I don't have any pics to post yet because the gardens in the front of the building are very much a work in progress and they look quite bedraggled. I got out my pruning shears and lopped off some dead wood from the bush out front and the dead canes off of the rose bush in the bucket at the end of the walk. Alas, my second rose bush didn't make it. I ripped out all of the weeds and checked it over, but the entire thing was dead down in to the roots. The first rose bush is in rather sad shape but I trimmed back all the dead canes and pocketed the rose hips so that maybe we can grow another one or two at my in-laws' house.
I ripped out so much grass and oregano from the flower bed on the right side of the front steps. I have a couple of bunches saved for my mother-in-law to plant. I'm going to put some into a bucket and grow it on the back deck. I am going to put an ivy vine into a bucket and try to grow it on the left side of the front steps up a trellis that I have there. Theoretically, the ivy will grow well and winter over well in our climate zone here. It's English ivy (the type famously grown along the walls of ivy league colleges). I figure if I keep it in a bucket at the base of the trellis and keep it trimmed back, I shouldn't have to worry about it escaping and taking over the flower bed.
The hostas that I planted about a week ago are settled in well. I was worried that I hadn't planted them deep enough, but I did. Now they have new growth. I am considering trimming off the really battered leaves. Theoretically, that will encourage new leaf growth. The apple mint that I planted has grown at least an inch since I put it in the dirt. My indoor garden isn't in such great shape.
I have an African violet that is slowly dying since my attempt to repot it and a cutting from it that is beginning to put out roots. The snake plant cutting started to rot instead of put out roots. I'm going to attempt another cutting at a later date. In the mean time, I need to get a bigger pot for my original devil's ivy plant because it is suffering from being root bound. I keep having to find places for spider plant babies because the spider plant in question is happily flowering and producing babies.
I think I need to repot my white inch plant. I know that the devil's ivy cutting that is in the big pot with the inch plant that's enormous is starting to take over. So, I am going to have to get that out of there and put it into it's own pot. So far, I have managed to keep an orchid alive for about two years, not realizing it was an orchid and just being very cautious about watering it. That thing needs another pot and I don't have one the right size or style for it. But I am hoping that if I can get it repotted in the correct potting mixture, maybe it will bloom. The Xanadu philodendron was looking pretty sad until I clipped back the yellow leaves and moved it to where it had more indirect light. Now it's putting out new leaves and greening up nicely. Again, I think it is going to need a bigger pot.
I'm kinda running out of room for plants. I think that means I am going to have to start giving some of them away. Definitely giving away spider plants. It's a shame that most of my indoor plants can't tolerate being outside in this zone. I'd have a really interesting garden then. I still need to pull weeds and clean up where I had plantings out on the back deck. I'm working my way from what the public sees back to what is a more private space. At the same time, I am planning on helping my mother-in-law with her garden because arthritis is making it hard for her to get down and into the dirt.
I am finding that all the bending and stooping to work in the garden is making my legs ache. Kneeling makes my arthritic knees hate me (and I keep forgetting that stupid foam pad kneeler that I bought just for this purpose). Still, the results are a lot more satisfying than what I see from doing yoga. My gardening may be my yoga replacement. I get some light (or not so light, depending on what I'm doing) exercise and in the end I have something pleasant to look at. I'll post pics as I finish cleaning up the space and get my flowers/shrubbery going in the empty spots.
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