| May 1, 2004 Productive day, despite the rain, alternating misting, drizzle, showers. Mulched all regular tomatoes and green peppers. Planted 'Dasher II', 'Poinsett', and 'Straight Eight' cucumbers and 'Cherry Red' tomatoes, as well as 3 hills of a bush cucumber. Planted the 'Cherry Red' tomatoes in the same bed I planted the lettuce. Lettuce was coming up spottily; probably got planted too late. Oh, well. Put Osmocote around every hosta in containers, fed roses, fed tomatoes, and put fertilizer spikes in all ivys except the topiaries. Fed them and all of the front porch container plants, including the fruit. Pruned 'Josee' lilac pretty drastically. Cut camillia japonica down to 18" stumps. It had a powdery mildew type problem that was pretty severe, so if it lives and comes back out, that's OK. If not, that's OK too. Unnamed dahlias are coming up, as are the zinnia seeds I sowed. Also saw a few cosmos seeds sprouted. |
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| May 2, 2004 Another busy day. Sunny off and on, with showers in the late afternoon. Went to Lowes and got some slow release fertilizers, among them Osmocote, as I was out. Bought a few plants: hosta 'Fire and Ice' and 'Sundancer', delphineum 'Blue Mirror', Forget-me-not 'Victoria Pink', gaura 'Pink Fountain' ('Whirling Butterflies'), and at Wal-Mart an annual baby's breath 'Gypsy'. Got these hostas, as well as the new 'Hottsy Tottsy' potted up. Fed all remaining container plants on the back deck. Mulched container roses (after treating them with Bayer rose food, insecticide, and fungicide combination) and peaches. 'Forever Pink' hydrangea had a couple of new plants from layering so I detached those and potted them up. Planted the hydrangea I brought from my mother's. Dug up all Louisiana iris in beds and planted them in an old blue canner and watered them until soggy. Planted second lupine in the arbor bed. Pruned grape vine. Planted some 'Scarlet Rambler' morning glory seeds in the planter with the sweetpeas. Sweetpeas are up but not setting the world on fire. Probably planted them too late, too. Most iris are blooming and are beautiful. The side iris bed is blooming well, although I find there are mostly unnamed purple ones there. Will add more color this year--aiming for a rainbow of iris color in that bed. Street bed continues to be plagued with voles; losing an iris every day or two. Several of the unnamed dahlias are well up. The peony is open wide!! Gorgeous!! I now know it's 'Festiva Maxima'. I planted two ('Sarah Bernhardt' being the other one) at the same time and lost one. Didn't mark them so I didn't know which one survived until it bloomed for the first time this year. Looks like I may have a Carolina jasmine that is going to make it--beginning to twine around the arbor supports. All rose campions--ones I started from seeds and ones I ordered--are doing very well. Some should start to bloom soon. 'Tophat' blueberry is loaded with tiny fruit. Now if I can keep the varmits from eating them just before they ripen. Peaches are coming along famously. Need to spray but more rain in in tomorrow's forcast. Also need to spray the apple trees. There are quite a few tiny apples on the 'Emerald Spire' tree, most of which have yellowed stems adn are about to fall off. There are several tiny apples, however, that are much larger and their stems are still green. Maybe I'll have a couple of apples after all? Wonder where the pollinator is? Or they may all fall off. Alas, no blooms on established rhododendron. Red twig dogwood has grown a lot and had no blooms this year. Too much shade? Of the recently planted ferns, the holly fern is doing the best. Can this be: one of the new dwarf foxgloves looks like it has a blossom bud. Dianthus 'Telstar' just keeps going and going and going. Not an annual here. Clematis durandii is growing--slowly, but at least it's still here. |
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| May 3, 2004 Chilly and dreary today. |
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| May 4, 2004 Warmer and sunny; not a cloud in the sky. Got the beds prepared and my 'Blue Lake' pole beans planted. Found a better way to set up the bean teepees: stick the poles in the soil FIRST, then attach the rubber "band." Mulched the 'Cherry Red' cherry tomatoes and marked iris to take out in August. John got started on the new beds. |
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| May 5, 2004 Potted up all caladiums on hand: 'White Queen', 'Pink Beauty', 'Rosebud', 'Florida Sweetheart', and 'Pink Symphony'. Also potted up replacement 'Strawberry Candy' daylilies (3). Sprayed peach trees and apple tree--I really think I may get a couple of apples! Sprayed tomatoes and roses with milk. More iris lost. I think I'll take out lilac 'Josee'. It just gets too large for where I have it and when it's pruned back, it leaves too much empty space around it. May put one of the container roses there, prolly 'Katherine Morley' because it's the largest growing one. Planted clematis integrifolia (I think it has some blossom buds) in the pond bed and clematis targutica 'Radar Love' in the apple tree bed. OK, I think the peony is 'Festiva Maxima' after all; it's very white now. WOW! One of the Lousiana iris in the canner is going to bloom!! The original clematis 'Polish Spirit' that's climbing the satelite dish pole is climbing ever-skyward. 'Arapaho' blackberries almost in full bloom. I think clematis montana rubens is going to bloom. Geranium 'Johnson's Blue' is really showing off this year. |
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| May 8, 2004 We got the two new beds installed, filled, and partially planted today. Looking good. Also cleared the area for the next set of beds. At Lowes's I got: hydrangea 'Endless Summer', a 1-quart plant for a little less than $12, so I was happy. Also got another hydrangea which purports to be the only true dwarf and it's a lacecap. Picked up 6 'Blue Hill' salvias--I love the look of blue or purple salvias in my beds. Prolly will need a few more. Got 2 ivy hanging pots for the back deck hooks. Planted both blue berries in one of the new beds. Strawberry foxglove was not thriving where I had it in the back deck bed, so I moving it to inbetween the blue berries. Planted 'Endless Summer' in the middle bed as well as aquilegia (columbine) 'Ministar'. Red painted daisy is ready to bloom so I planted it behind the Stoke's aster in the front porch bed. 'Sugarsweet' cherry is looking very poorly and I don't know why. Yay!! the pink Meyer lemon is sprouting new growth!! |
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| May 9, 2004 Got two more beds built today. One has it's hardware cloth bottom and is secured in place. The other still needs the bottom and to be secured. Looking very good. Picked up 2 more 'Blue Hill' salvias. Squirrels are being very pesky--digging in my container plants. Put some blood meal on them, hoping that will work. All 'Dasher II', 'Poinsett', and 'Straight Eight' cucumbers are up. One bush cucumber is up. |
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| May 10, 2004 Second set of beds done, filled, and ready to plant, complete with a stone walkway in between them. Next is to finish the boardwalk between the sets of beds, then to renovate the compost bins. 'Blue Lake' beans sprouting. Rose 'William Baffin' is blooming well. I didn't prune it this year, except to remove dead wood, so it can start climbing the trellis. |
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| May 11, 2004 Boardwalk done. Lots of things blooming. |
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| May 12, 2004 Louisiana iris in the canner is blooming. It's purple. |
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| May 14, 2004 Compost bins cleaned out, repositioned, and refilled. I now have a nice little stone walkway on the right of the bins--will be much easier to adequately stir the contents now. Finally got the caladiums I ordered April 9. |
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| May 15, 2004 I now have a nice little walkway on the other side of the compost bins. Just worked out better to do that. Wooden walkway extended to where the next set of beds will start. Moving right along and it really looks good. Potted up all of the caladiums, including some I bought from Lowe's a while back about which I had forgotten. Thinking about what to do to "finish off" the new bed area. Planning to put up a stockade fence from the far corner of the deck over to the property line and the neighbor's split rail fence. Miraculously, it's quite level. John will build it, as the pre-fab ones we looked at at Lowe's are flimsy, in our opinion. Will build it with decking. Also, will plant some shrubs just beyound the beds to soften that line. Sounds like just the place for the 'Josee' lilac that I'm planning on taking out of the front porch bed. Also, am planning on putting in some trellises in the corner where the now-just-a-stump camellia japonica is (after taking the stump out) for a climbing rose. 'Awakening' has been suggested on the Gardens list. There will still be room to put the little magnolia in that corner too. The little arbor bed is really looking pretty. Mountain laurel is blooming. Mulched the cucumbers. Wish I knew some way to keep the squirrels from digging in the beans and the container plants. I've mulched the larger containers but don't think I can get enough in the hosta pots. Don't really want to mulch the beans but may have to. Strawberries ripening. I overwintered the gloriosa lily under the carport. Took it out this Spring and sat it outside on the back deck. Nothing happened so I figured it was dead. When I emptied the pot, imagine my surprize to find the tuber had grown about five times the size it was when I got it, and had roots and a sprout. Potted that puppy back up and sat it in the sun. |
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| May 16, 2004 Extended the trellis for the oldest clematis 'Polish Spirit' we moved last year. Dug up rose 'Zepherine Drouhin' and potted it up. There's new growth, even a blossom bud. I'm going to put it in the right back deck corner and let it run on the deck rail. Got a few new plants today. At Lowes: a dwarf gardenia, another 'Blue Hill' salvia and a couple salvia 'Blue Queen'. At Wal*Mart: a columbine 'Cameo' series, a spirea japonica 'Little Princess', veronica 'Blautippich' ('Blue Carpet'), and a 'Pee Gee' hydrangea. Planted four 'Blue Hill' salvias in the street bed and another in the front porch bed. We need rain. Clematis durandii has a blossom bud. Strawberry shortcake for dinner. Yum! |
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| May 17, 2004 Working on the "pier" for dumping weeds, etc. onto the edge of the woods. Getting the posts set in concrete is all we got done today. They have to set up for at least 24 hours before we can do anything else. Got a much-needed shower of rain--only about 1/3 inch--but it saved me having to water today. Neighbor brought me some black-eyed-Susan seedlings. Potted them up temporarily. |
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| May 18, 2004 Lots of little chores done today. It was hot and humid so I took it slow. Added more concrete to the "pier" posts to make them sturdier. Dug up the large red dianthus 'Telstar' in the mailbox bed and put a salvia 'Blue Hill' in it's place. Dug up a smaller one and potted it up; if it lives it will go in one of the new beds. Planted a caryoptyris in the front porch bed. I've had this plant since late last summer in a 4-inch pot and wintered it over in a holding bed. It sure deserves to be planted. Planted 3 of the blue plumbagos in the left side bed. Sprayed the peach trees. Repotted the old Meyer lemon in a larger pot--there are 10 lemons on it! Fed it, the dwarf orange, and the limequat with Ironite. Started pruning azaleas. Fed all gardenias with soluble food and then some slow release acid-loving plant food. More strawberry shortcake for dinner. 'Early Girl' tomatoes setting fruit. I. pallida variegata is going to bloom after all!! It was getting too deep in the soil, so I "adjusted" it earlier this spring and it seems to have worked. Hollyhocks will be blooming soon. Several figs fell off, but I now have 2 that seem to be staying around!!!! Waterlily 'Attraction' has a bud. |
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| May 19, 2004 Got the pier support system built and about 1/3 of the decking placed. Would have finished it if it hadn't been for a thunderstorm from which we got 2 inches of rain. Badly needed rain, so that was OK. |
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| May 20, 2004 Received a gorgous potted pink hydrangea for my birthday from a dear friend. I have just the place for it in the new planting area since it will need a good bit of shade. Finished up the decking on the pier. More rain--2 more inches--halted progress again, but we got one of the last two beds built, minus the hardware cloth. |
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| May 21, 2004 Took today off from gardening work and visited Reynolds Garden Center in Winston-Salem again. Managed to find a few things to bring home with me: Peony 'Sarah Bernhardt', Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm', Echinecea 'Kim's Knee High', aster 'Wood's Light Blue', lobelia speciosa 'Fan Burgundy' (Burgundy Cardinal Flower), hostas 'Honeysong', 'Kabitan', and 'Pineapple Upsidedown Cake', heuchera 'Lime Rickey' and 'Amber Waves'. Also found the climbing rose, 'Awakening', that I was looking for at Heaven Sent Roses in Pfafftown. Nice looking plant in a 3 gallon pot. Really healthy looking. Fragrance is great and the bloom is medium in size and old rose in appearance. Still wet, but we got the second bed built and made a trip to Lowe's to pick up the rest of the paving stones we'll need between this set of beds. My apples fell off. Peaches have started the "June drop". |
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| May 22, 2004 More rain around midnight--only 1/2 inch but it kept things too wet to work with. Did get the first bed in place and will let it "settle". That clay is packing down, so we need to let it dry and check for drainage before moving along. Also got lattice up around the bottom of the pier and a board attached to the end to prevent going off the deep end, as well as closing up the little gap under the pier bed; I'm going to put some wild daylilies to prevent soil washing in those otherwise-wasted spaces on either side of the pier. Had to run to Lowe's for a few things and I picked up a 'Foxy' foxglove. Bloom on hydrangea 'Endless Summer' will be open soon. Beans are beginning to run. |
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| May 23, 2004 More rain today--another 1/2 inch. Bought 4 more coreopsis 'Early Sunrise', an autumn fern, a tassel fern, and a Japanese painted fern, all in 4-inch pots, as well as a 6-pack of pink impatiens at Lowe's. Got a perennial snapdragon at Wal*Mart. |
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| May 24, 2004 Got the second bed in place and anchored. I'm arranging potted plants in the second set of beds to see how I want to plant them. |
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| May 25, 2004 Second bed filled in a bit and the timbers edging the mulch rearranged. Planted peony 'Sarah Bernhardt' and one of the 'Strawberry Candy' daylilies in the front porch bed. Deadheaded flowering plants and watered front porch ivys. Sprayed some diluted Clorox on the algae growing in the boggy Louisiana iris container. Another of the mixed Japanese iris blooming for the first time. This one is a lilac color and is just beautiful. Late rain shower. |
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| May 26, 2004 Whew! The beds are done and filled with soil. Just in time for another rain storm which lasted until well after dark. Still have some loose ends to tie up and a drainage problem to solve, but otherwise this part of the project is just about finished except for planting. Tree people are supposed to come tomorrow to take out some limbs and get rid of the Virginia creeper in the tree over the deck. Algea in the Louisiana iris is better already. Brought the rest of my house plants home from the office for the summer. If they like heat and humidity, they'll sure like it here. |
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| May 27, 2004 The tree service came and did a wonderful job. They did everything we agreed on and a few extra little things. Things are shaping up back there. |
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| May 30, 2004 Out of town this weekend and made it to Anderson's garden center where I got: hosta 'Paul's Glory', a Southern maidenhair fern, hardy geraniums 'Biokovo', 'Ingwersen's Crane's bill', and one without a tag, the name of which Anderson's says is 'Roseum' (I can't find this anywhere, so I'm doubtful they have this right, but that's what I'll call it until I find out), asters 'Wood's Pink' and 'Wood's Blue', reblooming daylily 'Hush Little Baby', a sweet woodruff, Lamium 'Pink Pewter', three already-growing caladiums which could be 'Carolyn Wharton', 'Pink Beauty', and 'Candidum', and a perennial bachelor button. Hoping to get some things planted tomorrow but the weather forcast doesn't sound promising. |
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| May 31, 2004 Got about half of the planting done in the new beds. |
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