Journal Notes..Screening, Mulching, & Arrangements...

Sorry Guys...this is long and boring.  But my main motivation for the blog is to journal what I'm doing so I can (theoritically) learn from my mistakes and learn what worked and what did not.

Needed to use vacuum to clean dirt out of pool before putting fountain back.

I believe this is summer snow.  I need to tag the roses

Side of house with climbers.  Some of my Dollar General Roses are on their last leg.  These are doing okay.   I think the difference is that these were are on an automatic water timer and they were not.  Note to self...gonna buy distress bare roots...water constantly.

Finally, some rain!  Got about an inch but we have been in a drought.  The roses that are screened are faring better.  Not sure why.  Could be the ones up front were better cared for or are more premium roses.

Started screening the side.  Screen is a pain to clean but it does block weeds better.

The plants get run off from the roof.  West side of house.

Have to put bricks down because it is slightly sloping.  There is a septic tank in this area.  Soil is very clay like

Topped with leaves as filler

Covered with red mulch.  I accidentally cut my soaker hose, so at present these are not irrigated.  

Put more brick down.  When they get larger the climbers will need to be pegged to the wall.

I like to give flowers to service providers...if they are male, I give them to the secretaries.  It's a good idea to give flowers to secretaries anyway.  When I was a partner, I had two of them and they ruled my world.  So to any readers, if you grow flowers give them to people who take care of you, trust me.

Hydrangeas, gold medal, ch-ching.  I have not identified the pink one.

Bought a peach drift rose.  The blue girl next to it is struggling but I opte to leave her.

Peach drift was amended with a lot of mushroom compost.  I want to say I did the same to Isabella and boy is she taking off.

Location of peach drift.

Screening another section.

Screen purchased at dollar general.  Defintiely not as thick as some screens I have purchased but it's also cheaper.

Next bed I do, plant them with screening in mind.  I had to patchwork the screen which takes much longer.

The rains have caused the roses to bloom again.  I thought I was overwatering, but I clearly don't think so.  Even when the plant feels moist, the roses will droop....why is this?  

I think this is Montezuma

Moondance, I think.

Another Double Delight.  One thing is certain.  Because of the weeds touching the leaves, and the sprinkler...the black spot occurs, and the leaves fall off.

Blue girl, she is struggling....if the roses can just hold on, they will be fine.  Working hard to finish the bed.

Golden Masterpiece I think or Eclipse.

I think this is Ch-ching.  I will look it up but they grow very upright.

Peach Drift.   Same company that makes Knockouts.

Instead of leaves, I put cypress mulch instead.  Got too lazy to use leaves in this section and since the section will be seen more, I wanted a cleaner look.

Whew....done!

We thought we may have a tropical storm in the area, but sadly it went another way.  Even with the recent rain, we need more.  

A very pretty sunset.

A very nice lady (who is a green thumb) gave me a rose bush last fall.  It was a very generous gift.  In return, I purchased two Moonstone's because I saw them at Bellingrath Gardens.  She loved my icebergs so I gave her one of the Moonstone's.  I, intentionally set out to buy her a rose for her gift.  Why didn't I get her an Iceberg?  No idea.   Anyway, hers have started to bloom and she   sent me the blooms.  They are lovely, aren't they?

She sent me a picture of her rose bed which looked very kept.

Vista from a future guest bedroom.  The Climbers need to be trained very shortly

The double pane window's seal evidently broke and now it's foggy.  Not sure what to do about it.

Sundial....will research how to clear it.

Journal Notes...Just for My Records

The following post is long and boring unless you like to see the tiny details of what I have done in the past week.  I have found the journal notes to be very useful for reference.

Husband is going to finish smoothing plinth with concrete.

Screened Europenas, climbing Iceberg, and a mystery rose

Concrete for the plinth of the sundial.

Screened area after weedeating and pulling weeds

Filler of leaves topped with commercial mulch.

After completion.  Not sure if I want to create a path to this area.

Dahlia beginning to bloom

The weeds were getting vicious.  The roses really seem to love them gone.  It also helps with blackspot.

Memphis Music Roses are doing well.  These are on the own root system.

Endless Summer Hydrangeas are really taking off.

Used aluminum sulfate to make sure they are blue.

Azaleas, the perwinkle didn't return but Mexican Heather "babies" are growing.

Got a replacement JFK rose for the bare root that died.  Got this at the Co-op.

JFK beginning to bud.

West Hydrangea bed

Rye Grass is dying.  It has been droughty so the new grass has not come in.

Gold Medallion

Paradise

Gallardia (aka Firewheel and Indian Blanketflower) is truly a plant it and forget it.  It had bloomed all winter in very lean soil.  Even with no rain it is still going.

Area is sloppy, lean, and sandy.  I have not watered or fed these.

Don Juan by the creek.

The weeds in the Impatient rose is causing black spot

Front of the house...lawn is dying

Back porch.  I need to guide the climbers.

Camellia, bottlebrush, azaleas, and japanese yew

This has gotten horribly weedy.  I have climbers and gardenias here.

Corner bed is looking much better.

West side of the rose garden

I believe this a Granada rose

First prize.  I gave them fish oil this past Monday and I feel the roses have responded well to it.

Back corner of the L shaped rose garden

East corner of rose garden

Big Daddy hydrangeas are blooming pink.  Soil is alkaline

Back path

Decided to clean up pool.  Refill it, run vacuum in it.  Trim up popcorn trees and mexican heather, kill weeds with Spectracide weed killer.

Highly recommend using the battery power tools.  The battery pack can be placed in to hedgeclippers, weed eater and even a chainsaw.  I have cut many cords in the past on the electric ones, and the gas ones are too heavy.

Cut them in squares and rectangles

It does look much nicer.

Accidentally broke the wings off this ornament. But I don't care for wings on ornaments generally.

I take everything I said about the auger.  It is dreadfully heavy but it makes planting a ton of plants down to a quarter of the time.

The auger.  It runs about 300 with the bit.  It is very heavy but if you are planting a ton of plants at once, it is very very useful.  I planted 12 plants in about 2 hours.  It would have probably taken me 6 to 8 hours normally.

Weeds grow through the drainage of the poolside.  I am gonna use a herbicide.

This was cheaper than RoundUp

Bought an Orbit Telescopic Sprinkler at Lowe's.  Cost approx. $16.  I like it better than the gilmour.  It's mostly metal and much more sturdy and doesn't stop spinning.

The rye grass I feel had died, so as much as I hated to, I opted to water the lawn.  It is distracting and takes away from the garden when the grass is dead.

Trimmed up the Mexican Heather.  Note the popcorn trees.  May try making topiaries out of them.

Shaped them as rectangles

Fish oil has made a lot of the roses take off.  But I don't think it's coincindence that the roses that are screened are faring better.  The dark mulch makes them "hot" I feel.  I am screening and mulching layer by layer in 60 feet increments.  This will eventually all be screened.

Back porch.  Because of lighting there are bugs eating them often.  Considering getting an electric bug zapper.

I need to train these climbing golden showers up the pillar but I also have curtains on the pillar.  Will figure something out.

This area is pretty dense shade.  It never receives direct sunlight but the area is bright.