Friday The Head Gardener Rose Early

Another beautiful spring day was ahead of her and she wanted to get cracking! She had a LONG list of things she wanted us to accomplish today and although we didn't get to all of them (the woman has unreasonable expectations, as well as an exaggerated opinion of our abilities), we managed to knock a few of them off the list and had fun in the process. Here's a few of today's activities:

• Took pictures of a few things we wanted to share, one of which IS our fuchsia! True, we've only had it a week but isn't it gorgeous? And the name is great: Voodoo. It's doing that voodoo that it do so well!
  
• Planted tomatoes: 2 Sun Gold, 1 Green Zebra, 1 Jaune Flamme.
  
• Planted peppers: 1 Mucho Nacho, 1 Golden Summer, 1 Giant Marconi.
• Pulled weeds. And more weeds.
• Dug up and replanted 2 Crape Myrtles that were given to me at GWA to trial. Berry Dazzle and Razzle Dazzle were so small that our winter was pretty tough for them. I mean, they're basically sticks still. I'm hoping they'll settle in and grow because they're dwarf varieties that would fit nicely in the back border.
• Dug up and replanted the Flirt Nandina. Its red hues are better suited to the front gardens.
• Discovered new growth on one of the Durantas I thought was dead, Sweet Memories. I'm glad it was that one!
• Went a little wild and crazy with a four ounce jar of paint that we were supposed to be testing for application on the fence. We did manage to test it in a couple of spots and determine that it's not the color we want for the fence. It's a damned fine color for other things, though. Pictures eventually (if you watched FAWLTY TOWERS, that last word must be said with a Spanish accent.)
• Searched in vain for the wire brush to soften the results on one of the items that we wailed on.
  
• Gave the tumbling composter a few spins. We are not sure we're happy with this Suncast version. It's designed to rest in one of 6 positions but it's impossible to change the position once it's filled. There are 2 plates with holes through which a bolt shoots to hold the bin in place. The weight of the contents is pulling those 2 plates apart and not allowing the bolt to be repositioned. It might be possible with 2 people operating it (that would be 2 people other than the HG and me ... I need to get the Executive Producer out there to help.)
• Moved a few Penstemon seedlings out of the rock path into spots in beds.
  
• Took pictures of the tulips so we could share them once more before they shatter. This is Monsella. Is she not sublime?
• And this is Prinses Irene. I'm telling y'all, and the HG is unanimous in this, there will be a LOT more tulips planted at Wit's End in the future!

Back to the list ... dang, I can't remember what else we did ... I know there was more than this one last item. The Head Gardener and I are both too tired to remember! Our final chore of the day: pruned the Persian Vitex. We're both surprised this small tree wasn't more cold hardy and are in discussions about what to do next. We love the shape of the trunk and would hate to have to cut it back to the ground. The remaining limbs need to be checked for live wood before we do more pruning. Here's how it looked at the end of the day.


That's it behind the ladder, I know it's a little hard to see. By the way, this is the one where I created the rain garden underneath to keep myself from hitting my head on the low hanging limb. Guess what I did today????!!!!!!!!!!!!! The HG laughed at me ... I laughed at myself. It's beyond being annoying, it's just plain funny that I can't keep from bumping into it. I'd hang something from the limb but I'd just hit my head on that, I'm sure.

Stay tuned for Saturday's update on the fate of the Persian Vitex and more!