variadm – Page 90 – variegatagal

More ways to unban an IP from iptables

Since my iptables keeps growing, listing the whole table can take more than a few minutes these days. I dug around and found a couple of options that will do the job faster:

iptables -D chainname -s theipaddress -j DROP

Alternately, you can list:
iptables -L -v --line-numbers

Then delete:
iptables -D chainname linenumber_of_IP_to_delete

This will make cleaning up the Fail2Ban tables a lot easier, especially if one of your users decides to ban himself and you have to sift through a ton of numbers to find his IP.

First week of June

It’s hot. Pushing 100s hot. I was crazy to work the garden this weekend in this weather. But I got a lot accomplished and made some observations. For example, my first petunia seedling to flower (which I failed to photograph) was an Easy Wave white bloom.

A couple more marigolds, yellow and scarlet–though the scarlet wasn’t being photogenic–also
made an appearance in the tree ring. Except that yellow marigold is the same one that first bloomed. The tree ring’s first salvia also bloomed, but it is the coral nymph and not the Lady in Red that I’ve been waiting for.

Because it’s been sweltering, the man decided to water everything today…including the freshly mowed lawn. Methinks he cut it too low this go-around. He’ll let it get an inch or two next time. But the dry conditions gave him incentive to plant my purple pastel and mulch the hostas. I didn’t see, but he said the hostas were having a bad time of it.

The half inch cutting of Lanai Purple Star verbena grew about an inch long in opposite directions and produced flowers! This was a throwaway piece of verbena and it decided to take root and bloom barely a month later. The heat also agrees with the lemon verbena that I almost killed with neglect. It’s coming back in leaves in its original pot. I’m still debating on where to plant it however.

All my toiling yielded me my first and only bouquet of flowers from this year’s lily garden: 2 stems of Navona asiatic lilies which I had knocked down while working the lily bed (and running for my life from raging wasps). Nice to have home-grown floral arrangements for a change.

And it’s also nice to see the tiny nubs of the planter bowl caladium–White Delight–making a showing. I imagine the other caladiums in the shade bed should be popping out about now. Well, that is, if the cedar mulch hasn’t covered it back up again.

I coaxed more seeds out of the white nymph salvia I installed in a planter box. I’m hoping that as the weeks progress, I’ll have a nice size baggy of seeds to plant next year in the front flower bed, or perhaps the tree ring.

Ugh bugs!

Slaving away in the high 90s…it might as well have been 100 degrees in the shade. This was a searingly long hot day to be working in the garden, but worked (and sweated aplenty) I did. I managed to plant many that had been waiting quite a while for their new homes: both Dixie Chip ajuga, variegated geranium, 3 more Origami Red columbines, all 6 of the red spider lily bulbs, 8 Lanai Purple Star verbena, 2 Calico ornamental peppers. I also transplanted a few of the Navona lily bulbs closer to the back wall, relocated the 2 Charmed Wine oxalis, tore out 3 of the under-performing azaleas (Delaware, Macrantha and Crimson), and cleaned out much of the dead/dying pansies. I also gave the red and white dianthus in the lily bed a good haircut, while pulling out as much of the weeds as I could. After intermittent breaks and drives to the local Home Depots, I also picked up another bag of compost and MiracleGro garden soil, and 3 bags of cedar mulch. The cedar went to the lily bed and part of the purple bed, including my delicate geranium. I hope to use some of it to protect the hostas in front.

Of course, some of the gardening had to be interrupted by some unwelcome guests. Wooly aphids and nest-building wasps caused me a great deal of stress–especially after I came close to smashing into the wasp nest while moving the lilies. Of course, I just had to take the soap to the wooly critters–but the wasps did send me running after I tried (and failed) to jar both nest and wasps in one fell swoop. Luckily, my man fetched a wasp killer from the grocery store–thereby ending the rampage.

Water-Wise Landscape Tour June 4 2011

L and I decided to take the Dallas Water-Wise Landscape Tour yesterday to check out some local Coppell gardens. The event was free and we observed some great plants and met with the homeowners to discuss how to use water wisely. The tour reminded us that we definitely need to mulch our beds and try to generate a smaller water bill this year. Not only is it easier on our wallets and saving one of most precious commodities, but it will also spare us from the mosquito plague we’ve encountered lately. Off spray is my friend.

Thanks to one of the garden owners, I also scored a free plant. She said to give the Four-Nerve daisy, aka Angelita, a try in our garden.

First vinca and June blooms

The first vinca to bloom from seed in our front yard bed is the Titan Lavender Blue Halo vinca, part of the Titan mix packet of seeds I purchased from Stokes earlier this year. Because I sowed it indoors in February, I suspect we bought at least 3-4 weeks head start compared to the seedlings that started outdoors from the 2010 planting.

With the summer heat upon us, many of the heat-loving plants are taking off. The Confetti lantana appears to finally have settled in, nearly doubling in size since planting, and boasting a new crown of blooms. The Hot Lips salvia transplanted into the front garden also has grown in size since it moved in. Of course, the daylilies are now in full swing; the Stellas have joined the Dallas Stars in staging a show. One of the fungus-infected coreopsis in the courtyard, though very sickly, is gamely producing sporadic blooms. The cosmos seeds sown in the tree ring have made an entrance; I spotted dozens of seedlings poking their tiny heads out of the ground. A second marigold has deigned to bloom. And all of the herbs are taking off: mint, basil, thyme and oregano!

With the advent of June, we say goodbye to the spring bloomers. The Navona Asiatic lilies have peaked and are slowly winding down. The abundant spring blooming dianthus need a shearing if I’m to coax them into another full flush. The pansies are looking a little heat-stressed these days, as our temps climb into the high 90s. Our Midnight Blue rose is finishing another floriferous run of flowers as it braces for the long hot summer.

I ordered some more Cosmic Yellow and Red cosmos, along with a packet of Toy Choy Pak Choi seeds from Stokes today. I’m hoping to experiment in some veggie goodness later this summer.