| August 5, 2004 Yesterday, I fertilized the roses again. The wedding roses are doing beautifully now. I discovered that the old red/white rose that came with the house is probably a "Love" rose. I also think the pink rose might be "Summer Dream." My cosmos, which did so while for a while, are now pretty much brown and dead. They never got tall, and when I Miracle Grow-ed them, they got very unhappy. I weeded the side bed yesterday, but the snow in summer seems to be keeping most weeds at bay. The snow in summer in the back portion of this bed is either getting under- or over-watered. I assume over-watered, since I water everything at the same time, but my neighbor waters her lawn-with lots of overspray--every day. I ordered some saffron crocus from VanDyck's today. Only $14 (with shipping) for 36 bulbs. Ideas for next year: * Must, must have some blue poppies (meconopsis), either Willie Duncan or Jimmy Bayne, in addition to the lighter Grande Cobb. * When planting sunflower seeds, stagger the planting weekly, to prolong blooms * There is such a thing as reblooming daylilies?? Must have some. * The best annual this year has been petunias, followed by cosmos. The snapdragons are pretty, but don't bloom for long and have a dormant period between blooms. * Lavender: Prune in the spring, to within one inch of the old wood, for the fullest plant with lots of blooms |
 |
| August 6, 2004 The other day I found what I thought was a weed, sneakily hiding beneath a mum. I yanked it out, only to discover it was a bulb�or a walnut tree, or something. I couldn't imagine. So I posted a pic at hgtv's gardening board, and one person said: "Is it a dahlia?" Doh! I had planted a bunch of dahlias that didn't pop up; I accidentally dug up one, and it was rotten. So I assumed all the tubers that didn't come up were rotten. But comparing the leaves, I think yes, it is a dahlia! I had already thrown it away, however, so I ran outside and took everything out of the garbage can. The plant looked unhappy, but not dead. I planted it today, and watered it well. Boy, do I feel stupid. |
| I also cut back the wedding roses�darn things climb like crazy and produce more foliage than blooms. I cleaned up the black spotted leaves well, and discovered several leaves that were curled. I removed those, too, and sprinkled all the roses with cornmeal. Yesterday, I tried spraying vinegar on some weeds in the driveway. I used 5% acidity, since I haven't been able to find anything stronger. It seems to have worked! The weeds I sprayed all look brown and dead. One dandelion has some green on it, but looks mostly dead. I think I'm gonna have to search harder for 10 or 20%! |
| Sunflower. |
| August 7, 2004 Today, I finished weeding the side bed. This is the first year I feel like I'm ahead of the weeds! It gets easier and easier. I also dug up some bulbs from the front bed, that were poking their heads out of the ground. I divided the bigger clump of daffodils, and planted them in the side bed, in front of the rose bush. The grape hyacinths, which are *everywhere*, I spread out throughout the front bed. I watered the snow in summer thoroughly, convinced that somehow they aren't getting enough water. I also obseved that among all the different colored alyssum I planted this spring, the pink does the best. |
 |