Spent several hours yesterday morning (cool and overcast) up in the Fairy Glen entrance garden and then progressed into what i call "Percy's Garden." Lots of weeds...mostly lemon balm that has come up EVERYWHERE like a carpet in some spots. The ground is dry and the pulling was difficult. Got the iris all trimmed back for fall, cut back spent flowers, etc. Definitely need to fill in some blank spots up there. I am going to Roundup some of that area; there's a big section that is completely unplanted and all that is coming up there is lemon balm and a few weeds (it's heavily mulched). I'd like to make it much more inviting looking, but it's tough because there are 2 enormous silver maples there and those trees really suck the life and moisture out of the soil.
I hacked my way (literally) back through the 7 foot tall sow lettuce and brambles to the weeping willow that I transplanted up there early in the spring. The tree is doing very well, but I was amazed and disconcerted to see that the bark on the west face of the main trunk was completely rotted away and even sprouting shelf fungi!! What the...??? Obviously, the tree has developed all the bark/cambium it needs on the opposite side of the trunk but this does not look good to me. I scraped away the dead bark and made sure the area was open to air and sunlight and we'll see. The tree itself appears to be thriving so I'm not extremely worried...YET. After all that work, I'd hate to lose this tree.
I really need to list what needs lifted and moved/divided. I am waiting for wet weather and, unlike the rest of the summer, we aren't getting it. It's been overcast all day yesterday (Tues) and so far today, but the only moisture we get is a faint damp drizzle that does nothing to wet the earth. I would hate to have to drag out hoses this late in the season, so I think I will just wait it out.
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Very disappointed and perplexed by my apparent inability to make progress in starting cuttings. It looks so easy and yet... I follow the directions carefully and still have almost no success. Drat. My friends grandmother used to yank off roses and stick them in the ground under a canning jar and they'd be rose bushes in a few months..... drat.
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| Cuttings by Seedfork | Sep 12, 2014 5:28 PM | 2 |
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