It's that time again

These were taken last year, but it's beginning to look much the same.

We cleaned up the back yard today, pulled old vegetable vines, mulched, raked. Yesterday I replanted some jonquil bulbs.

Transplants

The mutt is our neighbor's dog Mojo barking at me.
We've had drowning rains but the transplants appear
to be surviving.
I am showing only the most visible transplants here, but I did get the list completed last week, with the addition of balloon flowers and purple coreopsis.

Landscape

Green, gold, green.
There is no water here,
no pond, lake, or stream.
My heart will be the pool reflecting sky.

Tasks

I brought in all the house plants to be wintered over indoors today.

This week I hope to transplant the following from the property that is on the market to this one.

A small dogwood
a burning bush (planted by birds)
butterfly bush
spearmint
rosemary
coral bells
pinks of two varieties
Easter lily
a few daylillies
some creeping phlox
some coreopsis
plumbago
a few jonquil bulbs
gladiolas and
grape hyacinth bulbs

I have already brought over some iris tubers and
veronica
There are some transplantings to be done here as well.

Gardening Bits

My favorite rose bush is Medallion, some forty years old.




This is Mom's favorite rose bush.

Double Delight.

We have been working on our Iris bed. It has fallen prey to the most hideous wormy, grub-like creatures which I presume to be the iris borer. Plus the heavy rainfall for two years and the failure to thin them out and keep them weeded has contributed to general rot. We have lost so many of the tubers. Quite a sorry sight.

But gradually I am getting good ones replanted. I need to get some of the deep purple ones too from the house I have on the market. It is such a deep purple it is almost black. They are quite beautiful. We have had a mixture of white and blue-purple and we will have to see what has survived if any bloom next spring. Some of the saved tubers are so small it will be a few years before they will bloom.

See this site for information on iris borers with pictures. I confess these creatures are among the most loathsome I have encountered in nature. My prejudice.

http://www.ppdl.purdue.edu/PPDL/weeklypics/Weekly_Picture7-25-00.html

Odds and Ends of late

I planted two new hollies last week to serve the birds and shelter our windows instead of the American Holly we lost. These are called Blue Maids.

Our car is still in the shop from a collision the week before that. No one was hurt and we are thankful. We are using a rental car provided by the insurance company.

Today I hoed and fertilized around our vegetables hoping for a good autumn harvest.

Birthday Party

A great time was had by all.

Little Brother Evan

Birthday Boy Chase