Fall Flowers

When I look at this picture and compare it to the one I took in the spring, all I can think is, "my how you have grown."
I love to look at before and after pictures. My neighbors probably wonder why I am always taking pictures of my yard, but I like to see what it looked like in the past and what I liked or didn't like and then decide what I want to change. It's never finished. I used to dig up my plants every year and move them around. No one ever said my yard is neat, but to me it's never boring.
I'm still looking for a red Penstemon. So far I only found them online. The plants are so small when you get them in the mail, but I may have to resort to that.
Yesterday I was surprised to find a couple of the more unusual Coreopsis at Lowe's in Merced. Usually you only find the yellow flower, either single or double, but look at the picture below.
The flowers on the left are Sienna Sunset Coreopsis; the two flowers on the right are from Route 66 Coreopsis. No, I didn't plant them that close together. They're just posing for the picture. I was so excited to find the red flower, the picture on the tag had a flower like the yellow with the red center and I thought, lucky me, I found a red one.
So, the next morning a new flower opened up and it looked like the picture. I really like the red better. I read online that the flowers turn red in the fall. The plants are "mounding perennials."
I've been able to find some Perennial Asters recently. The darker purple on the left is from the nursery at the end of Applegate Road in Atwater, the one on the right is "Weed's Purple Aster" from Lowe's. Neither one will get very tall, about 15 inches. I was looking for the 4 foot tall blue flowers, but no luck so far.
The hunt goes on. I keep looking for something a little out of the ordinary.

Removing the Lemon Tree

Pictured is my front yard with the big lemon tree. No one seemed to like the lemons, the rinds were thick and bumpy. The tree was too big with roots above the ground.
Joe and Keith came at 7 o'clock this morning to remove the tree.
Not much of a tree left. I was surprised at how fast it went. Two hours and they were gone.
Joe wanted me to see how big the roots were. That tree was probably 30 years old.
Hooray, the big lemon tree is gone. Now to find another dwarf Mandarin tree to plant in its place. I'll look for the "Honey" Mandarin unless someone can recommend something better. I have the Satsuma and I want one that will ripen at a different time. The Honey will, but it does have a lot of seeds. I can deal with that, so that's probably what I'll get. Maybe I can find one in Merced.
Keith even put my flag up. Just in time for tomorrow's 9-11 memorial day.

The Honkers

Every morning and every evening these Canadian geese fly low right overhead. Seems like they take off somewhere around Atwater's golf course in the morning and fly southwest towards Los Banos. Or so it seems. Then around 7:30 in the evening, they return, flying low like they are getting ready to land. Sometimes there is a huge flock of them and then they are really noisy. I enjoy watching them and hearing them honk. One neighbor down the street said she didn't like them because of all the bird droppings, but I haven't noticed any of that.
I finally replanted all my Irises. Nine of them are planted among the flowers between the cherry trees.
You can see one planted between the 'pinks' and the red and white Penstemon. The fern looking plant is a volunteer Cosmo. Much bigger than the parent plant that the seed came from.
Twenty-eight Irises were planted between the two parking spots near the road. I have 37 different Iris plants. I have 4 that I don't know the names of. They were given to me without the names. The rest of them I purchased from local Iris growers and have kept track of their names. I guess some people think that's silly, but to me it makes it more interesting. Also if you happen to lose a favorite, you can try to get the same one again. I lost Lorilee years ago and the grower I bought it from didn't have it anymore either. Oh well.

On the left are the Irises planted by the road. Have to keep the ground moist so the roots will start growing right away.
On the right are the duplicates planted where they were before, next to my neighbor. The Fuyu Persimmon tree has been planted in the middle of that plot.
I also took the Plumbago from the large pot and put it in the ground. I always liked the blue flowers on it.
I will give most of the duplicates away next year. The plan is to just keep one row of my neighbor's favorite Irises next to her walkway.

Cherry Trees

The cherry trees are looking good. All the fruit trees are leafing out nicely. The new citrus trees have a lot of blooms and so I am expecting oranges and mandarins this winter. The Fuyu Persimmon is still in the 5-gallon can, but it looks like it may have a little crop this winter also. I hope planting it in the middle of summer won't set it back.
I measured out the space between the cherry trees and I think I will be able to transplant 10 Iris plants in July. The Iris plants will be in the middle between the other flower plants now growing there. I hope they won't be too crowded. The Fuyu will be planted in the center of where the Iris garden is now.
There is a small area between the public parking and my visitor parking that now has grass that has to be mowed. Joe mentioned that he could dig up the grass and make a flower bed there for the Iris plants.

I think that's a good idea. I have 6 rows of Irises with 6 to 8 plants per row, planted one foot apart. That's a little too close, especially if you give them a little Miracle Grow. ha,ha. I don't want to be digging them up and separating them every year. They get fertilized 3 times a year, the middle of September, at Halloween and Valentine's Day. Some of the plants got really big and made it difficult to walk between the rows to remove the spent flowers.
See the pictures of the Iris flowers at flickr. Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Tomato Plants

I planted a few tomato plants the other day in front of the duplicate Irises at the back of my mobile home. These tomato plants seem to be doing good, considering all the rain and wind we've been having. I planted 2 "Early Girl" and 4 "Celebrity."
The Iris plants in the back, against the mobile home are the ones that will be given away in July or August when they are dormant.
I also planted a "Sweet 100 Cherry Tomato" plant and put the wire cage over it. The plant has completely disappeared!! No sign of any green tomato plant at all. The ground has not been disturbed. It's really weird.
A few people suggested it was a gopher who pulled it in the ground. I guess the rain could have made it look like nothing was planted there in the first place!
About a month ago, I saw a gopher pushing up dirt over by the cherry trees. I had a "Solar Rodent Repeller" put in the ground and so far I haven't seen any sign of that gopher in the side yard next to the road. The repeller covers a large area, but it won't go through buildings, so it doesn't cover the backyard. The solar repellers vibrate the ground and the gophers don't like that and leave.
I got another repeller from my sister last Thursday. This one still needs to have the wires connected before I can put it in the ground. I hope they both work.
I sure don't want the gophers eating the roots of the fruit trees!!!
I also bought a couple of gopher traps, but I wasn't able to set them.

Bingo Night - St Patrick's Day

Today was St. Patrick's Day. Not everyone wore green, but this couple went all-out for Bingo tonight. Very cute hats. The lady's hat had flashing lights on the top, which I didn't capture in the picture.
Thursday night Bingo is a fun outing for us at Rancho Grande. Nobody gets rich or goes broke, just a fun time.
I hope the weather is good tomorrow. I still have the tomato plants to plant, besides the flowers I bought today. Need to broadcast the "weed 'n feed" also on the grass. I may not have much green left after that because it looks like I have a lot of weeds.
Don't forget this Saturday, March 19 is the dedication of the monument in Winton by the fire station. Starts at 10:30 a.m. Some of the "Clampers" will be there, they are the ones who made the monument for the community of Winton. At no cost to the community. Our county supervisor will be one of the speakers, also Sarah from the Merced Museum. If you have connections to Winton, be there to help celebrate Winton's first 100 years.
The Winton Historical Society will be selling their new recipe book, "Winton Centennial, 1911-2011." Also the souvenir coffee mugs with a picture of the Winton Depot on it. The recipe book is $15.00 or both for $20.00.

Flowers for 59 La Playa

This is one of the flower plants I bought at The Greenery yesterday in Turlock. It has a fancy name for Bachelors Buttons. (Centaurea cyanus "Blue Diadem") I found the grower's online website and read that it resows. Can't beat that. (I borrowed the pictures from their website). www.anniesannuals.com
It pays to pay a little more and get something special.
The color in the picture is so intense; it's described as "bright richest blue." The flowers are big, 2.5 inches, the plant grows to 3 feet tall.
This next one is commonly known as "Cupid's Dart" (Catananche caerulea). The Ancient Greeks and Romans used the flowers as the main ingredient in love potions and that's how it got its common name. This is an easy to grow perennial. The lavender blue flowers are 2 inches across; the plant grows up to 2 feet tall and 1 foot wide.
I bought a couple of Orential Poppies, one double purple flower that looks like a peony. The other one is a single red flower. Really beautiful. Will they look that pretty in my yard? Can't wait to find out.

More Yard Work

It seems like the yard work is an ongoing affair. One thing leads to another. It started with the fruit trees. Then you need something to define their space. So it was plastic bender board. Joe and Keith have been installing a lot of that stuff !! So far I bought nine 25 foot rolls at $25.00 a roll. And still need 2 more rolls. Wow! Of course it's being put in everywhere. Around the trees; between the roses and the grass, etc. It's supposed to last 25 years. That is if nobody steps on it.

In the picture, Keith is putting bender board around the Flavor Crest peach tree.
Joe is expanding the flower bed behind the mobile. I'm going to plant some tomatoes there very soon. The Iris plants next to the wall are duplicates and will be given away this summer when they are dormant. They all have buds on them, so should be blooming soon. They are ahead of the plants in the Iris garden.

Monday, my sister and I have appointments with Miguel, our reflexologist in Turlock. We're going to The Greenery Nursery afterwards to see what new plants they have in stock. We can always find plants there that we can't find in Merced. I hope to find something to plant by the cherry trees and in the rose garden. Looking for a couple of Scabiosa (pincushion flower) to plant by the rose bushes. And of course the red Penstemon and other Perennials and Annuals to plant by the cherry trees. I may plant some Zinnias this year. They are so colorful. I am so excited about spring !!

On-Going Yard Work

Joe and his brother were here yesterday and the first thing they did was to dig out the orange tree in the front yard and plant the little semi-dwarf Satsuma Mandarin in its place. The oranges were not sweet and the Satsumas are, without a doubt, always sweet. I don't know if it will have fruit next year or not.
The pink flowers behind the tree are Camellias. The original owners of this MH planted Camellias all along the North side (front) of the mobile. They sure have a lot of buds and have been blooming nicely. I did give them some "Miracle Grow" earlier, not sure just when I did that. I need to read up on when to fertilize Camellias.

The next thing Joe and Keith did was dig out the orange tree in the back. I did give an orange from that tree another taste yesterday and it wasn't all that bad. But, not that good either! I'm sure I will be happy with the dwarf Washington Navel orange that is planted in its place. When I bought the citrus, the small Washington Navel tree had 3 oranges on it. They were sweet and GOOD. I was surprised that little tree had 3 oranges on it already, so I'm thinking the Satsuma will have fruit on it next year also.
I hope they both grow fast. I'll have to keep the one in the front pruned down because a semi-dwarf can get as high as 15 feet. So, I'll be out there with my pruning shears.
I was surprised that it didn't take Joe and Keith all that long to dig out the 2 orange trees and plant the new ones.
What did take a long time, and it was a LOT of work, was putting the plastic bender board around the cherry trees in the side yard. The bender board is 6 inches wide and Joe dug a trench around the whole area to put the plastic board in with only 2 inches showing above ground.
He made the area a little wider (at my request) because later I'm going to transplant a few Iris in the middle with some colorful flowers on both sides of the Iris since they have a short blooming season.
I'll be transplanting some of the Irises from their area because I have yet another fruit tree to plant!! I really wanted a Fuyu Persimmon tree like we had in Merced. The only spot I had left for another tree was smack dab in the middle of the Iris garden. I debated on what to do and the Fuyu won out.
So, SOMEDAY, I will have cherries in late May, Flavor Crest peaches in late June and July; Apricots and Sun Crest peaches in July; Fantasia nectarines in August and the Fuyu Persimmons in November. These are the persimmons that you eat like an apple, they are not the kind you bake with. (These small persimmons sold for one dollar each at the grocery store.)
So, now I just have to stand back and watch them grow!! ha, ha.

The Day the Rains Came

And that would be today. And Boy, did it rain. We had several downpours. I had planned to go to Merced, but when the heavy rains came; forget it. I spent all day working on the next newsletter for the Winton Historical Society.
I like watching it rain, but I get a little worried when we get so much at one time.
The little strip between me and my next door neighbor gets flooded every time it rains. I don't think the lilac bush I bought likes wet feet. I worry about that plant. It's probably too much water for the rose bush and the Geranium too.
Must be hard pan in that area. I'm thankful though that where the fruit trees are planted, there doesn't seem to be a problem. The rain soaks right in.
There is more rain in the forecast for the next couple of days. Lots of snow in the mountains. Roads are closed in the Sierras and on the Grapevine. I'll take the rain.

Porch: Before & After

Remember my "Wall of Boxes" back in July when I first moved here? It was overwhelming! What to do with all that stuff?? Somehow it got whittled down, one box at a time. It took forever. Like 6 months!! But here it is today. No boxes in sight.
I'll have to admit there are still some boxes in the spare bedroom that need to be sorted out. lol. Little by little, I guess. But of course not nearly as many boxes as in the top picture.
I'm wondering how heavy a piano can you put inside a mobile home? I went to George's in Atwater today, you know he restores player pianos. He has one for $1500. that I would sure like to have. He says it's 100 years old and weighs about a ton. Wow. Much more than the piano I have now. He has 4 player pianos, plus others. He has one for $600. Maybe the park managers would buy it for our clubhouse. lol. I just hate to get rid of my 200+ player piano rolls. It was so much fun to peddle the piano and sing along. The rolls have the words printed on them.