rain this evening

The weather report was again calling for rain all day, so I made no garden plans. Bobbie and I went up to NC this morning to work with the dogs, then hit Cracker Barrel for brunch and went to Bloomfields to see if they had anything we wanted. No luck there, and we also made a fruitless chase out to the Ingles in Travelers Rest to see if they had the Forever and Ever hydrangeas (looking for a 'Together' for Mrs Phillips) like the site claimed, but no luck there.

After I got home, my mom and I went out and I got a new terra cotta pot for the rosemary on the front porch that has outgrown its pot and also got a ceramic pot for 'Blue Mouse Ears'. On the way home it finally started raining, but then stopped fairly quickly. I used the break in the rain to pot up 'Blue Mouse Ears' and finally water the potted hydrangeas with aluminum sulfate (2 tbsp per 2 gallons) and then water them well with plain water. I also pulled up some more plantain weeds.

hostas dug up- 2, hostas planted- 1

The forecast changed and we did not get any rain today. That was good as it allowed me to work in the yard, but due to the forecast for rain, I didn't really have any plans for the day.

My first task of the day was to finally dig up the one 'Julie Morss' hosta by the 'Generale' hydrangea that is looking pretty terrible. When I got it dug up, it was surrounded by other roots and some of its own roots were dead. This plant had been planted bare root straight into the ground, so I don't know if those roots were ever alive or if all the root competition killed them. I potted it up and will eventually give it to someone.

Despite thinking that I did not want to waste my day pulling plantain weeds, I got started on that again. This time I was working back closer to the camellias, trying to pull them in areas where there actually WAS grass, so that those would stay grassy areas, not get taken over. I probably spent over an hour doing that.

I called Bobbie just before noon to see if she wanted to get together. We went to lunch at Stax, then over to look at Mrs. Phillips' yard and have dessert. Bobbie was thrilled with the 'Ponderosa' tomato I gave her. I do hope it grows well for her. Mrs. Phillips' yard looks really nice. She also lost a lot of the old wood on her hydrangeas this year, she thinks the late freeze and the super cold night early in the year might have done it. So, its not just my plant, it was just a bad year for hydrangeas. She does have a HUGE hydrangea that is quite exposed and covered in buds, I might see if I can take a few cuttings off it later this year. She also gave me some tall irises, some are two shades of blue and others are two shades of brown. I have to figure out where to plant them now. I might plant a few along the house where I have the two daylilies now.

After I got home, I dug around in the area where I had dug up the hosta and got rid of as many roots as I could. I then planted the 'Abiqua Drinking Gourd' hosta there. I'm not sure if this will be a good place for that hosta, but for the time being, I'm giving it a try. I dug up the 'Elegens' that was crowding the carex. I'm going to give Bobbie and Mrs. Phillips each an 'Elegens'. I don't think either of them has a blue hosta. My final task of the day was to get the water sprouts cut off the bottom of the Bradford Pear. It no longer looks like it is wearing a skirt and now looks like a tree again.

planting under the pecan tree

Yesterday was my day to go in late to work, so I was out in the yard early trying to get some things done. I got the whole place watered first, then set to work on a little planting. I planted hosta 'Orange Marmalade' back under the pecan tree between the Teller Red hydrangea and the astilbe. Then I planted the golden spiderwort kind of between the hosta and the hydrangea, but set back a little. The hope is that the spiderwort will spread out and fill in that area, kind of making a (20" tall) ground cover in this area. It has little blue/purple blooms and is supposed to bloom all summer.


I cut back some of the junk privet near where the 'Orange Dream' Japanese Maple is so that it shows up a lot better. It is still a tad close to the hydrangea, but until I can get the shack repaired/torn down/whatever I want to leave the junk privet in place to block the view of the falling down shack. Speaking of privet, several of the largest privets are in bloom right now. While it is pretty, blooms mean seeds and seeds mean more of that garbage in my yard. It is never ending...

Once the planting tasks were complete, I felt compelled to tackle the grass a bit more. My yard is being taken over by plantain weeds. I picked an area in the shady part near the fence and pulled as many plantain weeds as I could for about 2 hours. My fingers are still red and sore from this. Then, I spread Black Cow (my bag is sort of waterlogged, so I need a new bag) over the newly seeded area, spread shade grass seed and watered well. I really wanted to get this done yesterday as the forcast was for several days of rain and I figured that would help get the grass seed off to a good start. My *latest* plan for the grass is to pick fairly small area each month and weed it and seed it in the same fashion. I'm hoping by sticking to a pretty small area, I can maybe get it watered well enough with the hose while I'm doing my other watering and will be able to get grass to grow. I'm going to get some of the sod and seed soil to spread over the bare areas before seeding, as that seemed to work well in the two area where I used it last year.

Today (Thursday) it was supposed to rain all day, but was just cloudy until late afternoon, when it finally did rain for a few hours.


Hydrangea 'Together'

trip to Atlanta

I went down to Atlanta this weekend to see my friend act in a play, but of course I hit a few nurseries while I was there.

First up, my mom had wanted 'Blue Mouse Ears' hosta and found it on ebay, but I told her not to bid on it because we would just buy it locally. Sure... so, no luck finding it locally and of course it wasn't on ebay anymore. So, I decided that as Mother's Day present I'd get it for her. A quick web search turned up Bloomin Designs, a hosta and other plant nursery north of Atlanta, pretty much on my way down to my friend's house. I got in touch with them and though they would not be open on Saturday, we made arrangements for me to pay for the hostas, then pick them up while the nursery was closed. I was able to walk around for a little bit and all I can say is WOW, I really need to go back and bring my mom, because I pretty much wanted one of almost everything. I also was a bit scared when I saw how big 'Elegens' and 'Guacamole' can get. I think I may have a few too many 'Elegens' in my yard currently... They will make lovely gifts. While at Bloomin Desings, I also got 'Orange Marmalade' which we had both fallen in love with from its photos.

Since I was in the Atlanta area, I also stopped by the Pike Nursery out on Pleasant Hill Rd. Pike is unfortunately in bankrupcy currently, but they have been bought out or something. I did notice that there was a whole section that had been full of plants when I was there last fall that is now empty. Still, I did find some good things at reasonable prices. I initially got a mini hosta 'Sitting Pretty' and some black mondo grass (decent price and I needed at least one more for the area I've got planned). Then while I was walking around looking at things, I saw two Japanese Maples in the neatest octagonal boxes. I thought that I would like a box like that when my 'Tamukeyama' gets bigger, so I took a closer look. I was looking at 'Orange Dream', which just so happens to be the one other Japanese Maple I really want (after realizing I had a red dissectum, a regular red and a variegated one, the only thing really left was orange). Then I looked at the price. Wow... I will not repeat it here, but considering the tree was as tall as I was... However, due to the size of the tree, I was sure there would be no way I could get it home, so I left without it.

Once I got to my friend's house, I told her about my shopping trips and the tree and she said if it wouldn't fit in my car, we could get it in her van and figure out how to get it to my house later. We didn't go back on Saturday, because we had to meet friends for dinner, then the show, both of which were lots of fun. Sunday AM we headed out to Pike again to look at the tree. While there, I picked up a second mini hosta 'Golden Prayers' and also an Ostrich Fern that was marked $2.00 instead of $12.99 because it looked like someone was trying to kill it. I selected one that looked like it had some healthy but not yet unfurled fronds and will hope for the best. Of course, I got the tree, but not before triple-checking the price. I was even MORE amazed when we were actually able to fit it in my car. WOW!!



I got back home around 2 PM but was totally exhausted, so pretty much all I did was pot up the two mini hostas. I'm going to look for a really special pot for 'Blue Mouse Ears'.

Today I was still worn out and didn't do anything this morning. I regretted that decision when I came home to wilted tomato plants and had to hurry up and do a bunch of watering before my yoga class. Tomorrow I'm going to try to get up early and water the front porch plants.

'Christmas Tree' planted

I got up a bit earlier than usual this AM with the plan that I would get the new hostas planted before work. Since they were bare root, I let them soak overnight in a bowl of water, but I wasn't sure about leaving them that way for 2 nights, so that meant that I had to do something with them today.

I went out and dug up the area where I wanted to plant 'Christmas Tree', LOTS of roots, but I did my best to dig them out. My neighbor's trees are obviously the type that send out a lot of surface roots, as I always run into a ton when I am digging back there. I got 'Christmas Tree' planted out and watered in. I also put 'Holy Mole' in a 2 gallon pot and potted it up for the time being. I will have to figure out where to put it and its friends.

Today was the tomatoes first day outside. I put them on the porch right up against the house where they would get a few hours of morning sun but hopefully be protected from any strong winds. They seem to have done pretty well. I'll put them back out there tomorrow.

The reticulated irises that I got earlier this year from a woman who comes into work have just started to bloom.

eBay hostas arrive

The two hostas I bought on ebay, 'Holy Mole' and 'Christmas Tree' arrived today. 'Christmas Tree' has big leaves and nice roots. 'Holy Mole' is just beginning to wake up but has a HUGE root system. So big, I'm trying to figure out what to do with it, as I'm not ready to plant it yet. My tentative plan is to try to plant 'Christmas Tree' tomorrow AM before work, but that depends on how early I can get up and get ready for the day.

I also potted all the 'Pink Accodion' tomato seedlings in their own pots and plan to start moving them outside tomorrow.

planting and transplanting for 4/18

Planted out today in the perennial border:
Euphorbia
Wallflower
Blue Hill salvia
alyssum Easter Bonnet
lantana Bandana Cherry
Stargazer lily bulbs
Bearded Iris rhizomes
dahlia Lavender Perfection
hollyhock

Planted out:
Teller Red hydrangea
Night Before Christmas hosta
perilla
marigolds

Transplanted to the perennial border:
ginger lilies
Joe Pye weed moved from one side to the other
coneflowers moved from one side to the other


licorice plant icicles moved from the pot to the border

perennial bed and so much more

Today was one of those super productive days that you can only think of when it is cold or rainy. We are expecting rain over the weekend, so I'm glad I had today off to get a lot done.

I started at 8:30 AM by raking the mulch and pine needles from the left half of the perennial bed. I also moved all the plants that had been plopped down in and on the bed except the variegated iris, that has come up so well. Once I had all the mulch off, I realized I wanted to put the mulch somewhere, so that led to a brief time out while I weeded and pulled all the grass from around the daylilies and spread the mulch/pine needles there. Then it was back to digging in the bed. It actually went better than expected and I only ran into the rocks really in one area near where the viburnum is. I added almost a whole bag of Clay Buster and raked it into the loose dirt.



Then it was time to start planting the bed. First order of business was to dig up the ginger lilies, which I think planted on the outside back corner of the left and right side of the bed. In order to plant on the right hand side, I first had to dig up the 1 Joe Pye Weed, which I then moved the the left side. While I was digging in the bed, I discovered that the two dahlias that had bloomed last year appeared to have overwintered, plus I had a glad coming up, so I decided to leave them as the back row planting and get another bag of dahlias. Once I had the ginger lilies and joe pye weed in, I put the blue sage back in and dug two clumps of coneflower from the right side. I think dug the wallflower out of the herb barrel and planted it on the left side. The wood spurge (euphorbia) went on the right side where a coneflower had been and the licorice plant finally got out of a pot and into the right side of the perennial bed.

With all that done, it was time to tackle the next project... planting the 'Teller Red' hydrangea. Since there was already a hole in place it wasn't that bad. I also decided that I will plant a hosta near it between it and the astilbe. After that it was on the the next task, fertilizing the camellias. I raked back all the old mulch, then fertilized them and watered them in. I also fertilized my azaleas, which apparently was a mistake, as it will stimulate growth and cause the flowers to fall off. So, maybe the azalea show will be brief this year. I also fertilized the yew and the loropetulam.

It was about 2 PM at that point and I went off to Country Boys to pick up a few things. I got a flat of alyssum, a perilla, a hollyhock and a pack of coleus. I stopped off at Home Depot and got 2 packs of marigolds and a new water wand that I hope will be more gentle. I planted the alyssum along the entire front of the perennial bed, the hollyhock in the inner back corner of the right side of the perennial bed and the perilla in the center of the camellia bed. Hosta 'Night Before Christmas' finally got a home between the far left 'Miss Biloxi' and 'Debutante'. I'm going to put the new 'Christmas Tree' hosta on the other side of 'Debutante' when it comes. I planted up three small pots of marigolds and planted one marigold in each corner of the big pot the roma tomato is in.

At that point, after the watering, it was time to call it a day. I am still debating where I'm going to plant the double pink hydrangea.

Euphorbia in bloom: