Garden Pests

While waiting for water to boil so I could have my morning tea, last month I looked out the front windows to find that my Moon Flower plant was completely defoliated…overnight! I put on some shoes and rushed to check it out…wondering if a deer or something had come through the yard. Everything else looked fine…no other plants were damaged…but this one was completely void of leaves.




I was pissed.

I began looking more closely. Sure enough, there was a tiny green caterpillar…a tomato hornworm! And then another…and another. And then a HUGE one! There were three small ones and one HUGE one, just chomping away on my plant.

I grabbed a ruler to see just HOW BIG that largest one was…over 3.5” !!!

I put on some gloves and removed and destroyed these unwelcome critters.

Fast-forward one month and look at my Moon Flower plant now. It has fully recovered and is loaded with blooms! Each bloom lasts only one day (or night, I should say, as the blooms open at night!), and I have 8-10 blooms daily…so that is a lot of blooms!

So now I am feeling guilty. If I had NOT destroyed the caterpillars, would they have stopped eating once the leaves were totally gone (as they almost were when I discovered the worms…the only remaining leaf was no longer attached to the plant!)? Or would they have sucked the life out of the stems, too? And would they have turned in to some lovely moth or butterfly that I would admire?

TOO late to find out…but I am enjoying the beautiful white blooms and the delightful scent they fill the night are with!

What was 'next' was mostly outside!

Not a ton of sewing going on this week. I am looking into fixing a lab coat for DS, but not a whole lot else!

We got a new roof last week. Thankfully, the roofers were as considerate as possible to the landscape. Even the little house got a new roof! The whole thing looks lots better.You can see that I have not yet started my process of "gardening by subtraction" out front! Those are azaleas in that berm, surrounding a young dogwood tree. They are WAY too large, and will eventually be pruned back. That pruning should have already been done, but HEY! I've been busy!

The loripetalum in the back were pruned to within an inch of their life! Fortunately they didn't die...both are showing signs of new growth! These bushes were over 5 feet tall and equally wide...just way too large for the area! I will try to keep them small...

Also last week, I filled in a spot in the concrete walkway out back. The place where these two paths converged was a sharp 'Y'...and if you were walking up the path in the foreground and planned to turn RIGHT, you had to first go slightly left. This was because these paths are actually dry creeks that funnel rain water through the property...but I decided the water will STILL flow just fine if I fill in that area to make walking easier! So I dug out the dwarf mondo and LOTS of soloman's seal that grew in the 'point' and dug out the ground and poured some new stones to fill in. You can see the difference in the old and new concrete now (the new stuff looks slightly pink in these pics) but eventually it will blend. after the concrete was dry, I split the mondo and replanted a little around the edge, along with some impatience, which is tiny now, but will grow.

The concrete didn't do very well...the Readymix apparently didn't have enough 'cement' in it, so a couple of the cobblestones cracked right away when walked on (the next day and the day after that, when they should have been fully 'cured')...but I'll deal with that another day (there are other cracked stones that perform just fine).

There is a hosta in a bag sitting on top of the pot to the left...I will plant it IN that pot when I get around to it! There is also a larger hosta in another bag to the right...I transplanted several of these large plants and this one is leftover. I have a hard time just throwing away good plants...hopefully I can find it a home with someone!

The squirrels keep diggin up the plants in that pot!

Below is an area (which is right across the path from the previous area!) where I had to dig out invading monkey grass! I had originally planted a small clump of Silver Dragon, a white monkey grass, in the curve of that bed. But it began to spread and mutate...changing into the all-green variety that is taller and invasive.. It spread farther and farther into the pachysandra. Last year we used Roundup to try to kill it, but it came right back. So this year, I dug it up...each piece, each underground runner, each root....then replanted the pachysandra to fill in the area (where it is thin). I am sure I must have missed some of the roots (which will come back to haunt me, I know!) but I'll try the Roundup again on any repeat offenders.

My gardenia is blooming!!! Hooray! And it smells wonderful!

I like to pick the blooms and bring inside, because they don't last long outside in the heat. Plus, who's out there to appreciate them? Not I!

I put a few gardenias in cups in the sugar mold that my DSisIL gave me for my birthday. I have soem votive holders that fit perfectly in the holes of the sugar mold. When the new Dawn rose was blooming earlier, I also brought them inside and did the same:

This time, I had enough blooms to fill several vases, in addition to what I put in the sugar mold!

I won't leave these all together...better to spread the scent around the house!

I put one vase in the downstairs powder room--

--and one on the table in the den...

And the small one went on the buffet in the dining room.

If you look closely, you'll see the little pipe-cleaner doll I made today at sewing guild...he is hanging on the lamp post! Remember "art school Dave" that I made back in early December? Well, this one is kinda like that one. In fact, I have made several of these...

...currently, they are all 'hanging around' in the dining room! They are swinging from the chandelier as if it is their own private playground.

Another thing I like to pick in the garden and bring indoors is MINT. I grow spearment and although it IS invasive, I do my best to keep it corralled. I pick a few stems and bring them inside, placing them in a small test-tube-like vase that hangs from a suction cup on an old shaving mirror over my kitchen sink. I pick the leaves off one at a time, to use in my tea!

Speaking of tea...I think I'll say goodbye now and go have a cup!

My Spring Garden

I've been spending some quality time in the garden these last few weeks. It was sorely needed! Well, not by *me*, but by the garden! Lots of things have overgrown their spot.

I live in a suburban area with neighbors all around. My lot is a cove lot, narrow at the front and wide at the back, but the depth of the back yard, from house to back fence, is not huge. I have made walkways throughout the back yard, dry creeks that turn to wet creeks in the rain!

This is my confederate jasmine, on an arbor by the patio. It smells wonderful!









The jasmine blossoms start out white, but slightly yellow as they age.


















Some white (Bridal Veil) astilbe also near the patio.


















Red astilbe and Lily of the Valley grow under an oak tree near the pool deck.

This year, I never got around to cutting back the liriope in this area before the new growth began...oh well.















Black Knight Buddleia (butterfly bush) grows at the west end of the pool deck. I have a love/hate relationship with this plant...I have planted it and dug it up several times! I like the blooms, but am not overly fond of the plant itself.



The arbor in the background is the entrance to the compost pile/storage area. We still need to build a gate there.










I absolutely love Oakleaf Hydrangea! This one is in the front/side yard. We just cut down the dying redbud tree that shades it, though, so I hope it contnues to thrive despite the increase in sun exposure!












Aren't the blossoms cool? Long pannicles of snow white blooms so big they have to droop a bit!










This is the front bed...near the driveway. The purple cane (Moses in a Cradle, Tradescantia) comes back each year, but not always exactly in the same place as before! The Stella D'Oro day lilies are also reliably hardy here in West Tennessee.

BTW, I layed those bricks myself...all by myself! I dug it out and poured a concrete footing, then layed 2 rows of bricks all around the beds in front of the house, using a level to keep things even and smooth (but not necessarily level!).






















I was pleased that my huechera came back this year! I wasn't sure it would survive the winter in a pot, but it did!

In the smaller pot is a real annoying plant...Chameleon plant. It is a royal pain to eradicate!!! But it has a sweet little bloom and lovely leaves...so in a pot, it is welcome. In the flower beds, it is NOT, as it is way too aggressive!
I love the pachysandra in the bed behind this bench.








I dug up my Red Hot Poker to move and divide, and decided to pot it instead of putting it back in the ground. The Million Bells actually survived the winter in that pot, so I added the Red Hot poker to it.

These pictures were taken a few weeks ago, before I began making drastic changes...'Gardening by Subtraction' is what I like to call it!

And just to make this a little bit sewing-related...I DID have to spend a few minutes sewing a hem into some cut-off jeans so I'd have some gardening shorts to wear!