I took advantage of some dry days to get back out in the yard. After helping other master gardeners prune grapevines at Neely Homestead Garden Saturday, I got inspired to come home and do some winter gardening. At two years old, my grape vines only needed a couple cuts!
I spent a couple hours walking through the garden beds and hoeing the little weeds that were trying to invade. I did a little trimming of spent perennials that I hadn't trimmed in the fall. I also cut some dead branches from the rose bushes and cleaned up the New Zealand Flax (Phormium).
Saturday afternoon, I pruned the weeping birch tree at my son Steve's house. From the inside, I hand-combed out little dead branches. Then I cut out dead and crossing branches, and a couple branches that were wildly going too far up. It looks great! It is so much easier to do this type of pruning when the leaves are off the trees.
On Sunday, I walked all through the hillside, the driveway berm, and the native plantings on the north side with my hoe and pruning clippers. There were surprisingly few weeds, but it felt great to get everything tidied up. I clipped the fronds off the ferns - they will look great when the new fronds unfurl in early spring. I trimmed a few stray branches on shrubs and small trees.
January 23, 2011
Elephant Ear plant
The Elephant Ear plant I brought inside for the winter is doing great. It is a few feet from south and west-facing windows.
Sarcococca ruscifolia
The Sarcococca are blooming now and highly fragrant. I think it usually blooms in February, so might be a little early this year. The hummingbirds like the flowers, so I am happy to have six of these for their winter feeding.
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