treeskin

/By called Sprint about my phone this morning. Again. This time, they told him that the problem isn't with my phone or its programming, but that the tower that serves our area (and 6 other zip codes) is broken. They're working to fix it, really.

Arrgggh.

I am still terribly frustrated, but at least we've gotten a straight answer from them, finally, and there's an end in sight.

Did not get much more sleep last night than I did befoore, but By gave me the evening away from the kids to decompress. That helps. The Boy didn't sleep any better last night, either, which doesn't help. I'm out of ideas for getting him to go to sleep and stay there.

We need to think about bigger shoes for The Boy very soon. I tried to stuff his fat little feet into his crocs twice this morning, before he got fed up and brought me his sister's shoes (one size bigger) to try. And those fit. And she saw him I n her shoes, so I may have to give him those, and get her new ones, because she has a thing about brother wearing her shoes.

More seedling are showing up in the garden every day. Today, it's the pole beans, just poking up, and a few more of the squashes. I need to get half an hour out there to pick the latest batch of dodder that's sprouted. At least, there's a lot less than the first two times.

I'm trying to remember if I've planted the apple gourds yet, or if I merely fingered the seeds with intent to plant. That sounds like an act that'll get you 5-10 years, doesn't it? I remember taking that box of seed out, and thinking I wanted to plant them, and considering locations, but I think I might have dropped them back in my basket.

We've been very busy lately, but just with house and maintenance-type things, not much interesting.

D came over yesterday, to look at a couple of my iris and drop off a couple plants before she left town again. She's headed to her mom's again today, to look after her as long as she's needed. Her mom's docs have gotten her on some meds that let her eat, finally, and she's put on a little weight, but she's still terribly weak, and can't take care of herself. And she's got five more rounds of chemo.

On the lighter side, D identified three of my mystery iris, and said she recognized another but couldn't remember the name. The odd-colored one in the front yard is Lousiana iris "Missouri Cowboy", the large-flowered copper-colored one is Lousiana iris "Red Dazzler", and the very upright, blue-with-white-and-pale-yellow-signals is Iris musselmanica (aka Iris spuria spp muselmanica). And the reddish-violet iris that I've got all over the place is the water iris she used to have in her pond, before her spouse sprayed all the banks and killed her stuff.

What else is blooming today?
* yarrows in reds, pinks, lavender, peach, white
* the first Echinacea purpurea, E. paradoxa (golden yellow, and I'd thought that I'd lost all of those, so yay!), and my mystery echinacea seedling
* wild quinine, Tanacetum integrifolia (tall knobs of woolly white flowers)
* some mints
* "Nearly Wild" hybrid tea rose (single pink, rebloooming)
* louisiana iris in coppery read, reddish-violet, purple and yellow, blue, and clear purple
* red-hot pokers, Kniphofia uvaria
* I'm still getting blooms every other day from my lemon lily, Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus
* the first daylilies--Stella, a little bicolor in red and orange
* blue-flowered ajuga and sage
* "Sunset Boulevard" oenothera
* cherry bells (a tall campanula with rosy pink flowers)
* tickseed coreopsis, clear yellow daisies
* dark blue meadow sage
* the first flowers on mealy sage, Salvia farinacea
* the first flowers on lavender
* tradescantias in various shades of purples and rose
* petunias in shades of pink and lavender, a few marigolds (The Miss pulled a bunch of them up, trying to pick flowers), some dark red snaps
* and in the front yard, a BIG patch of Oenothera speciosa, Mexican evening primrose, which looks like a big patch of dainty pale pink poppies unless you know what you're looking at, invasive but showy and durable

We got most of the mowing done between yesterday and today, and most of the random piles of cut brush hauled out of the way/line of sight. I also hauled a 3-gallon sprayer of Roundup **all the way to the back property line** to start killing the Great Poison Ivy Forest. Wish me luck, and itch-free times.

We moved a pile of cinderblocks this morning, so we could lay a strip of landscape fabric down north of the garage, for the eventual planting of masses of tomatoes. The tomato bed is 4' from the wall of the garage, which is the spacing for the walkway we want to put in there, with a planned raised bed beyond that, for currents. But I've ended up with most of the tomatoes I'd been caring for for D, and need someplace to put them. And the fenced veggie garden will be full of squash rather soon. More full, because some silly human bought another packet of pumpkin seed (pie pumpkins!) yesterday, with plans to find room for those out there too. And I still have a pack of beans (white rice bean, rather cute) to plant. So many seeds, so little time.

Garden progress:
* cut bamboo stems for pole bean peeped, gpt them trimmed and installed
* By put stakes in the ground for the tomato cages, and wired them up this morning, so those are all nice and stable, and I planted those tomatoes inside their cages yesterday (Early Girl, plus one random seedling)
* pulled weeds
* harvested peas and the first few mulberries
* yesterday, got all but one of my big rosemary plants into fresh pots (the last one will take 2 people to repot)
* seeded purple hyacinth vine here and there in the garden, just because I found an old packet of seed.

If I were more motivated, I'd dig out the other package of landscape staples, and pin down the rest of the landscape fabric I put out last week. Or set more rock in the path. Not that motivated today.

I need to start hitting the garden clearance racks at Lowe's on a weekly basis. Two weeks ago, I got 4-packs of marigolds and annual dianthus for $.50 each. Went back yesterday, hoping for more cheap marigolds. Got some marigolds and verbena at half off, and eight 1-gallon pots of annual dianthus ("Coconut Ice, white and red) for $.50 each!!! All they need is the dead flowers trimmed, and they'll bloom the rest of the summer. Yay for bargain-basement gardening!

In other garden news, I found the other nearly-black iris that I'd gotten from D years ago, so I can give her a piece of both kinds. One's a reddish black, one's a purple-black, and somehow lost them at home.

The sweet potatoes that I'd potted for propagating months ago have **finally** started to sprout. Grrrr. Here's hoping they grow quick, so I can make and root cuttings to plant out in the garden. Next year it might be worth the money to just buy the plants, for the time savings.

I *thinkz I've got seedlings of the cuphea I grew last summer, which would be very very cool, because li used all the seed last year. And I'm not sure that hybrid is still on the mrkets- cuphea "Summer Melody", once sold by Thompson and Morgan. Its a great summer annual for Kansas gardens, tolerates heat and humidity and even grasshoppers, it just doesn't get going until the soil gets good and warm.

* lots of iris, despite how overgrown the beds are, in white, light yellow, purples, and some reds
* Iris pseudoacorus (yellow)
* white peonies, all pass-along plants from old gardens, so probably "Festiva Maxima"
* chives
* "Nearly Wild" rose (pink)
* "Austrian Copper" rose (gold)
* "Purple Smoke" baptisia, in a smoky bluish purple
* Baptisia sphaerocephala, which is daffodil yellow, and righ next to Purple Smoke
* white anemonella
* ajuga (blue)
* "Orange Balsam" thyme (pale lavender, very delicate texture)
* Allium "Molly" about to start--small, daffodl-yellow ornamental onion, very reliable, one of my faves
* "Sooty" sweet william, which is so dark red as to be nearly black
* tradescantia in various shades of violet and purple
* peas (!)
* strawberries --which are also starting to set fruit

Edited to add, after chasing The Boy to the road....

In the front yard, I've got
* "Harrisons Yellow" rose, a bright yellow
* Oenothera speciosa, Mexican evening primrose, delicate pink, which is colonizing the ditch
* light yellow bearded iris
* white peonies from Grandma's house, before the family sold it

Took the kids back in to get their ears checked this morning. The good news--no ear infections. The bad news--The Miss is flailing-tantrum terrified of the doctor. Could not get her anywhere near the scale to get her weight (The BoyChild kept playing with the buttons), had to hold her down so Doc could check her ears. But it's over, we're back home, and she's been plied with pumpkin muffins and peanut butter toast and tea, and is in a better humor now.

We were rained in all day yesterday. It's not raining today, but it's cloudy and cold and there's standing water in the yard. Blech.

I did manage to sneak out during naptime, and get some seeds put down: parsley, blue curled kale, lemon basil, 'Black Prince' snapdragons, and some celosia. Plus, I got nasturtiums seeded here and there throughout the garden, and some old bronze fennel seed tossed out. If the kids nap well today, I need to dug through my seed box and see what else I want to start this year.

And I need to figure out what to bake. It's grey and cold, and I want to bake and make the house feel warmer, but we're awash in homemade bread at the moment....oatmeal bread from Sunday, cinnamon raisin bread from last night (payment to someone for tools he gave By, but it makes 2 loaves), and there are still pumpkin bars and muffins in the fridge. Maybe cookies.

Still no word on Grandma's condition. Mom was hoping to see Grandma's doc this weekend, but I haven't heard how that went. She didn't sound any better last night, and she's complaining about wanting to go home. That's all I know.

And I need to call D today, and see how her mom is doing. D made an emergency run to Oklahoma on Friday, because her mom had checked herself in because she suddenly felt much worse. Last I'd heard, they were still running tests, and were afraid that her cancer had spread suddenly despite the chemo.

I think I've figured it out: the mystery seedlings which are coming up in such abundance in one of my raised beds, and also out under one of the maples in the front yard, have got to be either seedlings of one of my hybrid Tradescantias, or (more likely) the related wildflower Commelina.

So far today, I have:

* cut back the *large* patch of wild rice in the front yard, and pile the debris in a heap for later removal
* washed the boots I was wearing for above, because the rice is growing in a mooky, muddy mess
* moved 8 hay bales into the garden (still wet and heavy, I might add), and spread them for mulch
* during the above tasks, stopped to chase kids every 5-10 minutes
* washed 2 sink-loads of dishes while lunch is cooking, because that soaked all the ook out of my skin

I really hope the kids nap today, because I would time to just sit for an hour or so.

It is run away fronm momma day. Momma did not get the memo, and is not amused.

Been too busy chasing kids to do more than dig out the spare clematis seedlings. Not sure what I'm going to do with them, 'cuz they're nothing fancy, just the white-flowered virgin's bower, and I've got a couple established chunks already. Thought abiut replacing the new wisteria with some, because the new wisteria hasn't done anything so far. But after careful checking, most of its trunk is still alive, so I'll give it a little longer.

D's advice on siting the new grapes was to plant them on the garden fence and shoot (and eat) the wildlife. I like that plan, nice and simple. So tomorrow morning, I'll go out and spray Roudup before the wind comes up, and get a good kill zone around the fence, and once that kicks in I'll plant the grapes.

The magnolia is blooming today, and the crabapple in the front yard will be blooming soon., first time for it. The redbud seedling I got from a volunteer at school will bloom for the first time this year. And the buds on my first wisteria are fat and sassy and plentiful.

I don't expect much out of the iris I've moed this season, but maybe one or two will bloom so I can see colors. all of the established peonies look good so far, and the new ones from Walmart are putting up new shoots. They may bloom this seasonm **crosses fingers**

All in all, a very springy day.

Just a reminder for myself:

The new orange garden lily is LA hybrid 'Manhattan', and is planted in the middle of the mountain mint, behind the shasta daisies I put in there last summer.