Re: [gardeners] Saturday in the garden
Annetta Green (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sun, 11 Feb 2001 10:23:16 -0500
George, et al,
Spent a rightfully nice day in the garden myself Saturday. Started out by
going out and trimming back the roses that are starting to leaf out nicely.
I made a point to leave the centers airy and open while cutting off any dead
wood. Then pulled off all of the leaves that had any sign of black spot.
Afterward the soil got raked to be sure all diseased leaves were moved away
from the plants and tossed in the garbage. The rose bushes are now ready
for a nice spring bloom, as they have been fertilized and watered well. I
added a new soaker hose system in the bed and buried it with soil to make it
easier to water without getting the leaves wet. I still have to drag the
hose over to attach it to the end of the soakerhose, but this will make
things easier once I get around to putting in the permanent line to the bed.
All of the daylilies are coming back. Some ready to bloom before the leaves
even make a showing! Their bed got cleaned out and watered well with a
portable soaker hose, so that I could work farther down the bed. My
tropicals may not have all made it. The Clerodendrums, Ugandense and
Thompsonaie both seem to be making an attempt to grow back from the roots.
The Breynia, however, is brown and crispy all the way down to the roots. I
cut them back to ground level and still found no green. I may leave them
for a while longer to see if they have something going down deep. The weeds
in this bed were not to bad, so I cleaned up the canna debrid. Pulling up
the old foliage pulled up a few roots, so the bed was partially thinned.
The canna roots are now living in the new area we made when my husband
pulled up the old scrub palmetto bush. They will make a pleasant backdrop
to the perennials that will be started from seed this fall.
Of the 5 blueberry bushes planted last year only 4 have survived the dry
winter. I watered and trimmed back the branches to green wood. They are
not yet sending out new leaves, but I am hoping. Even the strawberries seem
to be coming back nicely. I am looking forward to some good fruit over the
next couple years.
Afterward my husband and I went out to Orlando to one of the free outdoor
concerts given downtown. We saw the Motels, with Martha Davis still the
lead singer. I actually had to dig through some old boxes to find my old
tapes to listen to more. After that, we went to Cheyanne Saloon for dinner
on Church Street. Had a good Texas set of ribs. All in all it was a great
day.
Anne in FL
zone 9b, sunset 26