While making lists in preparation for my trip to the Puget Sound to attend the 2024 Garden Fling, I decided I might as well create one to summarize the tasks awaiting me upon my return. So here are the projects I've got pending:
1. Checking the status of my cutting garden
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| The raised planters and barrels will be watered thoroughly before I leave but, if temperatures soar, the automatic drip system may not provide sufficient moisture and, as several dahlias finally have buds, I don't want to risk losing them. My husband has agreed to monitor the situation when I'm gone but checking its status will happen as soon as I get out of the car. |
2. Cutting back the shaggy Agapanthus throughout the garden
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| The Agapanthus flowered nearly in unison this year and they're rapidly becoming a shaggy mess now. It'll be "off with their heads!" upon my return. |
3. Shearing the dried flowers from Helichrysum 'Icicles'
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| This Helichrysum is looking scruffy and needs a scalping to remove the dried flowers and to reduce its footprint so it doesn't block the flagstone path. I'd like to replace it elsewhere in the garden but I still haven't seen the plants for sale in my local garden centers. I took cuttings in spring but they look pitiful. |
4. Thinning the Mexican feather grass (Nassella tenuissima) before it self-seeds everywhere
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| I thinned all the Mexican feather grass in late spring but they need another good combing |
5. Planting new items I was foolish enough to order by mail in July
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| Annie's Annuals & Perennials had a sale recently and I couldn't help myself. I managed to pop 3 Eustoma grandiflorum (aka Lisianthus) into a large empty pot where they can probably stay until fall (left). They're supposed to produce light apricot-colored flowers. I put my 3 other purchases, an Arctotis 'Ultra Violet', Hardenbergia violacea 'Meema', and Zauschneria cana 'Calistoga Hybrid', in temporary pots until I can clear spaces for them. |
6. Laying more mulch to cover bare spots
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| 20 cubic feet of mulch wasn't nearly enough to cover my bare soil. I probably need another 20 cubic feet to finish the job properly before summer turns really nasty. |
7. Thinning overgrown Aeoniums
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| I can only walk through the path shown on the left by setting one foot directly in front of the other, like someone taking a DUI test. The rosettes need to be cut back, or maybe the areas on both sides should be replanted from cuttings - that's TBD. Other Aeoniums in the lower level of the front garden (right) should be thinned or removed entirely to provide a cleaner profile for the low stacked stone wall. |
8. Uncovering Leonotis leonurus (lion's tail)
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| This isn't a high priority but the lion's tail could use more sun, which means pruning the massive Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid' above it. I also need to pull more of the Daucus carota plants that are trying to take over the area. |
A gardener's job is never done! Making lists allows me to put aside what needs to be done for a time, while I focus on the Garden Fling. I'll unroll photos from the Fling at intervals over the coming weeks in between work on my various projects.
Best wishes for a pleasant weekend!
All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party