variadm – Page 128 – variegatagal

Gardening in the cold

January 15 in Texas usually means frigid temperatures and icy ground, but today I managed to step outside in the 55 degree weather to do some garden repair work. Yes, I was silly enough to do it in shorts…but I had a mission to get the job done before heading out to work.

After the dogs did their damage and uprooted one of the nandinas late last year, I went back to replant the other displaced nandina, and brought the spare nandina out of its pot to plant it in the gaping hole in the ground. The displaced nandina showed signs of chewing and broken stems…I’m hoping it might survive, given its hardy nature. I really should get some water on them.

The side bed showed some disturbance, the base of the myrtle had some dirt/mulch dug away from it. Dash, who always hides beneath the bushes here, has managed to once again crash through the makeshift fencing and drag the salvia microphylla around with him. I’m looking forward to trimming Hot Lips come February/March. I’m happy to note that the daffodil bulbs are sending shoots up, visible in the bare ground.

Hubby’s idea of laying down a weed mat around the flower beds is starting to look worse and worse. Without proper groundcover, valuable soil is slowly eroding away toward the back fence. I’ve been browsing the ClassyGroundcovers site for jasmine or other options to replace the weed mat. But it appears to entail a lot of work using the fast-growing jasmine, which needs a solid barrier to prevent it from spreading to the lawn.

I’m also thinking of purchasing some bare root Liriope Silver Dragons to use as a border plant in the side and middle beds.

The 300

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.

Fall gardening and bulb orders

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!!

Tornado cuts swathe of destruction thru local garden

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.

Salvia in the ground

Things are a little shaky with the new salvia I received last week and planted according to instructions, post 3-day-hardening period. Much of the leaves of one specimen wilted and/or dropped. Not sure if it’s the climate shock or too much water. I neglected it over the weekend and started delivering liquids yesterday. I’m hoping it will have plenty of time to settle in before the winter season finally arrives.