My Garden Diary

It was just too hot to stay outside, so I did nothing else in my garden.

Fed the roses in back with a commercial rose food that contains a systemic insecticide. I did not have enough fertilizer to feed the roses in front.

Fed the dwarf citrus and gardenia with ammonium, iron, and zinc sulfates.

Now my dwarf 'Eureka' lemon tree has citrus leaf miners. I gave it the same treatment that I earlier gave to the dwarf kumquat and 'Robertson' naval orange (11 Aug).

Trimmed the potted weeping Chinese banyans (Ficus benjamina) on the front porch and (again, 11 Aug) the Australian tea tree in back. I also removed two badly placed branches from the 'MacBeth' loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) in back.

Treated the dwarf kumquat and 'Robertson' navel orange with a systemic insecticide drench to control citrus leaf miners. The insecticde that I use is no longer available plain; it comes only with a mild fertilizer. Since I feed the citrus regularly from early March through early October, they really do not need additional nutrients. However, the leaf miners can defoliate dwarf citus and kill the trees.

Climbed My Hill to tie up some branches on the 'Flame' grape that were drooping down to the ground. While I was up there, I picked a few bunches of ripe grapes, the first crop since My Hill was repaired in 2007. We never had 'Flame' grapes before. They are quite good.

Trimmed the 'Goodwin Creek Grey' lavender growing in front, in the brick panel where the utility junctions are between the sidewalk and the street.

Although they thrive around the raised bed for the 'Mineola' tangelo in back, the wax-leaf begonias in front always seem to struggle. Every year, I have to replace several. I might have to remove them and let the pink clover grow all the way to the brick path. I am having trouble identifying any perennial or subshrub with a long bloom period that will take part shade and heave clay soil. (I am restricted from digging deep to improve the soil because sprinkler lines and the wires for low-voltage lights run in the same area.)

Started to trim the lawn in back along the paths, but I noticed that the blades of the grass shears failed to open after I closed them. The spring had broken!

Now the dwarf 'Robertson' naval orange is also affected by leaf miners. I don't have enough systemic insecticide to treat both the kumquat (28 Jul) and the orange.

It looks like I have to visit a hardware store soon. While I never buy plants from a lumber yard or hardware store, I often buy supplies and tools there.

The dwarf kumquat appears to be infested with the dreaded citrus leafminer. Normally, I would immediately use a systemic insecticide drench on all the dwarf citrus. Right now, however, the kumquat is blooming and attracting bees. Since the other citrus does not yet seem affected, I will wait until the kumquat's current bloom period ends.

I really have to climb My Hill. The 'Flame' grape vine needs to be tied to its support wire. I need to spray a grass herbicide and possibly spot spray a general herbicide. I've been ill, however, and am currently recovering from bronchitis.

Removed dead flowers from one of the 'Goodwin Creek Grey' lavender (Lavandula lanata × dentata) in back. This involves also trimming the plant to prevent it from becoming too leggy. Trimming lavender — and other members of the salvia family, including sage, mint, and rosemary — requires caution. Either an entire branch must be removed or else some live foliage must remain below the cut. Any cut that leaves a bare branch will result in that branch dying back to its base.

Two and three years ago, I thought the 'Black Monukka' grape vine on My Hill was dead; but it would merely leaf out late. This year, it started growing when the other two grape vines started. Today, I tied side shoots of the 'Black Monukka' vine to its supporting wire. While I was tying the vine, I glanced up at the 'Flame' grape vine. It has bunches of grapes! But they are still green.

Trimmed the back lawn away from the sprinkler heads there. Soon, I will have to trim the edges of the lawn again (4 May).

Trimmed the pink clover (Persicaria capitata) in front away from the wax-leaf begonias along the brick path.

Both Cordyline cuttings (10 May) were well rooted. I discarded the parent plant and one of the cuttings and then potted the other cutting in the parent's flower pot.

The next house plant to renovate is a Dracaena in the breakfast room greenhouse window. I cut the one shoot, trimmed it, and put it in a mix half peat moss and half coarse sand.

I do want the Australian tea tree (Leptospermum laevigatum) to arch over the paths surrounding its teardrop bed in back, but it should arch over me, not at my eye level or lower. So I trimmed it again (30 May).

Fed the dwarf citrus and gardenia (G. jasminoides 'Veitchii') with ammonium, iron, and zinc sulfates.

It appears that my concerns about my Alstroemeria and daylilies (26 Jun) — and about my new peach tree, which I previously failed to mention — were not justified. The Alstroemeria is now sending up many new shoots. Both daylily divisions have new leaves, and one has flower buds that should open in the next day or two. The peach tree looked very sad, with no new growth since spring. Now it has many new leaves and is still growing.