week 24

Fertilzed
all plants in front
Planted
The Rice plant - Osmanthus...
2 apricot cosmos
2 chantilly snapdragons, blue catenache,
asarina in dark shade in front.
For the new pots I used the old soil from the leptospemum that died, and put in water.

Cleaned up downstairs, but there is still weeding to do. I staked.
Cats seem to be lying in the sticky sage. I staked it many times. We'll see if that works.
Sightings: a SNAKE! two yellow stripes, and about 14" long.
I found a dead / dried up salamander on the concrete.
I found a broken-out-of bird egg on the path, and looked up in the ceonothus and saw a nest! That's why I've heard more birds around.
Molly lost her collar. We think it's in the garden somewhere.
Mitzi died in about February.

The water dept will come the 23rd to inspect & reduce the sewer cost.

Picked:
butterfly bush,
blue flag iris
blue bedder,
low bell campanula, (previous had lasted in vase, but this is not)
knautia,
Jupiter's beard
alstromeria,
Telhan campanula (total of 6-7 stalks)
end of foxglove
forkseholi
blue scabiosa
nepeta
love in a mist
yellow purses
grey foliage
red nicotania
cineraria
blue bach. buttons
centaurea montana
maroon scabiosa
sooty sweet william
heliotrope
parsley

blooming: but I did't want to pick
Tiarella
red sage
orange purses

Roses-
the austian copper has all yellow leaves. uhoh
the playboy has all new leaves but they are small and curled up
the chicago peace is doing well and has a bud
the dark pink has another bud, and is growing on fireman's side.
the pink knockout has stopped blooming.
The pink single has a flower every so often, but they rot and are not good.
I had great hope about the roses but they are not doing well.

the poppies in front are not lasting in a vase. So best just to look at them.
I deadheaded a lot of red roses. deadheaded also the jasmine, and feliciodes.

Blooming
fluttery skirts!
sally holms - not many buds left
fuschia( both) is great looking (we've even had hummingbirds)
pink gerberas
red gerberas are done- hoping they'll come back
pink wisteria-like is going to town!
pinks bells in among eveything
clematis still has buds. Any flowers that have opened now are chewed up. Earwig damage?
We went out and killed snails by the full moon. Many. But there still are some probably.

Week 23

well A lot has happened but I just haven't written about it.

A Cloud Ballet Iris bloomed and is a FABULOUS periwinkle color, but it smells like cat pee.
Other iris did their thing and the black one is about to open. I saw Molly spray the cat nip. There were many beetles on it week 22, and then they were gone days later.
The cat mint has 2 long blooms on it.
A few of the KentBelle's have bloomed- I hope they'll bloom again.
I majorly cut back the lavender, after I cut the blooming wands.
The heliotrope looks great.
The tiarella came and went, but those that were so nice last year did not bloom.
The clivia bloomed.
I got asian lilies from the daffodil bed week 17
The blue scilla were many, but I went away that week15 to FL. They came on just after the daffodils.
The wisteria was great and that came out before week15 too.
The drama queen poppy in back got big, but the squirrel dug it up and it fell over.
Much of the kale is ripe and ready--the parsley is too.
I think I have winter savory- that looks good too.
The sunny alstromeria got TALL(pink), but the shady ones are eaten and short.
The Betty? rose has not had a good bloom yet. The Austrian Copper need to go up front in the sun. The flowers last about a day, and I never see them- what a great color. The playboy rose got RUST. I belatedly sprayed it, as Mary told me to, but I'm discouraged. The new yellow rose had 3 flowers. I sprayed that too for good measure. They smell GREAT. I will plant a McCartney rose next year- not for the color but for the smell.
I had 3 black-pink roses- 2 nearest the fireman were rotten, but the one closer was magnificent and long lasting.
The blue bachelor buttons are coming on. As Are the Nigella, I've had one of each color peony.
The Heuchera from San Jose are GREAT
The hydrangea plants - red and blue- have some buds but the leaves are sunburned too. the white is a dud.
the meadowrue is in bud--one wilted.
the mountain bachelor buttons are having a great year.
The Jupiter's Beard are open.
The delphiniums - I've had 2 stalks (week 19,22), and others are coming on.
There is a pink nicotania, but it really is such a nothing flower.
The astrantia came up and is flowering. The ones I bought are not faring so well.
The rose geranium, though cut back many times, continues to flower.
The angelica came and went by week 18.
The red sage is doing well now, and flowers sporadically.
The forkseholii was cut once and is blooming again.
The carribean verbascum bloomed with mutple flower stalks.
The foxglovves started about week 20 and are going on.

The aphids on the front Clematis (except the F. Chopin) were awful. I spayed water, Finally I got ladybugs, but next time I'll use insecticidal soap. The Chopin will loose petals when picked, so I floated it. They lasted 10 days.
The Dublin Bay is blooming it's head off. I fertilized one at week 17
I pruned heavily the blue rose-of-shoron and we ran the kayaks into it so more. I think it will be best if I prune it each year.
The snap from Annies likes the front- I'll do that again. I should have puned the hanging fuschia.
I pruned the fig vine about week 20.
The red poppy are not blooming yet in front.
the Sally Holmes came out later (due to repotting?) but is ver full, and not full of disease...yet.
I think the jasmine in front is covering well enough now. The bloom is over.
I puned the maytens week 22
Dave pruned the top of the olive for Donald week 22
there are clematis (Parisienne, duandii) that are growing, but not out yet.
The santolina is blooming now

It generally has been cold this year so roses came out(Chicago Peace) and then on the deck, they stayed (Cecile Brunner, Lady Banksia) I did rose nosegays for the fair.
The pipes for watering have come apart so we fixed that. One of the irrigation plugs popped out so I fixed that too.

Annies has more of the plants I want, but now I don't want to spend the $$.
I am in the midst of doing a Conditioning of my Flowers list.
The arranging for others went well. I've had a good idea- DIY floral arranging at a storefront.

week 12

The wisteria bloomed really big, and beautiful. Smells nice too,especailly on a windless day. I've planted everything that came, except a rice flower plant that looked too good at Sloat. It's in the pot at the front. The plants (2) for WWF came but were in a box in transit for a full week! They are patented and thus I forbidden to propagate them. camanula summertime blues. Never seen that before. I'll be lucky if they grow.
I've planted what came from Digging Dog too. More will come when I'm back for FL. Things are looking good and growing. I have the irrgation at 10 min
I fertizied- osmocote in the back and liquid in front. And camellia fertilizer and hyrangea true blue too. The bartlletina (I think) is blooming- and looks like a huge flossflower- but it's bad bad cut. The WG blue parrot tulips came up all red! I got my $$ back. The Cummins tulips were great.

I hope I wrote down where I put the WFF clematis parisienne. Had to wash and pick aphids off the clematis in front. The Scilla are blooming, and the freesia are starting. The deep red rose in back had a bud and the are 2 open blooms on the clematis in back. The red poppies are in a pot in front as is the new Feliciodes. I weeded in the front- pulled up the grass and sprayed the dandelions. There is an iris open in the front. The astrantia is up. I thought the tiarella would bloom again, but it's not.
I got some good ideas from Bouqeuts to Arts.

week 11

Planted another 8 plants from Annies. I took out the lantana (it's garbage) and am going to try snapdragons there in front. The red poppies are in front too.
The tulips are blooming, and a few of other things. The clematis is working against the round-up. The japanese maple next door is leafing out. There are buds on the fucshia out side the window!
Here's one of my first arrangement for the year.
I put out lots of sluggo. I also turned the water on in back to 10 minutes/day. I need to do some more work for the new plants. The top of the soil is dry now. Didn't take long. Fixed the lower barrel so I can screw the soaker hose to it.

Week 10

Got the big order from Annies, and planted about 45 plants, including a few that I had bought 12 weeks ago. (Gave away a licorice, heliocrysum, a russian sage peristroika, and the yellow meadowrue, thalictrum. )
Planted over 3 days. Soil is moist and workable - it generally looks really good. Almost makes me want to mulch. There are little stems coming up- from a lot of places. I took more of the anenome out. The old cyclamen is blooming! There is a purple iris that bloomed. Of course the red maple. The pyrethrun is blooming strong. There are blooms on the hellebores. Thee early one seem to be under the ceonothus and the later ones are red, beneath the big pink rose. Many buds on the wisteria.

Week 9 ,

In week 9 there was a lot of rain, and I did planning- looking at the web sites, deciding what to buy, and where. Seeing my list(s). I ordered from Annies. Decided on Digging Dog, and Half Moon Bay for a lot of the rest. There is one plant at White Flower Farm and one on sale at Sloat. I did it all by mail to save time and $$ (not sure if this was right) and because I am weak!
Margaret showed me my old standard burgundy iceberg rose- she's happy with it. She said the yellow african daisy is a garbage plant. I thought so.
I had to cut back, and then destroy the big potted leucanthimum. I guess the root to the patio was doing a lot. The leaves died slowly over 6 weeks. sad. especially after we had worked so hard on it. But it opens up the space.
I cut a big limb off the pink tea tree too. There are lots of lemons now.
I was very unhappy with ther rain barrels so used the pvc we had and made hard connections between them. This seems to work. We'll see over the year if it continues to.
I was looking at the budget the whole time. I cut the quantities when buying.

My Garden to buy this year 2009 279 Mangels

Front-

Felicia amelloides +elongata- blue marguerite daisy 1 ½

Gerbera daisy 2 ½

Heliophilia longifolia 2 A

Lithodora ‘grace ward’ 2 ½

Papaver Lady Bird 3 A

Asarina vine 2 A

Back- CUTTING GARDEN

hyssop; agastache Korean mint, rupestris 2 A

Antirrm majus double azalea, chanitilly, night+day 3 front A

Astrantia majoe ‘rosea’ or ‘magnum blush’- pink master wort 2 DD

Calceolara purple 2 A

Campanula

Summertime blues 2 DD

Campanula punctata sarastro 2 DD

Campanula Kent Belle 2 DD

catenache caerulea,- purple cupids dart 2 A

Centaurea cyanus ‘blue boy 3 A

Cosmos apricot 2 A

Delphinium wild 1 A

Delphinium royal aspirations 1 A

Dianthus- probably maroon sooty 2 A

Echinops ruthenicus, globe thistle 2 A

Echium plantagineum‘Blue bedder’ 2 A

Eryngium‘saphirreblue, sea holly,blue star 2 A

Lathyrus odoratus; LordNelsOldSpice, Cupani, MollyRilstn 4 A

Lisianthus 3 who? ½ moon

Lobelia - cardinal flower, compliment deep red 3 A

Lobelia – purple 2 A

Nicotania Only thr Lonely, Hot Chocolate 2 A

Nigella damascene Mrs J Dk Blue 3 A

Papaver- drama queen 2 A

Scabiosa Fama 2 A

Senecio stellata ‘giovanna selection’Cineraria 2 A

Verbascum pink/white/ purple 3

Week 8

I weeded and cut back and cleaned up about 2 hours per day for about 5 days (All the sun we had) I cut one whole trunk of the pink tea tree. I am mostly done, and ready to order big from Annies. I found some plants; some doing well, and some died. Mostly I'm ordering things that did well and flowered a lot before.
There is still some clean up to do, but I can do it as time goes along. If we get a break in the weather, I'll dig a few plants for the GPGC.
Mostly the stakes are waiting for me to put then in again. The area beneath the bird feeder has the best compost , that should be gathered into a bucket and then respread. It'll be good to sweep the paths too. It's so good to be able to walk down there. There is now space for lots of plants!
The snails I'm getting are mostly small.
I picked more Clematis, and Hardenbergia (at it's peak). There are a few Tiarella, and heliotrope. One gazania.
There will be less shade in the way back, under the pink tea treee.

Week 7

I'm back from New Zealand. It's raining and cold here- pretty much every day. So I have a lot of anxiety and depression.
I had to cut the leptospermum almost all the way- this is the one we made new holes in the bottom, and cut off the root going into the ground. I took out the osteospermum too.
I hope the rose doesn't do that. The roses are really dormant now, though. The Jasmine has lots of buds.
I went out in the rain and fixed the big water line that feeds into the barell (there is a lot there that needs to be pruned (in good weather) Then I got the barrells to work together. I'll save up a lot of water this week. Maybe there won't be rationing after all.
I spent three or 4 hours in the back weeding and pulling out the japanese anenome that had escaped. I hadn't done it before and there was a lot of it. And it was hard to tell the difference between that and the astrantia and the delphinium, and the coral bells. I hope I got it right. The middle bed looks ready to put new things into. I did some of the bed near the fence too.
the daffodils are coming up and the lilies too.
The cyclamen pot in the front has standing water. I think the granite gravel in the bottom get packed too tight and is like concrete. I can'twon't do that again.
For arrangements, I picked a pink verbascum, pink lenten rose, a few white clematis armondii, some hardenbergia, and a few lady Banks roses.
I killed a few snails while weeding. I'd kill more, but it's raining.
There is still a lot to remove. I've spent a lot of time with Annie's catalog, and need to do more. my plant budget, and water is slashed this year. So I'll order and have them come by mail, and won't be temped by going there.

Week 2

Dug up roses- yellow landscape (to Carol Maerske), burgundy iceburg climber (to Jenni), burgundy niteowl standard (to Margaret) and corkscrew vine-(to Sylvie), and Penstemon apple blosson (to Terrie). and african daisy (to mgt)
planted penstemon of unknow color from CCSF in same place. Planted yellow rose from SJ grower.
went to Sloat, bought scissors for flowers, and bulbs, lilies + dahlias- not to be planted til Feb. (among daffodils?)
Repotted Sally Holmes rose- big big job. Hauled to curb, cut root growing out of pot, made more holes in bottom- put down filter fabric and granite gravel in bottom. planted it in compost and soil I had in bags; put old wet soil in 5 gal buckets, to go downstairs. cut tree roots under granite blocks and above filter fabric under rose pot and several other pots. (took away weeds from pots)
Still intend to make list of what to buy, but no time. That will be in Feb.
Weeded only a bit downstairs.
unusual heat for 2 weeks. Now rain a week.
Went to flower mart 6AM. bought lilies that lasted 1 1/2 weeks. Bought lisanthus that will go 2 weeks! (revive by imersing in water. ) Anenome lasted a week. Also bought that blue hellas...will last a long time.

Week 1

Its cold, wet, but sunny. I'm waiting for really cold to do ice- I need to do it before the 25th.
cut back butterfly bush to ~12".
decided to round-up at back yard fence.
I have to prop up arbutilon more- probably cut it back. Decide what it needs for a trellis.
cut heads of hydrangea, and cut back to node with buds.
cut delphinium stalks off at the ground. Maybe some will grow back.
started getting new catalogs.
Thing from Annie's is growing big; I staked it up so it wouldn't flop.
Pruned around things to replace. I'll photo them, and then cut them back. Hope to shovel two of them and take them to the GPGC meeting on Tuesday.
The leptospermum was browning- too much water? or too little? so I cut it about 30%.
I swept the front and cut back the blue-rose of sharon a bit more
the yuletide camellia is still blooming- nice.
the fronds of the jasmine are all woven now, it's covering about 40%, now.
I used some smoke bush in an arrangement last week. The leaves lasted 5-8 days. They were bright orange, as advertised. Better for fall arrangements, but it looked good with the gray-green. Not the leaves are mostly all fallen outside.
I cut back the clematis armondii also. I fund pricker branches among them. It's a dirty job. There will be more. It seems to be the right time though. I resolve to round-up the pricker again this year. It will die! The pricks got infected in my hands again- it works to put bandaids on them with neosporin.