Category Archives: Ye Olde Garden

Ye Olde Garden

Fall gardening is all work and no play

A problem I’m seeing due to having no gutters on our house is that water runoff tends to erode chunks out of your flower beds. I’m exploring the possibility of installing lava rock on top of the mulch to reduce some of the ugly pits caused by cascading rainfall.

It’s back to weeding and winterizing the beds this Saturday. The weekend forecast threatens rain, but so far there are no clouds in the sky. I have a dozen plus Iris bulbs from Brecks that need to go in the ground ASAP. I also posted an order with Hill Country Gardens for some muscari, allium and tulip bulbs, and I’m looking forward to a trip out to Covington’s Nursery in Rowlett. They have a great planning guide for the October-November gardener.

I discovered an interesting and cost-efficient way of making your own seed-starting pots out of newspapers while researching lava rock and mulching on the net. If only I were a seed-starter….

Ye Olde Garden

Prepping the garden for winter

I ventured out in the garden this weekend to do some cleaning. The rabbit damage was quite extensive and I regret the loss of the bulbs that suffered this harsh summer only to end up as dinner. But it’s a great motivator to look at garden catalogs and imagine what will be growing in our beds next year.

Since the cold weather is at our doorstep, I’ll be weeding and mulching for much of the week. I already trimmed our red oaks in the back. Much of the dessicated lily stalks came out of the ground with a slight tug…no need for clippers! Covering up holes in the beds as I go, I discovered that I have a selection of what I believe are perennial/biennial dianthus or china pinks that have greened back up and are budding despite the approaching winter. They must be the only plants flourishing in the rear beds right now. They are surviving as little hammocks of green in beds of dirt.

I also regret that I neglected the San Antonio salvia greggii and planted them in the burning heat. Their charred remains and the remnants of a purple salvia greggii are testaments of the terrible drought we had this year. I’m not even sure that the Hot Lips salvia in the rear beds will survive…they are struggling to put out new growth. Speaking of drought, we’re still at stage 3 water restrictions, which means watering once a week on Thursdays.

On the side bed, one of the artemisias is gone, and the white salvia that I planted didn’t survive repeated dog trampling. The tiny spiraea I ordered from an Ebay shop also finally gave up the ghost. However, Dad sent over a new shipment of rosemary and white salvia. I’ve already filled the holes with the remaining nandina and rosemary plants. Breck’s shipment of replacement iris bulbs will be replanted in the same spot for another shot next year. The happiest thing about the side bed are that the salvia are thriving, especially the Hot Lips specimen nearest the house wall.

The front beds look great, except for an invasion of grass and weeds that popped thru the light mulching. I’ve begun trimming back the gangly limbs from the fringeflowers. The colors are looking spectacular on the nandinas and fringeflowers, bursting into color for the fall. I haven’t yet attacked the canna colony, they are still blooming feverishly. The only casualty to report is that one of the petite myrtles perished, so it appears we are down to three petite white crapes. The red salvia greggiis are blooming like champs; I’ve begun to take cuttings to grow for the rear beds next year.

Ye Olde Garden

Dog days and wascally wabbits!

9/17/2006 August Canna 1This severe drought has taken an immense toll on the garden. Summer scorched what little grass remains in the backyard. The salvia microphylla planted in the rear garden islands stand naked, having dropped most of their leaves. The white salvia plantings in the side yard got trampled on by some foster pups and perished in the heat. At least one purple salvia still stands erect, its sibling a few feet away lies low but valiantly blooming. The Natchez myrtle is thriving off its green suckers but I intend to prune it down to see if it can be stimulated into growth for next year.

The most annoying (and disheartening) discovery I made was the theft and destruction of my lily garden by some hungry hares. Several holes and uprooted lily stems gave evidence of the buffet. I found a few stray bulblets and quickly buried them. The last butterfly bush was ejected from its corner, left to wilt in the sun. Gaping holes stare at me from the wrecked landscape. Oddly, the pests ravaged the east side of the lily garden; the west side remains largely intact host to a few dried out lily stalks.9/17/2006 August Canna 2

The front yard is my only consolation now. While the weather singed the tops off the transplanted nandina, the rest continue to flourish. The canna colony continues to flower, and the red salvia are constantly aflame…some bald patches on the lawn, and weeds occasionally interrupting the landscape. For the most part, the front yard fared better than the rear yard. Pictured is the second canna lily gracing us with its scarlet freckled face and yellow trim ruffles.

Ye Olde Garden

July heat

6/29/2006 Late June Hot Lips salviaFourth of July came and went without much incident. Most of my firebug-happy neighbors refrained from setting off fireworks during the dangerous drought conditions. Because of water restrictions ramped up to severe, the myrtles are showing leaf-tip burn this week. Most of their flowers have wilted, leaving them looking rather ghastly. The Peppermint Lace is looking the worst of all, since its flowers have turned the shrub into a brown ball of ugliness.

One Canna lily decided to grace our front yard with its first blazing orange bloom, which I failed to capture in a photo. The two Cannas that we planted in the front yard transformed into a colony of plants. So far only one of the main plants has sprouted a bloom stalk. I eagerly await the second bloom to see what color it might be.

6/29/2006 Late June purple salvia greggiiIn the side yard, the first Reinesse dwarf lily displayed two open blooms this morning. The Hot Lips Salvia planted nearby is brightly adorned with crimson and white flowers. Purple salvias seem to be blooming strongly as well. I’ve also decided to let the poor Natchez in the side yard sucker out. Two of its three trunks have failed to sustain any green, which may mean that they will get hacked off this fall, or the whole tree may need to be moved.

Evidence of yellowing and browning is rampant in the lily beds. The first few plants have already browned completely, waiting to be cut down. I’m wondering if I’ll be moving the bulbs or just wait until they all die back and dig up the bulbs in the fall. Probably fall….

Ye Olde Garden

Front yard fireworks

06/29/06 Peppermint Lace Crape MyrtleYou know it’s summer when the myrtles are blooming. While the rest of Dallas/Fort Worth is enjoying the colorful blooms adorning highways, business fronts and neighborhood parks, our myrtles seem to have gotten a slow start and are just now beginning to flower. Our front yard is home to 7 crape myrtles: 1 Natchez crape tree, 1 Acoma weeping crape myrtle, 4 Petite Snow crape myrtles, and 1 Peppermint Lace crape myrtle, pictured on the left. All of them are loaded down with buds, bursting at the seams and ready to put on a vibrant show.