Sue's personal timeline, a place to collect and share things from Sue's life.
Created by Sue94 on Apr 20, 2010
Last updated: 07/09/10 at 01:46 AM
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I walked out in the back this afternoon and was greeted by at least three blooms apiece on stalks where I'd never seen more than one before! And there is a whole 'nother scape ready to burst open. I am awash in giddiness. These are gorgeous glowing things in the early dusk, and they are fully four to five feet tall, healthy as horses.Whether the difference has been our drought-drought-freeze-flood-freeze-freeze-flood winter, or the fact that they got Buds 'n Blooms both this spring and last, I do not know. But I know they will be getting more Buds n' Blooms. Here's a closeup: Bookkeeping: Last weekend I planted 10 Siberian iris "Caesar's Brother," 3 asiatic lily "Lollipop" and one lavender calla in the northeast corner of the back bed (a forlorn barren spot by the gate).
http://sues-garden.blogspot.com/2010/04/well-if-i-thought-spuria-looked-good.html
They're Dutch irises! Purple ones, really tall. I didn't separate them yet like my good friend Nelda told me to, but I did give 'em a good round of fertilizer. My friend Christine says her mystery irises bloomed this season too, so I think I will blame it on the weird weather conditions rather than my good care. Them being Dutch, I can see how they might like a good series of freezes followed by a lot of water. I'm not sure I can undertake to provide that for 'em every year though. Hmmm... I just ordered more Dutch iris (before I knew what these habitual non-bloomers were)... I better find someplace where I want tall, green, non-flowering foliage.
http://sues-garden.blogspot.com/2010/04/mystery-iris-have-bloomed.html
Here it is the first weekend in April and my Duchesse de Brabant bush is covered, just exploding with buds. She's already given me three fat frilly roses, currently scenting the bedroom:Last weekend I was amazed to find five of my Thalia jonquils sporting lovely, pure-as-snow white flowers, two to a stem. The blooms are larger even than I had expected (this is the first year they've bloomed for me) but with that stunning graceful form that looks almost more like an orchid than a narcissus; the scent is pure paperwhite narcissus, though. These two came to work with me and spent the week making my desk happy, along with a miniature Parade rose that I think might be Apollo Parade:And the weekend before that, I was stunned to see blooms on my tiny. tiny Louisiana jonquils, which like the Thalia did not bloom their first spring, but must have enjoyed our conditions this year -- drought, freeze, flood, freeze, neglect, freeze, flood. Hmph. They're also called Early Louisiana jonquils, which fits 'cause they did come up first -- middle of March. Tiny things, and sweet-scented -- I zoomed in close for detail here. Also borne in pairs:Since I have planted a drift of, say, five bulbs each year, I am now starting to get the effect of a few dozen wide paintbrush strokes that appear in green at first, then flame into a different color as each week rolls on. This fall, I think, if I put in some Iris reticulata and perhaps a peachy white jonquil, I'll be able to expand the magic a few weeks (and a few colors). Off to place my order!
http://sues-garden.blogspot.com/2010/04/catching-up-on-three-weekends-of-garden.html
This is not so much in the nature of an interview as it is my notes from a chat with wise gardener Nelda Moore, whom I met at the Zilker Garden while she was watering irises. I told her I have some spuria and some mystery iris that don't like to bloom (which I think are bearded) and she gave me advice.Spuria iris: They like rose food, so just give 'em what I'm giving the roses they're planted with. They go dormant in the heat -- but don't cut the dead foliage till it's completely dead, like in July or August. Louisiana iris: A row of them were growing in giant soggy buckets there, and Moore said they'd also take to a sunny spot with drip irrigation. Look for blooms in April. Hold a leaf up to the light -- if you see tiny horizontal flecks, looking a lot like the slubs in dupioni silk, it's a Louisiana. No flecks = spuria.Mystery/bearded iris that aren't blooming: If they're in a big clump, divide them and replant about 12" apart in new soil. They love new soil. Don't plant the rhizomes very deep or they won't bloom. Give them full sun, and also water in some bonemeal every February and September (Valentine's Day and Labor Day is the mnemonic).Iris reticulata: Not only can they grow in the ground here, they are about the first thing to bloom in spring! Them and grape hyacinths, she said.My thanks to a lovely lady! She also noted they're having an iris show April 17.
http://sues-garden.blogspot.com/2010/03/chat-with-nelda-moore.html
Today I redid all our flowerpots on the front and back porches. Amazingly, the garish pinwheel-looking impatiens on the front porch survived for two years, through drought and freezes, until a month or so ago when we had what must have been one freeze too many.Delicate "Sorbet" violas went into every pot -- the Natural Gardener had an incredibly lovely color for sale this year and I just bought half a flat of it, never mind trying to mix and match colors. There isn't any color of "Sorbet" violas I don't love, but this one is a cream shade with a very delicate feathery thin edge of lavender-blue. I think it must be the one called "Coconut Swirl." Anyway, I just slathered it into every pot; the nursery also was selling some particularly nice "Parade" miniature roses -- perfect hybrid tea form in a pale blush ("Breeze Parade"?) and also a creamy white with a tiny pink tinge to the edges ("Bianca Parade"?), so I mixed those in with a few rosemary sprigs. I'm pretty sure the rosemary won't enjoy the same conditions as the violas and roses, but it's a very tough little plant so we'll see. I'm tired of not having any rosemary to nibble on and cook with, so I will take what I can get.Then I fertilized all the narcissus and iris. Both the spuria iris I planted and the mystery iris I inherited have come up strong this year, but not a bud scape among them -- I'm hoping the "Buds and Blooms" (aka magical rabbit poo) will fix that. The new Narcissus "Grand Primo" are huge, but only managed a couple of flowers as of yet; the new ones are even larger than the established "Grand Primos." The "Thalia" narcissus came up a little smaller, and the early Louisiana jonquils are just spindly little things ... but with buds! They've never bloomed for me before, so I'm very excited.
http://sues-garden.blogspot.com/2010/03/mini-roses-violas-rosemary-and.html
Today I plunked down a replacement for Olly, the mystery red rose that had established itself so strongly on the side of our house (we called him Olly because his huge branches looked like tentacles)... he was doing beautifully till I got ahold of him. Injudicious overpruning on my part, at the wrong time of year, to boot, did Olly in. So with sadness, today I cut down his old tentacles and put in a New Dawn climbing rose -- this one sold by the A&M EarthKind people, so it's been raised in Texas weather, transplanted when dormant in a biodegradable pot. EarthKind also means it's chosen to do well without excessive spraying and feeding. I have high hopes for him (not to be confused with my High Hopes climber in the backyard, still alive despite drought and freezes).About those droughts and freezes... so as I was recovering from surgery early last year, my sweet husband dug me a rose bed in the front yard. We happily ordered roses... and then just before they arrived he had a cycling accident, and broke his collarbone. Since I still couldn't bend down very well, we just kept the bareroot roses in buckets and pushed it as long as we could... naturally when we did get them planted, they were weak, and didn't last long.Ah well, we said, and ordered a new batch. Then we had one of the worst droughts Texas has had... we ran a watering system to their roots but not in time... and those died.Ah well, we said, and ordered a new batch. These were planted right away, with the drip watering system working beautifully, and started producing prize-winner blossoms even as they were still getting rooted in their new home.And then AT&T dug up the bed. Rose bodies flew everywhere as the workers made a big chasm to whichever wires they needed to reach. The workers did their best to move the plants aside, and actually did try to stay in touch with us about the work... but my husband was hit by another driver on his way home from work at the end of December, and I spent a week with him in the hospital and then got him moved to a physical rehab where I visited him after work every day.I didn't even look at the rosebed for weeks. Meanwhile, "Snowpocalypse '09" moved in -- infamous in our region for bringing more frenzied preparation than actual precipitation, but still bashing our new little plants with freezing temperatures as they lay in their temporary spots on either side of the rocky ditch that had been our neat, mulched rosebed.A dear friend wrapped her towels around our roses... AT&T did their best to put everything back... we only wound up losing three plants, all told. (Out of about 10.) So now things are holding steady; I'm watering and watching as needed; and when we both recover a bit we'll replace the fallen and fill in the hole (despite AT&T's efforts -- which were pretty good -- there is a concavity where the dirt settled in).Whew!
http://sues-garden.blogspot.com/2010/02/new-climbing-rose-planted-plus-disaster.html
Well, it's official: All the rosebushes that have been struggling along the increasingly shaded fence (our bur oaks are getting big), plus six brand-new ones, have been newly installed in a flowerbed my genius husband invented at the northeast corner of our yard. The genius part: It's a corner so sunny that the grass never got a good grip, meaning it was sparse and weedy -- but the roses will love it.He put in several weekends' worth of labor digging it out, edging, weeding and preparing it, then transplanted all our rosebushes. A batch did not survive, so we ordered more, and now there are a total of nine or ten teas and floribundas, plus two miniature roses -- all labeled, with a new watering system tucked at their roots, under a blanket of fresh, sweet-scented cypress mulch.It's so beautiful it actually draws us out to spend time in the front yard. Thinking of how it will be when there are pink, coral, cream, red and yellow blooms to cut makes me absolutely giddy! (Mister Lincoln, Aromatherapy, Spellbound, Gemini, Full Sail, New Zealand, Rainbow Sorbet, Gypsy Carnival, Elegant Lady and two anonymous grocery store minis.)Two roses that were doing well on the fence remain in their spots: Belinda's Dream and the McCartney Rose were doing so well we did not want to dig them up. Luckily they are at either end of the fence and sort of bookend it in pink blossoms.
http://sues-garden.blogspot.com/2009/06/new-rose-garden-planted.html
With Jason's help again, took another sunny garden stroll today. The plants in pots on the deck have taken a beating with all the dry cold (although the Mexican oregano continues to appear unkillable and Larry the Lemon is, as Jason phrased it, thanking us for bringing him in on the really cold nights by covering himself with buds and blooms -- even without the benefit of Rabbit Hill Farm's Buds & Blooms, aka magical rabbit poo.The new Thalia and Grand Primo have almost all sprouted, as have the new Louisiana jonquils -- though the latter have unhealthy brown tips on their sprouts that worry me. The established Grand Primo appear at least a couple of weeks ahead of the new ones, two to four inches tall! (Or else I planted them two to four inches shallower :)Bella'roma and, particularly, Sonia have lots of clean new growth, and the climbing roses look spindly but half leafed out. Didn't visit the outside roses today, so don't know about them. And Jason reports the potted impatiens on the front porch are droopy, but alive.
http://sues-garden.blogspot.com/2009/01/narcissus-poking-up-their-little-green.html
With Jason's help I just took an actual walk in my sunny garden (I'm recovering from back surgery, it's 75 degrees and sunny outside and it's Christmas Eve). All seems in better shape than when I was tending it! This despite freezes, neglect, etc. The new Sternbergia lutea seem to have taken hold -- lots of foliage -- and the two roses in the backyard bed (Sonia and Bella'roma) look healthier than they have in months. 'Course it is winter so they're not boiling hot, plus they get more sun since the bur oaks have dropped their leaves. But mostly, I'm sure, they're just glad I haven't been out there messing with them!Plus, Larry the Lemon Tree has two lovely yellow fruit and a crop of new flowers. Feliz Navidad!
http://sues-garden.blogspot.com/2008/12/neglect-best-fertilizer.html
I need to get out there and mark the spot, but I popped six "fall crocus" into the ground on Sunday. More bulbs coming -- and it's been so long that I forgot what I ordered! So it's a little like Christmas. I think I got more Grand Primo. I remember putting a lot of thought into this back in the spring, but I've slept since then.
http://sues-garden.blogspot.com/2008/10/planted-sternbergia-lutea.html
Just saw an HGTV show that described an extremely simple composter that could fit in the back corner of our yard. He described a 3x3 wire cube that you just set on the ground and fill with layers "like a lasagna."Twigs on the bottom provide for some air circulationBrown and green leaves, clippings, etc. provides leaf mold, carbon and nitrogenA shake of blood meal accelerates decompositionWater it till all is about like a damp sponge.Also he showed these biodegradable bags, which I found online in Gardener's Supply Co.'s beguilingly named "Compost Accessories" section, into which you can put all your green/planty kitchen bits (but no fatty foods or meats) and just toss the whole bag into the composter. A little online digging reveals there's no need for the expensive ceramic crock unless you want its carbon filter to control the smell. Just toss the bags more often, is what I say.
http://sues-garden.blogspot.com/2008/09/simple-composter.html
Yesterday Jason and I noticed the schoolhouse lilies have gone insane.Their bloom time is short, but this is the biggest flush of color we have seen from them yet. The abuse heaped on their heads is manifold: It's been a punishingly dry summer, and I never replanted them from last year's very WET summer, when the soggy ground dried so fast it actually heaved the bulbs partway out of the ground.So the bulbs are partly exposed, never watered and in crummy alkaline clay soil. What are they doing? Multiplying like weeds!We not only have more blooms than ever this year, the stand is spreading, and another round of bloom stalks are on the rise, which should double the show.I love these bulbs! They were worth every penny!
http://sues-garden.blogspot.com/2008/09/schoolhouse-lilies-run-riot.html
My mom came to visit recently, and we wandered happily through a lot of local nurseries. I got some interesting additions:A lovely lantana, "Olivia" -- pink and gold like the clouds at sunrise.A rain lily -- the flower on this one seems immense to me. White with a faint pink sheen. Planted in the bed where its foliage looks exactly like our weeds. Predicting trouble there.There was a variety of ruellia with small, oval leaves and a horizontal habit that I'd never seen before, so I got two and stuck them under our cedar elms. If they're as vigorous as our regular ruellia, I think I've solved the baldness problem back there. Possibly they are "creeping ruellia."An incredibly healthy torenia is now brightening our big planter on the back patio.Mom brought us a big sweet olive shrub -- she got three big $29 plants that were in bad shape and the nursery owner sold them to her for $5, but she hadn't found a place to plant the third one. So we happily glommed on to it, plus I bought a little one because lately I've had trouble finding the big ones. So those two need to find spots someplace.
http://sues-garden.blogspot.com/2008/08/new-arrivals-lantana-sweet-olive-rain.html
I know this is a garden blog, not a bird blog, but it's been in the nineties here for weeks with hardly any rain; our plants are all dead or dormant. By far the most exciting thing to happen in my garden in months is this PAINTED BUNTING! (Photo quality not great - taken through window.)Below him is Stumpy, our cardinal.And here is one of our green anoles displaying his throat fan for the ladies.
http://sues-garden.blogspot.com/2008/07/bunting-buntingbuntingbunting.html
Yesterday I secured another bag of Rabbit Hill Farms' Buds and Blooms. We've used it on our lemon tree for years, but recently I had some leftovers I needed to use and sprinkled it on the spuria iris -- now blooming for the first time in three years, though that could be just because they've finally settled in, too.Anyway, I doused nearly everybody with it -- crapes, roses, spuria iris, daylilies, narcissus and oxblood lily foliage. Then watered. We'll see!
http://sues-garden.blogspot.com/2008/04/magical-rabbit-poo.html
That's Hasarya at the top and Protege below. I realize they look nearly the same! I planted other colors but they have not bloomed yet.The roses are starting to come out, too. That is, Olly is covered in flowers, High Hopes has probably six or seven, Don Juan and McCartney have one each, and there are buds galore. My plan is to hit everybody with some Buds n' Blooms and see where we get!It's starting to get a bit warm for the pansies. Or perhaps I mean dry. The hose timer's goofed up and nobody's been getting their regular watering. Probably time to replace the timer and maybe buy some impatiens while I'm at it.
http://sues-garden.blogspot.com/2008/04/spuria-blooms-on-both-hasarya-and.html
I'm so excited. It's the first time they've budded. When I planted them in 2005, I noted that they were supposed to get heavy fertilization, but then I never fed them. Each year there's been big strappy healthy growth, but no blooms. And to be honest, I thought they were supposed to bloom in fall -- turns out it's mid-April to mid-May. But about three weeks ago when I planted the new daylilies, I gave everybody a heaping helping of Rabbit Hill Farm's "Buds and Blooms" mix, which we think is absolutely magical fairy dust for our lemon tree.And lo and behold, there are buds. Some of the markers have gotten knocked down over the years, but one that I am sure of with buds is Protege, a purple-gold mix. The others will be a surprise, but no doubt lovely surprises, as all the ones I planted were mixes or solids of blue, gold and purple.I had nearly given up on them, and all I needed to do was feed them. Dang! Or maybe it was just time; the growing tips do say, "Do not expect peak performance until the third year." It also says I should fertilize them again after the blooms. Also perhaps in the fall. And they may be too close together, as these notes say they "resent" being transplanted!Pretty much everybody says they need lots of fertilizer, preferably balanced (or high in phosphorus to encourage bloom), and these folks say to fertilize 'em every 2-3 weeks after danger of frost is past.
http://sues-garden.blogspot.com/2008/04/buds-on-spuria-iris-yahooooo.html
Just now stuck 'Bradley' in the ground, mere moments ago. He's possibly a little too close to the cedar elms, but we'll see what he does. Right now, of course, he only looks like a giant onion with an old, chopped-off six-inch stem coming out the top.Larry the lemon tree is covered with flowers, the impatiens in the front beds are a blanket of lavender, and all my spuria iris as well as the spurious iris (I inherited at least one mystery iris from the previous homeowners) are huge, green and strappy but show no signs of even considering a flower.The crape myrtles have all leafed out in the past couple of weeks, as have the cedar elms, Arizona ash (trash) and bur oaks. As for the new daylilies... well, they're not dead yet! And at least one shows new growth. The survivors from last year all look big and fine.Of note: Absolutely nothing in the main flowerbed is blooming now. The pansies in the pots and the impatiens in the front are blooming their heads off, but I don't have anything colorful going in the perennial bed. A chronological gap to be filled!
http://sues-garden.blogspot.com/2008/03/planted-crinum-bradley-everythings.html
Received from Oakes yesterday (when the temperature hit 95 here...) and planted today: Little Heavenly Angel; Mini Pearl; Little Strawberry Shortcake; Strawberry Candy (a freebie); Elizabeth Salter; Stella in Yellow. These are in addition to the previous year's survivors: Marcia Fay; Pandora's Box; Chicago Petticoats; Scarlet Orbit; Pardon Me.Should bloom in roughly this order:(yellow) Stella in Yellow (extra early, rebl)(red/yellow) Scarlet Orbit (early, rebl)(white/purple) Pandora's Box (early-mid, rebl)(pink/red) Strawberry Candy (early-mid, rebl)(pink/white) Little Heavenly Angel (early-mid, rebl)(gold/rose) Mini Pearl (early-mid, rebl)(copper) Little Strawberry Shortcake (mid, rebl)(red/white) Marcia Fay (early-mid, rebl)(peach) Chicago Petticoats (early-mid)(peach) Elizabeth Salter (midseason, rebl)(maroon/gold) Pardon Me (mid-late, rebl)
http://sues-garden.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-daylilies-planted-temperature-hits.html
We've hauled out all the weeds and most of the old weed cloth, and pulling up the drip irrigation system revealed a couple of leaks in it; now, with some new sprinkler spikes and the leaks fixed, we're just about ready to plunk down some new plants. Waiting until this week's risk of freeze is past, though.My plans are to install more roses and daylilies this spring, as well as the tasty herbs and two sweet olives. I think I will also experiment with a crinum and some sternbergia lutea, for blooms in October and green leaves all winter. For fall planting, I see I am already too late to get French Roman hyacinths, but I will certainly try to lay in some drifts of Dutch iris and at least a couple dozen more Grand Primo narcissus, the best little jonquil on the planet (for my garden, at least).In fact, I might be able to get my GPs by dividing the thick double clump I have now. The Master Gardeners say you're supposed to, to help 'em along. If you do it when the leaves start to yellow (but leave the foliage intact), then that should be right around April or May for my guys.
http://sues-garden.blogspot.com/2008/03/redoing-flower-bed.html
There are two bright yellow Meyer lemons on our tree (three, before we gave one away); there are buds on several of our rosebushes; and the impatiens are fully blooming, despite a wee bit of frostbite. The crape myrtles have gone completely dormant in the past two weeks, but the St. Augustine grass is full and lush. Happy New Year!Jason has observed that the roses along the fence are probably competing for water with the St. Augustine (which has formed great big clumps at their bases, where the mini-sprinklers are).I've decided that since he is almost certainly right, it's time to declare that rosebed permanent! I've been resisting putting in a border and mulch on the theory that if the roses simply don't survive there, we can pull them out without having damaged the lawn. But they are surviving, and probably would do even better with the extra water, so it's time to make their bed!That is probably the major change we will make in this coming year. The new grass in the front is beautifully established, so we've eliminated one major hassle (pruning the shrubs that were there). The beds, trees and pots are all on a 5-day timer now, so they don't require even the minimal effort of my remembering to water them. If I can remember to maintain the birdfeeder, and if we neaten up the backyard bed.... and maybe build a dog gate and some low-voltage lanterns to cap the deck railing posts ... then we'll have exceeded our plans!
http://sues-garden.blogspot.com/2007/12/december-roses-impatiens-and-lemons.html
At least that's the first time I observed them. And that is despite an astonishingly rainy summer that actually caused the clay soil to heave the bulbs out of the ground, a la frozen soil! I thought they were toast but no, they are blooming.
http://sues-garden.blogspot.com/2007/09/schoolhouse-lilies-bloomed-sept-8.html
Pruned the sickly roses pretty heavily about a month ago (NOT the approved pruning time!) and was rewarded with a flush of healthy new growth. It's been raining heavily for about a month and everybody's lush... now the heat will set in!Other crapes in the neighborhood are blooming but not ours yet; Mom speculates those in full sun may be warmer, thus starting earlier.Daylilies have been blooming for at least a week -- the soft peachy one is blooming its head off and just lovely.Ruellias are green, not blooming; narcissus greens have just started to go brown.Two potfuls of impatiens on the front porch, planted about a month ago, have been blooming steadily the whole time; ditto two pots of petunias in a sunny corner of the back deck. Really pretty.
http://sues-garden.blogspot.com/2007/06/holding-steady-amid-rains-pruned-roses.html
That's Don on the left, with a couple blooms, and High Hopes on the right, blooming more than ever before. This is their first full year in the ground and I think that's the difference. After five years of waiting to find out what High Hopes' flowers looked like (I moved a lot, and these guys stayed in big growers' pots) I am delighted to report that they are perfectly charming -- long, narrow, photogenic peachy-pink buds, opening up to warm peach flowers with a sweet fragrance -- just lovely.This is the mystery volunteer rose that came up from the rootstock High Hopes left behind (the big pot sat on this spot for nearly a year and roots went down; when I moved the pot, I severed the top of the roots, but this guy came springing up). He's also thrown up some very tall canes, so that matches the Dr Huey diagnosis -- Dr Huey is a climber. Contrary to my belief, though, it's not used as rootstock because it resists disease. It must just be extra vigorous. The photo would bear this out!Those are my strapping but nonblooming spuria iris to either side of the Doc.Sprayed with copper soap yesterday and put fertilizer spikes on the arch roses, Kordes Perfecta and all the weaklings along the fence (i.e. everybody except Belinda and McCartney). Shouldn't need to fertilize again until June 16, at which point it'll be interesting to see if the weak links are catching up.
http://sues-garden.blogspot.com/2007/04/roses-sprayed-fertilized.html
This is Kordes Perfecta (I thought it was Sonia but I must have gotten the labels swapped) and it is blooming along with most of the other rosebushes. High Hopes and Belinda's Dream are particularly lovely now; McCartney Rose, Apricot Nectar, Don Juan are all blooming; and both "Olly the octopus" (unidentified cherry-red climber) and the dark red mystery rose I believe to be Dr. Huey are covered with flowers. There are buds on the others, including the new Gemini I planted a couple weeks ago.This photo is actually a little yellow-tinged -- the roses are more cream-colored than golden, with the lovely soft pink edge and great form.I think the cold weather followed by buckets of rain have everyone's roses very happy.The crape myrtles have been fully leafed out for almost a month now, since about March 23-24. (I.e. about 15 days after I last observed that they looked completely dead.)
http://sues-garden.blogspot.com/2007/04/good-month-for-roses-crapes-are-green.html
The Grand Primo bloomed healthily from mid-January to mid-February -- I think that's its third year to do so now. It has developed into a thick stand of lush, sturdy green. A few feeble blooms on the Texas Star at the same time.As of now, in early March, Larry the lemon tree is covered in blooms (a bit early, I think) and bees.The roses have all leafed out with flushes of healthy, burgundy-colored new growth. With their Rose Hose that I am proud of installing, they get regular measured doses of water right to their roots!And every bulb in the garden has its greenery up, making mid-March an excellent time to install watering systems or weedcloth or anything else that requires that you know exactly where all your plants are! The schoolhouse lilies, narcissus, spuria iris (they made it!) and daylilies are all fully green right now.The trees are getting their first sprigs of spring green. And the crape myrtles, as is traditional, look so dead that we are afraid, as we are annually, that this is the year we killed them! But we have faith.Broad-leafed weeds took over the yard in the last half of February. We didn't do doodly squat in the way of corn gluten prevention or anything, so we deserve what we get. However, we've requested estimates for installing a sprinkler system -- healthy grass will choke out weed growth naturally, or so we hope.
http://sues-garden.blogspot.com/2007/03/narcissus-bloomed-jan-feb-larry.html

