| November 1, 2000 A wonderful start to a new month! A clear, beautiful day, with a few scattered high clouds. Temperature in the high 60s to low 70s. 'Red Lion' amaryllis is growing--blossom bud is obvious now. Inside paperwhites' buds are almost full grown and should be opening soon, I would think. 'Blue Delft' in the hyacinth glass has started to put out roots. |
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| November 4, 2000 Partly cloudy but no rain. Watered kale, collards, and the street bed, as well as all containers and the holding beds. 'Black Seeded Simpson' lettuce is up in the cold frame. Kale is growing well. Camellia japonica has a blossom opening!!! Way ahead of schedule, due to the extended mild weather. Camellia sasanqua 'Yuletide' already has over half it's flowers open. Inside papewhites are beginning to open a couple of flowers. Bought bulbs: more paperwhites 'Ziva' for forcing, and some crocus to force and maybe naturalize in the birdbath corner of the yard: 'Snowstorm' (white) and 'Flower Record' (purple). Also got another Dutch amaryllis: 'Bestseller'. |
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| November 5, 2000 Watered strawberries. Pulled up marigolds and Madagasgar periwinkle (vinca) to make room for sinking the two camellia sasanqua plants in pots. In this area I also sank the little pots of English ivy 'Fan' and the vinca major 'Variegata' that I got last weekend because I don't know what I want to do with them. Something in the "window boxes" but I don't know what, yet. Also planted the species tulips in a pond basket and sank that beside the bulbs I did last weekend. Potted Dutch amaryllis 'Apple Blossom' as well as a pot with 7 paperwhites and a pot with 12 of the Dutch crocus. Put some aquarium rocks around the paperwhite bulbs to try to avoid the problem I had with the first pot. The crocus went in the refrigerator for chilling. Bought a Thanksgiving cactus (Schlumbergera truncata) to take to work, and some Oxalis adenophylla bulbs, probably for the street bed. Camellia japonica bloom is fully open. Sheese, gardening should be slowing down now, but it seems I have plenty to do, still. |
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| November 7, 2000 Very light rain today, off and on. Not enough to help. I've been planning the street bed planting, and for the front and quarter round beds after they're renovated. The problem is I want them lush and full NOW!! Although I know a garden changes almost constantly, the basic skeleton needs to be thought out and planned for the long term, with the fillers and other elements added. I'll try to restain myself and plan smart. I'll have to keep this advice in mind: as William Robinson, the great Irish garden writer who wrote the classic "English Flower Garden" said, "Grow the best and discard the rest." Good advice for any gardener. Bought another Dutch amaryllis: 'Flower Record'. |
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| November 9, 2000 Woke up to a nice badly needed drizzling rain which lasted, off and on, all day. Total rainfall by night: a little over 1/2 inch. Had a brainstorm last evening while thinking about what to do with the quarter round bed next spring. I think a section of split rail fencing on the sidewalk and driveway sides of the bed, about 1 foot back from the logs, would look really good. I want to still use my sundial and add a butterfly pool in that bed, too, but that may be too much. Will have to see about that. Temperatures continue unseasonably mild. |
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| November 11, 2000 Beautiful day, with morning temperature in mid 40s rising to 60s in the afternoon. Mulched the street bed, birdbath bed, and small back deck bed with shredded leaves. Also cleaned up front porch beds--removed old dry stalks, etc., and removed the lantanas. Or at least I hope I did; left two 1/2 inch roots, cut as deep as possible, from the biggest one next to the clematis. Hope they don't sprout--I really dislike the odor of the foliage and stems. I've sworn off lantanas. The blooms are pretty, but I don't like the growth habit or very objectionable odor. Mowed grass. |
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| November 12, 2000 Weather identical to yesterday. Weather Channel is predicting big changes by the weekend, though. Planted the rest of the crocus in the edge of the yard in front of the birdbath bed in a naturalized pattern. Used a metal rod about 1 1/4" in diameter to poke 5" deep holes in the soft soil, then positioned the crocus bulb in, covered with topsoil, and watered in. Planted 27 oxalis bulbs in the street bed. I swear this is all the bulbs I'll plant this year. Outside, that is. I've got more paperwhites and amaryllis for forcing. I really wanted to relax today, but since this may be the last warm weekend for a while, and I knew I'd be so disappointed next winter/spring if I didn't, I forced myself to plant those bulbs. |
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| November 14, 2000 Cooler today. Low around 40 this morning, with a high in mid 50s. Temperature dropped fast by sundown, with prediction for a low of 28 by tomorrow morning. Covered the kale with a double thickness of floating row cover. Will try to keep it from freezing until I pick it on Thursday. Collards looking good. White camellia sasanqua is opening it's first bloom. Bought two more Dutch amaryllis yesterday: 'Furore' and 'Floris Hekker'. I think I'll stop now. |
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| November 16, 2000 Low of 33 this morning with a high in low 50s. Overcast all day, with a definite dampness in the air. Picked kale, when I got home, until my fingers got numb. Will finish tomorrow. |
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| November 17, 2000 Picked the rest of the kale. Got about as much as last time. 'Concord' grape vine arrived from Stark Brothers. Wonderful timing since I'm going to be away this weekend. I'm off all next week so I'll get it planted Monday if possible. I watered the roots per the shipping instructions. Colannade apple trees will probably come in over the weekend. Another camellia japonica bloom is opening. 'Stuttgarten' onion sets are sprouting. |
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| November 19, 2000 Can I call 'em? Apple trees were waiting for me when I got here. Ran into rain mixed with snow flurries on the way home. Temperature on arrival was just at freezing. Hope to get the grape vine and trees planted soon. |
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| November 20, 2000 Woke this morning to the first snow of the season. Well, actually it was a very heavy frost with a dusting of snow mixed in. There was a layer of ice and snow on the cold frame, but the 'Black Seeded Simpson' lettuce looked fine. Another camellia japonica bloom open. Pansies in containers and bed were covered with ice and flattened, but they popped right back up after the ice melted, as did the 'Georgia' collards. Planted the 'Concord' grape vine and all three Colannade apple trees. My system with the buckets worked great!! Then, I mulched that bed with shredded leaves, after putting plastic expandable protectors around the trunks. Hydrangea blooms were encased in ice early this morning, but it soon melted and the blossoms look fine again. Dug up the dahlia tubers. If I was entertaining any notion that I might not have to line the front bed, all hopes were dashed today. The large blooming dahlia had had it's tubers munched by some underground demon, and was basically just sitting on top of the ground. The smaller bloomer seems to be unharmed and had definitely multiplied. After cutting the stems to about 3-4 inches and shaking all the dirt off, I packed them in vermiculite in a box and put them in the basement, where it's probably too warm for them. Supposed to leave them out a while to dry, but the temperature's supposed to get down in the teens tonight, so I didn't think that was a particularly good idea. Oh, I know what I should do--put them in the hot tub room. I'll do that tomorrow, if I don't forget. It's cold out there, but doesn't get below about 40 degrees. The major things left to do outside now are to prune the old grapevine, protect the gardenia, roses, and rhododendrons, and cover the strawberries with floating row cover. I think. I'm thinking that renovating the pentagon bed is going to have to wait until a mild weekend after the first of the year. It's going to be too cold for a while, I'm afraid. |
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| November 21, 2000 Temperature down to 27 this morning, and it didn't get above freezing all day. Hydrangea leaves took a hit, but lettuce still looks good. Moved the dahlias to the laundry room, where it's cooler. Refilled bird feeders and suet holder and put some food out for the squirrels. Another cold one tonight, it appears. |
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| November 22, 2000 Temperature down to 20 this morning, but the highs were in the low 40s with a wind that has been almost incessant for three days. Hydrangea is toast. Lettuce was a little wilted this morning but had perked up a little later. Watered all the container plantings as this wind has dried them out. Pansies were frozen early this morning, and had thawed out nicely by afternoon, but the blossoms are dejected looking. Almost all the leaves are finally off the old grapevine, so very soon it will get cut back severely. |
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| November 23, 2000 Happy Thanksgiving! Busy day today. Shredded leaves, both here and at the neighbor's, with a total of about 8 bags shredded. Cut old grape vine down and saved the best canes for my spring project. Trimmed, edged, and mowed lawn for what is probably the last time this season, and applied winterizer. Covered strawberries with floating row cover. |
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| November 25, 2000 Woke to thin layer of frozen rain and sleet this morning, which changed to rain by mid morning with temperatures hovering in the mid 30s. Deer prints in all empty garden beds, and I found about 15 viola plants (both pansies and violas) pulled up or chewed off. Platform bird feeder and hanger were off the rail and down in the woods. Only a raccoon could have done this, I think. |
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| November 26, 2000 Absolutely gorgous day, with highs in the upper 50s, sunny and calm. Total rainfall yesterday: 4 inches. Found the deer had been back overnight and pulled up or chewed more violas. No blossoms left now, and many plants have been stomped into the soil, if not eaten. Potted amaryllis 'Furore' and more paperwhites (this time, in water instead of soil). Put up outside Christmas decorations. Bought a red poinsettia for my office. Replanted what violas I could, and sprinkled blood meal over all beds. Wrapped containers with bubble wrap and double-potted them in the hopes of improving chances of overwintering sucessfully. Will try to get some sheet styrofoam (for wall insulation) to put between the inner and outer pots for added protection. Protected gardenia and rhododendrons with plastic bags over tomato cages. There were 12 doves on the back deck this morning at one time. They had devoured the suet block and half the food from the feeder outside the kitchen window, and were eating the squirrel food. Cut the two small collards and cooked them for dinner, and made sweetpotato casserole with MY sweet potatoes. Very good. Very, very good. |
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| November 30, 2000 'Red Lion' amaryllis is fading fast, and 'Apple Blossom' is beginning to fade, as well. Most buds fell off of the Thanksgiving cactus, as was expected this year--too many changes in locations. Second batch of paperwhites are blooming. Temperatures in the upper 30s in the mornings and 50s by afternoon. |
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