New Growth

Going out last night to take some pictures around the backyard, I found that two new plants were starting to bud up. These are two that came with the house, that we cut down to ground level just after the house was officially ours - so two months ago. Since then they've grown like crazy to about 2 1/2 feet high and 3 feet wide. Here's one of the many buds forming on the Salvia Leucantha.

This guy was just a tiny, scraggly little thing when we first got to it because of the towering oleander just next to it, depriving it of sunlight and any moisture in the ground. But since cutting all the pathetic little bits off it above ground and watering about 3 times a week for the past two months, it's become a beautiful, if flowerless, mass of shrub.

As to the Oleander next to it, this is a light pink double flowers one that looked just pathetic when we came round. I gave Patrick the okay to chop it down right away but when he gave up trying tot remove the large stump, I decided to try watering it, pretty sure that a shrub as vigorous as an oleander would be coming back.

I'm very happy with the way both of these have bounced back, much healthier than before. So much so that I also finally got the big loppers out and cut down the Hibiscus next to them. Ever since then though, I've been thinking each time I look at it that I should cut the old branches a bit closer to the ground. I'm so lazy. But I'm seeing new growth on it already regardless.

On to the back of the yard, the small bed that we dug out at the beginning of the month keeps getting bigger. The original plants have easily doubled in size and I transplanted a rose there about a month and a half ago, just before we moved in. As a result of which it dried up in its first few days and lost all its leaves after about three weeks. It was completely my fault so I, in shame, never mentioned it on the blog again. But in the past two weeks, it has started to come back to life so I'll no longer hide my pictures of it.

It really does have the most beautiful leaves of all the eleven roses we got with the house. I'm so glad I didn't kill it. Actually, even if I'd killed it, I have one more. We noticed also about two weeks ago that there was a sprout growing up out of the hole we left when we moved the rose. Somewhere down there a very persistent root decided to grow even though I never watered it. It's getting the water it wants now though and who knows, it might be true to its parent.

In addition, I already showed a picture of the place we moved the next rose transplant from, from in front of the garage to the back of the yard. Here's a picture of it, two days after the move. I trimmed of the wilty ends off the canes the night after the transplant and while the leaves still feel a bit like lettuce left out too long, I think this second night it looks a bit better. Or at least better than the other rose did after transplanting.

So that's on the left side of the planting bed, next to where we'll have a pergola eventually. On the right side, I have planted about 20 Tall Irises which I hear from our neighbor, might be blue. This weekend, I finally got to digging up and dividing the ton of Irises that had come under the fence into our yard over the past decade. After getting through the planting, it was so dark that I didn't take any pictures, but I swear, three days later, the new little blades have grown longer.

And yes, I am aware that I have planted them waaaay to close together, but that's just me, I'll dig them up again next spring when they're choking each other again and move them around the yard. I find that I always plant things too close together. Just take a look at a photo of the full planting bed.

The Coreopsis are taking over everything. The Geum is growing into the Coreopsis. The baby foxgloves will probably be slowly covered over by the Coreopsis. And once that sheared lavender comes back it will be pushing against the Agastache. But that's okay, for me, a crowded garden makes me happy. And I don't mind digging up the plants again and again to move them when they get to full size.

And while I'm showing you a full picture of this bed, take a look at this picture from July 26 - just a month and a half ago. Told you, they've doubled in size - at least.

The only other thing I can really talk about in our still very untended yard is our lemon tree. During the month before we moved into the house, we harvested just about all the healthy yellow citrus from the tree but I can now see tons of new lemons, already bigger than the lemons you get in the store and still green.

I finally bought a fruit picker this last weekend and did my best to get all the fruit that has been dive bombing the potted shade plants I put under the lemon tree. In the process I got a sack-full of good lemons and we made some lemonade. I think we're growing attached to this tree.