August 9, 2008

• Well the rain came last night – we had a good shower that lasted till late morning. Weather a lot cooler for the next few days, and showers expected every other day. At least it dried up and the air show is going full blast, even if the clouds are heavy. I imagine the people that are there are happy as it is not too bad and at least they will not be cooking in heat

  This was the sight I was greeted by when I arrived home from my trip. When you are into gardening the way I am, and every plant is somehow personal, what a thrill it is to find they have thrived while you were away.

  My planters were just babies when I left, and now look vibrant with their flowers – still look this way over a month later!

  Unfortunately my prize red Rhodo did not do so well. As did the little pink one next to it. The flowers were just starting to open when I left. I cut off a couple of small branches and took it to the nursery to see if they could tell me what went wrong. From what they could tell these just did not get enough water while I was away, and the roots (which are shallow growing and not deep like many other plants) did not have enough protection. My others have a lot of ground cover around them, and Elmer was not aware that even though the month of June was damp and cool, these plants needed extra water. Instead he thought he was doing me a favor by clearing out the weeds around the base. Leaving them there might have helped, but who knows? Oh well, we are leaving it like this for now and making sure it is well hydrated, and with a lot of extra mulch,  as there is a very slim chance it may come back again. Unlike it’s family member the Azalea, Rhodo’s do not like to be pruned and rarely put out new shoots from the trunk of any of their branches, always producing their new branches and flowers from the base of the old flower instead. It is this part that has died back, while the main bush wood is still green

   

  • 6:10 pm
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