Post-Fling Chores

While making lists in preparation for my trip to the Puget Sound to attend the 2024 Garden Fling, I decided I might as well create one to summarize the tasks awaiting me upon my return.  So here are the projects I've got pending:

1. Checking the status of my cutting garden

The raised planters and barrels will be watered thoroughly before I leave but, if temperatures soar, the automatic drip system may not provide sufficient moisture and, as several dahlias finally have buds, I don't want to risk losing them.  My husband has agreed to monitor the situation when I'm gone but checking its status will happen as soon as I get out of the car.

2. Cutting back the shaggy Agapanthus throughout the garden

The Agapanthus flowered nearly in unison this year and they're rapidly becoming a shaggy mess now.  It'll be "off with their heads!" upon my return.

3. Shearing the dried flowers from Helichrysum 'Icicles'

This Helichrysum is looking scruffy and needs a scalping to remove the dried flowers and to reduce its footprint so it doesn't block the flagstone path.  I'd like to replace it elsewhere in the garden but I still haven't seen the plants for sale in my local garden centers.  I took cuttings in spring but they look pitiful. 

4. Thinning the Mexican feather grass (Nassella tenuissima) before it self-seeds everywhere

I thinned all the Mexican feather grass in late spring but they need another good combing

5. Planting new items I was foolish enough to order by mail in July

Annie's Annuals & Perennials had a sale recently and I couldn't help myself.  I managed to pop 3 Eustoma grandiflorum (aka Lisianthus) into a large empty pot where they can probably stay until fall (left).  They're supposed to produce light apricot-colored flowers.  I put my 3 other purchases, an Arctotis 'Ultra Violet', Hardenbergia violacea 'Meema', and Zauschneria cana 'Calistoga Hybrid', in temporary pots until I can clear spaces for them.

6. Laying more mulch to cover bare spots

20 cubic feet of mulch wasn't nearly enough to cover  my bare soil.  I probably need another 20 cubic feet to finish the job properly before summer turns really nasty.

7. Thinning overgrown Aeoniums

I can only walk through the path shown on the left by setting one foot directly in front of the other, like someone taking a DUI test.  The rosettes need to be cut back, or maybe the areas on both sides should be replanted from cuttings - that's TBD.  Other Aeoniums in the lower level of the front garden (right) should be thinned or removed entirely to provide a cleaner profile for the low stacked stone wall. 

8. Uncovering Leonotis leonurus (lion's tail)

This isn't a high priority but the lion's tail could use more sun, which means pruning the massive Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid' above it.  I also need to pull more of the Daucus carota plants that are trying to take over the area.

A gardener's job is never done!  Making lists allows me to put aside what needs to be done for a time, while I focus on the Garden Fling.  I'll unroll photos from the Fling at intervals over the coming weeks in between work on my various projects.

Best wishes for a pleasant weekend!

All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party