Post summer and holiday time

Wow. It has been so long since I posted. I got caught in a busy semester and never got back to it. Admittedly I spent more time on face book than here, due to the more immediate interaction.

I DID finish the revamping of the back triangle and the middle circle. I pulled up the black eyed Susans, gave some to a neighbor and put some back where the lilies used to be next to the goldenrod. Next spring I will really have to pull up seedlings of goldenrod and Queen Anne's Lace as they have spread too much. I transplanted the lilies to the circle along with some Japanese irises in two different colors that I got on a garden walk....I'm not sure they will come up though since they looked pretty dead. Time will tell. Also tried to dig up the small crocusmania and put in that bed with lilies. I think I saw one crocusmania in the old location with the valerian.

Other things I moved were Russian sage, but I don't think it likes its new location. It may not live. In which case, I will get a new one and add more compost to the hole. In the triangle, I also planted a deep red cardinal flower/perrenial lobelia in the back of the beard tongue and culvert root, as well as a tomato soup echinicea...they are both pretty. The yellow butterfly bush is at the very back between the lavendar plants. I moved the vervain, which may not come back being a tender perennial in this area, but it is also a kind of verbena. Jupiter's beard/valerian root I left in place.

In the triangle I also put the rue, since it isn't a very edible herb. I FORGOT to harvest the caraway in time...so I should have lots of baby caraway in the spring. I think I need to move the sorrel to the edible herb garden in the spring.

Finally, a few other things in the circle. I moved the globe thistle and the sea holly. I no longer expect any delphinium will come up, but I could be wrong. I would like to put some other lilies in that will bloom earlier than the oriental ones. There's also some agastache that Lee S. gave me that are on the north end of the circle.

My hydrangea did well this year thanks to protecting them not during the winter but in the early spring. I plan to wrap them in burlap after Xmas and do the same for the oak leaf one by the chimney so the rabbits don't eat it.
I need to look out for the spreading evening primrose in front of the hydrangeas -- see how they actually do or don't spread. I definitely want to try to grow more "dried" flowers this coming spring. I hope it will be warmer.

Plans for February, late. Start seedlings of stock flowers. After spring break in March, I want to start other seeds. I have many of them. Plant the shizo this year and the celosia. It should be a less rainy and warmer summer this year. Next spring, plant the lemon cucumbers and pickle cucumbers, bring the peas back into the vegetable garden. Pull up the broccoli plants. Grow beans in containers, try eggplant in containers too. Peppers definitely worked best in containers. I will try to direct sow lettuce and spinach in late March or early April this year in the veggie patch since I left the fence up. Peas in early April this year, I think. Florence fennel worked well in pots. Forget corn. Definitely do more interplanting like Sally Cunningham's book suggests. If I remember, cut back the invasive buckthorn when the weather is 40ish. Get garden boots.

Tomorrow I plan to make a flower arrangement for Xmas. Maybe I'll post a picture. I want to talk about my seven son flower bush tomorrow too.