Re: Weekend events

Cyndi,
Good luck on your shopping for horsepower. Just don't kick the tires. They don't really appreciate that.

Kitty
neIN, Zone 5
----- Original Message ----- From: "Johnson Cyndi D Civ 95 CG/SCSRT" <cyndi.johnson@edwards.af.mil>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2006 12:22 PM
Subject: [CHAT] Weekend events


Whew you guys were very chatty over the weekend! Gardening season must
be winding down.
We had a nice time at the Virginia Robinson Gardens in Beverly Hills on
Friday. It was more interesting than I expected given the photographs on
their web site, and I would have liked to have spent more time in the
Mediterranean garden area. I'll try to remember to put up some pictures.
There were several levels to the garden, with a wonderful brick walkway,
a "singing stair" waterfall - that's what the docent called it, a pretty
little channel cut into the stairs so you could listen to the water
gurgling down as you walked. Citrus trees, some succulents, lots of
lavender, coral trees, camellias, many nice plants. The tropical garden
was stuffed with palm trees, clivia, ferns, and liriope - but frankly I
felt it was overgrown. Nice banyan tree though. There was a very cute
little greenhouse covered with morning glory and a tiny kitchen garden,
about the size of one of my vegetable garden beds. They give you
glimpses of the inside of the pool house and the main house too.
Sunday I finally got into the garden. Ahhhhhhh. Although so much to do!
I needed to plant the bulbs I bought from Old House Gardens and I
decided to put them into the area we dug out of the front lawn. But I
hadn't figured out what else to put in there, and if I planted the bulbs
I would forget where they were under the mulch and maybe dig them up.
What to do...okay, put markers down for where I might want rosebushes,
and then divide some daylilies like I've been meaning to do for a couple
years now and put them near the bulbs. On my way with the shovel. But
wait, there's a couple amaryllis belladonna bulbs sticking out of that
bed on the front walkway, they didn't bloom this year, why not add them.
So I jabbed my shovel in deep and heaved. Up came the two bulbs, I pull
them out. Underneath are about four bulbs. Next to them are more. I
ended up digging out fourteen bulbs out of this area about the size of
my shovel blade, and these are not small bulbs either, they're about the
size of a nice baking potato. Onto the daylilies. Take some here, some
from there, and how about that nice pink one on the other side. Oooh...a
lot of grass in there. Pull up grass. Dig up daylily - which is easily
three times the size I thought it was, well they've died down quite a
bit already. Okay, divide that into two chunks, divide each chunk into
fans to replant. Hmmm...area I dug it out of is now too small to hold
the divisions. More weeding. Now I'm into it about two hours and I still
haven't planted anything in the new bed!  I also dug some bearded iris
out of the teahouse garden. Finally got all the divisions planted and
hopefully the weather will cooperate while they settle in.
Then I weeded in the teahouse garden, that's looking okay. I definitely
made a mistake planting cistus there, they are too big. I'm not good at
pulling things out but I should do it. I also ought to replace the
Japanese maple with something different, it just is not happy, maybe it
would do better in a pot on my patio.
We did have a frost or at least a very cold night last week, two days
after I raided the peppers I came out to find them all black and
withered. The two tomatoes that were actually living got hit a little
bit, the basil is gone. So we let the chickens out to dig up what they
can; I put chicken wire over my herbs but I couldn't find anything to
put over the parsley in the other bed. Eh...I don't use that much of it,
and there's plenty in the freezer.
I spent all day Saturday looking at horses for sale. Haven't bought one
yet although I did see a gelding I really liked; we're going to Las
Vegas mid-week to check out one my sister might want and might be good
for me if she doesn't. I am so glad to have her expertise, she sees
things that some owners are not going to tell a newbie like me, it's
been eye-opening.

Cyndi

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