My Garden Diary

The Tree has reached a circumference of 9' 1" at chest height! I can even see it from about three blocks away, almost twice the height of my two-story house.

Fed the dwarf citrus some of the left-over acid mix plus ammonium sulfate. I even gave the lemon a very small amount although it has not yet leafed-out since it was repotted (17 Mar). I also gave this mix to the gardenia and tea tree.

Fed the Pittosporum tobira closest to the Liquidambar with ammonium sulfate. The other two are doing very well, but this one has no vigor.

Gave a pinch of ammonium sulfate to each of the potted herbs.

Severely pinched back the Shasta daisies (Chrysanthemum maximum) to make them bushy and sturdy, so that the flowers won't flop over.

Fed the camellias, each with a double handful of commercial camellia and azalea food. But I did not feed the C. sasanqua in the rose bed because I'm not sure what in that bed will survive the repair of My Hill. Also, I did not feed the azaleas, which are all still in bloom.

Started to replace the red penstemon in the east bed (which are now three years old) with the three cuttings I took late last year (21 Dec 05). While all three cuttings were still quite green and alive, I discovered that two of them had no roots. I discarded those two. Then I used the rooted cutting to replace one of the plants in the ground. I cut back the other two existing plants so that, like the Shasta daisies, their flower stalks will be more upright. I took new cuttings from the trimmings. I already have rooted cuttings of the pink penstemon; but those will go in the rose bed, where I am avoiding any new planting until after My Hill is repaired.

Potted the three herbs I bought earlier this week. Later, I bought some copper wire to wind around the pots to keep the snails away.

Finished pruning the Artemisia.

When I bought the herbs, I also bought a 12-inch cylindrical pot. When she retired, Evelyn received a gift chrysanthemum (C. morifolium) in full bloom. It finally stopped blooming. Today, I repotted it from a small plastic pot into this larger pot. The pot will remain on the patio until My Hill is repaired. Then, I will move it onto the small circular patio between the east and rose beds. (I still have to pot the herbs.)

Hung shade cloth over the greenhouse window. The morning sun is somewhat intense these days.

The red-flowering gum in back was removed as planned (26 Mar). The tree service left me a trash barrel full of shredded trimmings from The Tree. I plan to dig much of that into the soil where I will replant a new red-flowering gum. The rest might go into my compost pile.

Trimmed two more Artemisia 'Powis Castle'. One more to go.

Backed out the screws that mount the bracket of my wind chimes onto the side of The Tree.

Tested the sprinklers in the back. Often, when I have work done there, one or more heads are broken or at least require adjustment. This time, however, they were all okay.

Fed the roses in front with an acidic mix: peat moss, ammonium sulfate, soil sulfur, iron sulfate, Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate), zinc sulfate, and gypsum (calcium sulfate). I also included superphosphate and a little compost. I gave the miniature roses on the patio in back a light feeding of ammonium sulfate.

For years, I tried to grow dichondra (D. micrantha) as my lawn, in both back and front. Now that I have abandoned that effort, the dichondra in my parkway is doing better than the cinquefoil (Potentilla neumanniana) that I planted there.

All the work today was in back. I only waited one week, not two, to begin pruning the more tender plants in my garden (19 Mar). While we have had some significant frost, I see far less damage than last year.

Thinned the Australian tea tree (Leptospermum laevigatum) in the teardrop bed. Also trimmed some of the Cuphea hyssopifolia in that same bed. I have to be careful with the latter. If it's trimmed too much, it dies.

Groomed the Camellia sasanqua 'Yuletide' at the north end of the east bed. There was some die-back, likely the result of last summer's heat.

Cut back two of the six Artemisia 'Powis Castle', all of which now have new shoots. I'll do two others in a few days. One other will need only a slight trim. The sixth was planted a year ago (10 Jun 05) from cuttings and is still quite compact.

No sign of asparagus, either established plants or seedlings. After harvesting the same planting for about 30 years, last year's rain apparently caused all the asparagus to rot.

Flower buds are already forming on the dwarf orange tree, so I fed it and the kumquat. The lemon won't be fed for about a month while its traumatized roots recover.

It's time to do spring pruning on my subtropicals, but more frost is likely. I don't want to expose the tender new shoots that are lurking under the mature top growth, so I'll wait about another two weeks. Frost is unlikely after the beginning of April.

I covered the drain hole in the new terra cotta pot with a small, upside-down flower pot and filled the larger pot with enough potting mix (10 Feb) to cover the small pot 1-2 inches. After my son helped me to lift the tree into the large pot, I packed potting mix along the sides of the root ball. I'll have to make more mix; there wasn't enough to complete the task.

The Cordyline in the greenhouse window in our breakfast room grew too tall. It was hitting the shelf above it. Today, I cut it to a stump about 3 inches tall. This should sprout several new shoots. In case that fails, I also put up two cuttings from the top growth. In the process, I removed several mealybugs (despite my use of a fertilizer with systemic insecticide).

When Evelyn retired last week, our son's fiancé Christi sent her a potted miniature rose. Today, I went to plant it with the other miniature roses in the large bowl on the patio, to replace the 'Shy Girl' in the center that died. I discovered that there were about six plants in the pot. I put one in the bowl and returned the others to their original pot as reserves in case the one in the bowl dies.

Since rain is certain for tomorrow, I fed the back lawn and the east and west beds. I also fed the pink clover (Persicaria capitata) and shrubs in front. I used an off-brand lawn food.