Hard freeze; 19 degrees tonight

Last night there was some precipitation, so we had a little coating of ice; tonight the wet has burned off and it's just cold, cold. Brought in the lemon tree and my little bowl of violets (already covered with ice, but the ice vanished over the course of an evening -- sublimated? absorbed right into the leaves? there was no water on the counter!). Haven't checked on the roses. Hoping the brave little violets make it; actually, they look fine.

Ruellia rampant

Not sure what happened while we were gone, but our ruellia has lost its mind: All six plants are just covered with purple flowers. I gave them a soaking-in before we left, but supposedly it was hot and dry in our absence. Either it's just the right time of year for them, or they dig neglect. Which is one thing I can shower upon them in abundance.

Spuria iris, lemon verbena planted

Yesterday planted six spuria iris along the back of the big bed; supposed to reach 5 ft high -- and not supposed to bloom the first year, so since they are said to bloom Sept-Oct. I think (hope) I have only a year to wait. The instructions say fertilize 'em heavily, stop watering if they go dormant, and they love alkaline clay soil. So bless 'em, they should be happy here.

The varieties are: Protege, Hasarya, Art and Soul, Olinda, Megagold and In Depth.

Also today -- in the hundred-degree heat -- we planted two tiny sprigs of 'Tuscan Blue' rosemary and two good-sized starter lemon verbenas, as a souvenir of the Italy trip. Jason loved the herbal tea we were served at the guest house in Tuscany; our hostess showed him the plant and told us it was called 'lippia,' but struggled to come up with its English equivalent. A little Internet searching after we got home revealed it:

Also purchased yesterday 3 bags of corn gluten. Since we can see weeds going to seed in the yard it's clearly time (also the sign outside theGreat Outdoors said it's 'Corn Gluten Time'!) This will be our first year giving it a try and I don't know if we'll need all three bags.

Schoolhouse lilies bloomed; 106 degrees

It is 106 degrees outside right now and even the sparrows coming to the birdfeeder are panting. Literally; they land on the patio table with their beaks open and stand there, breasts heaving, for a few minutes. I filled up my fountain with fresh water hoping they could cool off there.

The oxblood lilies or schoolhouse lilies were just starting to show a green sprout or two Sept. 12 when we left for Italy; yesterday I walked outside to find they had already come up, bloomed and wilted in a fortnight! Here's hoping they throw up a couple more bloom stalks before going dormant. I'd like to see what the flowers look like!

Rain equals roses

It's been pouring rain for what seems like weeks, and the rosebushes are responding. I had given up on this mid-season, actually, on the logic that our long hot growing season is actually broken up by a dormant season in the middle. But all the July rain brought out blooms on Brigadoon, Mr Lincoln, Double Delight, Belinda's Dream, High Hopes, Don Juan and, here, Tropicana. For future reference I will say the flower really is this rich color, maybe a shade warmer, and even lovelier form.

Elsewhere the daylilies are quiet but still green, the oregano is blooming, the lemon tree has put up new suckers and the ruellia many new blossoms also in response to the rain, and there is no sign of life as yet in the area of the oxblood lilies. The greenery from the jonquils has long vanished, though there is something that looks like ophiopogon poking its heads up in that area.

I guess I expect the oxblood lilies to start putting up leaves soon, since it's called schoolhouse lily as well for its autumn start.

Not to be too confident about it, the entire row of rosebushes has made it through the first part of the really hot season and right now looks fairly healthy, except for ailing Tiffany. No bugs, strong new growth, etc. If they put down good root growth they may yet all make it.

Powdery mildew

After a little reading today, I learn that spraying seaweed on my roses' mildew may have just spread it -- or at least, a better tack is fungicide, which I applied today.

I also learned that powdery mildew was first recorded in 300 B.C. by Theophrastus, a pupil of Aristotle who founded the science of botany and was occasionally so literal he was thuddingly dull, a trait I have some sympathy for.

Given the intervening 2300 years of study and treatment, you'd think I should've been able to diagnose and treat the disease a little better, but nooooo, I have to go reinventing the wheel. But the cool thing, as Jay and I were saying, is that 2300 years ago, somebody walked out to his garden and had the same problem I'm having.

Roses recovering

White fungus has set in on a few branches, but the astonishing news is that the row of rosebushes that looked like a poster on "How to Identify Black Spot" has suddenly, in the past couple weeks, put out a few fresh green leaves and -- I was shocked -- real live roses. Jay had to call me out to the side yard to look at them: They're actually blooming!

"Double Delight" is the flashiest, three or four blossoms, and more of a blended bright pink than the juicy red-and-white in the catalogs so far, but its scent (though strong) is not a pure rose scent to my nose.

"Fragrant Cloud" is the best surprise -- a really rich dark coral and a really strong true rose scent. I don't know about these notes of "tangerines and oranges" that J&P rabbits on about, it smells like pure tea rose to me, which is a joy. Beautifully shaped blooms as well.

Rock-solid "Belinda's Dream" is hanging in there, "McCartney Rose" put up a feebly-colored straggler, and even the doomed "Tiffany" that I bought a replacement for is making a bid for recovery... though I should probably go ahead and move it to the hospital anyway.

Sad to say "Brigadoon," which had been doing well in the relative shade, now looks worse than the others! I will keep up the regular watering (like a coward, I've been lurking inside the fence and watering with the remote timer, not daring to go observe the suffering in person) and perhaps they could all do with some seaweed for encouragement as well.

For now, though: They're not dead yet!!

Jonquils are toast

I sincerely hope they're dormant. The thriving stand of "Grand Primo" narcissus that bloomed from January 4 through March 5 has gone from yellowed stalks to completely, flat, dead. Deader'n a stump. Please, you little plants that bloom like fireworks and are supposed to like my scalding alkaline clay, please come back next spring and make me glad again!

Daylilies blooming

'Scarlet Orbit,' 'Chicago Petticoats' and 'Pandora's Box' have begun to bloom (observed first on Mom's birthday).

'Pandora' is a little earlier than billed, and should be followed by 'Little Maggie' and 'Marcia Fay,' then 'Pardon Me' and 'Rosella Sheridan.'

I did them a disservice by planting them under the baby oak tree and not next to the minisprinklers, but then it's so hard to get a hole dug in this nasty soil that the expedient thing to do was just plop them in the spots where the previous homeowners' plants had been! Getting them planted quickly was a good thing, at least.

First rose!

Apricot Nectar 3.27.05

'Apricot Nectar' comes up with the first blossom of the year. Aphid problems beginning, but let's enjoy the moment.

Rose bushes leafing

rose bushes leafing 3.12.05

Within a couple weeks of planting, the new guys are putting on foliage.