| September 2, 2005 Still finding a Japanese beetle or two every day! Collards growing well. Monarch butterfly larvae are getting really large! Much cooler for the last few days, especially at night. Yeehaw! fall is on the way. |
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| September 3, 2005 Bought 2 hostas today: 'Invincible' from Lowe's and 'Frances Williams' (replacement) from Raywood. Also from Raywood I got 4 roses: 'Pat Austin', 'Evelyn', 'Bill Warriner', and 'Rainbow's End' (John picked this one). Killed another Japanese beetle today. Finally got around to hosing off the Sherando roses that have spider mites. 'Clotilde Soupert' is nekkid and 'Indigo' is heading that way. 'Sombreuil' and 'Prosperity' seem unfazed. |
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| September 4, 2005 Got rose 'Sombreuil' planted. John made a hardware cloth bottomless basket for it. I put a layer of VoleBlok on the bottom of the planting hole, and mixed 1/3 native clay, 1/3 homemade compost, and 1/3 VoleBlok for the backfill. The hardware cloth is sticking up about 2 inches above the soil. Hope this works. Got kale planted. Also got the smaller daylily seedlings potted up into larger pots. Potted up the 2 new hostas. |
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| September 5, 2005 Emptied the done compost and spread it on the 4 remaining beds. Turned raw compost into the then empty bin. Mulched the collards and put some Sevin on them since I'm out of Dipel. Planted 'Summer Wine' TBI in the iris bed and potted up TBI 'Can Can Red' since it's roots looked *really* dry. |
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| September 6, 2005 Rose 'Indigo' is looking really bad. Received four hostas in a Dave's Garden trade: 'Gold Standard', 'Frances Williams', 'Fire and Ice', and 'Twilight'. |
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| September 7, 2005 Got the new hostas potted up and dug/packaged my hostas for the trade. |
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| September 10, 2005 Went to the local rose society show today. I may join. Did a severe deadhead on perennials. Having to water; it's very dry. |
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| September 11, 2005 Emptied annual pots. |
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| September 13, 2005 Justin et al started on the gazebo deck and fence today. Most of the posts were set. |
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| September 14, 2005 Rest of the posts set. |
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| September 15, 2005 Deck frame completed. |
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| September 18, 2005 Away for the weekend and came back to see my remaining 'Heritage' rose is going limp. Since I've kept it watered, it can only mean the voles got it. |
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| September 19, 2005 Attended my first local Rose Society meeting tonight. It's a very warm and friendly group and I came home with 2 roses that were given to me: 'Sunflare' (Floribunda) and 'Incognito' (miniature) both classes that I plan to collect, with offers of more. |
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| September 20, 2005 Finally some rain! Thunderstorms brough 1 3/4 inches. Not enough, but it's a good start. |
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| September 21, 2005 Ordered 3 roses from Chamblee's sale: 'White Ma Perkins', 'Slater's Crimson China', 'Mlle. Franziska Kruger'. . |
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| September 23, 2005 The deck and fence are finished! And they're exactly what I wanted. Yeehaw! Now to decide what to plant on either side of the fence. There's room for a few azaleas, rhododendrons, and/or camellias. Rose 'Prosperity' is going in the "park" as John has dubbed it--the area enclosed by the new fence, the deck/gazebo, and the right side steps. This is going to look so good when it's planted up. I've decided to plant the potted 'New Dawn' rose in a large container (large garbage can cut down about 1/3 with lots of 1/2" holes for drainage) and sit it beside the maple tree--at the corner of the new deck and fence--to climb up the maple. If the roots go through the "pot" that will be OK, but the pot will protect it from voles. I think we're going to have to move a rhododendron to make way for the gas tanks for the new gas stove, so that will go up in the corner on the other side of the fence from where 'New Dawn' (which has a few blooms again so I must have a real 'New Dawn') will reside--if we can dig a hole there. Ordered some roses from Almost Heaven Roses. The owner will be giving a presentation on old garden roses at next month's Rose Society meeting and will be bringing them to the meeting, saving shipping costs. I ordered: 'Eugene de Beauharnais', 'Francis Dubreuil', 'Maggie', 'Irene Watts', 'Quietness', 'Prarie Sunrise', 'Marchesa Boccella', 'Reine de Violettes', 'Paul Neyron', 'Salet', and 'Blush Noisette'. 'Evelyn' bloomed today. Ahhhhhhhhh. |
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| September 25, 2005 Just when I thought we had all the critters, today we saw a ground hog. I was just bragging last night that that was one critter we didn't have. Ah, pride cometh before a fall. The little devil is devouring the collards and digging up the kale. |
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| September 28, 2005 And if that wasn't bad enough, today I found SOMETHING had eaten half of the new basal break on one of my Climbing 'James Galway' roses. It was just beautiful. So, I spread Deer Scram around the yard. Got my order from Chamblee's. Nice plants. |
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| September 29, 2005 Since the lawn guy hasn't shown up, and it's getting very late, we renovated the lawn ourselves. This time was MUCH easier to do; used hoe forks to dethatch instead of rakes. Much more efficient and easier on us. Reseeded, fertilized with 15-30-15 and will water twice a day. |
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