witt's Blog

When I went out first thing yesterday, the hummer feeder in the Patio Garden was down. The limb had broken off. I retrieved it, washed it, and refilled it. I found another spot and hung it back up. I couldn't remember if it had an S-hook on it or not, so I started cleaning up a little to see if I could find it. Once I started cleaning up the clover, leaves, etc. I couldn't seem to stop. I filled three pails, but of course, I didn't find the S-hook. Son came by and that put a stop to the process. He wanted to go buy a new hose and nozzle, too. We went to the community hardware store out here in the country to see if they happened to have one of those nice rubber hoses. They did. While they were looking at all the guy-goodies, I found some nice begonias, white. They were a good size, not like the little dinky ones that I got at the feed and seed store a few weeks ago. I put them in the Butterfly Garden. I checked to see if my portulaca plants were still in the ground. They were. So far today the squirrel has not dug up my new begonias. I thought that they would brighten the spot beside the rudbekias.

I went back to cleaning the Patio Garden first thing this morning while it was cool. Here is another picture of the Easter lilies from a different angle that I took this morning.

See all the mess in there? Well here it is after I got through cleaning it a bit.

See, it really does have some pavers down there, but you couldn't see them for all the creeping jenny, sweet annies, and those purple plants that I can't ever remember the name of. That's what I love. There is always something new to a garden.

It was cloudy and cool yesterday, so I thought maybe I could get a half-decent picture without the blazing sun washing out the color. This is my althea.

It's a double, so it's no wonder why I keep trying to propagate it. This is the first year that I have actually rooted any. I have two that I have done successfully. They are just babies now.

Yesterday I told you about weeding behind the Herb Garden. This area is just a throw-away, but the impatiens and other things have decided they want to live here, so it's my job to help them do so.

As you can see the bee balms are about done with their blooms. They have been wonderful this year, however.

Here is one shot of the Easter lilies in the Patio Garden. Even though it was cloudy, the other photos looked all washed out.

The Patio Garden is just full of them everywhere. It's quite a sight.

While I had my camera, I took a shot of the zepherine that I whacked down. She's growing back beautifully. Now I need to get her trained on the trellis before it's too late.

We were blessed with a little cool yesterday. I hope that you folks who are burning up with the heat will get some relief soon.

When I arrived home, I got them all cleaned and put into the freezer. It turned out to be five and a half quarts. Not too bad. I also put up corn and bell peppers. I had quite a productive morning.

My next chore was to plant the mums that I had rooted. They were not happy in the pot on the porch. I wanted them in the Hibiscus Garden because I wanted to be able to see them from the porch. When I was looking for an empty spot, I spied three of my portulaca plants pulled up out of the ground. Oh, my! When did that happen? Had Sid the Squirrel done that and I hadn't even noticed? I can't imagine. How long has it been since I planted them? Weeks! I had planted five plants and those three that had been pulled up were lying in the middle of the two that were growing and flowering. I guess that's why I didn't notice it. Oh, well, what can you do except replant them and keep your fingers crossed?

Next I was determined to get behind the Herb Garden and weed. I haven't been back there in a month or more. With bee balms on one end and hostas and elephant ears on the other, I couldn't even get back behind it. I finally eased carefully by the hostas with my pail. I started by the front steps. By the time I was halfway, I was pooped. There was barely a place to put my foot. I was exhausted and sweating. That meant that I had to turn around if I expected to get out of there. Well, I sure couldn't do that, so I bit the bullet and charged ahead. I finally made it through to the end so that I could step out onto the driveway through the bee balm. I had filled the pail to the top with all sorts of weedy things. When I inspected the results of my labors, I was amazed at how good it looked. That little throw away area was full of blooming, volunteer impatiens, just shining their little heads off. I was so satisfied. I fixed myself a cuppa and sat on the porch, praying for a breeze. I felt something tickling my arms. Dang! A tick! I certainly didn't expect that because I had on plenty of repellent unless it was washed off with all that sweat. Oh, well. That's not too bad. That's only the second tick since the early spring clean-up.

It certainly turned out to be a day of unexpected adventures. I hope that everyone has a day of adventures and may they be good ones.

We didn't get anything done today with all that driving back and forth into town, so we just took a sot-down on the porch to watch the birds and enjoy the Easter lilies that are popping out right and left. They are all over the place, the birds and the lilies. The cardinals were going from feeder to feeder, to the other feeder, racing back and forth if there were too many on one feeder. Eight butterflies, all in a row, were in the Poison Garden, flitting from the penta to the petunia. What a perfectly pretty picture. The hummers were playing Ring-Around-the-Mimosa. The wrens, Mama and Papa, were bringing the babies bug, after bug. One of the babies would actually stick its head out the hole and then back up and put its wing out the opening to fan out its wing feathers. I wished that I had my camera to catch a picture of that precious baby or when the wrens were sitting in my pot plants, taking a breather. The goldfinches were all over the sweet annies, which must be starting to make some seeds. Now that really is a hoot to watch because the sweet annie branches just barely hold the goldfinch's weight. Oh, what a beautiful sight, the goldfinches "bob, bob, bobbing along". Again, I wished that I had my camera.

Yesterday, I started the day by watering the backyard. That took forever. As you know there are eight beds plus all the little other areas. Then I started working in the beds. They look so pitiful. The Outhouse Bed needed lots of straw, but I had to gather the columbine seeds first before I lost them all. I cut all the old flower stalks and tidied up this and that in the bed. Then I went to the Potting Shed bed. It was practically strawless as well. I got that fixed up all the way around--three sides. While I was in the area, I plucked out everything that was popping up in The Beach. I don't want a thing growing in there. I don't care if it is made of gold! I wanted to get out everything now while it is still small so that it won't get to be too big of a job. I want that bed to be nothing but beach--sand and shells. I don't usually put straw in the Rock Garden because there are plenty of groundcovers in that bed not to need it, but even they are sparse this summer, so I put some straw in the bare spots. Here is a picture of the echevaria that a friend gave me Mother's Day. It's in a pot, but I buried the pot in the Rock Garden so that I can take it out come winter. At least I don't think they will survive the winter. I hadn't been able to have one survive the summer before this one. I am proud of how much it has grown since May.

I think that you can see the sedum reflexum in the picture, but there is also ajuga and thyme in that bed as well as a creeping veronica. The sedum and ajuga isn't spreading as it usually does. This little job took up about the whole day, but I still had things on my list to do. I had decided to plant the poliomentha in the Second Natural Bed. It gets morning sun, but it's shaded in the afternoons, so I figured the rootings can take that much heat. I have had the pot out there for several days to harden it off and get used to the location. When I was ready to plant it, there was a dang slug in the pot. I stopped and got the slug bait. I sprinkled it about in that area, which I had not done the other day. Those little rootings are mighty tender, but I'm hoping that they won't be so small that they won't survive or so luscious that a bunny eats them up! I put straw all around the plants and then stuck sticks in the ground for protection. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'd really love to get them to take there because hummers love them, and we could eventually enjoy watching the hummers from the porch. My others are in the back and it's too hot in the summer to sit out there and view the yard. That's a spring and fall treat. I piddled around with a little of this and that until we both ended the day watching Mr. and Mrs. Wren bringing in all sorts of delicious, squishy bugs for their babies. What a treat to watch from four feet away! They don't seem to mind us at all. What a way to end the day after satisfying yardwork.

Early yesterday, I was filling the watering cans to give my impatiens a little drinky before it became too hot. As the can was filling, out popped a toady frog. Have you ever tried to hit a hoppy toad with the end of a water hose? Believe me it doesn't work. I looked like a wild, demented woman trying to get it. I'm sure he just laughed and buried his tailless butt up under one of my stellas and settled in for the heat of the day.

Hubby needed chicken feed and birdseed, so we drove out to the feed store. I asked the lady who does the flowers if she had anything for a hot, hot corner that I have. She showed me what she had left. She had begonias that had been out in the blazing sun on her display. They seemed to have stood up right well. Then I saw a zinnia, a white, and commented that they should take the sun well, but when I pulled out a pack, they looked terrible. She said buy one and she'd give me another zinnia and the begonia. That sounded good to me.

When we returned home, I planted the begonias, but it was just too hot to continue. I'm getting ready to go out now and plant the zinnias. I'm not sure what the variety is. Nothing special, I assure you. I just want some color now that the day lilies are done.

We had a storm in the evening. Two of my friends have already reported that they got one and two inches respectively. We got POINT one inch!That's better than nothing, but we really could use some rain!

I hope that everyone has a happy day in their yards, and don't worry, I haven't killed anything yet. The toady was saved as well as some plants.

I spent two days in the Poison Garden. I had to clean up all those shastas. Here's what it looked like earlier and became even more full later. There was no place to step!

Now they are done and all flopped over. I had deadheaded as best I could while they were in flower, but there were so many of them that I couldn't get to a lot of them to cut them if I wanted to. I have cut them down to the ground. Here's what it looks like now.

I pulled any weeds etc. that I saw and plucked out or cut anything that was untidy. I was lucky that I had some cloud cover while I worked every now and then. When I started putting out the fresh straw, the sun came out in full force, but I finally got it done. I don't have any straw left. I need to get some more. I'm going to have to find me a straw daddy. I don't want a sugar daddy. I just want someone to keep me supplied with pine straw all the time.

When I first started, I noticed that one of my lovely marigolds was broken in two places. Hmmmm, deer? I put each stem into a bud vase so I could at least enjoy them on the porch. Has anyone every rooted a marigold in water? I was so disappointed. There must have been twenty flowers on it and loads of buds to come!

Today, I happened to walk by the pineapple plant that I rooted. I had seen a weed in there, but I was too busy to even pull it out. Look what it was. A petunia! I'll have to leave that for sure!

What could be better than petunias and pineapple?

Sleeping in the morning. I didn't get up until 6 a.m. I didn't do that much outside, so I don't know why I slept so hard. I worked some cleaning up a little in the Patio Garden, but I still haven't finished it. Son came and he cut a limb for us that was like an umbrella over the dwarf honeysuckle bush. Hubby didn't like the fact that if we did get a wee bit of rain, that the bush wouldn't get a drop. We did plant another tomato plant in hopes that it will bear later, and we'll have tomatoes in the late summer or longer. It was a Whopper and I don't think that we have ever tried one. Ours usually poop out early because we plant them so early. Son said that he got an inch of rain and hail at his house. When he went to dig in our Garden Garden, it was dry as a bone! That piddly rain we got didn't wet a thing. Son toured the gardens and was naming as many plants as he could. I was so proud of him. He's just now starting to really enjoy flowers...at least at my house. He really liked the pink-tinged hibiscus.

He had a little trouble with the tiger lilies. He kept wanting to call them spider lilies, but I think he finally associated the orange and black spots. He'll have it correct by the next visit I'll bet.

I hope that all of you have a good day, rain or shine.

I would like to thank everyone who took the time to comment on my porch-playing. I appreciate the support.

Yesterday I repotted the arrowhead vine into her new pot. She's still "high" in the pot, however. It will have to do for now.      

I also brought up the mum cuttings that had rooted and put them in the sunny area of the porch. It appears that she has buds on her, so I want to enjoy the flowers where I can actually see them should they burst into bloom.

Next I decided to hand edge the one and only lush grassy area around the stepping stones. Since we haven't had any rain, there's not much need to mow the lawn, but there is one area where the grass is growing, and of course, it's over my walkway. It looks much tidier now. Then I cut back one of my perennial petunias in the First Natural Bed, which was huge, but it appears that it has contracted wilt. If it comes back, fine. If it doesn't, I'll just pull it out. I decided to start cleaning out the Patio Garden again when I started itching terribly. Even though I had put on my summer perfume, the skeeters ate me up while I was standing in the grassy area. I had eight huge welts and thought I'd go into fits it was so bad. Quick! Get the Neo! I put it all over them, and the awful itching subsided. Someone sent me a present! A little rain. It drizzled quite a bit for the rest of the day, but it only amounted to two tenths! I sure wish that we could get a decent amount, but I am thankful for what we did get. That was a lovely surprise because the weatherman predicted no chance of rain here yesterday, but the biggest surprise was when I went out the front door this morning to take my pictures. There was a four-inch slug sliding his way up the storm door. I guess he was trying to sniff out my new plants on the porch. Yuck. That was a surprise that I would have rather not had that early in the morning.

I bought some new pots yesterday so that I could remove the plants from the dish garden that I got for Mother's Day. I put the alocasia in its own pot, but I put the draecena and the croton together in one pot. I had already taken out the small pink arrowhead plant. That's it behind the seashells. I got an old footstool that Hubby had made, cleaned it up, and used that as a display for the plants. I moved the dwarf parlor palm and put it down on the floor beside the "egg" basket. I am hoping that they won't get too much sun in this location.

I decided to bring out the other pink arrowhead vine because I had gotten lazy about turning it, and now it's growing all in one direction. I put it beside the water fountain.

I really don't like the way it grows! It seems to want to grow out of one stem and it gets higher and higher. I have repotted it several times. Today I am going to put it into the last new pot, and I hope that if I bury it a little deeper, I'll get some new shoots.

Here is a photo of the sunny corner.

That's the pineapple sage that I am rooting on the right. It seems to be growing. There's the Mexican heather in the foreground with her little purple flowers that I rooted. I think there are about five or six new plants in that pot. The green pot is a mystery succulent that I'm trying to save. I almost lost it last summer. At one time it filled the pot. A plectranthus rooting is in the old, worn terra cotta pot. The mother plant needs pruning again, so I'll try to get another one going today. I l o v e plectranthus.

I couldn't stop playing, so I fixed up another corner with a variegated snake plant that needs some TLC along with the pothos that was already there.

I enjoyed playing on the porch creating my nouveau tableau yesterday. Now I need to get busy and repot that arrowhead plant.

I hope that everyone enjoys the day, whether you're playing or working.

Yesterday we kept waiting and waiting on that rain! We didn't get a drop. I was fiddling around in the Old Gourd Garden. It was dry as a bone even after we had watered the day before. I noticed that the bunnies didn't eat just the hosta, but some of the day lilies and irises as well. I took a picture of my Mystery Garden Guide honeysuckle bush. With not having rain for a month, I thought it looked pretty good. Before (just planted).

This is the after. Now if she'd just get some rain!

The birds and hummers were very active yesterday. I don't know if it had anything to do with it being cloudy, but we enjoyed their antics. Our wren is still messing around in the ceramic birdhouse on the porch.

I was taking my last porch-sit of the evening. Just for the heck of it, I decided to list what plants were in the Old Gourd Garden. You will see that there is a mixture of shade plants and sun plants. Well, it used to get sun, now it doesn't, so whatever survives, survives: lily (Easter, day, and tiger), mahonia holly, parsley, nandina, serissa, marjoram, ivy (a tiny variety and a variegated one), iris (bearded and Japanese), lunaria, two types of hosta, autumn clematis, sedum reflexum, creeping jenny, creeping phlox, veronica, garden thyme, gardenia, columbine, ginger, clerodendrum, mondo, forsythia, spider plant, aucuba, shasta, tansy, yarrow, apidistra, ajuga, a green rose.

I was concentrating on the list when I spied movement. I leaned forward to see the munching culprit! A dang deer with his head nearing the hosta in the Old Gourd Garden. My first reaction was to jump up, popping my hands, and yelling, "Git! Git!"    He got!!! Hubby came tearing out of the house, thinking it was a dog or something worse. I wish that I could have been calm, let Hubby get the shotgun, and blast him with some bird shot. That might make him think twice about nibbling my plants. Before I thought it was a bunny. Now after seeing with my own eyes, it was a deer.  

After I finished a load of clothes, I started the pruning on the zepherine. I haven't trimmed it in two years. I couldn't get it done last year because of our daily trips for radiation. I thought that she'd never stop blooming this year so that I could cut it. When I began, I had no problems getting the long splaying ones, but since the canes go all the way through the trellis and over the top of the roof, I had a tangled mess. I would cut, but I couldn't pull it out. Finally, I went up on the porch and started cutting it little by little from the top so that I could get them apart. I toted it all off. This is what it looked like back in April. You can imagine how much it grew in May and June.

The area looks so bare! I hope that she takes off and grows at least half way back soon. 

We got the front yard sprinkled, but when I went out back, the grass was crunchy. We watered that the day before. Oh, so dry! Here's a picture of the garden flag that I bought. You can see the Back Forty after I replanted all those irises. It sort of looks bare, too. You can see the only chicken coop left after the huge oak destroyed the other two and how bare it is back there now.

The zinnias that I planted are already starting to pop up! Also, the Mexican heather pieces that I rooted were blooming, so I put the pot on the porch where we can enjoy it. They aren't big enough to put in the ground yet. I went about deadheading, clipping, and cleaning up a bit, nothing earth-shattering. I just hope that we have some rain today.

Happy Fourth of July!

We didn't do a thing of importance. We just porch-sat and watched the birds. It was so nice and cool and with the water fountain gurgling, extremely pleasant. Hubby sat for a long time. He usually can't be still that long. We came in for a little while and piddled around. Then we went back outside and sat again. Hummers were coming inside the porch area, examining everything, including us. We watched an anole on the hunt. Unfortunately, he wanted to hunt in the pot where my pitiful pineapple sages are languishing.

We had mater sandwiches for supper. Yum!

Hubby had gotten up at 3:30 a.m. and woke me up upon his return to bed. He couldn't get settled and tossed around, grabbing the covers off me over and over again. I couldn't go back to sleep, so I got up. I was having a cuppa while I was on the pooter when I heard a kerplunk. It sounded like the makeshift birdbath hitting the ground. I got the big spotlight, cut off the pooter room light, pulled up the blinds, and blam, hit the spotlight! Do you know what I saw? A blast of spotlight blazing back at me. Hmmmm. That was not a very good idea. I went out the front door and hit the spot again. This time I saw the birdfeeder swinging, but I didn't see the culprit. The light was dimming so I couldn't see far into the yard. I don't know when it was last charged. Then I heard someone talking. Our neighbor's wife was out in the yard talking on the phone or that's what it sounded like. I can't imagine why she would be outside at that time of the morning. Then I thought maybe her husband was going off to work really early, but I never heard his truck. Strange. I didn't venture out too far because I didn't relish being outside in the pitch black dark, barefooted and half nekkid in my gown. It would be my luck for the door to slam behind me and lock. I'd never be able to see where I was going because the spotlight's battery was depleted. I hate to think what nocturnal shenanigans go on out there at night and in the wee hours of the morning. I'm not sure that I want to know. I can see now this morning that the birdbath has been knocked over. I hope that it isn't broken.

No big celebratory plans for the Fourth for us. We will crack open a watermelon. We have already started the sprinklers. Everything is drying up. Have a happy day!

This is a view over the Patio Garden and to the Herb Garden.

I need to work on the Patio Garden some more. You can barely see the cobblestones. As you can see there is a big tea olive in the middle of the Herb Garden, which isn't an herb garden anymore, but the name sticks.

Here is a close up of the bee balm, hostas, caladium, impatiens (all volunteers), and spiderplant (airplane plant) if you can actually see it hidden in there.

Here is a view of the other side. There are more volunteer impatiens, another type of caladium, hostas, and the elephant ears that are doing much better this year than last. There is also a garlic chive that remained of the herbs. I don't know how it survives in the shade, but it does. You can see that purple plant that I can't remember the name of. It's all over everywhere.

I finally got a new garden flag to replace my chicken flag. I couldn't find a chicken, but I did get a cardinal. I guess you know the old Southern tale of giving your honey a kiss every time you see a cardinal, don't you? Hubby said that it would guarantee a smooch even if all our cardinals flew away.

I got some roots on one of the pineapple sage cuttings, so I potted that up. The other was just barely starting to root, but ole impatient me went ahead and potted that one, too. It's not looking very well. The other isn't looking great either, but maybe it will take off later and grow.

I planted the zinnia seeds that fairygarden so kindly sent me. I do hope they will grow and flower. I can't believe that I couldn't find any all this spring. I pray it's not too late.

I'm having to hand water a lot. Everything is dry as a bone. Yesterday morning when I was watering the Old Gourd Garden, I noticed that the beautiful hosta had only one leaf. All the rest of the leaves were nibbled down to stubs. I suspect a bunny. The hosta was still bearing three beautiful stalks of purple flowers. Dang it, I can't have a thing!

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Fourth. We have nothing planned this year.