around Stately Sad Old Goth Manor over the past few days. About a week ago, I cleaned out all the perennial beds, the shrubbery and the new hedges, fed everything and top dressed the beds with some freshly screen composte. Things were starting to look alive then, but, with the little heat wave we just had and the ample rain, things have popped overnight, or so it seems. The Crape Myrtle in the kitchen door bed had nothing on Sunday, today it is full of little leaves. The perennial mums have shot up from little green buds poking up out of the ground to softball size mounds in a matter of a few days. The Iris are sending up tall flower stalks already, the Pink Campion are really perking up, the scarlet Dianthus is already blooming. The yucca and the Hens and Chicks I potted up in the big planter by the back door are all green and full of moisture. The red maple in the side yard is all leafed out. It's amazing. Even the Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia Aurea), that I propogated from a little clump a few years ago, and has all but covered the sunny end of the kitchen door bed has filled out overnight. I don't know what's gotten into everything, but it's great!
I got outside early this morning, intending to try working the soil in the new bed where I'm going to transplant my daylilies, but the soil is still far to wet to work, and, with rain on the way, I decided it would be a good thing to feed my evergreen beds and the Thuja planting across the front of the property and turn the mulch and do a general tidying up. So, three hours later, I'm bushed. (slightly humorous play on words there... very slight...). The new foundation shrubbery on the west side of The Manor seems to have been invaded by wild onions, they've grown up right through the weed barrier and the mulch I put down last year when I planted the bed. I can't dig them out without removing all the mulch and barrier, so I just ripped the tops off them for now. Anyone know of something I can use to kill them without effecting the junipers, azaleas and rhoddys I put in? I also cleaned out, fed and turned the mulch on the Thuja, all one hundred or so feet of them, across the front. We chose Thuja occidentalis "Green Giants" because of it's rapid growth habit and every time I look that them, I think they don't seem to be doing anything, but I went back and dug out a photo I took last May 5th, when I had just finished planting them and had laid in the soaker hose irrigation. This is what they looked like then:
Skinny little things, just a foot high, if that, all trunk and hardly any side growth. Here's what they look like today, less than a year later:
They're now all about thirty inches tall, and filling out nicely. I guess they're kind of like kids, in a way. One minute, they're vulnerable little things that you fret over and worry over and then, before you know it, they're grown and doing fine on their own, and life moves on. I think that's what I like about gardening so much, it's constant growth and change and challenges, rewards come only by your hard work and care, but what rewards they are.
Oh, and if you're interested in Thuja or any other evergreen or tree stock, I highly recommend Thuja Gardens. Roy is a wonder to work with, his stock is fantastic and he's a hell of a nice guy to talk to. About the best prices and fast delivery, too.
Well, I'm going to kick back a bit, it looks like the promised rain is almost here, so it's good I got everything fertilized when I did. Enjoy your weekend.
