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2002-09-13

I have done almost no gardening in weeks! Between birthdays, laying new floor and general lethargy I just haven't felt like doing actual work. But the weather is finally cooling down a bit and last night I finally got out of my chair in just the right shady spot and pulled out the pruners.

Everything is monstrously overgrown. The purple salvia is trying to cover up the patio by leaning out over it. It needs to be drasticall prune. It also needs to be dug up and divided. I don't really want to prune it back now. It's getting ready to bloom again. It blooms twice a year in spring and fall. The hummingbirds love it. But it has to be done. I need to be able to walk on the patio.

Last night I cut back the Lions Ear bush, preparatory to removing it. I've threatened to dig it up several times. It's straggely and ugly. I don't think it gets enough sun because it doesn't bloom very often. When I cut it back before it always comes back better and bushier. Not this time. I have other plans for that space.

I actually have quite a few things that need to be done in the garden right now. I've decided to clear out several of the pots where I have everything growing at once. It's not that I'm not going to overload the pots again. I'm sure I will. I just want to overload them with something else. I have sunflowers in them now. They just don't do well in anything but the largest pots. Last year several pots would fall over when there was any kind of wind. So I started clearing out one of those last night was well.

I spent a lot of time collecting baby caterpillars last night, too. I'm keeping them on a plate. My mom should definitely learn never to leave stuff at my house. She probably wouldn't approve of it's use as a caterpillar nursery. Her plate is perfect. It's white, so I can see them easily and has a high rim so the leaves don't go sliding off. Fortunately the little ones don't seem too inclined to wander away from their food source so they stay on their leaves.

Tomorrow is the birthday party for youngest sister and her husband. They share a birthday month, too. Oh, boy! Kid squeezing. The kids seem to enjoy the squeezing just about as much as my cats do; they tolerate it, barely. But, like the cats, I'm going to squeeze them anyway.

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