I didn’t feel like digging a flowerbed, but I stayed busy!

I cleaned debris (AKA free mulch) from my little water garden, then cleared the grass out a few inches around it, put edging in, then mulch, and put the rocks back.

I planted the persimmon and pawpaw trees, but I think I killed them because I hadn’t realised they were staying so wet because the bowls I was using to catch runoff were full and I couldn’t see that. I doubt they’ll live–pawpaw was especially pissed off–but I stuck them in the ground.

In happier news, Miracle Tuliptree has a tiny new leaf, almost ready to meet the world.

In spite of the fact that the deer stomped them and the cats started using them as a bathroom the instant I took off the frost blanket this morning, cosmos look okay. Sensation looks good, Tetra Red Versailles look lazy, and 544’s Bright Lights are…enthusiastic.

Lazy Tetra Red Versailles:

544’s cosmos do not fuck around!

I also potted some portulaca and black-eyed susan vine to hang on the double-hooks that have hummingbird feeders on them. No MLBs yet, but I built it, so hopefully they will come.

After I had a nap, I decided to try some seeds in the rectangular bed with the magic hostas. I used the seeds I’d got from C.; purple coneflower, black-eyed susan, common marigold and “yellow flowers”. Not sure how they’ll do getting only afternoon sun, but worth a shot!

Oh, yeah…old lady’s lilac should be blooming soon. Guess it was happy it got moved to more sun, even if winter sucked.

I also cut back the butterfly bushes to about 2′. That’s probably generous, but I can always cut them back shorter if the only leaves I get come from the ground!

They both made it, too! I was on the bush honeysuckle warpath yesterday after work, so I forgot to take pictures, but both of my trumpet creeper vines survived! They both have tiny buds, but I’m going to wait and see how far up they’ll get buds before I go chopping them back. I’ll add pictures to this entry once it’s a bit brighter outside. If the three Rose of Sharon survived (and I think maybe they did), then that will be everything we brought from 544!

Adding pictures. Yellow one looks better than orange for buds, but it’s yet to bloom. Maybe this year.

Orange:

Yellow:

They’ll have to be cut back to the ground, but all three butterfly bushes survived the move and the winter!

In spite of the big-ass deer tracks right in the middle…

…we have cosmos sprouts! Man, these flowers do not fuck around; I planted them last Saturday, so…four days, two of which were cold and crappy.

Itty-bitty leaves on my spicebush.

And in non-living news…poisoned bush honeysuckle. Yaaayyy! Die, you invasive bastards, die!

After I’d finished covering everything with plastic, I remembered the little bed of bachelor’s buttons and dwarf red coreopsis I’d planted around the light pole. Good thing I did; they didn’t waste any time. Six days!

It’s going to be below freezing tonight and tomorrow night. Yes, I was too hot in shorts and a T-shirt yesterday.

Maybe my newly planted seeds would be okay, but maybe not, so I covered the ones that didn’t have row cover on already. I had exactly  enough plastic to cover what needed covering. Purely luck; the plastic is left from spring 2012, when we had a cold snap after everything had started growing too early.

I had no more clear plastic, but wanted to protect the few milkweed seedling that have poked their heads up, so I used a plastic dropcloth I’d got to wash rugs when we first moved in. Too light, but better than nothing, and it’s only got to last two nights.

The elderberry cuttings are pretty pissed off already, and they came from…Georgia, I think, so they needed to be protected, but I had pots big enough to do the job.

If my Bistro-in-the-making didn’t look ghetto before, it certainly does now!

Don’t care. Too much time, money and hard labour invested in it already to let a couple of cold nights kill it!

The castor beans want out! I actually noticed them yesterday; I glanced at the disturbed soil surface and thought, “Wait…Miffy doesn’t bother plant pots,” so I went to look. They’re not all out of the ground yet, and still nothing from the Bird of Paradise, but apparently they liked the table in the north window because they germinated in a week; I planted them on Saturday night, and noticed them breaking ground the following Sunday morning!

Red:

Green:

All of ’em:

Lazy Bird of Paradise in the middle. I moved them to the south window.

In spite of the fact that I forgot about laundry on Friday (seriously–forgot!) and have two shirts left from being exhausted and crippled last week, I still planted the main flowerbed! It just needed to be raked, seeded, little compost thrown on and cat poop-proofed, so I’m not horribly far behind, and it’s done! Looks a little ghetto because I ran out of frost blanket and had to use chicken wire, but I’ll cover the wire with plastic when it’s cold at night this week. As for how it looks, fuck it–it’s done!

Yard looks pretty weird now; blobs of white everywhere.

I’ll edit this from my computer to list the things I planted in here; it’s too long to type on a phone.

At my computer…

1. Firefly Heuchera
2. Veronica spicata ‘Sightseeing Mix’
3. Veronica spicata ‘Rose’
4. Bachelor’s button
5. Sweet William (a few I bought, mostly from 544)
6. Penstemon (whatever I had in the Bistro at 544…edit: it’s ‘Husker Red’)
7. Cosmos ‘Ladybird Lemon’ (dwarf variety, 12”-16”)
8. Spotted Bee Balm
9. Gaillardia aristata
10. Blue Flax Flower (Linum perenne)
11. Celosia ‘Kimono Mix’
12. Scarlet Sage
13. Sky Blue Aster
14. Orange Marigold
15. Purple Bee Balm (Monardra fistulosa)
16. Purple Tansy
17. Purple Anise Hyssop
18. Bird’s Eyes (Gilia tricolor)
19. White Heath Aster (Aster ericoides)
20. Pampas Plume mix
21. Dame’s Rocket
22. Purple New England Aster
23. Globe Gilia
24. Purple Prairie Aster
25. Cardinal Lobelia
26. Rose Mallow mix
27. Plains coreopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria)
28. Golden Wave coreopsis (Coreopsis basalis)
29. White Dutch Clover
30. Pink New England Aster
31. Echinacea purpurea
32. Mexican Hat (Ratibida columnaris)
33. Yellow Sand Coreopsis
34. Lemon Mint (Monarda citriodora)
35. Red Dwarf Coreopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria)

I promised myself I wasn’t going to work myself to death all day, so my Saturday was a little more relaxed than my Friday. I worked the little sand I had left, and six bags of garden soil in, then planted my cosmos seeds. I have Tetra Red, Picotee, Sensation and the Bright Lights I brought from 544. I didn’t measure the bed, but it’s a good size.

Tilled, raked, seeded, topped with a thin layer of cow poop compost and watered down.

Now frost blanket, AKA anti-cat bathroom cover.

Some random crabapple blooms because they’re pretty.

Lazy-dils finally bloomed.

Mystery plants I thought might be peony are…hosta. I swear whoever did the landscaping here just walked through Lowe’s garden centre and said, “Oh, that’s dirt-common–I’ll take it!” I don’t mind hostas, though; I’ll leave them, at least for now.

Something in the lily family. At least it’s not another goddamned daylily!

I cut out a bunch of the fountain grass (or whatever that shit is) on the south side. I left some, and put the rest on the north treeline. If it grows, it grows. If it dies, whatever. I don’t care much for it anyway. Onje assisted me in cutting the grass back. I use the term loosely.

I’m also allergic to the goddamned stuff. I got this just from having it touch my arm, and a couple of small scratches. Fuck ornamental grass.

P.S. I also put up five hummingbird feeders. I’ll probably have to throw out the solution before I have any takers, but they’re in the area, and the feeders are there should a weary, hungry traveller fly overhead!

P.P.S. I dug another bucket of fucking dandelions, and there’s still lots. My yard is a never-ending pit of dandelions, just waiting to sprout.

I started at 0700h, had a half hour “breakfast” break at 1100h, and brought my tools in at 1457h. I cut back a bunch of honeysuckle, poisoned some of it, raked debris, amended clay soil with garden soil and cow poop compost,  planted and mulched elderberry, made a bed for and planted foxglove and a few columbine seeds, and covered the bed with the row cover I’d had on the milkweed (which is juuuuust starting to root). I’m dead tired, but accomplished enough that it was worth taking the day off work.

Elderberry cuttings.

I planted them in groups because I’m betting some will simply die. If not, I can always move them.

I was so goddamned glad to finish this bed (clay, roots, argh) that I forgot to take a picture before I covered it, but there was a lot of clay here, so I added a little sand along with the garden soil and compost. The seeds are so tiny that I just sprinkled them on and watered them in. Anyway, it won’t do much this year because foxglove is biennial and columbine needs cold stratification, but it exists, so I’m satisfied.

I also found Wormzilla. I’m not sure whether this thing was eating organic matter or Tokyo, but it was huge!

Back yard as it was when I finished. Too tired to bother making a pano.

I even went out after a nap and dug half a bucket of the never-ending dandelions. Go, me!

Go, Mean Little Birds, go! I’ll put up feeders this weekend, just in case any weary travellers should come my way.