The number 300 marks the quantity of bulbs buried into the garden this past Sunday. Fifty narcissi went into the middle bed, and the remainder into the side yard; all of the allium made it into the middle bed, while Muscari and dwarf irises got portioned out to each bed. It took some effort to prep both beds to receive the bulbs, including hubby’s attempt at leaf-blowing with my air compressor. Both hubby and I are sore from the weekend’s dirt digging, but hopefully we can look forward to an interesting show come spring. I still require some topsoil to increase the depth of the existing beds.
Note that we also planted 2 nandinas in the middle bed to hopefully provide some background. I transplanted the remainder of an artemisia and an agapanthus in the middle bed, but I’m skeptical of their survivability.
You know that your work isn’t complete when an industrious canine comes over to dig up all your hard work. I promptly laid down a cover of wire on the affected areas. We could use more fencing to deter the pups from entering and wreaking havoc in the flower beds.
I love the pumpkin cheesecake served up at Olive Garden, but after reading the following Dallasnews.com article (and seduced by a gallery of guilt-inducing photos) makes me want to go all crazy for pumpkin desserts.
Well, despite the hurt it put on my pocketbook, I went ahead and purchased another slew of bulbs for the early-late spring show. My Brent and Becky’s order went through Tuesday afternoon. I should be expecting 100 each of Dwarf Irises and White Thalia Narcissi as well as 50 each of Muscari botryoides ‘Album’ and Allium caeruleum. This order, totalling $120.75, should be arriving Nov 13, according to UPS tracking.
Hubby made me very happy yesterday–he proceeded to apply the garden staples I bought last weekend to the weedmats he laid down around the back flowerbeds. He also began erecting the bent-out-of-shape wire fencing to keep the dogs out of the beds. Now all I have to do is clean up around the areas and cut down any old left-over lily stalks. Sadly, I am still finding uprooted lily bulbs everywhere I look. The upside: I installed some planter rings around 4-6 salvias in the beds.
More poop scoopin’ to do, as well as tidying up the other beds, front and side. Me wonders if DH will get to applying that pre-emergent on the lawn. Stay tuned!!
That handsome tornado’s name is Dash, and he is 1.5 year old Australian shepherd who has taken a great delight in mowing over plants in my backyard. Several bulbs and tender shrubs have met their demise under the paws of this stampeding ball of fur. The most recent deaths included a healthy thriving purple salvia as well as my most mature white salvia. No fence can keep him out, and I’m at my wits end trying to find some way to deter him from entering the beds. I purchased 6 planter rings from Home Depot this weekend and hopefully I can protect the remaining fragile salvias, including the 2 salvia chamaedryoides that were cut low by this Texas twister.
Meanwhile, I’m way behind on purchasing my white daffodils for the 2008 show. I’m looking more into salvias to fill the bare spots in the garden. A few that have caught my eye: Salvia greggii or jamensis ‘California Sunset’ (orange) , Salvia greggii or jamensis (?) ‘Sierra San Antonio’ (coppery peach), Salvia greggii ‘La Encantada Peach’, Salvia jamensis Moonlight (yellow) , Salvia greggii ‘Yellow Cloud’, and any more orange, yellow and peach variants I can dig up.
I seem to keep going back to this spot on Coit and Park and devouring the same dishes over and over. And that’s unfair because it seems Sichuanese Cuisene offers a diverse offering of good spicy food that I always forget to order. When I say the food is spicy, I’m not joking…unlike Americanized Chinese dining, chili heat pervades the entire menu at Sichuanese. From the cold noodles to the hot-and-sour soup served at the lunch bar, and nearly every item on their short daily lunch menu is clearly marked to fire up your taste buds. My favorites: cumin lamb and spicy steamed fish. Now if only they’d post their menu online so that I can plan my next vist.
My rating: 3.0 stars
Umeko Sushi and Grill
business
What DH and I thought was going to be a typical sushi outing turned into a delightful excursion into Taiwanese dining. The sushi we ordered were afterthoughts as my eyes hungrily scanned the Taiwanese offerings that dominated half Umeko’s menu. I ordered way too much food as usual in my zeal for adventurous dining. Craving that earthy meat, lamb with scallions caught my eye. While the dish seemed to drown in a sea of green, the preparation didn’t overpower the lamb and proved quite tasty (I confess to trying to clean the plate off before the server took it away). Also ordered were the mixed seafood on rice and a mixed vegetable plate…while the rice dish seemed rather skimpy on seafood (2 clams, squid, 2 chunks of shrimp, and assorted fish cakes) the sauce nevertheless made the bed of a rice a delicious repast. The vegetable dish itself didn’t seem too spectacular, save for the chunks of mushrooms which quickly disappeared. On the sushi side, Umeko similarly didn’t impress…smoked salmon and mackerel nigiri looked and tasted suspiciously dry and bland. The eel-draped dragon roll however elicited great satisfaction from the hubby, while the salmon volcano roll seemed overly smothered in an oily mayo sauce. Overall, the hit to the pocketbook was a shocking $90 (with tip)…perhaps on a future visit, we’ll stick to the Taiwanese menu.
