It's pretty much a perfect day for gardening, so I've been doing things out on the patio and in the yard today. And in case you didn't believe the little pine tree's incredible comeback, I'm starting this post with a picture of it from this morning. It still amazes me.
The other pictures in this post are the three peach trees. The oldest one is shown first. It looks the best from a distance, but up close it's infested with some sort of insect layering the newest growth. They look kind of like aphids except they're black. But they bunch around the new growth like aphids do on roses. I sprayed the heck out of the tree with Seven dust spray yesterday and today and hope that will take care of them. There's not a sign of them on the other two trees.
The littlest peach thinks it's a peach shrub, growing out from the ground. I guess I should be grateful it survived being buried by the foundation repair people.
I've been transplanting things out on my patio since around 11:00 this morning. I transplanted the wandering jew and the airplane plant (spider plant?) into hanging baskets and later this afternoon I'll put hooks up and hanging them over my patio. They're looking kind of puny so I decided to move them outside. I also moved all the aloe vera outside. And I took some of those cacti that I raised from seeds and transplanted them in a big pot outside. I'm seriously acting like we're over all our freezes, so the weather better not disappoint me.
I have a pair of house finches who have commandeered the one bird feeder. They spend a lot of time there and zealously guard it from all other comers, including another house finch pair and a pair of cardinals. Another thing I did today was move one bird feeder out to the tree by the back fence because I decided to put a hummingbird feeder up on that hook close to the house. We'll see if I manage to attract any hummingbirds.
I also transplanted the one azalea from the pot it was in, into the ground next to the patio. It's been looking a little peaked, so I'll see if it does better in the ground. While I was doing that I noticed that the mint is coming up in various areas around the patio. I'm glad to see it but will have to try to keep it a little more under control than I did last year. I'm more motivated to mess around with plants and things this year. Last year I was just watching for what would come up and grow. This year it feels more like it's mine, and I'm making some changes and working out there. I cut all the roses waaaaaaay back in February and they're all putting on new growth now. I also feel good about having all the foundation-repair-killed shrubs removed and replaced with pretty new shrubs. It makes me happy to have growing and blooming things.
Which makes me think - I haven't seen any sign of the Indian Hawthorne blooming. I wonder if the weather we've had has made them really late or prevented them blooming. It seems to me that they bloomed close to when the quince did last year. Nope, just looked. It was about a month later, in mid- to late April, so they aren't late yet.
Anyway, not much to say today and too nice to sit by the computer. Guess I'll go hang those plants.
I thought I'd spend today's post talking about the amazing saga of a little pine tree. First a little history. If you've read my blog along the way you know I tried growing some little pines from seeds. I had nine pine seeds which I attempted to start and two of them came up. It was a bonsai gift, so I babied the seedlings and planted them in the bonsai box they came with. The first picture in this post is when they were at their most healthy, and maybe 7-8 inches tall. That was last March, a year ago.
At that point they stopped putting on any height and I thought maybe their growth was restricted by the bonsai box they were in. I decided to transplant them and let them grow instead of leaving them alone and stunting their growth into bonsai trees. Or that was my thought process anyway. So I transplanted them into a bigger, deeper pot. As you can see they did fairly well at first. But shortly after this second picture they began to decline. The moss growing with them all died and so I thought maybe they were too dry, then I thought maybe they were too wet. I even tried transplanting them again, but despite everything I tried the pine needles turned yellow and then brown, in a pattern moving up the trunks of both trees and outward on the limbs. I tried fungicides and meters to determine how wet or dry the soil was. Nothing worked. By late last November, the smaller tree was dead and the larger tree seemed to be fast approaching that state.
So I put them outside. I figured they are pine trees and probably they stand a much better chance of surviving out in Nature, without my tender loving care, then they did with me trying different remedies on them. Unfortunately, about a week after I put them outside, we had our first ice storm. The third picture is of the poor little things encased in ice the morning of the ice storm. I figured they were goners, and that seemed to be the case. The picture after that is how they've looked all winter . . . like dead twigs that might once have been a plant.
And it's been a fairly long, cold winter this year, even here in the South. The first decently warm weekend we had after our last ice storm (the first weekend in March), I was out looking at the little peach trees and quince and roses and I happened to glance at the dead pine trees in passing. Wait a moment! Is that buds I see on the end of those dead branches? It is! It's buds! Is this thing alive?!?
Yes, non-believer. Check out the last picture. The larger pine tree is definitely putting on new growth all along the trunk and along the remaining branches. It's an amazing thing what plant-life is capable of . . . despite my inability to grow things. I don't think the smaller pine will bud out and come back from the dead, but I'm pleasantly shocked to discover that the larger one is indeed growing again.
In retrospect, I wonder how much of the little pine's problems was that pines need to go dormant. Even though they generally don't lose their pine needles, they still go dormant in the winter. Those two little pines had been growing for well over a year without any stopping. Maybe they needed the rest. Anyway, I suppose now I'll see how well the surviving pine stands up to the Texas heat this summer. While it's this small I suppose I can always bring it into the house if it starts struggling, but I would hate to set it back again. I'm hoping it can fend for itself now.
I'm seriously hoping that last week was our last ice, anyway. This is my frozen birdbath from last Sunday, and down below, ice pellets on the table. It's hard for me to imagine that less than 24 hours after that last blog post, in which I was rejoicing over how everything was blooming and beautiful, an ice storm swept through and killed everything. All the gorgeous Bradford pears because brown and lifeless. My quince became brown and lifeless. It was so sad after they had one day to bloom and be beautiful. The new growth on my roses is all dead, also, but roses are pretty hardy. They should come back.
Actually, the Bradfords are attempting something of a comeback. They're not as pretty as they were, but white blossoms are peeking out of the brown dead blossoms, so they may salvage some of their Spring bloom. The quince is past blooming now. There are only two or three flowers visible on it so the ice really killed it's blooms. It's leafing out nicely though, so no overall damage to the plants. And the three little peaches continue to put on new leaves, so they fully survived the winter and weren't hurt by the latest ice storm either.
The centers of the two aloe vera that stayed outside all winter look like they're going to survive also! That I wouldn't have believed. They've taken so many hits this year. You can see this one for yourself though. Alive and thriving in the center.
The lawn people were supposed to replace my shrubbery last Monday, but since it was icy and the temperature never got above 26 they didn't show. Plus I imagine freezing weather's not the ideal time to plant things. I'll have to call them this week and see when they plan to do it.
I had two migraines this weekend. Yes, TWO! I'm trying to figure out who to complain to about that. I had one that started about 6:00 pm Friday evening. I took the Relpax that the doctor prescribed for me last June, and I'd have to say it worked. That one on Friday was starting off to be a killer of a migraine, with vision loss in both eyes and my right hand and arm going numb. But the pain never got unbearable, thanks I think to taking the Relpax as soon as the visual loss occurred. I went to bed and slept 10 hours. Then I got up Saturday, had my coffee and yogurt and INH, and was doing the morning newspaper crossword puzzle about 9:00 am, when I lost vision in my left eye! Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT! Or anyway, that's what I was thinking. So I took another Relpax and then had to take a second one 2 hours later to keep the pain under control. Still, the Relpax worked better than the old hydrocodone I've been taking. But I lost all of Saturday. I wasn't in unbearable pain, but I was feeling kind of yucky and disconnected and lethargic. I watched TV on and off all day since reading doesn't work with migraines. So I feel like I lost half my weekend. I feel fine today though. Not even much of a migraine hangover. Of course I slept 10 hours last night too. And even remembered to change my clocks.
Today I'm catching up on all the chores I didn't have the energy for yesterday. I filled the bird feeders and the house finches, sparrows and juncos are all happy little campers. And Addy's happy to be able to sun outside. I seeded one more little pot of cat grass. I grow cat grass for the cat-kids in the winter since they have none outside to chew on. I say one last pot because my grass outside should start growing soon, or anyway as soon as we get moisture. We've had less than an inch of rain here where I am so far this year, and usually we have about 6 inches by now. Much as I love the sun, we need some rain.
Had to share this last picture. This is what I did last Sunday, during the ice storm. Yes, Yes I did. No, I haven't been replaced by an alien clone. I baked cookies that I made from scratch and used a cookie press to form. Just goes to show you truth really is stranger than fiction.
Yes, it is really nice outside today. I love days like this - just warm enough and brilliantly sunny and things beginning to put out their first Spring growth and show that they are still living, coming awake from their Winter sleep. And I'm enjoying it for all it's worth, considering that it's supposed to rain tomorrow and then drop down to 20 degrees tomorrow night. Winter's definitely not through with us yet. It's hard to believe today though.
I took this picture today of my flowering quince with the neighbor's Bradford pear in the background. All the Bradfords are blooming right now, and it's all going to take a hit when it freezes tomorrow night. I uncovered the remains of the two outside aloe vera so they could get some sun today. I hope I remember to cover them back up tomorrow because both of them have one little central plant that's looking nice and healthy, surrounded by the dead and dying areas of the rest of the plant. A part of each of them may survive after all. I would love to move the rest of them back outside, but I don't dare with this temperature roller coaster we've been on.
The flowering quince are bee magnets. They're swarming with honeybees this afternoon, kind of like the mint does when it blooms. I wonder if the previous owners knew how much honeybees were attracted to the things they planted, or it's just a fortunate side effect.
When I was wandering around outside this morning I discovered that all three of the little peach trees I planted in the ground last year are beginning to leaf out. Even the smallest one. I was sure that little tree was buried under dirt when the guys dug those massive holes to fix my foundation last Fall. Honestly, I don't know how they missed it. But it's leafing out strongly from right down near the ground, so I'll be interested to see how it grows this year. The other two seem to be doing fine also, even the one that was more yellow than green last year when I planted it.
My roses are all beginning to leaf out also. And I have three little pink hyacinths blooming out front. Spring is definitely coming, even if Winter refuses to let go completely yet. I'm so, so grateful not to live up north though. They've had (are still having) a brutal, brutal winter.
I've made arrangements for my lawn service people to replace the shrubbery killed by the foundation work. The quote they gave me included the work, plus 5 burford holly shrubs, 5 indian hawthorne and 3 nandina. I'm glad I decided to have them do it because it would have been interesting for me to determine what type of holly I needed to match what's already there, and I had NO idea what those other small plants were called (nandina). Anyway, the guys are supposed to replace the dead shrubs with the new ones on Monday.
I had to call the lawn people because I've discovered someone is messing with my mail. The Saturday before President's Day (Monday holiday) I didn't get any mail. That can happen but it's really unusual. Usually I at least get a load of junk mail. I checked it again on Sunday, just because I checked it late Saturday and thought maybe I didn't see the mail in the back of the box, but no, there was no mail in there. On Monday as I was leaving for work, I forgot it was a P.O. holiday and went to put an outgoing piece of mail in the box (the signed contract for the shrubbery work). There in the box was my mail from Saturday! So I took it and left the outgoing. During the day I remembered no mail delivery, but left the outgoing piece in the box, figuring they would get it on Tuesday. Tuesday morning I went to add another 2 pieces of mail to the outgoing, and the original piece was gone. The lawn people never got that contract either. So now I don't leave outgoing in my mailbox. I mail it at a drop box. And I get my mail as soon as I get home each day. Luckily, I don't pay much by checks, charities mostly, but I worry that my small checks from the gas company drilling on my property won't reach me. And I know I have a new credit card coming in the next week. I'm kind of paranoid now.
Anyway, I called the lawn people, and sent them my copy of the signed contract (after making another copy, of course) and they are scheduled to do the work Monday. Then all trace of the foundation issues will be erased. That makes me really happy.
That's about all today I guess.
