Piece by Piece

Sometimes, after you've had some plants in the same spot for years, they intertwine. In this photo are a few plants in what is only a foot or two wide.

The bottom left corner shows a Hosta 'Tea and Crumpets' which is a very small hosta. There's the Primula siboldii 'Alba' that I posted about the other day and poking up through everything is Polygonatum humile (dwarf solomon's seal).

This photo was taken last year, if I took it today it would have looked the same except it's almost impossible to find the Hosta 'Tea and Crumpets". I'd really like to divide out everything here without losing anything. Tomorrow or Monday I'd like to lift the whole area, pull out each piece and replace the Hosta with lots of compost.

This shot is taken closer to the Hosta. Those spiky plants are Tradescantia seedlings. I've grown a number of hybrid Tradescantias and on the whole have been ecstatic with their behaviour. Unfortanetly, the prettiest Tradescantia here, is also the most aggressive at spreading seedlings.

This is the same bed, just a foot or two away. The bright chartreusse is Tradescantia 'Sweet Kate'. I've written about her before, she isn't very sweet here at all. Last year I went around and dug up every one of her seedlings that I could find. It wouldn't be bad at all if they had the same coloring but every one of them reverts back to green with a standard blue flower.

It looks like this is going to be a job that eats up lots of time and only makes a change in a very small spot in my garden.

The "To-Do" List

Are you a list person? Do you make to-do lists?

I don't make lists. If I have a busy day or busy week ahead of me I write out schedules. Pages and pages of schedules but I don't like to-do lists.

They say that writing lists is good. My husband Don is a list person and it really works for him. He prioritizes things, does them and crosses them off the list.

Not me.
This is a cut through in my longest perennial border. The border is about 125 feet long (37.5 meters) and just about at the half way point I have this little cut through. It was necessary because the pipes for the underground sprinkler and the on/off valve (the round cap that is askew) is in this spot.

Two weeks ago I was able to easily walk through here. The top photo was taken three days ago and the second photo was taken this morning. It's almost impossible to see the stepping stones. Forget about actually cutting through this spot.

If I had a to-do list, cutting back this area would be on it.

Thursday is the day our lawn service comes to mow the lawn. Between my watering and the intense heatwave we just experienced the yard looks like a jungle.

If I remember to get back out there in the next hour I should cut back all the fallen stalks like you see here. They will last a good week in a flower arrangement but would not last a minute after the lawn service starts cutting.

My side yard is a disaster. I always seem to find more plants to pot up. The chipmunks run through here like it's a maze and Calie the wonder-doodle plows along behind them like a bull in a china shop. There are upturned pots everywhere.

If I had a to-do list I'd put "clean up side yard" on it. It would also be nice to add "make official holding beds for plant material in limbo".

The Cymbalaria murilas (kenilworth ivy) has totally engulfed this section of my rock wall. In my opinion it loses some of it's charm when you can't see the rocks underneath. I would have to put this on my to-do list too.


Uh oh, the peas are falling! Chicken little would not be happy to see this spot in my garden. The peas have put on such a growth spurt that they went above and beyond the stakes and now I should try to figure out something to support them better.

In this same area I have my potted tomatoes and thanks to my friend Kim, I now know I should be pruning them. Since I haven't even staked them yet, I think I'm running behind schedule a bit.

Phew, it's a good thing I don't have a to-do list. I'm tired just thinking about all the things I'd have to do.

Watering the Garden

Today I have one goal, water the garden. It might not sound like much but around here it could take me all day to finish this task.

Our heat wave has broken, last night a cool front came through and today should only hit 87 degrees (30.5 celsius). That's still well above normal for us but at least I can work outside for most of the day. While massive storms surged all around us, we got a few gusts of wind and no rain at all. I had hoped for some moisture so I wouldn't have to spend a whole day watering.

Unfortunately, I'm not feeling well. I don't know if it's the accumulation of too many days of heat or the fact that I attended two meetings with meals yesterday and ate food that I don't normally eat. I can barely make myself get up and move, which is highly unusual for me.

When we bought this house 12 years ago it already had an underground sprinkler system installed. We were told it's a "golf course" system. Since I don't golf, I can't say for sure if that is correct. There are "outlets" in the ground spaced quite far apart and I have to "plug in" a large sprinkler head where ever I need the water.

We have massive water pressure here and I can run 4 of these heads at a time. But I still need to pay attention to the timer and go out every 1.5 hours and move the heads to different locations.

All the planters require hand watering and since I've potted up lots of tomatoes I will be carrying many watering cans around the yard today. Thankfully my schedule is empty and I can take my time getting this done.

Yesterday I totally missed blogging. I was up at 5:00AM to take my cousin's daughter to the airport. When I got home I had a garden club meeting where we had the most amazing speaker on Feng Shui. I went in expecting to be bored and instead I was fascinated. I had to laugh when I realized I had my compost heap in my Wealth/Power area of our property. I have no intention of moving it though since I consider compost to be black gold. Then I was off all evening at a PTA dinner. No wonder I feel lousy today.

Time to go out and start the first set of sprinkler heads. Hopefully I'll get to photographing some flower arrangements today too.

Stay cool,

Melanie