My Garden Diary

Pruned the last of the Artemisia 'Powis Castle'.

Raked the walkways for the first time since before the lawn was mowed (22 October). It looks like I'll have to get some decomposed granite to fill in some low spots. While there was some erosion, it looks more like there has been some settling.

The 'George Taber' azalea that I have been nursing and nurturing since early last spring is dead. Rather than trying again, I will buy a nursery-grown plant.

A cane of my 'Fourth of July' climbing rose reached the overhead wire that stretches from my house to my neighbor's. I tied it to the wire itself.

Pruned two of the 'Powis Castle' Artemisia in the west bed. One more to go.

Trimmed the cinquefoil and red clover growing out of the rose bed and onto the walkway. Also trimmed around the teardrop bed.

Moved the concrete round on which the tub for my dwarf orange rested about 8 inches. I laid down some pea gravel to provide a level base. After I set the round on the gravel, I put one of my new flower pots on it with three 1-inch paver bricks under the pot to allow air to circulate there. Before I actually repot the orange, I have to get some more sand for the potting mix.

Used some of the leftover pea gravel to raise the stepping stones in front, which make a path from the driveway to the brick walkway. I poured the remaining gravel where I plan to build a new house for our tortoise. I will probably need four more bucketsful (almost three cubic foot total) for that project.

Checked the sprinklers in back to see what the lawn service did to them. Several heads needed adjusting. Unfortunately, it now looks like the sprinklers will still not water the dwarf orange even though I moved it; the sides of the pot get wet instead of the spray going into the top of the pot.

At my request, the lawn service put some of the grass clippings on my compost pile. After I stirred the pile, I sprinkled some nitrogen (50-0-0 urea) on top. The next time we have rain, the fertilizer will leach into the mix and speed the decomposing.

Removed the shade cloth from the greenhouse window. The seasonal shift of the sun means my house plants no longer get excessive sunlight in the morning.

Finally reached the lawn service, which will be here Friday morning. I hope it's dry enough to mow; the rain might not stop until Thursday. I want the lawn mowed short enough that I can rake the leaves that will soon begin to fall. I normally let the red fescue grow to 12 inches or more. However, it was too tall last fall for me to rake leaves. In the spring, I then had dead patches where the fallen leaves choked the grass.

In anticipation of having the back lawn mowed, started trimming the Artemisia 'Powis Castle' growing within the west end of the lawn. I completed one of the three and completed about half of a second plant when another shower began. I need to finish all three plants before Friday morning. Otherwise, the lawn service will have trouble mowing the west end.

Cut the Sprenger asparagus (A. densiflorus 'Sprengeri') down to a few inches from the ground. I hadn't planned to do this, but our tortoise (Cleopatra, an ancient beauty) made it necessary. Cleo dug herself a burrow under this ornamental asparagus and started hibernating. With rain likely, her burrow could flood; and she would then drown. I had to cut the asparagus away to reach her. It filled a large trash bin.

Raked the walkways in back. Not only does this remove leaves and other debris. It also smoothes out the footprints I leave when the walkways are wet and the holes I leave when I pull weeds.

Finished trimming the ivy around the Liquidambar tree.

Stirred the compost pile.

Finished trimming the back lawn around the various plants at its eastern edge.

While working in front, I also trimmed the ivy (Hedera helix 'Hahn's') around the Liquidambar tree.

Tied that vigorous cane on the climbing 'Fourth of July' rose again. Maybe I was wrong (30 September); the cane is almost to the wire already.

Fall is definitely here. After a mild morning when the temperature peaked at 82° around 11:00am, the weather cooled to 69° by 4:00pm.

Sent an E-mail to the lawn service that mows my red fescue (Festuca rubra) (about twice a year) to schedule mowing it this coming month. Last winter, it was too tall to rake the leaves from it, because the last mowing was in the late summer instead of mid-fall. As a result, when I had it mowed in the spring, there were dead patches from the accumulated leaves. This time, I hope it's short enough to rake.

In the meantime, I started trimming the grass away from the society garlic and heavenly bamboo (Nandina domestica) at the east end of the lawn. Not only had the fescue spread into the heart of one Nandina, but the latter had started spreading out into the lawn. Both were trimmed.

I only did the portion of the lawn facing the circular bed. One or two very annoying flies kept buzzing my face and ears. I finally surrendered and left the field of battle before reaching the portion of the lawn facing the teardrop bed.

Sprayed Roundup today, during a short period while the breezes stopped. The primary targets were the decomposed granite walkways in back, under the camellias, around the stepping stones the separate the camellia bed from the east bed in back, and on the front lawn where I have not yet planted red clover.

Removed two clumps of bearded iris at the north end of the east bed. The whole area is overcrowded with penstemon, coreopsis, and Camellia sasanqua. Indeed, the crowding is so bad, I could not use a spading fork to dig up the iris; instead, I had to use a trowel. One clump was significantly damaged by rot and could not be salvaged. The other clump appears okay, and I will add selected rhizomes to those I'm giving to the Oak Park Gardeners for their sale (18 September). However, because it was growing quite close to the clump that was rotting, I thoroughly dusted all the salvaged rhizomes with sulfur.

Spread a generous amount of gypsum where I removed the iris to loosen the heavy clay. Despite the overgrowth of neighboring plants, there now seems to be a hole in the plants where the walkway between the east and circular beds meets the small brick patio. I might put a perennial pink there.

Fed the roses with ammonium sulfate. This will be their last feeding of the year. While Sunset says I could feed again in October, I want to minimize the amount of new growth present when I prune in early January.

The tea tree in the teardrop bed finally seems to have recovered from chlorosis. Today, I put even more acid around it — iron sulfate, zinc sulfate, Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate), gypsum (calcium sulfate), and a very small amount of ammonium sulfate.

Tied up another cane of the 'Fourth of July' climbing rose.

Put the rooted 'George Taber' azalea cutting (2 July) outside, in a shady spot without its plastic dome. Now that the weather has cooled, this is a good time to acclimatize it for eventual planting in the camellia bed.

A few days ago, I went to my favorite nursery to see if they had iris for fall planting. No, I wasn't going to buy any. I just wanted to price them so that I could advise the Oak Park Gardeners on pricing the iris I will soon give them — when I divide two overgrown clumps — for them to sell as part of a fund-raiser. Oh! The nursery had a yellow bearded iris — 'Gold Galore' — that would go great with my existing blue 'Wenatchie Skies'. Today, I dug up an unnamed patch of blue iris just north of my peach tree and replaced them with 'Gold Galore'. The soil there is heavy, sticky clay; so I mixed in much gypsum and a little peat moss. I also mixed bone meal below the rhizomes, where the roots will eventually reach.

I salvaged the best of the iris that I removed. They, too, will go to the Oak Park Gardeners sale. Since they are of an unknown variety, however, they will be priced about a third of the named varieties that I plan to donate.

Pinched the myrtle (Myrtus communis 'Compacta') to make them bushy instead of tall.

Some of the clumps of blue fescue (Festuca glauca) at the edge of the rose bed in back looked puny, almost as if it were dying out. After pulling away competing ground covers (red clover and cinquefoil), feeding, and adding gypsum to improve drainage and soil texture, all the clumps seem to be reviving. I would definitely replace any blue fescue clump that fails. The gray accent continues a theme that begins with society garlic on the east end of the lawn and ends with Artemisia 'Powis Castle' on both sides of the walkway at the west end of the lawn and in the west bed and more society garlic in the west bed.

Trimmed the west end of the lawn along the walkway.

Something has been chewing on the red clover in front and in the rose bed in back. The primroses (Primula polyantha) in the rose bed are also affected. It looks more like caterpillar or other insect damage than snail damage. Today, I scattered Diazinon in the affected areas. I've had this bag of Diazinon for a long time; I hope it's not stale.

The 'Fourth of July' rose in front is finally growing like the climber it's supposed to be. I tied up two canes today. It still has not reached even half-way to the horizontal wire that I strung between my house and my neighbor's house for it to grow along.

While I was puttering in back, some bird was in The Tree, eating figs. It kept dropping pieces of purple fig right near me.

Finished trimming around the teardrop bed. I also trimmed the walkway between the western end of the rose bed and the lawn.

Deep watered the west end of the rose bed by just letting the hose run.

Fed the dwarf citrus, using a commercial citrus food to which I added some zinc sulfate. Used the same mix to feed the Gardenia and tea tree.

Took new cuttings of red clover.

Trimmed the edges of the teardrop bed in back, along the surrounding walkways.

Planted the rooted cuttings of red clover in front. The seedlings that I just potted will have to wait, possibly until the next set of cuttings are ready to plant. I also fed the cuttings that I planted previously (3 July).

Stirred the compost pile. It's quite dry (19 August) even though I recently watered it. It now has that good smell of finished compost even though most of the matter is still intact. I won't be able to sift it soon, but it will be quite ready to receive more leaves this fall. I might be able to sift it late next spring.

Sprayed grass killer on My Hill and in the parkway in front, where grass is crowding the cinquefoil (Potentilla neumanniana) that I'm trying to grow instead of lawn. I had planned also to spray Roundup on the walkways in back and — very carefully — around some of the beds. However, I had enough grass killer left over to spray those areas, with far less risk than using Roundup.

Having sprayed along the route to the compost pile, I didn't want to use the hose to water the pile, which might rinse the grass killer away. So, when I rinsed out the sprayer, I emptied the rinse water into the pile.

A light breeze blows as I write this, and the chimes softly ring. This is not a small, tinkling chime. It was labled "tenor", with tubes over 1" in diameter, from 20" to 28" long. This is indeed a serious set of chimes. I love them.

Noticed some of the azaleas were pale and yellowing. Fed all the azaleas, using a commercial azalea and camellia food. I then topped it up with a generous amount of gypsum (except for the potted azaleas and the 'Pride of Dorking' next to the air-conditioning unit) and with some iron sulfate.

I use a lot of gypsum in my garden. My soil is a heavy adobe clay, somewhat alkaline. The gypsum (calcium sulfate) reacts chemically with the clay, changing the structure of the latter from paste to granular clumps. This improves the drainage and allows nutrients that were broadcast on the soil surface to leach down to plant roots.

The master gardener also told me that the problem with my dwarf 'Robertson' navel orange might be too little water; the sprinklers might not be hitting the top of its tub. He had no opinion on why the Cuphea that I sheared died (9 July).

Fed more roses. Also fed the orange (very little), tea tree (Leptospermum laevigatum, a bit more), and Gardenia (generously).

Watered the compost pile. It has settled significantly. I must stir it up again soon.

While weeding a walkway near the teardrop bed in back, I discovered red clover seedlings growing in the decomposed granite. I carefully removed two and put them in the pot where one of my current cuttings failed to survive (15 August).

Whatever attacked my 'Perlette' grapes (4 August) also got the 'Black Monukka'. Nothing remains of the fruit except bare stems. I only got two or three bunches last week.

Tied down more new canes on the climbing 'Peace' rose.

Trimmed the walkway in back between the north edge of the lawn and the rose bed.

Also trimmed the lawn away from the tub where the 'Robertson' navel orange is growing. The pruning I did last week (10 August) — coupled with a very heavy watering to leach away excess salts and nutrients — seems to have corrected whatever was bothering the orange. It now has new shoots without further leaf-drop.

My dwarf 'Robertson' navel orange is not doing well. It seems to drop its leaves almost as quickly as new leaves sprout, leaving some branches almost bare. I give it the same care as the other two dwarf citrus — 'Eureka' lemon and kumquat — including feeding and spraying, so I don't think I burned the roots with nutrients or let bugs get out of control. The lemon is in almost constant bloom and has many small and medium green lemons. The kumquat just finished its first cycle of bloom and is covered with tiny green fruits. The orange might be suffering from heat stress since it gets sun from sunrise to almost noon. The kumquat has shade most of the day, and the lemon gets only late afternoon sun. Today, I pruned the orange severely so that the foliage does not exceed the ability of the roots to supply moisture.

In the meantime, the 'George Tabor' azalea that looked like it was dying (7 and 18 July) has new, vigorous growth coming up from the base. I think it will do okay, especially if I keep hand watering it in this heat.

The redwood tub in which my dwarf 'Robertson' navel orange tree is planted has started to rot in several places. I'll wait until the end of this year, when the weather is cool, to actually replant the orange in one of the pots, which is wider and about as deep as the tub.

The dwarf kumquat was planted in its tub at about the same time as the orange, so I expect that tub too will soon have to be replaced. The third tub will be for the dwarf 'Eureka' lemon. Its tub won't need to be replaced for a few years, but then all three will match.

The lilies of the Nile (Agapanthus orientalis) finished blooming. This patch is quite overgrown. It hasn't been divided or cut back in many years. Leaves (mostly ash) and other debris accumulating around the edges have turned to compost, and new Agapanthus plants (offsets from older plants) have taken root in that compost — on top of the concrete patio slab. I started cutting back the patch, working today along the patio. The plants have thick, tough roots and are hard to break loose from their parents. I still have to do the east edge, where the Agapanthus is crowding some daylilies, and the west edge, where it is crowding the fortnight lilies (Dietes iridiodes).

Picked grapes again. Something has been eating my fruit! Where there were large bunches of 'Perlette' grapes, I now have bare stems stripped clean. I don't think it's insects, which generally leave damaged fruit behind. I thought the squirrels were under control because they left my peaches alone. The exterminator is coming tomorrow for his scheduled service; I'll ask him. In the meantime, I started picking the 'Black Monukka' grapes. These first bunches are not as sweet as the 'Perlette'. Whatever "varmint" attacked the latter must think so, too; the 'Black Monukka' have not yet been touched.

Continued yesterday's trimming of the Artemisia, this time from crowding adjacent dwarf myrtle (Myrtus communis 'Compacta'). I really like the appearance of the large masses of light gray Artemisia, but I also like the plants growing near them. I also trimmed some Artemisia branches that were growing over the nearby walkway.

The dill is done! I removed its flower pot from the walkway and rearranged the remaining pots. Then I trimmed the tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus) and peppermint (Mentha piperita). Runners from the peppermint were nearly touching the ground, where they would easily root and become an invasive pest.

Then, I went back into the house and got dressed.