planted the Generale, irises

I got up early today as I had a bunch of things to do. Problems started almost as soon as I got outside when I looked at the Generale hydrangea and realized he was very wilted. Turned out the situation was worse than it looked initially as not only was he wilted, his leaves had started to dry out. I did not water yesterday but I had watered everything on Friday. Fuji Waterfall was also quite wilty. My current thinking is that even though it is not as hot as it was in August, we are having more wind and that the wind is drying some of the hydrangeas out (though not Endless Summer or Ayesha). As if the Generale in bad shape wasn't enough, I went over by the newly planted Gentian Dome and was treated to the site of many parts of limbs lying on the ground broken. The plant is now at least 1/3 smaller than when I planted it. One of my dogs obviously got into it. I did put the broken stems in water to see if they would revive enough to try to root. We shall see.

All this called for a major change of plans. I watered everything in the back yard, then we set off for Lowes. At Lowes, I got chicken wire to fence in Gentian Dome, 2 bags of mulch, a bale of pine needles, a box of yard bags and a bag of the seed and sod starting soil. When we got home, I spread the sod soil out where the ditch had been so badly scraped by the green waste folks, then spread the last of the grass seed there and in a few other places in the front yard, covered it with straw and watered well.

I used one of my 4 foot metal stakes to form a corner post and we put up the chicken wire, attaching it to both the side and front fence. I think it will hold and hopefully the plant can grow unmolested now. If I wanted to winter protect it, all I'd have to do is fill the enclosure with leaves I guess.

With all my extra stuff done, it was time to get to the main plan for the day... clearing the area for the Generale. With my mom's help, I was able to clear away all the vines, privet and hopefully dead poison ivy remains from the area. Then, the hard work began. I dug out as many stumps of trees and vines as I could. Then, I went to check on the Generale and as he seemed perked up some, I decided to go ahead and plant him. He has lots of nice room to grow. When I had seen what bad shape he was in this morning, I had repotted him in a 3 gallon pot. After planting him in the ground, I repotted the Fatsia into the three gallon pot and placed it beside the water heater.

Generale planted, I decided to work on the area along side the house. I dug up all the coleus, as they weren't looking too hot, then set to the task of digging up and dividing the irises. I know have more irises than I know what to do with and have planted irises all over my yard. I have some growing in the nursery bed, some in dirt by the azaleas, some by the daylilies, some on both ends of the perennial bed. I really don't know what I am going to do with all of them. I did notice that the ones I planted by the loropetalum on Friday are not looking so hot. That might be a combination of full sun and dogs trampling them. If they don't make it, I will still have a bunch. Once I got everything but the coral bells along the front and the creeping phlox and lilies of the valley in the corner out, I covered the entire area with pine needles. At some point I will add a layer of Black Kow and then cover it up again for the winter. I'll try to figure out what to do with that space in the spring.

I also began work on the second half of the perennial bed. I dug up a bunch of bermuda grass and also a bunch more of the rocks. I ended up putting the variegated Japanese Iris in an area that has been dug in. The dirt where all the rocks are is very dark and rich in the top layers where I am digging out the rocks. I want to add some composted cow manure to the whole area and move a few of the coneflowers over from the other side of the bed, but I just feel like I am running out of time. I can always dig them in the spring. I do want to try and get a bit more of the bed dug in so I can plant the flowering sage that Bobbie bought for me earlier this year. I also need to get out the mostly dead verbena from the front of the other half of the perennial bed and replace it with pansies.

Speaking of pansies... Almost all of the impatiens I have, except the ones in the hanging baskets, are looking pretty bad now and need to be replaced. I am sure we are still in for another warm spell, but they are leggy and getting done in by the sun and everything. I am trying to decide what color pansies I want back in the camellia border. I may wait to plant there until I have planted Diakagura as I will be working right around them. I also need to replace the impatiens in the little flower bed along the side fence. I want to expand that bed as well. I am thinking about putting in a small hydrnagea in that area, kind under the Beautyberry, but not sure if it is too much sun or not.

planted gentian dome, pizzaz

This morning I went out to the Farmer's Market for the fall festival. One thing I saw that I could not resist was a hanging basket of creeping rosemary, it is even in bloom currently. This solves the problem of what to put on the shepherd's crook once the million bells die for the winter. I hung the basket up this afternoon to see how it looks and it reached almost to the ground. Fantastic!

After getting back from the Farmer's Market I had about 1 1/2 hours before I needed to meet Bobbie for lunch, so I decided to see how much progress I could make on digging in a hydrangea. I was able to get a big enough hole dug in to plant Gentian Dome. It was planted on the back yard side of the side fence. I also cut down two more catalpa saplings to get a little more sun in to Mini Penny and Gentian Dome. The shade border is looking good! I need to clean out the area for the Generale on Sunday.

one year of home ownership

Today marks the one year anniversary of our signing the papers for our house. I will be putting up some photos showing the transformantions that have taken place in a year.

planted Ami and So Sweet

Today is the day I work nights, so I had a little time to work in the yard this morning. I watered the back yard but decided to hold off on the front yard due to time and the fact that the pots still seemed okay. I am really going to have to get out and water the hollies tomorrow as I am currently wondering if I watered them on Sunday...



The mosquito spray did seem to have helped the bug situation, as I could actually work in the shade border. I think I will spray along the side of the house next as there were a lot of bugs in that area today. One of my co-workers suggested spraying under the house where I have seen standing water, I might try that as well. I would have NO problems with killing all the bugs under my house, just don't want the spray to drift up into the house. Maybe I'll spray and we can all go off somewhere for a few hours.

I got Ami planted in the shade border, but did run into a big root that runs along the left and front side of the planting hole. This was WAY too large to cut with the loppers, so I had to leave it. I also ended up with Ami a bit closer to the fence than ideal but also due to tree roots, I wonder if she will grow to the largest size, as there will be root competition in the area. Hope not too much root competition. I cut one catalpa branch down and it looked like she was getting a lot of filtered sun. The next hydrangea planted will be Gentian Dome, that will be to the left of Ami right up along the side fence. Again, I'll have some tree roots to deal with in the area. I also have found a spot where one variegata would look nice, but there may be too many roots. There is a second location that I could try that I think might be almost TOO shady, but that will have to wait until frost finishes off my perilla. I am hoping that I might be able to get the Generale planted this weekend, but clearing the area for him is going to be some work due to the vines, tree stumps and remains of poison ivy. I'm going to need help from my mom.

My last project for the day was to plant one of my new hostas, So Sweet. I dug up the little Julie Mross that had been planted in front of the backyard nandina and planted So Sweet there instead. I dug out a bunch of roots, so hopefully I didn't injure the nandina, but they are also pretty tough. Based on what I've read, I think the So Sweet I have is close to full size. It fits the space well right now, and has a bit of room to grow back toward the nandina, but not a ton. It looks good skirting the nandina, as I am still working on pruning it to make it fuller at the bottom and the majority of the shrub is actually in my neighbor's yard.

My mom took a bunch of rooted coleus to work for her co-workers and I still have two Silver Thymes that might be rooted and the two Julie Mross hostas to give away as well. The baby hydrangea cutting seem to be doing well inside their plastic bags. I've got to read online and see how often I should give them some air and re-mist them. I've moved the rooted baby Fuji outside full time and I think I'm going to relocate it into the nursery bed where it will spend the winter (I'm going to bury the pot in the nursery bed). I am going to try to put the other Fuji cutting into a rooting mixture as well. It has started to grow roots in the water, but just doesn't seem to be making much progress. The longest root hasn't grown in a while and a few other roots are just starting to break out of the stem. Maybe it will actually get growing in the rooting mix.

I came home to work today to quite a surprise. It seemed like the grass in my front yard had been mowed. I know my mom said one of her co-workers mows lawns for a reasonable price. Turns out he had come over after work and mowed my front and back yard. I can't believe how my back yard looked and this was in the dark. It actually looked like a real lawn or something back there. It looks great! I have got to get a lawn mower...

Shade border this AM: hydrangea Endless Summer, hosta So Sweet, impatiens (in front of hosta), perilla, ewe (behind) and a pot of pennyroyal.
/>

sprayed for mosquitos

Well, I finally did it. Today after watering the containers, I went out and sprayed the Cutter Bug Free Backyard stuff on the shady parts of my back yard. Last night the mosquitos were so bad they were trying to fly into my eyes and it was impossible to work out there. I am hoping that I got enough of the stuff on the ground to get rid of the mosquitos (it will get rid of good bugs too unfortunately) and that it won't damage any of my plants. I'll have my mom check on everything after work.

The hydrangeas that were wilted so badly yesterday are perked back up this morning. I am hoping to get a few of them in the ground on Friday. I know where Ami is goig for sure, I'm just trying to decide what to put next to her, Marchal Foch or Gentian Dome. I still have a bunch of clearing work to do before the Generale's home is ready. As for the variegated ones, I'm totally at a loss for what to do with them but at least one will be spending the winter in a pot.

hydrangea cuttings, pesto, camellia issues

Yesterday when I set out the two new camellias I bought I think "hum... this seems a little close...". Today after thinking some more, looking at the picture and doing a little research online I realized that I had planted my camellias WAY too close. With the two that died, I think that will fix the spacing problem to an extent. I do need to move the middle Tom over to where the dead Tom is. And, now I don't quite know where to go with Debutante. I do plan to extend the border clear across the back of the yard, so I guess Deb will be the first part of the expansion. Of course, the nursery bed is currently in the area I plan to extend into, so I guess now I will be starting at the far corner and working in from that side. I want to get someone to take a look at my plan and give me some advice. I'm afraid that the best option will also be moving the right hand Miss Biloxi, but I am concerned about how she will fair if she is moved. I don't want another dead camellia. Then, once the camellias are properly spaced for the long run, I will have HUGE holes in the border. I am toying with looking into dwarf hydrangeas to plant between the camellias. They will bloom at opposite times and as the camellias grow, the hydrangeas should skirt them. Who knows...

Speaking of hydrangeas, I did make a cutting on the Maybe Penny last night and got 4 little cuttings out of it that I tried rooting. I have them in yogurt cups with holes in the bottom, filled with a 50-50 mix of perlite and peat moss. I then have them sealed in ziploc bags. We will see if this works...

I had harvested a TON of basil on Sunday and mom plucked and cleaned most of it for me last night. I ended up making three batches of pesto, one of which I put in the freezer. I put the other two batches in the fridge, but I might break up that container and put part of it in the freezer as well.

no self-control...

It is hot again today, between 93-96 in the middle of the afternoon and currently 91. This is SO unfair! We had been having nice weather in the 80s and now to be shot back into the middle of summer... yuck. Not to mention that I had planned on planting today, but it is way to hot for that.

I started the morning by weed-eating the front yard, which was long over due. I also had to get rid of one of my containers of coleus, the one with Fishnet stocking and the green trailing coleus. It had gotten some sort of insect infestation (spiders I think) and was covered with what things that I think were eggs on the underside of the leaves. I figured it had to go before whatever hatched or it spread to other plants. I got it all bagged up, then washed out its pot with bleach. That pot is now ready for some pansies or something. I moved the fern over by the other coleus pot and tried to clean up the porch a little.

The heat pretty much halted any planting plans I had, though I did get Glowing Embers and Buttons N Bows potted up into their new pots and set in place. I think both of them are in pretty good locations. Buttons N Bows is getting more sun right now, but is also further back in, beside the pecan tree. Since it is not in a pretty pot (just a sand colored plastic pot) I'm going to work on hiding it behind other plants. Glowing Embers is in the shade bed right in front of a tree in Curtis's yard. Figured there would be no way I'd ever get anything in the ground there due to tree roots, so potted is the way to go. It is also right near Ayesha and will eventually have the Generale on the left side. I have moved the Fuji Waterfall and Mini Penny cuttings outside full time now. Fuji seems to be doing very well, while Penny is still a big question mark.

The Clemson gnome has joined the garden. He moved in with the daylilies today and seems to be settling in just fine.

This afternoon we went to Underwoods to look for perlite and peat moss, after I realized that the bags I had bought at Home Depot contained Miracle Grow fertilizer in them, and getting away from fertilizers was the whole point of getting them for the cuttings. So... I did finally find a bag of perlite at Underwoods, but they don't carry peat at all. Their 20% off sale was going on and first we found two nice hostas. Then we ran into the camellia area... My original plan for the year has been to get 2 additional camellias to finish out the part of the camellia border I had started. Then I had two camellias die (or maybe one is still alive, don't know) so suddenly I needed 4 camellias. Then I just didn't know what to do. Today I got 2 3 gallon camellias, which was actually what I had intended to purchase this fall. They will fill in the area next to Margaret Davis. I ended up getting a really nice looking Debutante (the maybe alive, maybe dead plant is a Debutante). I had been thinking that I would need to put it where the original Deb was, but I finally figured out I can put it next to Margaret. If the original Deb is dead, I can put another pink in there. If it is alive, I can either keep in where it is or move it later as I expand the bed. The other plant I got was Daikagura Variegated, which my mom says is one of the plants my dad had. It should be really pretty and as it is variegated, it will go well with Margaret.


So, I guess I did what I had planned to do all along, buy 2 more camellias. I'm looking for a 1 gallon Tom at Home Depot to replace the dead Tom. As the others are little 1 gallon plants, I don't think I really need a 3 gallon one there. So far, I haven't seen any Toms but I'm sure they will turn up later in the year. That will cost around $8. Now I REALLY need some cooler weather and actually a few days off work to get everything planted.

plant shopping in Atlanta

Mom and I went down to Atlanta today mainly to visit Wilkerson Mill Gardens, which is a specialty mainly hydrangea nursery. After extensive reading, I had decided on some hydrangeas I wanted to add to my yard and none of the cultivators I wanted were available locally. I got Ami Pasquier (a red that I am hoping will turn purple on my acid soil), Gentian Dome (dark blue), Generale Vicomtesse de Vibraye (1909 introduction, light blue and reblooms) and Marechal Foch (THE dark blue before Gentian Dome came along, introduced around 1909). We really enjoyed visiting Wilkerson Mill and the owners were super nice and very helpful. They also suggested Sibilla if I wanted to try for purple, so maybe next year...



I had bought a large pot last month at Lowes with the intention of getting a Masja hydrangea from Park Seed to grow in it. Well, the Masjas at Park will not be available until next month and they will be tiny. We also went to a Pike Nursery when we were in Atlanta and they had 1 gallon 'Buttons n Bows', the really cute little hydrangea with white edges on the flowers for a good price, so I just had to get it. They also had 'Glowing Embers' for the same good price and I debated getting it, but wasn't going to. Then I found a big plastic pot for only $6 and figured I could plant 'Buttons n Bows' in the plastic pot as it will be easy to move to protect it and that left the original pot free for 'Glowing Embers' so into the cart it went as well. I also picked up 2 1 gallon Butterfly Bushes for $3 each, one is variegated. I think I will plant one sort of behind my one yew at the edge of my perennial bed. I can always prune it to keep it in line. Pike also had the Clemson gnome I have been searching for ever since seeing a Carolina gnome at Country Boys.

All in all it was a very productive, if a tad expensive, trip to Atlanta and we really had a good time. I have a lot of planting to do in the coming weeks. The hydrangeas will be the first things in, as I really want them to try to get as much root growth in as possible before they go dormant.

replaced living room register covers

I got the one register cover that was defective returned to Lowes tonight, so now I have all three registers in the living room replaced with new covers. The non-functional register still has the wood cover I bought last fall, but the two functional registers have the antique bronze covers that match the one in the dining room. They look quite nice. I am thinking of getting two in white to replace the register covers in my bedroom. I have one cover in my bedroom replaced currently, but I could move that to the kitchen, where the cover could also stand to be replaced.

I did not get my act together nearly early enough this morning to water, but I figured everything would be okay because I had watered yesterday and it wasn't that hot today. It was pretty windy today and when I came home from work, my pots were bone dry. I watered everything tonight, but I may try to hit some of the pots again tomorrow morning before I go to work. I also want to check on Fuji Waterfall, since it was somewhat droopy when I watered it yesterday.

I spent a few minutes this evening walking around the yard trying to figure out hydrangea placement. I can't quite figure out what I am going to do with the variegated hydrangeas. I have a spot that one looks really good in, but I'm not sure. I have another spot I think might be too shady for some of the hydrangeas, so I could put the variegata there but it is also a pretty prominent place in the yard a as variegata can be an iffy bloomer... Just not sure at this point. At least I have two designated hydrangea spots, one of which is sort of ready for planting. The area for the Generale will take some more clearing before it is ready to go. I also am trying to find out when the Masja hydrangeas are going to be available from Park Seed. So far, they don't seem to have them ready yet. I may end up getting a Masja down in Atlanta, depending on the price.

daylilies survived scraping

Three of the old fashioned daylilies survived being scraped by the greenwaste folks. When I was watering today, I saw three little areas of green shoots and looked closer and could see some roots. The daylilies had not only survived but mangaed to put out some new growth even with partially exposed roots. The only thing I had on the front of the house to cover the roots was some compost, so I put that over the exposed roots and watered them. I think I may buy some more of the seed starting soil for grass and see if I can get it to cling to the hillside at all and try to seed in the area that is scraped so badly. I don't know what else to do. I've been trying to fix the eyesore that is that ditch and this latest scraping made it look worse than ever.

The grass I seeded in in the back is doing really well, especially the seed that is on that seed starting soil, that stuff has really taken off! I am going to buy some more of that soil and spread it over some of the bare spots and try seeding them in as well.

I put the two rooted hydrangea cuttings outside for the day and we will see how they do. I'm going to bring them inside overnight as it is in the low 60s, high 50s and that might be a bit much for the first few days.

Autumn Amethyst azalea is blooming:

potted up 'Fuji Waterfall'

I potted up the larger 'Fuji Waterfall' cutting Monday night. So far, after about 24 hours in the dirt it is doing well. It had about 8-10 little roots growing out of the stem, so I am hoping that is enough. I was trying to leave it in the water until the roots got longer, but they didn't seem to be getting longer, just getting more roots. And, as it is already mid-September, I wanted to try to get it actually rooted in dirt and growing before it was time to go dormant. The other cutting is just now starting to put out of few roots. I did lose one of the two remaining 'Mini Penny' cuttings, it totally withered away and died. The one remaining cutting looks okay, it is still green though its two remaining leaves have gotten dry and brown on the ends. I'm trying to start moving it outside for part of the day. I'm wondering if the inside conditions are part of its problem.

striptease planted, nursery bed built

We got 1 1/2" of rain on Friday night, so the ground was still too wet to dig on Saturday. I ended up going to Asheville for the day and visiting two nurseries up there. Didn't find anything I had to have, and their prices were higher than Greenville, especially one nursery that was A LOT higher than the more expensive nurseries here. I ended up getting stuck in the parking garage downtown when the machine wouldn't take my 20. A guy in line behind me ended up paying for me so I could get out. After that, I headed for home, but stopped at Earth Fare on my way. I did have a nice lunch at Laughing Seed so that was good and it gave me something to do for the day.

After I got back to Greenville, I worked on trying to get the supplies to build a nursery bed. I figured it would be pretty easy: buy some lumber, get it cut, buy some sort of braces to make the corners, buy some nails, take the whole thing home and build it. Well, had some trouble getting waited on at my local Home Depot, the saw was broken at the local Lowes, so I ended at another Home Depot, where I got the lumber, got it cut, got some metal braces and got the nails they suggested, which I don't think will work, so I ended up going BACK out later to get different nails. This came to more than I expected, running about $25 for the supplies.

Earlier in the day I had seen the register covers I've been wanting a Lowes. Last time I looked at them, the "antique" color ones were marked at $19, while the white were essentially $13. This time the antique and white were priced the same, so I bought 3 of the antique for the living room and dining room.

This morning I got up not quite as early as I had hoped. I was going to spray the mosquito stuff, as it was only 58 (wow cold!) this morning, but then I worried about all the chemicals and didn't do it. Later in the day as I was getting bitten by mosquitos I would wish I had... I did a bit of weeding back where the laundry post was, spread a little more grass seed, covered it with straw and watered it in. I am hoping I can really get the grass growing in this area. Due to the rain, I didn't have much watering to do in the back, just watered a few of the pots.

My major AM project was building the frame for the raised nursery bed, with my mom's help. After I finished the first corner, I realized that the only flat surface at my house large enough for this project was the front porch and we moved out there. I also discovered that one of the boards was somewhat warped, which ticks me off as the guy at Home Depot actually picked up and loaded the wood, would have thought he might check for somethign like that, but guess not... All in all, the frame did not go together quite as well as I would have hoped, though I did like the metal braces I used as they really helped in getting it all lined up. True this is my first attempt at a project like this, but I had hoped it would be a little better than it actually is. The good news is that once it was on the ground, you couldn't really see what was wrong with it. I put the box next to the end of the camellia bed, then put down a layer of newspaper. I added a layer of straw on top of that and hope that the newspaper will help keep weeds out of the bed.

Once the box was built, it was off to Lowes (since I'm ticked at Home Depot) for dirt. Should have gone to Home Depot as Lowe's topsoil is basically twice the price. Again, buying the dirt came to more than I expected. I bought 4 1 cu ft bags of toil soil, a big bag of soil conditioner and a 2 cu ft bag of flower soil (Lowes also does not have "garden soil" except for really expensive Miracle Grow...). I mixed about 1/4 of a bag of the soil conditioner with each bag of toil soil and am hoping that the soil conditioner will make it okay for use. The four bags of topsoil mixed with soil conditioner went on top of the straw inside the bed. I then put the 1 bag of flower soil on top of that, but realized I needed a second bag. So, it was off to Lowes again where I not only got another bag of the flower soil, but also another bag of pine mulch and while standing the checkout line spotted a big pot of mums marked down to $5 (the pot alone would be $5) which had not been there an hour before and added that to my cart. The 2nd bag did the trick with some leftover.



I planted the 5 tiara hostas and the Tortilla Chip on the right hand side of the nursery bed. The idea is for them to grow some more this fall, then overwinter in the bed while I try to decide where to plant them next spring. I plan to use the left hand side to overwinter hydrangea cuttings, if I get any that make it that far. Eventually I will move the frame to a new location once the shack is torn down, so that I can expand the camellia bed, a good reason to build a raised bed. I may also plant some irises back in the bed when I divide the irises along the side of the house, because again, I am not quite sure where I want to go with them...



I was very tired out by the end of the day, may have been carrying all the heavy bags of soil. The mosquitos were quite bad down at the nursery bed. I am just going to have to bite the bullet on Wednesday AM and spray the yard.

a little watering, a little weeding

They keep calling for rain, but it never quite seems to make it. The temps have been lower lately, only into the low 90s at the hottest and it has been pretty windy lately as well.

Today I gave the yard a good watering. Yesterday I had turned the sprinkler on the former location of the laundry post where I am trying to grow grass. I've been hand watering the area daily, but decided to give it a good soak with the sprinkler. When I was hand watering today, I noticed that some grass has already started to sprout. I am hoping I can actually get some grass growing well in this area.

I also did a little bit of weeding. I found some more of that horrid grass weed stuff and tried to pull as much of it as possible out of the yard. I also dug the rest of the grass out from between the loropetalum and the tea olive and filled that area in with mulch.

hot out in the sun

Did not do as much yard work as I would have liked today. I started out by weedeating the front yard, which is always tiring. I seem to have some horrid weed growing in the front yard, so I weeded around my daylilies, which I could barely see anymore. The Mattie Mae Maxwells have put out some new growth, along with the Chorus Lines, so there is a chance I might get some fall flowers, as both are supposed to be rebloomers.

I did do a big watering on the whole yard. I was going to try to plant my new 'Striptease' hosta, but the area I wanted to plant it in was FULL of mosquitos. Don't know when they will go away. I'm a tad concerned about my brand new 'Tortilla Chip' hosta as some of its leaves seem to be dying already. Of course, this heat and drought are forcing hostas into early dormancy. My in ground hostas aren't looking too great.

I did a touch more work on the shrub border. I pulled up all the grass between the Japanese beautyberry and the loropetalum and filled that area in with mulch. I need to do the same thing between the beautyberry and the flying dragon. Speaking of the dragon, today I think I saw an orange on the dragon! It still has a way to go, but then I'm not sure how you can tell when bitter oranges are ripe, since they aren't really something you can eat.

I may go check out Country Boys to see if they have any fall veggies in, as I did want to try to grow a few fall veggies. A few of my Tom tomatos are ripening now, so I may have a few of them again. I also saw a bunch more flowers on my bell peppers, so pepper season isn't over yet.

planted beautyberry and loropetalum

Today I planted the Japanese beautyberry and the Ever Red Sunset loropetalum. I will say that while I was trying to dig the hole for the 3 gallon beautyberry I remembered why I had planted mainly 1 gallon plants in this area... the soil is pretty hard. I did run into some rocks from the driveway, but not too many. It was slow going though when I got into the hard, dry clay soil. I got the hole dug finally and actually dug a little deeper than needed, then ammended all the dirt with the Moonure. The beautyberry was pretty root-bound, so I spent some time trying to loosen up the roots and bit, then finally got it in the hole and got it filled in and mulched.

After that, it was pretty quick and easy to dig the hole for the loropetalum, as it was the hole the pieris had been in, so pretty much I was just removing backfill. I did enlarge the hole a little bit and tried to dig out more of the bermuda grass, as it was constantly growing into and around the pieris. Hopefully I got the area a little clearer. On Sunday, I may go back in and clear out some more grass in this whole area and try to mulch in more of it. I did want to plant some spring bulbs in this area, so that might work.

After a trip out to Lichetenfelt Nurseries to see what hydrangeas they had (none that I was looking for though I picked up a variegated Japanese Iris and a small hellabore both for 50% off), I stopped off at Lowes on the way home to buy another bag of the grass starting soil. I also got a bag of Black Kow and a bag of mulch as I still have more planting to do this month and both are handy to have around when you need them. I filled in most of the laundry post hole with the dirt left over from planting this morning and then added the little bit I had left over from planting Mini Penny last weekend. I topped it all off with the grass starting soil, and tried to mix it all together and mix some of the grass soil out into the dirt I had kicked out around the hole when I was digging. I then seeded in the entire area with some grass seed, then covered it all with some straw. The straw bale wasn't staying together too well any more, so right now it is dumped along the fence line next to the edge of the camellia bed. I'm going to spread it out along the fence line, then let the leaves pile up in that area. Once the shack is torn down I am planning to extend the camellia bed, so right now I'll just start trying to add some organice matter to the soil in that area, maybe it will be in good shape when I am ready to plant (probably next fall).

Mini Penny moves in

I got my Mini Penny planted today, on the street side of my side fence, but right along the fence line, so you can't see her from the road. It took quite a while to dig the hole, even though it was only for a gallon pot. I had cut down several catalpa seedlings in the area where I wanted to plant Penny, so I had to dig the remaining trunks and roots out of the ground first.

While I was on that side of the fence I also planted my creeping phlox. I had left it by the other side of the house so long it actually rooted over there, so I ended up propogating it without even trying. Hopefully the rooted parts over by the side door continue to grow now that the mother plant is gone. I am going to get another creeping phlox at the Fall Festival to plant on the other side of the tree. They were quite pretty when they bloomed last spring and since they are evergreen and native, why not plant more.

I used all the soil I had left over from planting Ayesha to start filling in the hole where the post used to be. Then, I got a bag of top soil and a bag of garden soil and mixed them and added them to the hole. I topped that with the bag of sod starting soil I had purchased, but that still is not enough. I think I need another bag of top soil, garden soil and the sod starting soil to finish filling in the hole. I do have some soil left over from planting Penny, so I can add that to the hole as well. However, due to the mosquito situation, I will not be able to get back to filling in the hole for a while. I won't be able to work in the yard this Wednesday AM like I normally do, but I think I am off on Friday. Actually, if I buy the soil tonight, I might be able to work on this project tomorrow morning before work. That might be a workable solution.

I torn out the impatiens I had planted around the Flying Dragon as they were looking pretty bad. I replaced them with some dianthus I had purchased. The two best looking impatiens I took down to the camellia border, where I used them to replace two dead impatiens down there. The colors don't match, but I will replace the entire thing with pansies soon enough.

All the work this weekend has left me pretty exhausted and I think dehydrated. I have been drinking a TON of ice tea, but whenever I eat a decent sized meal or drink of bunch of tea I get really sick to my stomach. This is not fun. I did not get a good nights sleep last night, so I am hoping tonight will be better.

Ayesha in, laundry post out

I started off the morning by watering the entire yard, as our rain for the upcoming week seems to have disappeared. I seem to have only gotten about a days enjoyment out of my new hosemobile for the back yard, as while I was watering today I noticed that I suddenly had no water pressure. The small hose that came with the hosemobile, that I was using to connect it to the faucet had sprung a leak. I now have to try to locate another short hose. In other tool breakdown exictement today, I noticed that the one screw was loose on my pruners, then I suddenly noticed they no longer had any resistance. The spring had somehow come loose. Luckily I was able to find the spring digging in some dirt a little bit later. Tomorrow I am going to go to Target and pick up a pair of pruners (anything...) for 50% off.

I then decided to go work on clearing the area where I wanted to plant Ayesha. This of course turned into actually digging the hole and finally planting Ayesha. I also planted one of the "Elegens" hostas on the right side, as there was one already on the left side and then added the little Fire and Ice further left and to the front. All in all, I think it looks quite good.


I was about to go inside for lunch when I noticed the laundry pole that I had been working on digging out last week looked like it was leaning a bit. I was able to wiggle it around A LOT due to the recent rain and was able to enlarge the hole just by pushing the post around in a circle. So, it was back to this stupid post. I ended up digging, almost in the hole, with my trowel bringing up a bunch of red, clay mud. I was also able to confirm my suspicion that the post extended beyond the concrete. I got past the concrete and kept digging. Finally I found a place behind the post where there was already a big air pocket. At one point I thought I had found a stake that was holding the pole in place, but it turned out to just a piece of metal welded to the post. WHY WHY WHY...

Finally after more digging, I felt that I had freed most of the post. I leaned it as far over as it would go and using my leg for leverage, I pulled it out of the ground. I was actually quite surprised when I saw that it was moving out of the hole. Once I got it out of the hole, we laid it on the ground and I measured and photographed it. The post was set in 15" of concrete with an additional 15" of post extending into the ground past the concrete. All in all, the hole I dug was almost 3 FEET deep. YIKES.


Mom and I were able to get the post upright and with the two of us working and again using my leg as a fulcrum (physics folks!), we were able to get is out of the way and alongside the shack. Whenever the shack is torn down, the post can go away too. Right now it is out of my yard and out of the way. I can't believe how different the yard looks. I filled in the hole partway with the clay I had dug out today. Tomorrow I will fill it in more with the soil leftover from planting Ayesha. Tonight at Lowes I bought some seed and sod soil and that will be the top layer. Then I will spread some grass seed, cover it with straw, water and hope!



After all that it was finally time to eat and after 4 PM. There was a big bike race in town today and we got stuck several times in closed roads because of the race. Finally did get dinner, which was great as I had not eaten except for a bowl of Cheerios at 8:30 AM!

hydrangea madness!

I'm addicted to hydrangeas. They are just so pretty and they do well in the shade and I've got shade all around the edge of my yard.

I found an Ayesha hydrangea at Home Depot and debated buying it. Finally decided I would. I have now cleared out some more Chinese Privet to make the perfect planting place for Ayesha. I also picked up a friend for her today, hosta Fire and Ice. We are going to have temps in the 80s for the next few weeks, so I'm toying with planting her tomorrow.



While looking at Ayesha, I saw blooms way back on this stand the hydrangeas were on. I pushed aside the wilting Ladies in Red and totally mildewed prezoizas and found a hydrangea who had lost its tags. This poor plant was stuck in the middle with no room and yet, it was the only one blooming. I swear that I think this plant might be blooming on new wood. I thought, maybe I'll give this to Bobbie. Maybe I'll buy this and try to propogate it. I just couldn't leave this survivor in such horrible conditions any longer. So of course, I had to buy it too. I believe there is a chance this is Penny Mac. I found a nice fiberglass pot at Target for 50% off and this will be the mystery hydrangea's home for a while, at least until I figure out what I am going to do with it permanently. I figure this will be good for a few years.




I moved variegata into a new position in the shade border and I think it looks fantastic next to the carex! So good it may have won itself a permanent home. I am hoping that the long stem that reaches to the ground may take root over the fall and winter.



I am trying to follow the aging process of an Endless Summer bloom:
August 3rd


September 1st


The news about my cuttings is not so cheery. I think one is a total lost cause, the one I put into water after it wilted so badly. The other two are still in pots, but their leaves still look like cooked spinich and one has a leaf that is starting to get brown spots. I have them covered with grocery bags and try to mist them a few times a day, but I don't think they will make it. Don't know what I did wrong, but now I'm afraid to try a cutting on the mystery hydrangea.

I started the morning by weed eating my back yard. I realized the grass was just TOO high. I moved all the pots along the side of the fence and they are still in the middle of the yard as I was too tired to move them back. Tomorrow I need to weedeat the front yard. I also sawed two pretty big dead limbs off the large catalpa tree in the back yard. I finished off the day by digging more bermuda grass out of the edge of the annual garden around the light pole. I bought some compost with cow manure today, so if it is nice tomorrow I might work on expanding that bed over to the beautyberry. I also got some more mulch to finally finish mulching that bed.

There is a bike race that will be going through part of our neighborhood tomorrow afternoon, so I need to find things to keep me busy and going out during that time will be a pain. The high is only supposed to be in the 80s, though all the rain they forcast has disappeared. So, not a bad day to work on digging in the yard. I don't know if I can face tackling the laundry pole again right now.