I suppose that telling you I was on my hands and knees for more than five hours yesterday may create an unfortunate image in your mind, but it brought me a lot of satisfaction. It was a glorious day, and I spent that time weeding!
\nIn just two weeks our Red Hat Society ladies will be coming for a brunch. I’ve started making lists mentally of what has to be done before they troop up the sidewalk. Of course, part of that has to be the preparation of the gardens.<\/p>\n
\nIt was good to get into the beds and pull weeds. I have some thistles that are the great great great great great great…..oh I don’t know how many “greats” to use to describe the distant relationship to the first thistle that spawned all my weeding grief, but I pulled those suckers OUT! When I rework the garden this year, the next time I see them put their little leaves into the air, it’s ROUND UP for them!
\nUnfortunately, my pride and joy, the iris, are not healthy. I found a lot of rot in the newest plantings. I removed what I could, and I’ll just have to hope that some of them bloom in time for the Hatter’s visit. The two oldest pods of iris, next to the garage wall where it’s warmer in Spring, have bloom stalks up. They’ll bloom heavily for me, and may be done before all our visitors get here.
\nThe peonies look healthy. We have six of them in the long driveway garden. I’d like to add one more in the smaller garden to the east of the driveway. I have to replace a miniature lilac that has died, and the old rugosa rose needs serious pruning. I was delighted to see that the hydrangea that I planted last fall wintered over successfully. The redbud trees that Cop Car brought me last fall when we visited made it through the winter, too! YEA!!
\nIt was cool in the morning yesterday, enough so that I considered putting on a sweatshirt before I went out. I was really glad I didn’t, because as soon as I got to work I was more than warm enough. This morning, I’ll take some pictures of the gardens so you can see what I accomplished, and I’ll post them later for before and after pictures.
\nWhat I HOPE to do this year is, to take a section of the garden at a time and renovate it, taking out the iris, replanting them in better arrangements, and then filling in with annuals. It means that I might have little or no bloom next year, but the following year should be spectacular! I hope the weather is kind, so that I can get this project done.
\nMeanwhile, I’ll get Mother started on the container plantings so that we have color at the doorway all summer long.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I suppose that telling you I was on my hands and knees for more than five hours yesterday may create an unfortunate image in your mind, but it brought me a lot of satisfaction. It was a glorious day, and … Continue reading