Rain, rain and more rain today. Which is OK because I know the plants need the rain.
I was able to get outside for a bit yesterday. It was mild but breezy, bordering on windy, so I didn't stay out for long. Just long enough to get all three of the Butterfly Bushes at the front of the house pruned back. They are monsters! They grow like beasts every season. I planted one and I have four of its' babies around the yard. I've given away three or four others. I try to keep them deadheaded during the growing season so I won't have so many new plants. It doesn't always work that way, though.
I've learned one thing about Butterfly Bushes, if you plan on transplnating/moving them do it early in their lifespan. If left for any amount of time they develop a root system that cannot be disturbed. I have one volunteer in the front of the house. I had left it for several years and kept it pruned back. I finally decided to move it. HA! Right. Its' root was as big around as my forearm. There was no way I was getting that sucker out of the ground. After all my digging to learn this I figured the plant would die. Ha!, Jr. Nope, It is still as vigorous as ever. And to think that at first I worried about pruning them!
The wild Violets are starting up out of the earth and the Forsythia has buds. Once the Forsythia begins blooming I will prune the Knockout roses. I read that this is the perfect time of year for pruning roses since the Forsythia blooms mean that the earth is now warm. What warm earth has to do with pruning roses, I don't know.
Can somebody please explain to me the purpose of Stinkbugs?? One woke me this morning out of a sound sleep by crawling on my face!!! UGH! This is not the first time it's happened but it is still as disgusting as ever. Then I found one lurking in G's bathroom, just hanging out on his razor. THEN! I went to get in the shower and one was hanging out on the bath mat! I had just finished scrubbing down my bathroom so I don't know where he came from. He wasn't there an hour earlier when I was cleaning. I shudder to think just how many of these little disgusting creatures I will have to contend with this spring and summer. They were imported from Asia and they have no natural predators here. There isn't even an insecticide that will kill them! I tried using the old stand-by: water with dishwashing liquid added in. Nope. It seemed to stun the little bugger but didn't kill it. I just scoop them up in a Kleenex and flush them. A friend of mine at work says that the attic of her garage was alive with them a couple of weeks ago. She was hoping that the bat population would take them out, but no. Yech. I will happily hug whoever creates an insecticide or control for these stinkers. Pun intended!!
It's planting time: I have Stargazer Lilies and Ranunculus to pot up :) I've not grown either of them so this will be an adventure.
It's dumping outside!
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