My Garden Diary

With the sky mostly overcast and rain forecast for tonight, I moved the pots of basil and dill out into the garden and placed them adjacent to the pot of perennial herbs.

The weather data to the left fails to describe how variable today's weather really was. In the early afternoon, it seemed quite warm with the air mostly still. In the late afternoon, however, the temperature dropped 21°F in one hour while a very strong wind started.

Pruned another major limb on the pineapple guava.

Trimmed some more along the paths in back.

Also yesterday, took four cuttings of a large Shasta daisy (Leucanthemum maximum) from the gardens (with permission from the garden manager) and potted them in a mix of coarse sand and peat moss, using a rooting hormone powder. The prior cuttings that I took (27 Sep 2011) failed to root, possibly because they were taken at the wrong time of the year.

Fed the dwarf citrus and gardenia with commercial citrus food and a small dash of zinc sulfate.

Also continued trimming along the paths in back.

Cleopatra is awake and has started roaming the back yard in search of delectable tidbits to nibble.

Fed the Camellia sasanquas in the rose and east beds in back with a commercial camellia and azalea food. I won't be feeding the azaleas and C. japonicas until both have finished blooming.

Started pruning the pineapple guava (Feijoa sellowiana). It had not been cut in three years and is now so tall that I would need a ladder to pick the fruit.

Resumed trimming the edges of the paths in back (14 Mar). I also trimmed the red fescue away from the sprinkler heads in the back lawn.

A few weeks ago, I bought a Phalaenopsis orchid to replace the one that died (8 Jan). Today, I potted it. As usual for orchids sold retail, it was in bloom when I bought it; so I had to be very careful in how I handled it. I removed most of the moss in which the orchid had been planted so that I could spread the roots and plant it in bark chips. This Phalaenopsis has full-size flowers that are white with magenta streaks; its predecessor had miniature, solid magenta flowers.

Severely pruned four of the Artemisia 'Powis Castle' in back, cutting them almost to the ground but leaving new shoots or sprouting buds below each cut. There are three yet to be pruned. These are great plants, requiring little care other than pruning each spring. They do attract aphids, but they also attract ladybugs that eat aphids. The ferny, pale gray foliage of Artemisia 'Powis Castle' is finer and softer than other gray plants such as dusty miller (Senecio cnerariam). However, they become quite leggy in just one year, which is why I prune them every spring. (Once, I pruned them early in the winter, when I did the roses, grapes, and peach tree. The new foliage failed to survive night-time frosts, and some plants died. I replaced them with easily rooted cuttings from the survivors.)

Had a little of the herbicide left over. I used it on the decomposed granite paths in back and in the rose bed in front. Fortunately, the winds did not become significant until I finished all spraying.

Fed the dwarf citrus and gardenia with ammonium, iron, and zinc sulfates.

Really need to spray My Hill with a grass-specific herbicide, but the wind was blowing too much for any spraying.

Late at night, my wife and I heard an owl hooting. While I hope this means a reduction in the damage done by squirrels in my garden, this might not happen. After all, squirrels seem quite active in the daytime while owls are nocturnal.

Fed the roses with a commercial fertilizer than also contains a systemic insecticide.

Finished trimming the edge of the front lawn (26 Feb), this time along the driveway. I also trimmed the dwarf English ivy (Hedera helix 'Hahn's') on the mailbox.

Started trimming the edges of the paths in back. I want to get this done before the fertilizer I broadcast (8 Mar) causes so much new growth that I have to struggle to cut the red fescue (Festuca rubra) lawn and the cinquefoil (Potentilla neumanniana) and red clover (Persicaria capitata) ground covers in the rose and west beds.

Repotted the 'Goodwin Creek Grey' lavender (Lavandula lanata × dentata) whose red-clay bowl had broken (5 Feb). Instead of the usual mix of 1 part coarse sand and 1 part peat moss, I used 3 parts sand, 1 part peat moss, and 1 part soil from the 'Burgundy Iceberg' rose that I planted last month (22 Feb). This mix — more sandy than normal — accommodates the lavender's need for a fast-draining, low-moisture soil. I added traces of blood meal and iron, magnesium, and zinc sulfates; lavender also prefers lean soils. However, I gave it a generous amount of bone meal to promote flowers.

Fed all the beds and lawns — both front and back — with a house-brand 27-0-6 lawn food. I skipped feeding the roses, which are fed on a monthly schedule (12 Feb), and the camellias and azaleas, which will be fed with a much milder fertilizer when they have finished blooming. I still have to feed My Hill, which I plan to do next week. Aside from the dwarf citrus, roses, azaleas, and camellias, that will complete the only feeding my garden gets during the year.

Using more of the shredded branches from having my trees trimmed (5 Feb), mulched the star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) in back and the dwarf Burford holly (Ilex cornuta 'Burfordii Nana') in front.