use a few nicer days just before leaving to get compost spread and add some composted cow manure and generally get things ready for our return by mid April.
I get so little done before tiring out. Simple up and down work spreading compost poops me out now and only a few spots are tended each day. But it felt good to get most of it done.
March 21
Officially Spring
Lovely weekend, warm and sunny. I got the aspen leaves swept out of the fencelines and potting bench -- it was hands and knees work, scooping them up. No other way to do it, really.
I cleared out all the dead foliage around the deep purple irises by the side fence. With no water (at all) they still come up. I cleaned them out, watered them well. I added Yum Yum, watered again, added soft dirt dug out when I planted the Japanese maple. The irises already look much better.
I also watered a small group of volunteer verbascums in the stone ditch on that side.
I then watered most gardens. All by hand where the single hose I had hooked up didn't reach.
Things greening up 🍀:
Tulips are a full 2 inches high and deep green. Irises are showing.Little green leaf buds on the crabapple suddenly appeared.Columbines are great (lost another of the 3 Black Barlows, so now down to one, + one on order.)
Most things in the kitchen courtyard are greening, the veronicas, geums, nepeta and especially the chamomile.
Little tiny monardella macranthas are showing.
Fernbush in front is tiny but so green and healthy looking.
Kinnikinniks have wintered okay and even put down spreading rootlets below the gravel.
No evidence 😟:
The transplanted peony is a no show. I think I killed it.One of the red flowered stachys cocccineas (Texas betony) in the potting bench curve isn't greening up, the other is.Only one of the 5 Weihenstephaner sedums shows signs, and sedums green up noticeably and early. So this area of the front triangle will need something.The Mojave sage is crispy and losing all foliage. Normal? Dead?Only the one marrubium in the front triangle looks alive, the others I planted are barely seen.
I see signs of most everything else. Owl's Claws are quite green and an inch tall. So is the Jupiter's beard.
Now it all begins!
March 19
Temptations
I can't plant anything until it's warmer and until we are back from California after Easter (we return April 9.) I'm not even sowing seeds indoors until we get back.
But I went to Payne's today (a lovely 64 degree day with little wind) for potting soil, and they had the biggest, most extensive, tempting plants waiting in the greenhouses. I saw Las Vegas hollyhocks and there were tons of them -- if mine don't come back, I can get them at Payne's. Plus I have 3 more coming from Bluestone.
They had tons of Pink Chintz thyme so I can definitely add more to my curved bed of thyme.
And they had Mojave sages, tons and tons of them. And rock rose, not only a red one but yellow and other colors, tons of those too. Do I want to keep trying with either of these?
I have one successful Mojave sage now, off to the side in the front corner, and added a dwarf lavender and some rocks to balance things out. Do I want to try again with more? Or add one somewhere else? Arrrgh, they looked so good.
Same with the rock rose. The single mismarked salmon pink one I have left after multiple, multiple moves and losses is looking like nothing. Should I re-try with these in different colors? Should I?
They also had a ton of nasella tenuissima - Mexican feather grass - which I would like to put out in the common area to fill sandy spots.
Such temptations.
March 17
Snow for St. Patrick's Day
Snow fell overnight and it was heavy and wet and branch-bending. As the sun came out it warmed the upper branches of trees and snowmelt showered down to the ground below, soaking the already snow covered ground rather than blowing away or evaporating.
This should add some good moisture to the spring soil.
March 13
We switch the clocks tonight - an hour ahead.
Signs of spring.
Today was cold, blustery and cloudy. It's in the mid 30s this afternoon, (ack), blowing hard, and I started a fire in the fireplace. The last of the season I hope, but lovely and cozy on this wintry March day.
The windy season is here. I hope the recently transplanted Japanese maple is okay and the nepeta too, and everything else in my gardens.
March 8
Weekend Transplants
I like it. It instantly transformed this area from a foundation planting to a real garden.
It is still holding its leaves from last fall, but they are a russety brown that is not bad, and it allows me to see the form of this tree even though it is still dormant.
At this size, below the aspens, it is already a good screen from inside the house. What size will it eventually become? Will it get too big, or be limited by root competition and shade here? I'll prune it of course!
I do love how the afternoon sun catches it and makes it glow. In summer it will be shadier here on the east side in the afternoons.
This catmint was already here when we moved in, and is a low, almost ground cover, tidy thing, not a big bushy catmint.
Of course digging it up was a chore, it's small but the woody roots were so entrenched. It got ripped out, most of the root left behind . . . once again my transplanting may have been fatal.
It's tenacious, though, and seedlings prosper in no water and rocky grit, so we'll see if the nice rich soil by the fence lets it live.
Nothing lost, I guess, as it had to come out once I removed the rock circles under the aspens.
March 6
Plenty of Pots
I went to Lowe's and bought a bunch of plastic pots. I've been needing some larger ones for this summer's patio plants. And I want enough on hand to have options when I want to move things or if I get something new during the season.
I got two long troughs (window box planters actually) for strawberries on the plant stands by the kitchen door. I decided against the terra cotta troughs, too small and too porous for full sun. So, the terra cotta planters will be table top containers, keeping the Kent's Beauty oregano in one, and something else in the other. One is cracked.
My plans so far are to put salvia coccinea in pots at the foot of the sundial, and I need a nice big pot for an agapanthus -- I think the tan fiberglass urn with rope detail might work,
I want nicotiana in containers scattered about the garden too. I'll have a collection of pots to screen the waterworks. The plastic will be fine, they don't need to be fancy.
I still have the nice terra cotta bowls and the one vase shaped pot, but they are small, the vase one is cracked badly, and they are hard to keep watered. They look so nice, though. And I still have the 5 shallow round embellished rubber-composite bowls, they always get los of use.
And I bought some cheap small plastic pots for seedlings that Ill want to grow on before planting. I already have a bunch, but I'm forever looking for small transplant containers and always need more.
I'll have an inventory of containers this season, with enough options for mixing things up and transplanting things and using pots in groupings I think.
March 3
Outside
Still freezing at night, but today the afternoon was sunny, warm and still. No March wind. I got outside and cut back all the perennial stalks, trimmed the butterfly bush back to about 2 feet, cleaned up the lambsears, and trimmed the rosemary to keep it in bounds.
I brought the trimmings into the bathroom for fragrance, but I'm not sure they do much.
Cutting back and cleaning up in earliest spring used to be such a several-day chore. Here, it's an afternoon's gentle work.
March 1
It's finally March!
To do early this month:
🍀 Plant seeds
🍓 Nursery visits to start sourcing plants
🌱 Check out pots at Lowe's, need several larger ones
🐞 Get compost, lots of it
⛱ Also, get another patio stand for the 2nd umbrella
Because we will be away in CA for Easter (for 8 days, including visits to both Tom's and Pam's) I don't think I can start seeds until we get back -- we return on April 9. Start seeds then!!
February 27
Mrs. George Jackman
I've been toying with adding a white flowered clematis right next to the purple one on the coyote fence, letting them both grow entwined together.
I liked 'Henryi' from my old garden, it was gorgeous and large flowered. But I decided on 'Mrs. George Jackman', which is similar, so the married couple can be together.
Both are about 8 - 10 feet. Both have the similar flower size and their leaves look similar, so they should look good together.
Mrs. George = group 2
prune after flowering and not all the way down
Jackmanii = group 3 or 2
it can be cut all the way as I did this year, or pruned like a 2 after flowering.
February 11
Coates came today to soil drench the Rose of Sharon for aphids. I need to water it in well -- daily soaking for 7 days, although we expect snow this weekend, which should do the trick.
I ordered a Sweet Summer Love clematis from Park Seeds to put in the brown urn by the gate -- we'll see!
I want it to scramble up behind the butterfly bush and then drape over the other side.
The fragrance right by the gate will be nice. The rich color draping over by the late season hot colors on the driveway side will be impactful I hope.
As with all clematis it will take 3 or 4 years to do anything . . . .
February 9
Winter Watering
Spent a good while today toting a watering can to water all the plants (not the mature shrubs or trees, but everything else.) I got to everything, but it was tiring. Whenever I think about all the new things I want to plant, not to mention seedlings next season, I am brought up short by how tedious and tiring it is to keep it all going. Even just a day of watering was hard.
I realize now that my plants all suffered when I didn't get them some water in winter. We've had snow this fall and winter and it lingered some and soaked the ground a bit, but it's not enough. I need to get out there when the temps are above 45 degrees (daytimes are in the 50s all this week) at least once a month.
I last watered this winter on January 14 (26 days ago, so just about a month previous)
What a pain without the hoses hooked up! But it still freezes at night, so I can't leave them out.
February 7
Fill the fenceline area
Since I decided I will not plant a desert willow by the fence next to the patio table, I feel I still need something in the empty spot by the fence. I moved the peony, anticipating putting a tree in (and the peony really struggled with the vine's roots there). Now it feels unresolved.
I think I will move the stranded nepeta there. And add Palmer's penstemons for height and spring color. They can take extreme dry and may do ok with the aggressive root competition from the vine. And a sunflower for some late season height and color.
Or . . . no more plants in that challenging spot. Let the strip of low amsonia plants end with the Millennium alliums and the transplanted nepeta? The umbrella and the growing juniper give the height needed.
January 23
Sunblaster
It's a "Sunblaster" mini-micro light stand and seed tray from Gardener's Supply. I think it will be easy to maintain on the tile shelf over the tub and I'm only starting just a few annuals inside: tobacco, salvia coccinea, zinnias, and cosmos.
Maybe some of the perennial gaillardia seeds too.
Not much room in this little lightstand for very much, though.
January 18
Big Order!
I placed an order for spring for $577 from Bluestone Perennials today. Here's what is in the order. It's mostly additions to things I already have that I want more of, plus a few new things. I went bold -- I got six of some things, three of others and ordered a lot of plants. A lot.
But I am not ordering from High Country Gardens at all this year, this will be my only mail order shipment. I got seeds (plus a seed starting light stand at Gardener's Supply), and I'll go to the Waterwise plant sale, but this big plant order is the bulk of what I'll get.
I do want to get some herbs, strawberries and a blueberry in spring from the nurseries here. And probably a few other things too.
I just didn't feel like being so tentative with my plantings this year.
January 14
Winter Watering
In past years I never really understood that I needed to water repeatedly in winter. Not just the pines in front when there was no snow or rain, but all the plants; especially containers, new stuff, trees, all of them.
Today was above 45 degrees in the afternoon (it's still well below freezing overnight) and I got several gallons down around the new crabapple, the moved peony and the two smallest trees -- the redbud and the parrotia. I watered several garden perennials and the roots of the clematis and honeysuckle vines too. Also anything out there in a pot, even the lavender. Containers were all bone dry.
I used the watering can and made multiple trips so it was a bit of a chore. I'll need to do it again next month unless we get snow that stays and soaks in.
January 9
I really like the turquoise ceramic pedestal birdbath between the shrubs, it provides a view out the kitchen window that the brown urn didn't.
The color matches the other turquoise accents (pots, chair cushions, door) in the back yard perfectly.
I don't really want the water feature, just wanted something to look at in that empty space. The brown urn was too dark and monochrome, although it's a nice size and shape and the Kent's Beauty oregano drapes over it nicely.
The tiny line of kinnikinnik at the pedestal's base will look nice when they green up in spring. I'm hoping it spreads out and fills in.
I got this birdbath from Burley Clay online. A pottery retailer in Ohio. $125. Some color and a broader shape across the top fills this space better.
In winter I need to turn the top over to prevent it filling with snow and cracking.
I moved the brown urn to the kitchen courtyard next to the gate (may need to move it over slightly toward the gate and away from the butterfly bush, but I have to move a Mexican hat first . . )
I like it there much better as a "completer" background piece, neutral in color but offering some visual bulk near the gate and under the butterfly bush. The blue birdbath is much better as an accent piece.
January 8
A New Tree
A New Tree
It is supposed to look like this →
But it is nowhere near that full. Even with "fluffing", the trunk is clearly visible and the branches are open and sparse. It is nowhere near as nice and full and realistic as the tree we just got rid of.
That tree was only 6 or 7 years old, only 3 or 4 years old when we moved it from CT to here, where we've put it up the last 4 years.
We got it to replace the huge 7 foot artificial tree we had that had become utterly unmanageable. We had that big one for 8 or 9 years but it was too much. Gorgeous, though.
 |
| The 7 foot tree in Bloomfield. Our ceilings were high enough, but the tree loomed in the room and was hard to manage. |
The smaller replacement was not very old but it had hard wear. The branches were loose, so 3 bungee cords and wire held some of them up. Two light strings would not light up.
The center was so thick it was impossible to get into it to figure out where to plug the convoluted plugs and taking the tree apart for storage was a chore. We'd lost the end caps for the stand legs and the screws to fasten the adjustable stand to keep it open.
 |
| Smaller replacement tree came with us to NM |
Rather than take it apart into its storage pieces, which was difficult with all the bungee cords and complicated plugs, we just took it out standing, and left it upright in the garage with a sheet over.
That worked, but it was a real lift to get it out of the garage and into the house whole.
Even though it was falling apart, only partly lit and a chore to maneuver, it still looked great. So full and real.
The new one, despite its hefty price, is a far cry from the one we just got rid of. The needles are not as fat and glossy and the tree is open and fake looking. It has odd bright blue lights mixed in with the multi colored ones. But . . .
Since it's more open there's more room for hanging ornaments. It comes apart easily and snaps into receptacles in the trunk itself, no finding plugs that can't be seen. And, like Greg's bargain Home Depot little tree, it will look just fine when decorated and lit.
Really, no one sees our Christmas tree but us. The new one will be fine next year.
January 7
Seed Frenzy
Seed Frenzy
On these cold winter days I have been going crazy looking at seeds, and even ordering some. They are so cheap, I can imagine so much delight and they are so easy to order. Bam. I'm getting nicotiana alata seeds in case I can't find any plants in spring.
I even got a pack of nicotiana sylvestris . . . yikes.
I got Black Barlow columbine seeds; one of the three big plants died last summer. I got Profusion zinnias for pots and a red coccinea annual salvia seeds for, um, where? I got pale hybrid cosmos seeds, a tall one for the back of the kitchen courtyard.
And I looked and almost ordered a ton of other fascinating things I'd like to grow, but checked my impulses. All this despite the fact I have had zero luck with seeds here. Zero. I have no good seed starting spot or lights, no luck direct sowing, little success starting outdoors in pots in nice potting mix. The season is short, too cool for too long, and too dry.
But seeds are so cheap, and it's so cold out, and . . . . sigh.😕