Frost

We had our first frost a few nights ago. Most things that are still blooming took it well. But most of the coleus has died. I'll have to get out there soon and pull up all the dead stuff. The last batch of daylilies planted all seem to be adjusting. As well as the plants from the sale. The new tree is doing well too. So I'm happy.

Class was cancelled last week. And this coming week, I'm not sure if I'll be going or not. Tuesday is Halloween, and I kinda feel like I need to be here. I'm going to call Charlene and see what Pandora has planned. If it is the stuff she has targeted for me, then I guess I can go in late or something.

Next weekend the square ladies are off to the mountains for the weekend. I can not wait! It's going to be a blast. The square, as we call it, are the four neighbors we hang with the most. Our houses are all next to each other, and they form a square. So we are ditching men and kids, and heading off to Valle Crucis, NC. We've rented the cabin that our family stayed in last year. It's going to be a great time. Hopefully Momma will come home with a new Coach!

New plants from sale, plus a few extra

A Cosmos, that is supposed to be last on this post, but will not go where it is supposed to be. Not from the sale, just blooming prettily in the yard.

Toad lilies from the sale - They bloom in the fall, and each bloom is only about an inch big.

Some sort of perennial sunflower. I stupidly forgot the name. Grrr.

American Beauty Berry - The bright purple berries show up in the fall. Gets to about 5-8 feet tall. Very ornamental, tho not edible. Except for the birds.

Pretty white cosmos

Class notes

So tonights class was about solving our problems, and getting idea's from Pandora about our situations. But she did have some information on the board for us to write down about Natural Fertilizers. So here it is:

Blood Meal: High in Nitrogen - good for annuals

Fish Meal: High levels of nitrogen, and phosporic acid - Apply to lawns and Roses

Bone Meal: High in phosporus - encourages root growth, and is good for flowering shrubs

Composted Poultry Manure: High in Nitrogen

Kelp: High in nitrogen and phosporus

These two items, Nitrogen and Phosporus are the things plants need the most. Nitrogen for healthy leaf and stem growth. It does not stay in the soil long, so you need to soil test to watch your levels. To much Nitrogen will cause plants to put out a lot of green, and little flower.

Phosporus is what plants use to put down good roots, and to put out nice flowers.

So these two items are key to any good garden soil.

She also had two companion planting suggestions. Marigolds to keep the aphids at bay. And Nasturtiums to repel all sorts of bugs in the veggie garden.

Pandora brought me a pull out from some book about cottage gardens. When she saw pictures of my yard, her mouth dropped. She could not believe that I had done all that in two years. So that made me happy. She suggestion to me tho, does not fit what I see in my mind. She thought that instead of adding more beds to the back, that I should just enlarge the ones I already have. However, she is not a fan of island beds. Sooooo.... I'm not sure what my next step will be. I kinda like the idea of enlarging the one bed, but as for the middle of the yard, there is no bed to there to enlarge. So I am not sure what to do there. More winter contemplating.

I brought in seeds for everyone in the class. And Pandora brought in seeds for the class too. I got some coneflower seeds, moonflower vine seeds, and perennial moonflower seeds. So that is very neato!

I know I still need to post the new flower pics. Just been to busy to do it yet. But plans have changed for the rest of this week, so perhaps tomorrow or Thursday I can get them posted.

Plant sale and stuff

Man am I tired. I got up early to go to the Tryon Palace plant sale this morning. Scored big time! I got a lot of plants that have been on my wish list. So I am tickled. I will post pictures of them sometime soon. Just to tired to do it now.

Anyway, came home from that, and then ran down to Carolina Home and Garden to pick up a new tree for the front yard. As you may can tell in the Halloween decor pics, the dogwood tree is not happy there. So I moved it to the back yard in a hopefully better place. And in front, we now have a Chinese Fringe tree.

After that, I spent all afternoon in the backyard, pulling weeds, moving a few more plants, and doing general fall clean up.

Tonight we hung out with the neighbors some, then had big E over for a while. Now I am ready for bed, but the kids aren't home yet.... You know how that goes.

However, I am THRILLED to report, that I only got 1 fire ant bite today, and my back doesn't hurt near as bad as it would have a few months ago. So this is a good thing!

Lots of stuff...

Front of house decorated for Halloween

Full house. The ghost on the left, flies from left to right... very cute

Here it is lit up at night. I've added more since this... Never finished.

$170. later, and the daylily seedlings are (hopefully) all tucked in for the winter. This set up leaves me two more shelves for the seeds I've yet to start, and for starting other flower seeds in the spring. I still need to get something to wrap the back and sides, but this is good for right now. I am very tickled! Now. Please start praying that I don't kill them all over the winter! LOL

Third landscaping class was tonight. I very much enjoyed it. And once again I was told I should be teaching the class. That really irritates the heck out of me, when I hear that. This is only my second year of seriously gardening. I only know what I need to know for MY yard. Now yes, that also applies to a lot of other peoples yards, and I freely share that info if asked. But there is Everest sized mountains of things I do not know. Which is why I am taking the class. Anybody could know what I know if they would just take the time to learn it.

So tonight we learned about centipede grass. I learned a little. Some I knew, some I didn't, and some I disagreed with, but kept my mouth shut. :) Also learned how to trim a Crape Mrytle. I will be going out to look at my two tomorrow with this new knowledge and see if there is anything I need to prune on them.

I also learned that in my laziness with our pond, that I was actually doing a good thing. As far as over wintering the fish are concerned anyway. A dirty pond is a good thing for them. Leaves them places to hide, and things to eat over the winter. So I guess I will just leave that alone until the spring.

And! I have homework!! I am actually excited to do it, but I just know it's going to be as much of a pain as any homework I've ever had. I have to map out our entire yard. I have been meaning to do this anyway, but ... Never got around to it. So, tomorrow I will go get some graph paper, and get started. I'm actually going to do it a little more detailed than she would like, just so that I will have it done for my purposes as well. That way, I do not have to do it twice.

Tonight I lent Margaret the book I told her I'd bring. And on the way out this evening, the other Canadian's in class talked to me about Daylilies, so I told them I'd bring my work book for them to see. They have no idea what they are? Seems weird to me.

I haven't been in the back yard for what feels like forever. I went out tonight with a flashlight, because I remembered the Toad Lilies should be blooming. I totally missed the white one. All that is left on it is shrivelled up flowers. But the red one still hasn't flowered yet, so hopefully I will not be so busy again as to miss it too.

Oh well... such is life. There is always next year....

Second Landscaping Class

Yeah! I think now, I will really enjoy this class. The new teacher, Pandora, is around 50 years old, looks about 45 or so. And is a real hoot! She was raised over in Pamlico county, but lives/works in my county, which is Craven. She told us she has planted a large percentage of the public plantings we see. So that is kinda cool.

So basically this class was us getting to know her, and her getting to know us, and the types of problems we are each having in our yards. That took up a large amount of time because we discussed peoples different issues. But I did learn something very important!

Lowes get their plants and flowers delivered on Tuesdays and Fridays. That little tidbit right there can save you a lot of money. Lowes is a store like Home Depot. They do not hire plant experts in the nursery dept. They don't teach their workers how to care for the plants, nor how to water, which ones to put in shade, etc. So if you can get the plants fresh.... They have got a lot better chance of living.

I also learned this about Mums. Plant them in the fall, after the first hard frost it'll die. In the spring, it will come back from the ground. After the first flush, cut it back to the ground. Then, let it grow and do it's thing. Around July 4th, you cut it back till only 1/3 is left. Then by the fall, it will be blooming again. So this is good to know, since I planted about 10 mums in the new front bed.

Next week, we are going to do a walking tour of the CCC campus, and learn how to prune a crape mrytle. I will eventually need to know how to do this. But mine are only 3 or 4 feet tall, and they are slow growing. So by the time I need to prune, I'll probably have forgotten how to do it!

But, I am liking the people in this class, so I really thinks it's going to be fun.