Always Growing

This post, “High Winds, Rain” was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana 

This afternoon, we had very high winds and rain come through.  My arbor was knocked over, and the top damaged slightly.  Hubby says it can be fixed.  Since my daughter gave me the arbor, I want to keep it as long as possible.  We also had several large tree limbs come down, but luckily they fell into the lawn and didn’t damage anything.  At least I do not think so - I couldn’t really get out in the yard to check everything - but standing on the porch, everything seems OK.  There was a small tornado that hit about 30 miles to the northwest of us with one fatality.  The severe weather didn’t last long thankfully.

But the severe weather did stop me from working in the garden.  At this time of year I seem to crave sun.  Well, tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and cool, so there is hope I can get out then.

Here is a picture of three Appleblossom amaryllis bulbs I planted in the late fall.  I have kept them outside on the porch so that the buds would only slowly develop.  I don’t plan for amaryllises to bloom at the holidays as many people do.  I feel they sometimes get lost in all the Christmas decorations, so I prefer to have them after the holidays when things are a bit dreary.  Keeping them away from the warmth of the house helps slow them down.  The buds are just starting to open.  In just a few days, they should be open, just in time for a bleak, rainy weekend that the forecasters tell us is on the way.  See, I told you they would be good for those dismal, gray winter days.

This post, “Redbud Is Our Groundhog” was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana 

While the rest of the country looks to the groundhog to tell if there will be six more weeks of winter, here, at our house, we look to the neighbor’s redbud tree.  This tree is the first redbud to bloom in the neighborhood, and it tells us that winter is over.

This morning, while taking a break from gardening and getting something to drink, I happened to glance out the kitchen window and something caught my eye.  It was the redbud tree in all its purplish-pink beauty being backlighted by the sun.  It was so striking.  I guess with all the cloudy, rainy weather we have been having lately, I didn’t notice it before today.  It was a surprise because there was not just a few flowers, but the entire tree was covered in blooms, almost as if it happened overnight.

Punxsutawney Phil may have told the rest of the nation that there will be six more weeks of winter, but here in Covington, Louisiana, Zelda’s redbud says that winter is over and spring is here.

This post, “Sunny Day=Work in Garden” was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana 

Today was our fourth sunny day in a row.  We haven’t had that many in over a month.  It was wonderful to get out in the garden and enjoy the warmth.  I was able to cut back more of the lirope and clean up the edge of the garden bed.  So far I’ve done about 75 feet.  I don’t even want to think how much is left.

I also started trimming back some Red Tip Photinia that has gotten too tall.  This is the third time I have done this, and already I can see where shoots are starting to come out inside the shrubs now that light is reaching into the interior.  I will have to have a magnolia limb above them trimmed back because it is casting too much shade over the Photinias causing them to get leggy.

I also started clearing out the south side of the property line in the front yard.  It used to have a row of large gardenia bushes when we moved in, but they gradually died.  Some oak trees grew there, and then I planted ferns.  It looked woodsy and made a nice property division.  Now, however, I find the whole side is looking overgrown.  The neighbor on the other side, who was a gardener, is now elderly and unable to keep up her side.  So I have decided to tackle this area to try and make it more presentable and extend some color over to that side of the yard.

Now that the cold weather has nipped the leaves off the fern fronds, I think it will be easier to deal with them. Today I cut back some oak and cherry seedlings that had sprung up in the last few years.  There are still some wild privet in there that has to be removed as well as some honeysuckle vine.  There are three medium oaks there now and that is enough shade.  I rooted several hydrangeas last year, and I am planning to place some in this area when I get it cleared out.  Also, some of my azaleas have had stems that rooted in place.  Last year I potted some up and will place those there, too.  I want some evergreen shrubs there to add to the shrubs on my neighbor’s side to make a more effective screen.

As I worked in the garden today, I did notice more signs that Mother Nature thinks spring is just around the corner.

First azalea bud ready to pop open

New azalea leaves showing.

This post, “Nothing To Do But Dream” was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana 

Well, a cold front moved through from the west about 4 pm, and it met a warm front from the south.  The result was thundershowers, blinding rain, and high winds just as I was getting home from work.  We had 1.37 inches of rain in about an hour and a half.  Once again, there were huge puddles of water in the yard.  We have had 7.3 inches of rain for the month of January. 

Now, the rain has stopped, and the temperatures are starting to drop.  I had thought I would be able to at least do some work in the garden this afternoon before the rains came.  But, that was not to be.  The weather forecasters all say that starting tomorrow there will be sun and pleasant temperatures.  I am looking forward to good weather for the next few days as I will be off until Thursday for the Mardi Gras holidays.  I can’t wait to get outside in the sun, do some clean up work in the garden, and take some photos.

As soon as I post this, I will sit down with some of my garden books and dream of warmer, drier days when I can get out and putter around in the garden.

This post, “Tomorrow Is Another Day” was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana 

Today started out rainy and cold, but it soon turned into cloudy and cold.  It rained yesterday and last night.  So far this month, we have had 5.56 inches of rain here at the house.  The puddles in the yard are starting to worry me because with all this rain, I’m afraid things will start to die.  I do have most plants in raised beds, but with all this rain even that does not sometimes help.  I couldn’t get out to do any kind of garden puttering - not even to just walk around and check things out.  When it remains cloudy and cold all day, all I can do is look at pictures like the one below and remember what the garden will soon look like.

Tomorrow is forcast to be sunny and warmer.  Maybe I’ll be able to get out and at least take some pictures.

This post, “Rain, Rain, Go Away” was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana 

It was rainy and cold again today.  The kind of day when all you want to do is stay indoors curled up in a blanket with a bowl of hot soup. The ground is awfully soggy.  I could only take a quick walk around the garden this afternoon.  There is going to be another freeze here tonight.  Even though it is not supposed to be a hard freeze, I did cover up most everything again.

The temperature today was not that low (42), but with the rain and the wind, it felt like it was much colder.  We have had almost 5 inches of rain in the last two weeks.  I know that come July, I will be wondering where all the rain is.  But, right now, we have had enough.

When the weather is as rainy as it has been lately, you really understand about good drainage for plants.  I garden where the soil has a lot of clay.  As I have started garden beds, I have added garden soil to raise the beds and also add compost.  Each year after that, I add compost, and lately I have started adding a thin layer of soil.  Since south Louisiana tends to get a great deal of rain at once instead of a little all year long, I’ve learned drainage is a must.

The drainage also helps with fungal diseases.  When the occasional deluge does come down, I have lost some plants to “the rot” as I call it.  I now plant things that are more adaptable to this climate.  Louisiana irises and calla lilies, for example, are plants that can take the water.  If it is a plant that doesn’t like sitting in water, like dahlias, I make sure to plant them high in a raised bed.  So far I have been lucky, and have not lost any since I have been doing that.

Powdery mildew can also be a problem here.  After a few bouts with this, I realized I needed to make sure there was good air circulation around the plants.  Also, esp. in the summer, overhead watering is to be avoided.  I found that out the year my hydrangeas had a severe powdery mildew problem.  Since I do not like to use any sprays, the plants looked pretty poor for a while.  To help combat this, I use soaker hoses now.

Tomorrow is not looking too good, but Saturday does hold some promise of better weather.  So to try and put a positive note on this cold, rain day - I can look at gardening books and dream, I have a good excuse for not weeding, and at least there are no mosquitoes.

This post, “Cold, Rainy Day” was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana 

Today it rained most of the day, and tonight it should be freezing by midnight.  We are expecting a low of 27.  The rain gauge shows 1.29 inches of rain fell.  It was a slow, soft rain which means that there was no run off, and all the rain has to soak into the ground.  There are still puddles in the yard tonight, and it stopped raining around noon.

With the low temperatures that are expected tonight, I had to protect the tender vegetation.  I had not moved very many plants since the last freeze, so I just had to cover them again.  There is supposed to be a light freeze again Sunday night, so I won’t really uncover anything until Monday.

Because of all the rain and the ground being so wet, I hated walking around the yard when I was trying to protect the plants.  Of course, I had no choice, but it is annoying.  The ground gets compacted, and it doesn’t help the grass any.

I guess I am finding everything about the weather today annoying because with a three day weekend, I was looking forward to being out and working in the garden.  I may still be able to work on Monday, at least I hope that things will dry out enough that I can do something.  There is still a great deal of yard work to do.  Winter weeds need to be dealt with, some pruning needs to be done - you know, a garden is never finished kind of things.  The kind of things that a good three day weekend would allow to get done. 

Because of our mild winters, Gulf Coast gardeners never really have to stop working their gardens.  It is during the hot summers that we don’t do too much.  I don’t know if I could live in the northern latitudes.  I can understand how anxious those gardeners must be to get outside and work in their gardens.  Our long growing season allows us to garden almost year round. After working inside all week, being able to garden or just go outside and walk around the garden is important to my mental health. I guess I miss that, and that is why I am so grumpy tonight.

I know I won’t be able to work outside tomorrow, so I am planning on starting all my seeds.  If I am able to do that, I’ll post an update on what I plant.

This post, “Rain and Planting High” was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana 

Today started with fog which later turned into rain.  We haven’t had a tremendous amount, but it has been raining softly on and off for hours.  A thunderstorm is now heading our way and should bring even more rain. 

We get a lot of rain here in south Louisiana.  Add to this the tropical storms and hurricanes that come through and can give us tremendous amounts of rain in just hours, you’ll understand why it is sometimes so hard to garden here.  This is one of the reasons that everything I plant is planted high.  When I first started gardening, I did lose a few plants until the elderly man next door told me how to plant for this environment.  I lost two oak leaf hydrangeas until I finally planted one almost half way out of the ground and then just piled soil around it.  That one survived.  There are a few spots in the garden that are a little low and that is where Louisiana irises are planted - they can take the water if it sits some. 

The soil here is also high in clay and that is another reason to place plants high.  Azaleas, hydrangeas, roses, etc. - everything I plant is at least a third to half way above the soil line.  I have had great success planting this way, even though no one has ever recommended doing it by that much.

The weather forecasters are predicting that this weekend will be better weather - cooler, no rain.  I hope so because there are many gardening tasks waiting for me.

Little soapstone rabbit in ivy