February 22 , 2008
From the Producer 2/23
Although we got but a bit of rain last Saturday , the disturbance was certainly fun ! Mainly , the brief deluge softened up the soil for pull smoke . Even shadow moisture stimulate them so much that overnight they grow bragging enough for us to see them . I ’m sure there ’s a significant life lesson here , but for now , the principal one : force now while you’re able to take hold of them without a backhoe . Since I respect their mission , I anticipate them renewed lifetime by break up them around to nurture the soil that nourished them . ( They ’ll be covered by new mulch in a few weeks ) . By the mode , do n’t leave the pliers ’ trick : I get the household pair off all mirky , but they do the put-on in pull out stubborn ( little ) tree seedling .
Clean up is almost finished . I did leave a few straggly lantanas , since they refuse to give up their purple peak . As nature ’s creatures derive out into the Lord’s Day like we do , I detest to deny anyone their fast food . Bees are populating the sorrel and rosemary like half-baked , and I bonk that a confused butterfly is about to show up .
But everything else is cut back , clean , ready to start over . Well , except for the shrimp plant . I still would n’t come to any semi - hardy for a few more hebdomad . I ’m eyeing gingerroot to move , along with the cycad , plumbagos and one Agave celseii . Not yet , say wise ones who know that the freeze party is n’t over .
I ’m so glad I got toughened with the silver germanders in nandina - ville a few calendar week ago . They are fluffing up like crazy , along with the salvia greggiis . One eager castor liked his haircut so much that he ’s already blooming .
In a minute of frenzy , I cut the climbing Buff Beauty uprise near the house / den window to the ground . It was looking too pathetic . From experience , I have it off that this will beam out fertile unexampled growth , even if I give leap ’s blooms . I shaped the other climbers and the Mutabilis rose that was maturate into the 7 ’ marvelous mountain laurel wreath I take up from cum . I scratched in their plant food with an extra VD of Epsom salt . While I was at it , I threw some of it into the pile housing the Satsuma orange .
A tip I just nonplus from horticulturist / generator / plant expert Scott Ogden : to add atomic number 7 to lawn / bed , hit up the feed entrepot for alfalfa pellets sold for rabbit food for thought . chintzy fertilizer . Will do . Do n’t do it if you have rabbits .
And when I collide with the provender store , I ’m go to pick up sore peanuts for the lettuce layer . Great summer nitrogen cover craw for next year ’s lettuce , and by golly , you even get peanuts !
The garden budget is already a jocularity . This always pass , so my rule is “ no acknowledgment placard . ” But online , what else can you do , so without even a minute of rue , I went to yuccado.com and ordered two Agave celsii tricolor . When Tom and I saw this latest addition to the Yucca Do catalogue , we both drooled . They will be stark , just perfect , in the crape Vinca minor bed , to conjoin the celsiis already there . A few hebdomad ago , I ’d moved my Knock Out come up to a sunnier spot in that bed . Against the celsiis , it will be brilliant ! I added an artemisia ‘ Powis Castle ’ beyond the rose to highlight it , and added one to the distant left hand to replace the one that drowned last summer . But it had outlive many years , so it was worth another try .
I moved my Ella Mae agapanthus to the back of that bed ( hoping to add white Dianella there , as well ) . The Philippine violets are showing new leaves already , and some of the aquilegia I recall I ’d lost are reappearing .
In place of the Ella Maes in the side garden , I got a 1 - gallon Amaryllis johnsonii and separated the bulb to line the path . They were so entrenched in their gage that I bring out my trusty serrated tongue and just cut the pot off them .
I know I go like a scratched certificate of deposit , but I ’m just too excited about the new aspect in nandina - ville . In the morning , sunshine hit one butterfly stroke iris from the side , make up it shine . The aquilegia I added nearby was so inspired . And yahoosers ! A zexmenia that I thought was annihilated in the bathymetry project has returned ! If you require a problematic industrial plant , you ca n’t beat out that one .
Also in front , where I moved the digress blush wine , I ’m debate a shrimp plant for a dose of unlike form / grain behind and between a Lindheimer muhly and a cenizo . I was going to add another butterfly stroke fleur-de-lis to balance the other two , but I think the shrimp industrial plant will make a dainty contrast , and bring in a bit of background colour that attract hummingbird .
On cenizo , I ’m toying with getting one for photinia - ville , if the moved spring up does n’t make it . A compact version would work just hunky-dory with the thryallis - to - occur nearby . It would n’t shield the window from burglars , since I ’m planting far out , but it would hide the air conditioner and be a faulting from take care at the neighbour ’s service department . On planting far out , I but have sex receive the grounding path clear ! I ’ve been hauling the hosepipe back and forth on my new short path rather of wandering all through the yard . And when I get around to washing the window , I can just waltz around decent up to them .
But alas , my Yucca pallidas for nandina - ville will have to waitress . It ’s thwarting to at long last make a plant decision and then let on that they ca n’t be had . But waiting for plants to show up in nursery is sort of like wait for plants to grow . In our adult lives , patience and expectation easy get lost in the drive to “ get thing done . ” Gardening reminds us that life is n’t always for “ this minute ” but for the hour we ’ll apprise in the future .
Until next calendar week , Linda
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