Well, plans got a tad derailed when I was at Home Depot getting the topsoil. I ended up walking down one of the shurb aisles, even though I had already decided I couldn't get any more plants until I plant the ones already at my house. What did I see but a Tom Knudsen camellia. Tom Knudsen is my great-grandfather, and I knew that there had been a camellia named after him and his wife Valley, but figured that they probably didn't exist anymore. So, it was quite a surprise to find Tom at my local Home Depot. They had 3 Toms and I couldn't decide which one I liked the best so I figured at $6 each it was best to buy them all.
The Three Toms
Once I had the 3 Toms, the plan for the rest of the day pretty much fell into place. Obviously I wanted to plant the Toms and I have been REALLY needing to get to Underwoods and get my plants there, one of which was a camellia. And that made 4 camellias, which really meant I was going to be having a camellia garden. So, home to drop of the Toms and soil, then off to Underwoods to pick up my plants and get a few more camellias and maybe something to add a little color to the yard, as it is getting kind of bleak now that the leaves are all falling and the birds have eaten almost all the berries off the beautyberrys. I was SO worried as I had left my plants there for so long, but felt better when they said they didn't mind, especially since I had already paid for them!
Debutante in the center, flanked by two Miss Biloxis.
I ended up selecting 2 more camellias, another Miss Biloxi (a pretty double white, which was one of the plants waiting for me) and a Debutante, which is light pink. We decided it would be best to do 2 groups of 3 camellias each, the 3 Toms, then the Miss Biloxis and Debutante in another group. I also selected a Lenten Rose, which will be purple and bloom in the winter and is evergreen, for some winter interest. And, finally a plant I don't think I've ever even heard of before a Valley Rose Pieris, to plant across from the side door where I had originally planned to plant the small beautyberry, but given up due to all the rocks. I said I was looking for something to brighten up my yard, but that due to the rocks being hard to dig in it had to be in a 1 gallon pot! So, Pieris it is.
Got home with the plants and of course the "sunny" spot I had all picked up for the Pieris was in dappled sunlight, which turned to shade as the afternoon wore on, hopefully it will get enough sun. It was slow going digging through the rocks, but once I got under them, the ground was pure red clay and pretty compacted. I ammended it with lots of mushroom compost and some Miracle Grow garden soil, planted the Pieris and am hoping for the best.
After that it was off to work on adding more soil to the small beautyberry and rebuilding its moat. Did that and then watered both of the beautyberries. I figure all I can do with the big one is wait until spring and see what happens.
Next step was to start planting the camellias and I decided to plant the Toms first. I set them out along by the back fence and starting diggging. What a GREAT surprise, the soil back along the fence seems to be a nice loam, not at all sandy and definately not clay either. I almost hated to ammend it, but added Miracle Grow garden soil as that is what it said to do on the tags. I did get all three planted, but it was after 5:30 PM by the time the final one went in the ground. Mom came home and I sent her off to Home Depot for more mulch (to mulch around the camellias), a longer hose because mine wouldn't reach and a sprayer for my hose. Finally got the Toms mulched and watered by about 7:20 PM after getting a bunch more leaves raked while waiting for mom to come home from Home Depot.
Tomorrow I have to work all day, so maybe we can work on hanging some pictures in the evening when I get home.
The plan for Sunday is going to be to try to get all the plants at my house in the ground. The 3 hostas, Rose of Sharon, 3 remaining camellias, the hydrangea and the Lenten Rose. Then I am done planing for a little bit, except that I want to plant something along the fenceline on the air conditioner side to keep the dogs back from the fence...
We'll see how far I get the rest of this weekend.
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