I worked in the garden a little yesterday. I really want to do a bigger project, like setting the stones I got last weekend, or lifting the pavestones of my footpath and putting some sand under them, but I’m still feeling pretty low on energy lately. I went out, thinking maybe I’d cut some branches back that were growing over the path. I did, and it was pretty successful:
I couldn’t cut the rose bush because it was blooming so beautifully. After this first flush of flowers is done I’ll trim it back as well. The green bush to the left is an Aucuba japonica. I like it for its shiny, leathery leaves. But I ended up trimming it a lot. It went from a ball shape to a half-a-ball shape. It should recover quickly. Aucubas are tough.
And I must log something in the memory archive. I was surprised this spring to see a palm tree seedling. It’s by my pond. My Windmill Palm (Trachycarpus fortunei) has survived many winters already, and blooms every spring, producing berries later in the summer. Some bird or other critter must’ve dropped a seed by the pond, and voila! I have a new baby palm tree. I will have to transplant it, but I didn’t do any digging yesterday, other than a bunch of weeding.
Here is the palm baby. The tall leaf is about eight inches long.
Wow – you see a palm tree seeding and I see something that looks like it should get pulled out.
I like the trimmed Aucuba japonica – it’s like a plant version of a geode! “Crack it open and see what’s inside!” Very cool. 🙂
I now have a rose bush that looks like yours. I was wondering what to do with the flowers after they bloom. Do I just wait until no more flowers are blooming and then cut it back a bit?
If your rosebush is a Knockout brand rose, it will continue to bloom without any pruning. You only need to prune it if it gets too big or if you don’t like the shape.
Have you drawn a map of your garden? If you did, you could claim that you did work, but it really wouldn’t be work. Oh, and I’d like to see it.
I haven’t done a map. I tried mapping your garden once, but it didn’t turn out very well.
For someone with low energy, you sure do accomplish a lot!! Way to go!
And I’m with Lauren. I wonder how many exotic plants I’ve accidentally pulled out of the ground. ( I’d also like to give a Shout Out to the critter … imagine that, you may owe a rabbit a Thank you)
Touche’ ! (…no…wait…he was a turtle, not a rabbit…)