I've been sitting out on the porch, watching the limber branches of the pecan trees to the north of us swirl in the shifting breeze. I got up the energy to water the three roses deeply (okay, I just stuck the end of the hose at the base of each one for twenty minutes or so while I contemplated) but I still haven't figured out what to do with the purple fountain grass or the plumbago that I bought a couple of weeks ago. I did get the manfreda "Macho Mocha" into a pot last week and I'm quite excited that it seems to be developing its characteristics purple spots. I'll post a pic (once it actually does something you can see in a picture and once I get the camera back in action; I was just making some progress figuring out some of its more advanced features and I ran out of battery power).
The salvia "Anthony Parker" is starting to bloom and the salvia guarantica "Black and Blue" in the pot that I chopped back severely a few weeks ago is springing back to life, although there are no signs of any buds yet. The salvia nemarosa under the Old Blush rose has perked back up (it kind of hibernates during the summer) and one of the plants has sent up a bloom stalk. The yellow bells is still blooming wildly and so are the raspberry salvia greggiis the pavonia and the Mexican bush sage, both hamelias, the globe mallow and the zexmenia. The berries on the volunteer chile pequin are turning red.
The Old Blush is also blooming but the blooms are little wimpy things. I have no idea whether its stunted by the heat of last month or whether there's something else I need to do to it. When the camera gets fixed I'll post some pictures and maybe someone will have some ideas. Feed it more often? Water more regularly? The plant itself looks good and its sending up a lot of new growth in this cooler weather but the blooms are still so small.
Now that the upstairs yard is so much the center of my attention everything else has been languishing. I need to think about the downstairs yard and the front bed. And we've been talking about getting rid of a lot of the grass in the front yard (mostly dead anyway) and converting it to some kind of other planting. I'm still afraid of the return of hot weather so maybe I'll give it a few more weeks before I try digging things up and moving them. I'll just sit and contemplate for a bit longer.
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4 comments:
You're talking about getting rid of grass. Meanwhile, I'm putting some back in my garden.
I'm with you on getting rid of grass in the front yard. I love a front-yard garden, which is a way of sharing with the neighborhood.
But after being lawn-free for five years (front and back), I find that I'm missing that oasis of green turf. So I'm adding a small patch of lawn in the back yard.
Perhaps lawns are like any other gardening fashion, waxing and waning in popularity.
I'm still trying to decide how much of my lawn I intend to keep. Oddly enough, the grass in my front yard fared well over the summer without much help. I know I'll always need a patch in the back, because the dogs like it. I've been trying to convince my husband to at least remove the sod along the hell strip so I can put something pretty there.
Garden contemplation is my middle name !! That's all I seem to do. But I did manage to plant a Pride of Barbados in the middle of my front yard in my feeble attempt to rid myself of the nuisance of growing, watering, cutting and feeding GRASS. It's green and it's pretty but too much trouble.
Susan, your list of Salvias are intriguing - I have quite a few, but not the same ones as yours.
We've dug up a lot of lawn in back, not so much in front, where the established St Augustine grass can take care of itself in the dappled shade of our large old trees. I mostly just mow it, don't feed it, and only watered it about 3 times all summer. There's one place where the grass doesn't grow, however, and I'm thinking about a different future for that area.
Annie
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