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.