Busy Gardeners

And the time has arrived that the Windy Knoll plants have to be prepared for cold weather -scattered frost is predicted for the week end.  Every year we say we can’t do all this again, but when the next year rolls around it’s a similar thing.  I must admit we don’t have the number of plants we used to have.  One fall John had open heart surgery, his Florida cousins came to visit and we engaged them in toting plants to the basement.  No Florida cousins are here this year and the ball is in our court.

First off let me tell you about a shrub/tree that was here when we bought the farm.  I’ll digress to say I’m the third generation to own this farm and I’d rather not know who put this plant out!  It has thorns three-quarters of an inch long and every time the person on the lawn mower goes under it they say ugly words, even though the lower limbs have been pruned off more than once.  It’s the pits!!  Why do we keep it?  I don’t know unless it’s because its so unusual.  We’ve never seen another one.  It’s called Tri-foliar Orange and every year its loaded with oranges, which we were told are not edible; however, when we had some men here working on the power line they ate the fruit.  John rakes them up by the bucket and wheelbarrow load and puts them in the garbage can — he says he’s trying to furnish the dump a supply.  The seed come up like crazy and we wonder if the dump has Tri-foliar orange shrubs growing.  The birds seem to enjoy it — after all it’s a safe haven for them protected by the thorns.

Tri Foliar Orange Tree

John dug the Fountain Grass and divided it, then put it in pots.  This plant is lovely, but can’t winter over here in NE Alabama.  We shared a piece of the big plant with a friend and then we had a smaller Fountain Grass that we gave to another friend.  (Don’t tell them, but that kept us from having to cart them to the basement)

I had a Black Stem Lady Fern and  a Holly Fern in pots and they needed to be put in the ground.  With that accomplished next we got the plants that go in the house ready — an Hiss-Pidulum Fern and a Boston Fern that winter over in our bay room.  The hanging ferns from the front porch went to the basement along with a number of potted caladiums.  Then we had two really pretty begonias and they, too, had to go to the basement.  I have had two amaryllis for several years and they spend the summers outside — but in pots.  In the fall we bring them to the sun porch, the foliage dies down and then they bloom around Christmas time — they remain pretty year after year even though I’m sure they need repotting.

Several weeks ago we put a large number of Hydrangea cuttings in the rooting bed with some being for the DeKalb County Master Gardeners.  The first of the week a younger-then-I member came to get the rooted cuttings and, even though we had poor luck with some varieties, she took 34 babies to pot.  Wow!   Now that they’re at her place we won’t have the responsibility of keeping them watered.  The sale is in April.

What started out to be a very short article has turned out to be lengthy, but anyway this is country living.

Fountain Grass