witt's Blog

Oh, boy it was a glorious day yesterday. It was cool when I went out, and there was a slight cloud cover. I got the hummer feeders cleaned and refreshed with new nectar, not that they are using them much, but you have to keep them clean just in case they decide to get a sip. The one in the backyard was dry as a bone, so the little devils are sipping when we ain't a-lookin'. The other two had hardly been touched. Those are the ones that we can see from the front porch. I also cleaned the birdbaths and did a little deadheading. Before I knew it, the sweat was beginning to drip. We had a lovely breeze all day long, so porch-sitting was in order. With the fountain gurgling and the breeze blowing, it was hard to stay awake. I got tired of trying to shade the Kong coleus, so I decided to improvise another "curtain." I took a square, crocheted lap blankie that Daughter had made for me a few years ago and hung it up to block the blazing sun. The breeze kept blowing it outside the porch area, thereby letting in the sun, and then it would blow inward, slapping the plant, trying to knock her head off. Well, that wouldn't do, so I tied it to the railing. Now it looks like a giant, rainbow spiderweb, but it works. It doesn't even impede my view of the Old Gourd Garden or the hummer feeder out there.

When the yard got shady, I refilled the thistle socks. When I went to put the one back on the shepherd's crook in the Hibiscus Garden, the cord broke. This is a brand-new sock. Dang it. I got a needle, yarn, and thread, and sort of sewed it back together. We'll just have to see how long it lasts. Speaking of hibiscus, we finally have some blooms on the one volunteer in the Hibiscus Garden. The Hibiscus Garden was so named because that's all that we had in there. All kinds of varieties, including some of the dinner plates. Now they are all gone except that one volunteer. It's hard to believe that there was once nothing but hibiscus. Now there are all sorts of things in that bed: day lilies, mums, marigolds, vinca, Aztec grass, amaryllis, spirea, pink flowering almond, hardy geranium, my one lantana that returned and a few other perennials.

I also have blooms on my tiger lilies in the Butterfly Garden right next door to the Hibiscus Garden. Oh, how thrilled I was to see that! There are a lot of buds on it, so I will have quite a show this year.

As I said, yesterday was glorious. Who needs to go on vacation when you have heaven at your front door?

Here's the tale of the Poison Garden:  The Poison Garden was a terraced bed that we made around a great big oak tree a long time ago--about twenty years ago in fact. Nothing would grow in that bed due to the tanins produced by the tree. I tried all kinds of things. What didn't die, struggled to live.Then the tree died, and we had it professionally removed due to its proximity to the house. The next summer things started popping up all over the place. Things grew like crazy. While I was resting at the Thinking Bench, back in February, I decided to list the plants that were there. Here is the list: althea (double flower), artemesia, gardenia, mondo grass, shasta daisy, tansy, St. John's wort, perennial petunia, oxalis, columbine, sedum, red hot poker, Easter lily, day lilies, lavender, iris, thrift, 2 different mints, ice plant, nandina, rosemary, marjoram, oregano, Carolina jasmine, southernwood, sage, sweet Annie. Oops miscounted, that's twenty-seven. Oh, and I put some of the ginger and St. Joseph lilies in there, too, so that would make it twenty-nine plants. Oh, and the calla lily came up so that makes thirty different plants. Then one of my friends gave me a gaillardia, and Daughter gave me an angelonia and a penta, so now that makes thirty-three different plants. There's a purple heart in there, but she's not looking too healthy, so I'm not going to count that one yet.

There you have it. The tale of the Poison Garden.

We didn't do too much yesterday. I didn't like they way my pink arrowhead plants were looking, so I decided to give them a boost. I made up five gallons of "blue water" (fertilizer) and gave all the pot plants a drinky. I used the rest on my new plants in the yard, deadheading as I went. I repotted the dwarf palm into a pot that was a skinch larger because it hasn't been looking well for weeks. I thought maybe some new soil would do the trick. We settled down on the porch to watch all the bird activity. I decided to crochet a chain out of some of Miss Sally's green yarn and use it as a tieback for the curtain on the porch. The color matches the leaves.

That's the Poison Garden in the background, and you can't see a flower in it, but I assure you that they are out there. It looks like it's small, but I assure you it isn't small either when you have to get in there working. It is loaded with blossoms: shastas, a few gardenias, oregano blossoms, lilies, St. John's wort, angelonia, penta, ice plant, petunias, marigolds, and lavender, which are all blooming now. I harvested the lavender blooms that I had. The plant itself isn't looking too well. I planted it last spring, it has bloomed, and now it looks like it's dying. I have never had any luck with lavender. You can see some of the bee balms peeping up on the left side of the picture. They are in the Herb Garden, which is in front of the porch. Way off in the background to the right in front of a quintet of tree trunks, you can just make out the inukshuk with the pink flowering spirea. To the left of the inukshuk is the dwarf honeysuckle bush. I can't wait to see that bloom. It will be spectacular. Next, I decided to do something really wild. I remembered that I had a tabletop water fountain that Daughter had given us a few years ago. I stopped using it because it splashed just a little too much to be in the house. I had packed it up and put it away. I had no idea if it still worked, but I dug it out of the cabinet, filled it with water, and turned it on. It worked like a charm. I don't know why I hadn't thought to do this before.

Now you'll never get us off the porch. The trickling is most soothing.

I hope that everyone has a great day just playin'.

It was almost chilly when I went outside yesterday to douse myself with my summer perfume (OFF!). It was wonderful. First, I prepared the porch for taking my break, getting it swept and all cleaned up. Then I cleaned the carporch. The boot rack has turned into nothing but a loom for spider webs, so I decided to just put that in the shed. Hubby puts his boots on the stoop and doesn't bother with the rack, so why keep it out there? I cleaned up the stack of pots that were there, too. They don't belong either. I threw out one of the brooms that the bristles were just nubs. We never use that one, so why let it stay and gather dust? Then I started on the cilantro in the Patio Garden. I gathered a bowl full of coriander and started pulling up the plants. I had three huge piles of them. Next, I started cleaning out the weeds and mess that had been growing between them. I must have pulled up a gazillion of those purple plants. The creeping jenny was about to take over the entire patio again, so I pulled as much of that as I could while I was at it. I haven't totally finished, but I'm proud of what I did accomplish. The tanagers sang the whole time that I worked in the Patio Garden. They were in the oaks, so I didn't have the pleasure of seeing them, but I was thrilled that they were still here and singing. While I was taking a porch break, Hubby complained about a mimosa limb that was hanging down almost touching the elephant ears in the Herb Garden. I love when plants drip and drape, but he said that he couldn't see the feeders and birdbaths anymore, so I whacked off three small limbs, which cleared his field of vision and to my delight, mine, too. I hadn't realized how much it was in the way because I guess I was enjoying the blossoms too much and watching the bees working them. While I was hauling off the branches, I could hear the hummers, but I couldn't see them. Finally, I found 'em. They are up in the top of the mimosa trees, sipping the nectar. We can't see the top of the trees from the porch because they are so tall now. We just don't notice them as hummers when we are out in the yard with all the other birds flitting around. They are going to the bee balm like crazy, and I also noticed that they are working the butterfly bush as well. Even the zepherine attracted them yesterday. Once I spied one at the feeder. That's the first time in ages that I've seen one there. I now know why they aren't bothering with the oregano. It's full of bees. Bees are everywhere, and that's a good thing. I checked on the mystery chive. It has opened up a little more.

That's when I discovered a little black beetle is eating on my coneflowers. My rudbekia is just now budding up, and I have had problems with that beetle ruining all the blossoms in the past. I don't know what I'm going to do to put a stop to it before it gets to the rudbekia.

I saw the first blossom on the orange cosmos from the free seeds that I received in the mail. Now I have orange in the garden. It matches the lilies and the orange marigolds that didn't show up in this picture.

But you can see them in this picture of the Rock Garden. I didn't think that I'd like the orange, but now I do! Later we enjoyed the antics of Mr. and Mrs. Wren. She couldn't make up her mind if she wanted to build her nest in the plastic canvas garden basket or the ceramic birdhouse. Both are just decorations hanging on the porch. Once she decided to check out the bluebird box in the Gourd Garden. The bluebirds didn't like that! They had a big whoop and ran them off. I fixed Hubby's supper, but I just had to stay outside and enjoy the glorious day with all of nature's excitement. I stayed out till the skeeters ignored my perfume and started biting. It was a magnificent day, watching the hummers when I finally found 'em. I hope that everyone has fun with nature today.

We plucked our very first ripe tomato yesterday, but we haven't had our mater sandwich yet.

Son came by with his friend, bearing gifts. First was a right-out-of-the-oven hot tamale pie. Hubby's favorite. I used to not care for it one bit, but I ate a pile of it yesterday. Isn't it funny how a person's taste changes? I've got to get the recipe. We went out on the porch to enjoy the birds etc. and open presents. There was a huge present that I couldn't even lift, and Son said that it was for me. I told him that it wasn't Mother's Day, but Father's Day. He said that everyday should be Mother's Day. I opened it, and it was a huge bag of Miralce-Gro potting soil. He said that ought to last me through the summer. Boy, what a surprise that was. We had a great time, but after they left, it was almost unbearable outside, so we came in the house and watched tv. The day flew by, and I had a happy Mother's Day even if it were Father's Day.

Happy First Day of Summer! We didn't accomplish a great deal yesterday. Neither one of us felt like a red apple smells. I did manage to pull a few weeds. I discovered a petunia growing on the edge of the driveway. I dug it up and replanted it beside the inukshuk. It was just too hot to do much. Later we went to the dump. We dropped off some eggs to a pal that lives out here in the country near us, and I was asking how the bee balm was doing that I had given her. I thought that I spotted it in her herb garden. She said that was pineapple sage. Oh, my. The one that we had for years had died, and we had never seen another to replace it. I took some cuttings of hers. I hope that I can root it. I've done it before in the past. Here's the mystery chive that I mentioned before.

It looks like it's going to be a nice allium. I planted some years and years ago, but they never did anything. Of course, I hadn't planted it here in this spot. It really is a nice mystery.

That was about it for the day. We just stayed in and played it cool. I hope that all you dads have a happy Father's Day. Son will be coming by today. Daughter came last week.

  I woke up to something unusual this morning. Daylight! I couldn't believe that I was still in the bed. Hubby had just gotten up right before me. He hadn't even started the coffee. We felt like we had been drugged. Him, I could understand, but I ain't taking his pills. I couldn't believe that I was still in bed. That's rare. Does that me a rare Sleepy-head Plant? A shower didn't wake me up, so I cooked us a good breakfast. That didn't help either. I'm still dopey feeling. I don't know what was in the supper last night, but it sure knocked me out. I did get a chance to play out in the yard before it got too hot. There are still little limbs all over the place. After I thought I had picked them all up, I'd find more. Maybe I'll get the rest of them today. I finally saw hummers on the bee balm. It's about time. I can't believe that they aren't swarming the mimosa blossoms. Really strange for this time of year. They should be zipping all around. The oregano is blooming and so is the poliomenta. Now I have a red penta, which they are supposed to like, but it was just the bee balms yesterday.   

Oh, well. Maybe I'm not at the right place at the right time.

The yellow lilies are really showing out this year. I'm sure it's because of the rain that we got. Little though it was, it has made a big difference. I had taken pictures where more of them showed up, but the pix looked all washed out. I got a few more gardenias for the house and one of my antique roses with nary a Japanese beetle bite on it. I've got to look up the name one day. I can't remember. I was out back looking for ripened seed pods on the calycanthus. Every time that I checked before, they weren't ready. This time I found only one. I guess the wind and the rain knocked them all off. Dang it! I did see this stange, alien bug from Mars eating something. I looked carefully and couldn't believe my eyes. He was eating a Japanese beetle. I didn't think that anything was its predator. Don't smash those weird bugs. Let them eat!! I hope that everyone has a smashing day, just not those Japanese beetle-eating bugs.

Thanks so much for the well-wishes for Hubby. I'll relay it to him. We didn't do too much yesterday because he wasn't up to snuff again.

Here is the purple velvet plant in the pitiful old hanging basket. I put the straw around it because I was told not to get the leaves wet, and they wanted to sit in the soil. It's a little crooked, but hey, I'm not a patient woman and after many tries to get it straight, I just gave up.

When I did this, I hadn't even noticed the redneck windchime. Oh, my. I should move it because it detracts from the beautiful plant, but if you knew how many times I had to rehang it because of high winds, you wouldn't want to bother with it either. It's not my favorite garden decor, but what can you do when your son gives it to you and he thinks it's hilarious. He brought it back from a beach trip years ago, so we tolerate it. It has had to be repaired many times because of all the storms it's gone through, but Son would be so disappointed if I threw it away.

The sun is shining this morning, so maybe I can get outside and play before it gets too hot. Have a purple velvet day.

The new plants got planted in the Poison Garden where the rosemary used to be. The angelonia and the penta. I don't know doodley squat about the care of either one of these. I was looking around and admiring all the new things in this bed, but it needs water. Only 4/10ths since June 5. I decided to drag out another water hose. Now I can hook up the one that goes to the chicken pen, and it will reach the Poison Garden and the Herb Garden. I'll just disconnect and keep the extra hose "hidden" behind the garden. After I watered that bed, I watered all of the back. That's when I discovered Old Sid was back at it again. He dug up the sprigs of zoysia that I put in the bald spot in the back yard. Oh, no. That reminds me. I was supposed to go back out last evening and put some pepper on my newly planted flowers so that Sid would leave them alone. I forgot! I sure hope they won't be unearthed when I go out this morning! Next, I planted the marigolds in the New Daffodil Bed and the Rock Garden. I put out more new straw in the New Daffodil Bed. It looks much better now. I did some Japanese beetle squishing, and I also brought in another gardenia. I may not get a lot of flowers, but one or two in the house is about all the fragrance anyone can stand at one time anyway. Now that I've moved my "potting area" to the St. John's Wort Bed, I really need to clean up my mess. There are pots and stuff scattered about, making it unattractive. Maybe I can get to that today before I get distracted by a million other things that I need to get done. I've got to figure out what to do with the purple velvet plant. I don't think that it's one that can be planted in the flower bed and I think that it is most unusual.

It was really hot, so I couldn't do a whole lot more out in the yard. We watched the race. It was mostly uneventful, but what a finish! Now that's racin', there!Congrats to Mark! 

Uh, oh. Friday the Thirteenth came on a Saturday this month! It was kind of a blah day with Hubby not being up to snuff. He's still hurting, but he says that he's feeling a little better today. Sometimes he just says that he's ok when he's not. The first thing that I noticed yesterday when I went out was that Sid the Squirrel had dug all around the new dwarf honeysuckle shrub. I suppose that he wore himself out trying to dig it up, but it was just too big for him. I had to go back and create the water "well" around it and put back all the mulch. I gave it another good drink of water. Next, I put out some of the new straw. I plucked my first gardenia of the season. While I was strawing, I spotted it hidden down at the bottom of the bush. I brought it into the house and have been enjoying the scent since.  Then I picked up the limbs that were all over the yard after the big wind blow (but no rain) the evening before and pulled a weed here and there. When I bent over, it looked like it was raining with all the sweat pouring off my head. When I would stand, the sweat would go into my eyes. I did as much as I could stand and then gave it up. It was much too hot by then to do much more. I decided to piddle around on the porch with Hubby. While we were porch-sitting and watching the birds, I spied a Japanese beetle on the Zepherine. They're ba-a-a-a-ck! There was a cluster of them, so I got a bucket and put in soapy water. I stayed on the porch while Hubby went underneath, and I guided him to the spot. We dropped four into the bucket. Later I squished two of them by hand because he couldn't get to them with the bucket, but I could reach them from the porch. I didn't want those little suckers to get away. Yuuuck. I hate doing that, but I'd rather have bug guts on my fingers than a skeletonized rose. I decided to work on the pothos. I cut off two sections that I had tied to the stick and planted them back into the pot. Here's the before picture.

I'll have to get an "after" picture later.

Daughter and Grandson are supposed to come today to have a combination Mother's/Father's Day get-together. I plan on having seafood. I don't know about the rest of them.

Have a happy Triskaidekaphobia Day.

We discussed that I needed a bit more hay under the "eggs," but that could wait till tomorrow. I had put a picture of these "eggs" in the Forums last year, and I don't think anyone thought my visual pun was funny. Those are egg cowrie seashells. I thought it was hilarious, and I'm still enjoying them. They won't ever rot. I like this Kong coleus, but I have to remember to give her a bit of shade for an hour or two because the sun gets intense there. I don't remember it being like that last year.

I hope that everyone has a safe day, and your plans are implemented without a hitch.

As we were driving to town yesterday, I saw a lady taking pix of her flowers. Sort of looked like us. She has a long bed of spiderworts that I'd love to sneak into and get a few, but I don't know the lady. While we were grocery shopping, I checked the flowers at Walmart again. Same old stuff. Nothing new. I still haven't seen a pink splash again. I wish that I had gotten it when I saw it way back in early spring. I bought a few marigolds to put in the Poison Garden and the New Daffodil bed. I got a new pair of Fiskars pruners, too. The gardenia that I transplanted was not happy. I had to get it out of there, so the marigolds filled in that spot. It was a bit difficult to plant there because the bees were all over the ice plant and the new gaillardia. They didn't bother me, but I tried to be careful and not get them too riled up. There was a new lily that I planted last year, which has bloomed. Amazing, but it matches the color in the gaillardia.

I put the gardenia in the Second Natural Bed where it will get just morning sun. I hope that it can recover. While I was mixing up some good dirt, I saw a box turtle digging a hole. She already had it pretty deep, but it was a narrow hole, straight down. First she'd put in her right back leg, pull it out with just a tiny bit of dirt curled under her "toes." Then she'd put in the left. Back and forth, alternating. She must have been at it for a long time because she had quite a pile of dirt. The hole was so deep that her shell would be pointing straight up when she'd reach in that back foot. I didn't think to get a picture. I watched for a long time, but I had to get back to work. I checked later and she was gone. She didn't fill in the hole, so I don't know if she laid in it or not.

The shastas are blooming like crazy as well as the oregano. Hummers usually like the oregano, but I haven't seen any buzzing around that spot. I cut some lavender spikes that were blooming and brought them in. The rest of the plant is not looking too well.

I watered in everything new and newish. The collected rainwater is gone. I just heard on the news that SC if officially out of the drought after three years. Well, it's dry as a bone now. We need some rain.

The red lily that I got from my mom years ago has finally bloomed. It had come back every year, but it never bloomed.

The mystery chive in that same bed hasn't quite popped out yet, but you can see a little purple in it now. I still don't know what it is.

The elephant ears look better than they did last year. I was surprised that they came back.

The volunteer impatiens are starting to bloom now. It's a hot pink. I love that color. Not bad for free plants.

I hope that everyone has a beautiful, blooming day.

Yesterday a friend gave me a chicken bird feeder that belonged to her husband's mother. She passed away a few weeks ago, and she wanted me to have it. It is so cute. It's feet are dangling outside of the nest as if she is on the potty instead of in her nest. So cute. That was a real surprise.

It was a really hot day to be working in the yard, so as usual, I had to take a porch-break. I couldn't believe my eyes when a Carolina wren jumped on the porch and started chasing a skink. The skink was running all around trying to hide and the little wren kept hopping after it. It would jump off the porch and into the rose bush, and the little wren would hop, too. Then the skink would jump to the railing and the wren would jump, too. The skink slithered into a crack in the floorboards and that really drove the bird nuts. She was hopping all around, whistling for it to come out. It went on for a long time. It was hilarious. I have never seen anything like that before. What a surprise. I had no idea wrens would try to eat something that big!

Another friend came over to get all the iris and other plants that I had for her. I had potted up some parsley and basil that I had grown from seed. I tried explaining to her where to plant them, but she and her husband were too busy talking about the plants that were blooming. We toured all around the yard, and she told me all the things that she wants me to root for her. Finally, they had to run. As they were pulling off down the hill, Hubby spied the little pot of herbs, sitting on the trunk. We hollered, but they were too far gone. We figured that it would slide off when their car went up the big hill, so we got in the car to go looking. Nope, no sign of it. We followed the lane out to the road. We first went one way and then another because there are two ways to leave to go back to their house. No herbs. We gave up and I came in and emailed her what she had done. Later in the day she wrote back that the plants made it all the way to North Carolina just fine. What??? She told me that they had stopped in our lane to move a turtle off into the woods, and she spotted it. Heeheeheehee. They didn't drive all the way home with it on the trunk of the car. What a surprise.

I went back to playing in the yard and here comes an UPS truck. He had a great big box for me from Nebraska. It was an Emerald Mound Honeysuckle. Hubby hadn't sent it! Well, I suspect a little Garden Guide pixie did it. You can fess up now! I was so excited that I started digging a place for it. Digging isn't the easiest job around here, and I wanted it to have a good home, so I didn't quite finish it yesterday. I got it planted this morning, though, and she looks perfectly happy. Now that really WAS a surprise!

The first order of business was to go into town for Hubby to get a haircut. As we were driving, we saw mimosas in full bloom. We must really live in the deep, dark recesses of the woods. Ours aren't blooming! We went to the store because I was wanting to buy a cheap curtain panel to hang on the porch. Since we lost one side of that mimosa tree, the sun is much too intense in the late afternoon. I searched around, but I couldn't find anything cheap. I was about to buy a sheer panel for more than I wanted to pay when I noticed just what I was looking for. It was a lace panel on sale for two bucks! It has yellow and coral flowers with green leaves woven into it. That's exactly what I wanted and you couldn't beat the price.

When we returned, the first thing that I did was dig up the small gardenia and transplanted it into the old rosemary space in the Poison Garden. I added more soil as I promised. I strawed her in well and watered with my collected rain water. I hope she'll like her new home. Next I cleaned out the Patio Garden a bit, again, as best I could. The sweet scent of cilantro was wonderful, but I'll be glad when the seeds ripen and I can get it out of there.  I noticed that dear old Sid had dug up one of the latest sprigs of mondo grass. As I was replanting it, I observed that one of the sprigs that had taken sported blue flowers! I have never noticed that mondo grass flowered. Yardgranny said that they did! She was right! When I got to the Herb Garden to tidy it up, I spied a slug on the new red caladium. I picked it off and put it in the bucket. One of the girls would get a special treat! I stopped immediately and got the new can of Ortho slug and snail killer. The bait was in small round pellets. Really easy to apply. I hated that powdered stuff, but that was all that I could ever find. I did all the beds in the front. I'll have to do the rest later. I picked the hay straw out of the lawn where the guys had strewn it when they were dragging the mimosa limbs to the brush pile. It was not bad, but unsightly to me and was driving me crazy. I guess the Monk in me was coming out. I deadheaded the spirea bushes in the Cement Garden in hopes that it will continue to bloom. They have been spectacular this year. I did get another spider bite, but I dashed in the house, put on some Neo, and went right back to what I was doing. A little dab'll do ya! It's just those teeny-tiny little spiders that are all over your flowers and lawn. Most people probably wouldn't even notice, but I seem to be allergic to them. They only bite if they get caught in a spot like the cuff of your gloves, as was the case the other day, or in the fold between the thumb and forefinger as was the case yesterday. We finally did some porch-sitting and enjoyed all the bird activity while watching the breeze blow through my curtain. Guess what we noticed? Mimosa blooms. I guess it pays to look up and not look down all the time! The hummers are going to be having a time now. They love 'em.

Here's a picture of the Japanese Walkway. You might be able to see where it is bare between the stepping stones as it approaches the Butterfly Garden.

That was a lot of pulling, but if the creeping jenny creeps, then it will be worth it.

 I added another peel of hay straw to the First Natural Bed, on the right side of the picture underneath the bird feeder that you can see, but I noticed out the window this morning that Sid has been at it again. I wonder how deep it has to be to keep him from digging in there? I did a little more edging where the guys missed, but it wasn't too bad. I spied the first St. John's wort bloom in the Poison Garden, right on time.  I blue-watered a few plants, and put Miracid on the gardenia. I'm looking forward to some fragrant blooms this year. I deadheaded the marigolds and the pink-flowering spirea. The spirea have been spectacular this year, all five of them. I moved my table and chair away from the Thinking Bench. I don't use it much in the summer, only the spring. I had to edge around there and pull weeds since the guys just avoided that area while mowing and weed-eating. While I was there, I weeded all around the double flowering althea. Wild strawberry was encroaching. I pruned the eucalyptus of dead branches. I think I might just lop that whole section out since it now has new shoots coming out of the bottom just like the one in the front yard had. It surely would look neater. It became too hot to do much else, so I decided to paste wax two tables on the front porch. I've never done this before, but I wanted to see if it would help to protect them better against the elements. They look good right now. Let's see if it were worth the effort. With all that buffing, I think that I gave them a sweat-shine instead of a spit-shine. If I get a chance, I'll do the other things on the porch as well. No big plans today, just whatever pops into my head.