April 8 , 2008
From the Producer: 4/5
Now that thing are filling in like unbalanced , old and new , I can scarcely remembernandina - ville and its sidewalk gang of prostrate rosemary . I ’m well over the shock . This overbold looking at is very deserving the months of oeuvre ! Salvias , columbine , various bulbs , and the lavender spiderwort are in flower . A few bloom are still out on the Mexican Cercis canadensis at the corner . One daylily and zexmenia beat the rushing by flowering ahead of time , much to the bee ’ appreciation . They also like the delicate lavender flowers get across the silvery bush germanders . I added a Berlandia lyrata , hot chocolate flora . I doubt that we&’ll go into sometime eld together , but it ’s worth a effort for its silvery foliation and hot chocolate - scented yellow peak . I moved most of the plumbagos , but left a few big clumps since they ’re entrenched with bulb . Once the bulbs go brownish , I ’ll go in and move bulbs and shrubs . I got one Yucca rupicola x pallida , gamey twist folio yucca , for the porch side . It ’s a song ! Against it , the regal heart I recently snipped and planted is a symphony ! Still hop-skip to arrest the square - folio pallidas at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center plant sale . I went through six more bags of mulch , and will fetch up in a few weeks .
In the cat cove , yellow - blossom calylophus , blue - eyed grass , and lavender gulf penstemon joined the Lady Banks and spiderworts in the bloom parade . I ’m glad that I step by step crop the Lady Banks last year for a more sculptural looking . It ’s never had this many flowers ! Beyond , the Clematis armandii is in fragrant peak . The spiraea is still in glory . Often , I run out to whiff Cecile Brunner ’s flowers and the Satsuma ’s in its nearby pot .
Along the fence , the crossvine is even look great ! The desert ( pinkish ) trumpet vine I moved has grown two metrical unit , and the ness honeysuckle has returned . At the other last , the white Lady Banks , with its bit of fragrance , is blossom , too .
Along the rental fencing , there are columbines , with the newfangled Persicaria microcephala“Red Dragon ” blooming slight white flowers against its burgundy . I saw a matured one at a garden we taped last week , and it was mythic . I enjoy experiments that work ! One shrimp plant is still so full of flower ( bracts ) , that I did n’t cut it down , but I did prune another to match the one I dilute and divided last week . The walkways are a cloud of pink oxalis flowers , covered with bee . I do need to cut back the genus Viburnum to fluff them up , now that they ’ve terminate blooming .
On the Benny Hill , lily-livered Dutch sword lily opened , refusing to give up their territory where I plant them long ago under the tallow . They subsist all right under the eatage on the hill , so for mushiness , I ’ve never moved them . A few weeks ago , I pruned the star jasmine since its tenacious tendrils were willy - nilly . With its new growth , it ’s a 5 ft sculptured bush , insure with blossom buds . Pruning makes such a deviation with everything .
In the cove near the house , I added a dwarf spotted cast-iron plant , and divided some of my African hostas , Drimiopsis maculata that I ’ve had in mickle , when I learned they do very well in ground shade . The single I moved last weekend look very well-chosen and one is blooming .
On Sunday , we took down the patio charge plate to store for next year , and thrust its PVC tobacco pipe under the shed . I put by the rowcover in udder I really labeled for their destination ! I want to lay my hands on them quickly when the surprise freezing hits us next fall . We scrub up everything down , and I pruned , fertilized , and orchestrated the containers for their summertime location . I repotted a few . If you have ant problems in your container , call back the concealment trick : a piece of quondam window screen at the bottom to stand them off .
To continue the garden tour : this week we ’re at the den bed , to the left of the terrace as you face the yard . It runs along the back of the house , from the den to a “ spare ” elbow room . confront east , it gets morning sun . These days , it ’s not really enough light to sustain the rose I planted for fragrancy to “ waft through the open window , ” but I ca n’t part with them yet . A climbing Buff Beauty cascades over the den window , although this year I clipped it to the background to rejuvenate it . It ’s come along nicely . The David Austin Charlotte rose on the face of it died in last yr ’s rain . I contract it back and it ’s returning from the roots , so we ’ll see . In the space between the window , I have a David Austin go up Jude the Obscure on a freestanding trellis . At the other ending , an Iceberg .
This bed ’s also home to a few crinum lily , Salvia guaranitica “ Argentina Skies , ” ( I think ) , grandiloquent spuria iris and various spring bulbs , spiderwort , columbines , oxalis , Eupatorium greggii ( for the butterflies ) , lemon balm , new bicolor salvia , repeated candytuft and two sections of yellow daylilies . I do n’t know their name : they came in a single pot as “ onetime fashioned daylilies ” that I ’ve divided many times . At night , I cut up that Clarence Day ’s flower for our salad .
In the middle , in front of the climb Jude rose , “ Country Girl ” mums and asters are touch as one in a swarm of leafage . If I remember to make out them back every month or so until July , they wo n’t get long-legged . In fall , the lavender flush against soft pink ace are splendiferous !
Until last summertime ’s rains , southernwood , an airy fragrant herbaceous plant , covered the sphere below the lair window for many years . Perhaps it will show up again . I had to give up on Shasta daisy and wild ox - eye . They drown in rain or disappeared in drought . They just do n’t like me as much as I like them . For years , a silver bush germander was the earmark at the end of the bottom . When it drowned a few years ago , its successor have never do either , so I give up on that and planted a crinum lily .
late , I ’ve tote up pot lily ( Anthericum saundersea ) to a few place for evergreen plant height near the spurias , to fill the space when they go hibernating . From the hideaway window , already I can see that this was a great idea , especially since they ’re already charge off footling white flower . Also , I added new Texas betony . For years , it performed beautifully , but as I ’ve seen with some perennials , they do n’t last forever . The hummingbirds liked them so much that it was deserving an encore . For the little suckers , I also added a young one for me , Dicliptera suberecta , a silvery - hoar perennial to 3 feet or so , with orange - red flowers that hummingbird ca n’t resist . Will let you have intercourse what go on , but so far , they ’re growing like mad .
Until next week , Linda
shred :
