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30 year old house. In my third growing season. Still A LOT of work to do. Gardening in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Zone 7b. E-mail me at gsmith@email.com with comments!
Friday, August 29, 2003
Whew, hard work today. I picked up a few things from Pike that were on sale. I got a couple of lantanas for $1 each, a hellbore (royal heritage) for $8, and a pitcher plant for $4. Then I went by Lowe's for dirt and mulch. I also got a chaste tree while I was there. When I got home, I still had the 6 roses that I got last Sunday to plant. So that's 11 things I had to plant today.
First I planted the pitcher plant near the road is the "swampy" part. The worst thing about that location is that the grass and weeds run rampant there. It will be hard to keep them out of the pitcher plant. Then I planted the hellebore in the new shade garden under the oak tree. I took the plant out of the pot and was loosening the roots when...... ANTS! EVERYWHERE! They had a nest inside the rootball of the hellebore. I think they were fire ants; they sure looked like them. They were all over my hands but didn't bite or sting me once, so maybe they weren't fire ants. They swarmed like fire ants though. I just went on and planted the plant anyway, not caring about the ants. I'll keep a sharp eye out for them to see if a mound comes up. I had put out some diazanon in that area last week, maybe that will control them.
After that bit o' fun, I went to the back yard where I had sat out all of the roses. I decided to plant 2 of the butterfly roses (that's the mutabilis rose for those who go by the scientific name) back there. I'm going to call that area the "pool garden". Because there used to be an above-ground pool there before I bought the house. Now there's sand everywhere and there was a "wall" of red clay that the pool sat next to. I have slowly been smoothing that down to a hill. Anyway, "pool garden" makes it sound like it must be beautiful. (Well, it's not.) Then I decided to plant the other 4 roses in the rose garden in the front. My rose garden isn't much of a rose garden yet. The star is the green snake rose. Last year before I moved it from my mom's house, it was 14 feet wide! It's easily that big again. It would be bigger except my rose garden isn't that big so I run over it every week when I mow the lawn. I used to pick it up and mow under it, but it's so big now it doesn't really matter. I have a snowfire rose that I transplanted this sping which did great at first. Then I thought it was dead. But it has one shoot coming up that looks very good. Chances for next year aren't looking good, but we'll wait and see. Once I got all of the roses planted, I got out the soaker hose. I had put some tubing under the ground last year but so far I had not had any need to use it yet this year. (Well, there were a few times when I would have used it if it was all setup, but oh well.) I had to do some digging to find the end of the tube. But after a bit I got it going.
I put the lantanas in front of the house along the slope coming down. I then planted the chaste tree down near the "long bed". There was a humongous rock in the hole where I was digging. I had that sledge hammer out at one point, but only managed to chip it a bit. I think it was granite. It was so big that I gave up (a first) and changed where I was going to plant it by a couple of feet. I have never grown a chaste tree before. It was sold as a perennial. I was suspicious that it wouldn't really die back to the ground. I did some searching on the web when I got home and I read that it dies back in colder areas. So hopefully here in Georgia it won't.
I went through 4 16.9 oz bottles of water today. And got plenty of sun. I still have to get up early tomorrow and mow the grass. By the way, the grass killer that I used last week has done an excellent job. The brand name is "Eliminator" which isn't really a no-name brand. I will probably be buying this in the future as opposed to roundup if the price is better. I didn't use it on any tough weeds, so I will probably keep getting the roundup brush killer for the hard jobs. But for "edging" the grass around the beds, "eliminator" was well worth the savings.
First I planted the pitcher plant near the road is the "swampy" part. The worst thing about that location is that the grass and weeds run rampant there. It will be hard to keep them out of the pitcher plant. Then I planted the hellebore in the new shade garden under the oak tree. I took the plant out of the pot and was loosening the roots when...... ANTS! EVERYWHERE! They had a nest inside the rootball of the hellebore. I think they were fire ants; they sure looked like them. They were all over my hands but didn't bite or sting me once, so maybe they weren't fire ants. They swarmed like fire ants though. I just went on and planted the plant anyway, not caring about the ants. I'll keep a sharp eye out for them to see if a mound comes up. I had put out some diazanon in that area last week, maybe that will control them.
After that bit o' fun, I went to the back yard where I had sat out all of the roses. I decided to plant 2 of the butterfly roses (that's the mutabilis rose for those who go by the scientific name) back there. I'm going to call that area the "pool garden". Because there used to be an above-ground pool there before I bought the house. Now there's sand everywhere and there was a "wall" of red clay that the pool sat next to. I have slowly been smoothing that down to a hill. Anyway, "pool garden" makes it sound like it must be beautiful. (Well, it's not.) Then I decided to plant the other 4 roses in the rose garden in the front. My rose garden isn't much of a rose garden yet. The star is the green snake rose. Last year before I moved it from my mom's house, it was 14 feet wide! It's easily that big again. It would be bigger except my rose garden isn't that big so I run over it every week when I mow the lawn. I used to pick it up and mow under it, but it's so big now it doesn't really matter. I have a snowfire rose that I transplanted this sping which did great at first. Then I thought it was dead. But it has one shoot coming up that looks very good. Chances for next year aren't looking good, but we'll wait and see. Once I got all of the roses planted, I got out the soaker hose. I had put some tubing under the ground last year but so far I had not had any need to use it yet this year. (Well, there were a few times when I would have used it if it was all setup, but oh well.) I had to do some digging to find the end of the tube. But after a bit I got it going.
I put the lantanas in front of the house along the slope coming down. I then planted the chaste tree down near the "long bed". There was a humongous rock in the hole where I was digging. I had that sledge hammer out at one point, but only managed to chip it a bit. I think it was granite. It was so big that I gave up (a first) and changed where I was going to plant it by a couple of feet. I have never grown a chaste tree before. It was sold as a perennial. I was suspicious that it wouldn't really die back to the ground. I did some searching on the web when I got home and I read that it dies back in colder areas. So hopefully here in Georgia it won't.
I went through 4 16.9 oz bottles of water today. And got plenty of sun. I still have to get up early tomorrow and mow the grass. By the way, the grass killer that I used last week has done an excellent job. The brand name is "Eliminator" which isn't really a no-name brand. I will probably be buying this in the future as opposed to roundup if the price is better. I didn't use it on any tough weeds, so I will probably keep getting the roundup brush killer for the hard jobs. But for "edging" the grass around the beds, "eliminator" was well worth the savings.
