WINTER 2001/2002
OK, I obviously have not kept up with this garden diary, so I'll give this
another try. There is so much going on in the garden that I'll just have to
write about it.
We had an unusually warm December, with temperatures mostly in the mid
80s. Then by January, we started getting into winter, with 3 consecutive
freezes within days of one another. First one went down to 29°F, next one to
27°F, while the final blow registered 25°F. We had of course covered plants,
but that was a bit much... Some were pretty damaged. We returned to 80-degree
weather for most of January and February, and thought surely that this winter
was over... Our average last frost date is mid-February. Well, surprise
surprise!!! February 28 brought us a 28°F freeze. Surely now, this was it.
Surprise again! March 5 brought us a 31°F freeze. I think this time, we've
finally beat it. We've had 80°F+ weather all week, and we're now getting
forecasts indicating this will continue. It was 87°F yesterday in the shade.
Looks like summer's finally back. :-)
MARCH 2002
Spring Planting time...
- This month, we've been doing an awful lot of gardening.
- We've planted many new plants, incl. several kinds of daisies: swan river daisies (brachycome - tiny daisies with lavender petals), marguerite daisies (argyranthemum - large daisies with light yellow petals) , pentas,
vincas, dianthus, geraniums, ivy geraniums, dwarf dianthus, lantana (all
kinds), canna bulbs, and milkweed cuttings. And we've bought a bunch of flower seeds.
- We've moved a Mexican heather next to the
garden arch, a mandevilla out of the crape
myrtles' shadow and into a sunny area atop the Mexican heather that remained
near the fence. That required a move of the trellis as well (including a
cleanup of said trellis). Hopefully, this should make it easier for the
mandevilla to bloom. Finally, we will soon move our honeysuckle to the old 'grapes' area because it's
growing too close to the fence.
- In the process, we've totally redone the lantana
bed, where our old lantana were dying off after several years of
service. We've dug up the entire canna bed,
took all the bulbs out (they had migrated south, moving underground on their
own), dug two trenches on either side of that bed, and re-buried them,
together with some new bulbs. We've also moved a few oleander plants because they were planted too close
to other trees. We've dug up crape myrtle
'pups' to plant the vincas there; we've removed an old dead hibiscus bush (the pink one), and we've cleared
the garden patch inside the lanai of its passionvine 'ground cover'.
- Our pear, apple and peach trees are all
blooming profusely. Since one of our apples died years ago, we decided to
replace it (the other had never bloomed, so it wasn't a problem until now). We
bought a brand new 'Anna' apple tree.
- Our citrus trees are also all blooming
profusely (and that's an understatement!). We've been drinking fresh orange juice for a couple of months, and it is
just delicious, and very light (much lighter than commercial brands). It
doesn't keep after a day (even in the fridge), so you have to drink it as soon
as you pick the fruit. And with the amount of oranges in the tree (literally
thousands), we've had to buy an electric juicer. Best purchase we ever made.
Fresh picked oranges juiced to perfection... Bliss :-) Our new lemon tree is also covered with blooms... you can
hardly see the leaves!!! And we're still picking lots and lots of tangerines.
- We've also restarted our vegetable garden.
This time, we've planted tomatoes (8 plants
from the garden store), peas, green beans, and
carrots, all from seed. So far, only the peas have come up, but
what a cute bunch they are! It's unfortunately a little late to start lettuce
now... Maybe next year.
APRIL
2002
- Many flowers are in bloom at this time of year: daisies, dianthus, lantana, vincas, pentas, nemesia, philippine violets, geraniums, and milkweed. Then you have the cannas that are just starting to bloom. The yellow ones "King Humbert" and the coral ones "City of Portland" are in bloom, and it shouldn't be long before the others join them. The plumbago is also starting to bloom profusely. Finally, the oleanders are already very tall (at least 8 ft.!) and in full bloom. So is the jatropha, which hasn't stopped blooming, even though it's only about 10" high...
- Many plants are just starting to bloom: flamingo flower (justicia), firebush, butterfly bush (buddleia). The red tips and nandina are also blooming... clusters of small, white flowers.
- The cat's whiskers will have to come out of the garden area inside the
lanai, as they're blocking the view to the dianthus behind them. We've made
cuttings which have rooted, and we'll remove the large plants from the lanai
soon. They are starting to bloom. A few oleanders will also have to be moved. They were planted too close to some of the fruit trees. We've alreay moved quite a few from behind
the orange and japanese plum trees (replanted them further down), but more
need to go to allow the fig tree to expand.
- Some flowering vines are still blooming: bleeding heart, and jasmine (confederate and night-blooming). The confederate jasmine is particularly strong this year. It is literally covered with flowers (you can hardly see the leaves!) And that delightful fragrance! I wish it could bloom all year long...
- Plants that are done flowering: clematis, carolina jessamine, and azalea.
- Some plants have grown back very strongly after the cold weather, and are growing new leaves/foliage: wedelia (barely starting to bloom), crotalaria are popping up here and there, gladiolus are also popping up anywhere (and giving us beautiful 5-ft. blooming spikes), bougainvillea, mandevilla, allamanda, porterweed, crape myrtles and passionvine.
- Still no luck with the hibiscus. I think it may have been irreversibly
damaged during past freezes. It grows a lot of leaves, but never blooms.
Thinking of replacing it with something that doesn't freeze (still thinking,
mind you...)
- This month, we've also planted new plants. Some of these I haven't added to the main garden page yet, because we're not sure whether they'll make it or not. We've added (in parentheses, I've included the number of plants and form in which we bought them): yellow-elder (tecoma - 1 vine bought at GreenFest plant festival), coral honeysuckle (lonicera - 1 vine bought at GreenFest), cosmos (1 pot bought at Lowe's or Home Depot), African daisies (osteospermum - 1 clump bouth at Greenfest), balloon flowers (platycodon - 2 pots bought at Lowe's), nemesia 'Vanilla Sachet' (2 pots bought at Lowe's), jungle petunia (2 pots bought at Target), moon flowers (6 seeds), cardinal climber (6 seeds), asarina (6 seeds), and black-eyed susan vine (6 seeds).
- We've moved the cape honeysuckle from it current location to the old grapes area. It'll have much more room to grow, and won't destroy the fence as much. There were actually 4 of these (had re-rooted). The main one was replanted, 2 were given away, and the last one is still in a pot, but hasn't come back to life yet.
- Unfortunately, the milkweeds have been invaded by the milkweed bugs, which just showed up. I've been trying to get rid of them (without hurting the
monarchs), but it's not easy. We do still have plenty of monarchs around, though.
- In the vegetable garden, our tomatoes are getting very big and are loaded
with fruit. Can't wait for them to ripen. Our peas and carrots are also in good shape. The beans never came out (they were old seeds). And melons are growing, despite recent rains. Still, it hasn't rained for some time, so they should like that.
- Our papayas are growing back very low on the old 'stems'. Still, the leaves
are big, and if they can avoid rotting, then they should be all right. I
also have 6 more papayas growing in small pots. Our raspberry is blooming
profusely. Hopefully, we can have more than 3 fruits this time around... All
of the citrus trees are covered with tiny little fruit. Looks promising. The
loquat is done producing for now. And we still have quite a few pears (more than a dozen) and
peaches in the works.
- We've planted the wandering jew, purple queen, and heart-leaf philodendron
outside, under the oak tree. They're still in the shade, and should have
plenty of room to expand. We've also added some coleus in that spot (bought one, made cuttings, rooted in about a week in water, and planted a bunch).
- In the foliage department, the spironema is blooming (apparently). It has this yard-long spike of tinygreenish-white flowers, that frankly doesn't look all that impressive. Still, it seems to like the place. Our aloes have started growing new... "leaves"?? They seem to be adapting to their planter (after being repotted). The jade plant is also growing strong. I started fertilizing it lightly, and it's really responded. Lastly, our red-flowered kalanchoe is preparing to bloom any day now.
- The creeping fig is not only growing, it's actually producing quite a few... "figs". They look like light-green bells (but are hollow with a pink rim inside), and they're huge. We're getting quite a few this year. I counted at least half a dozen, but there must be more - with the dense foliage, I can't see past the outside leaves... Unfortunately, these "figs" are unedible.
- In the last half of the month, it's been extremely warm (hot, actually).
We've reached temperatures in the low 90s. Makes it hard to work in the
garden until late in the day. And we could use a little more rain...
More to come! I will try to keep this
page updated as much as possible.
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Last updated on April 30, 2002
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