Saturday, August 13, 2011

I Went Out to Water and the Next Thing I Knew I Had a Big Hole to Fill

I ran outside to water one garden and did not get back in for three hours!  While the hose was watering, I grabbed the pruners and cut down a few lily seed heads, then I pulled a few weeds, then I grabbed a shovel and removed a red daylily that I did not like in this spot....just like that... in an instant I had this mess to deal with and I wondered why I did not leave well enough alone.  I keep forgetting that I can't dig down more than four inches in this area. It is all rock which makes planting difficult.

The daylily clump came out as its own little garden -- with this tall heirloom  Rudbeckia 'Golden Glow' and a few pieces of the shorter black-eyed Susan attached.

I left it all together and plopped it in this area, which was bare because I have been killing out pink mallow for two years.  I dug out all the little mallow plants I could find before planting it. I am sure there are still seeds waiting to come up again next year. I will deal with that when it happens. I chose this spot because it was there and because the deck railings will provide support for the tall 'Gloden Glow'  which can get up to 7 feet or so.
Unfortunately I bent the yellow flower stem after this pic was taken and had to cut it down.

Now what to fill that hole with?  I bought a bee balm (Fireball) for 1/2 price yesterday.

The easiest thing to do would be to just stick that in.  After a little more thought,  I decided against that because there is too much sun in this area.

I  walked a few feet behind the hole and dug up another daylily. A pink one that goes better with this pink garden area (which was never pink until this year).
The daylily is just beginning to bloom, too.  I am now much happier with this area.

From this angle, you can see the 'Golden Glow' flowers. 

Around here if you see a Daddy Longlegs spider folklore says it's going to rain.
Sure enough, by late afternoon, it was raining.

I think it is going to rain more today, which is wonderful.

I spent most of my day outside yesterday, but I did go in to do one dreaded chore -- scrub the floors--I hate dirty floors. 

I also did another spur-of-the-moment task.  I baked decorated sugar cookies for my sweet husband. He loves frosted sugar cookies. I rarely make them because they take forever and I can't decorate for diddly...now why did that expression just pop in to my head?  LOL.   I tried..........
I made royal icing and I made some stiffer to outline the cookie...
When that dried, I made flooding icing to fill in the outline...that's where it all went wrong.....I think I made it too thick because it never quite "flooded" to the edges.  LOL. 



Let's hope they taste better than they look.

12 comments:

  1. That's the thing about gardening-you go to do one simple project and the next thing you know---it's HOURS later-LOL! But, that's also what makes it so interesting and fun.

    I'm terrible at decorating cookies (and cakes and the list goes on) but I'm pretty sure hubby was a happy man munching those cookies.
    Have a great weekend!

    Oh, I was planning on planting a pink mallow-love the color. Do they self sow too much?

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  2. You were one busy person. You sure got a lot done. The cookies look great too.
    Cher Sunray Gardens

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  3. Sue,
    BEWARE of the pink mallow -- at least if it is the one I had. It self sows EVERYWHERE and has long tap roots. I probably have a picture of it in my Woodland Gardens label. You may want to take a look and make sure it's not the same. It can be lovely, but it's a real pest.

    Cher, I have been busy, but that's how I like to be. DH did like the cookies so I am glad I took the time to make them.

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  4. How grand is this post? Beautiful flowers to see, and yummy cookies to eat! :-)

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  5. I did chuckle at your title-I think we've all gone outside to water or weed and then BAM 3 hours later there's a huge hole and you need more lawn & leaf bags!!!! ;)

    Your 1/2 price monarda is GORG. Love it!!!! And cookies are cookies, no matter if your flooding icing flooded or not. I'm sure they were yummy.

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  6. One thing leads tp another in the garden...man, we need to see a few of those spiders around here!

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  7. I think I've told you before, every time I see the innocent looking pink mallow in the garden centers, I think of you and your battle (was it 3 years ago??)! I am always very careful NOT to let the cute mallow jump in my cart!
    Zoey, I absolutely love that Golden Glow...!

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  8. Mumsy, How did you get those stars by your name? The cookies did taste good. I froze a dozen of them.

    Hi Dorothy,
    I think all of us who love to garden know exactly what I was talking about! I think just the fact that we loose our sense of time while out there, attests to our love of the work.

    Darla,
    It has not stopped raining yet -- there must have been a whole family of Daddy Longlegs out there! I hope you get some rain soon.

    Sissy,
    I think it was three years ago. I am still battling it! There are still dozens of little mallow plants coming up all over the place. I get them out as soon as I see them. I think it will be a lifelong project!



    The Golden Glow can be pretty invasive, too. Not so much in my garden, but it is for many other people. It's an old plant. My MIL gave me a start from her patch that she had on her parent's farm 75 years ago! It is also known as the outhouse plant. Google it before you decide to plant one. :)

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  9. I've been moving pots of stuff around to fill in blank spots. I think they are mostly marigolds, which it seems do better in the ground for me rather than the pot.
    I'd love to do some baking too-gotta do some zucchini bread! Your sugar cookies look great!

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  10. You can't decorate for diddly? UN-true! Those cookies are gorgeous and I bet they were very, very tasty, too. Now I have a craving for sugar cookies...Zoey, c'mon, I'm trying to lose weight!

    I'm glad to hear other people lose track of time in the garden too, it's so easy to do!

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  11. Oh Zoey you make me laugh..and now I am tired just reading what you all do in a 'day's work'!

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