Big Storm is Over, Who Survived?

Two weeks of storm with serious winds and lots of rain. Plants should like that. A walk-around the yard shows the lime tree's droopy leaves have fallen off, but scratching the branches still reveals green wood. It looks moribund so, if I don't put it into the ground (from the half-barrel it has lived in for 10 years), there's no down-side to a major pruning. A quick check of YouTube revealed a 4:43 Aussie video that gave me courage. I might even take the chain saw to the BIG grapefruit/lemon tree.

Another candidate for drastic pruning is the star jasmine. I had intended it as a ground cover and it was great at that, but it really wants to climb. So now that the 7' trellis is no longer trapped by the huge rose, I'll prune the jasmine to maybe 2 feet-diameter and let it use the trellis. Or, put the Stephanotis into the ground with that trellis for support? The star jasmine seems too plebian to deserve such a prominent role.  

Other winter casualties seem to be the miniature pomegranate in the 1-gallon pot and the night blooming jasmine. But it's real tough so maybe it'll come back.

Lots of digging and transplanting to do! Put the lavender in the ground, ditto the azalea; English roses...

The Hellebores is blooming well, as are the two varigated Daphnes. I wish blogs could convey scents -- Daphnes truly have very lovely scents.

Oh and when the temperature stays above 60, I will put out the bees. I got as Christmas presents a bunch of blue bees who are currently hibernating in the 'fridge.

Season's Over!

Here's the biggest of the tomatoes that I got this year. Tasted good too. The fancy 'french chef's favorite' tomatoes were smaller and tasty, but not wonderful. This 'common' tomato was nearly twice as tall and put out a lot more fruits.

Next year, if I'm planting veggies again, I won't bother with the soaker hose and mulch. Just in the ground and that's all.

In the late summer, I noticed that the huge climbing rose that's about 10 feet from the tomatoes was forming hips very early, and the lemon tree that's just behind the tomatoes stopped making lemons. It turned out all the sprinklers were blocked. After much running around, trips to the hardware store, hassle, hassle, hassle, the watering system is working again. But the plants I guess thought it's spring again. A new flush of flowers and fruits, including tomatoes, even when the temperature begain to get low.


In November, well-meaning friends helped me by pruning the big climbing rose for the first time in its more than 10 year life. They reduced that 12-foot high, immense bush, down to 3 sticks. So they were able to remove the trellis that I had put in when I planted that rose that had since been so entwined that you can't even see it. I was quite alarmed that this huge, fragrant, carefree rose might have been pruned to death. I am relieved to see today that it's leafing out on two of the smaller branches. The 2-inch diameter ones are still bare. Now I can prune the other roses with more confidence, even though they're blooming still.

The Stephanotis is trying to take over the tree next to it so it's probably out-grown its pot. Now that I have the 10 foot trellis freed from the huge rose, I can use it to support the Stephanotis. The big question is where to put it?

Comes Spring, I will be ruthless about getting rid of so many of the potted plants that dot my garden. Looks like the miniature pomegranate bit the dust as did the very hardy night blooming jasmine and the sickly Bearss lime that was root pruned and re-potted (in a half barrel) two years ago. Oh well, good that they're plants and not children who can become ax murders due to neglectful or incompetent parenting.