iris – Page 4 – variegatagal

Winter cleanup and filling holes

With the mild weather this past Sunday, DH and I did some pruning and clearing of the front yards. DH took some shears and proceeded to prune the dead branches off our two myrtles. He also removed the unsightly canna leaves that frost had killed. I pulled and uprooted grass that had infiltrated and overwhelmed both front yard beds, and I’m happy to see that I will be transplanting some nandina and salvia volunteers to the rear yard this year. The fringeflower bushes next to the front door have doubled in height since they first arrived and are in desperate need of shearing, which will happen hopefully in early spring. I wonder if my mango calla lilies survived the winter and will put a showing this year? The muscari sprouts promise to bring some color the front yard when spring arrives. And while the Crimson Pirate daylily leaves have finally succumbed to the cold, I have no doubt they will return with warm weather. Now if only I can get hubby to apply some serious weed killer to the lawn.

I also hopped over to Home Depot to purchase 10 bags of topsoil to fill some holes dug up in the yard. I suspect Dash has attempted to burrow underneath the crepe myrtle in the side yard, exposing the root ball. It was a surprisingly huge hole, and I’m saddened to think of the irises that were lost. I’m also upset to find the remains of my zebra iris, Doe Z Doe, scattered in the side yard. The nandinas I planted and replanted in the middle back bed showed signs of damage (one was completely chewed/ripped apart). And if it weren’t for the planter loops I erected, I suppose the new salvia I planted may have perished. Did any of the zebras survive? I’m almost heartbroken thinking about it. Such is the plight of the gardener who shares their yards with dogs.

But the daffodils are pushing up through the ground and it looks like it will be a lovely show early in the year.

Bulb manic

After yesterday’s Iris purchase, I’m shopping again. Two internet stores that I’m currently reviewing are ColorBlends.com and Bloomingbulb.com, both highly recommended shops at Dave’s Garden Watchdog. Of particular interest are their southern recommended collections and bulbs.

This morning, I started digging up the stray mini lilies populating the middle bed and moving them to a corner location. I had the opportunity to divide 1 bulb that I found, and the rest were bulblets which had sent up greenery, but no flowers this year. Hopefully they will flourish in their new homes.

More purchases, plantings, and today’s wishlist

On Tuesday, dear hubby and I took a trip to the local Home Depot. I was intent on building on the idea of his tree ring by grabbing 16 red/charcoal foot-wide retaining wall stones. I also needed some new gardening gloves and gave me a good excuse to check out the plant selection. Sadly, no blue salvia in stock. I did find two trays of Agastache Acapulco Salmon & Pink in full bloom. I took one home and got it planted yesterday.

I discovered that the Salvia Hot Lips in the side yard had gotten so big and rangy that it overwhelmed a neighboring purple salvia (along with a black ophiogon, artemisia, and the only other existing anemone). I quickly dug up the purple salvia–okay, more like violently uprooted–and transplanted it to the middle bed. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it’s going to survive the move, having lost much of its rootball. It hadn’t been too healthy to begin with after living in the shadow of its leggy neighbor.

So I’ve been toying with the idea of putting crocuses in the yard, except that I learned that they are considered annuals in Texas. Having learned my lesson with tulips, I’m not about to invest in a single-year show. So other ideas have crept onto my white-and-blue wishlist of the day: more muscari, more irises (dutch and dwarfs), white daffodils, white callas, allium caeruleum (azureum), nepeta (catmint) racemosa or faassenii, black leaf plants such as heuchera and ajuga and penstemon digitalis Ruby Tuesday. I’m also growing fond of Agastache rupestris and a agastache coccinea x rupestris hybrid called Firebird.

Speculation of the day: those salvia greggi reds in my front yard–could they be Furman Reds?

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….

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.