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Remember that I told you I want to try to bonsai a swamp cypress so that it makes knees?
Last Fall I asked my BIL (who lives in Mt. Pleasant, SC) if he would pick one up for me. I meant buy one in a pot. That lovely man went out in the woods and dug me the only one he could find that still had leaves on it so that he could be sure what it was. It’s really small and since that last leaf had dropped off, he was a little concerned that it might actually be dead. But, it was not. It is, however quite small, which also means not hard for him to dig up for me.
I have mostly been keeping it in the water garden to encourage that knee growth and a LOT of wild grass came up in the native soil that it has been living in. Today, I got the grass out and resituated the pot.
Now, the water garden has S. psittacina, black elephant ear, a couple of Japanese water irises, and my swamp cypress, all in pots, with water lilies in the main body of the container.
The irises haven’t been particularly happy about being pulled up and transplanted. But, I believe they’ll be fine. The cypress is an almost invisible stick to the left of the elephant ear.
My MG friend, Terry, had offered me a pink-and-white camellia. She has them growing abundantly from seeds dropped under her very large bush. I was happy to take one, so she brought me 4. They were bare-root when she got them to me and I’ve had them in a bucket of water until today. Now, 2 are in separate pots to take to my cousin and 2 are in a single pot to get healthy before I plant them at the western tip of the shade garden, at the left corner of the house.
Here’s the picture Terry sent me of her bush. I’m probably decades from this profusion.
The cypress
One of my MG mentors roadtripped to Texas with her husband to visit his family. She sent us pictures of flowers almost every day of her trip and she brought us all a package of blue bonnet seeds (L. texensis). I cleaned up the zinnia stalks what were leftover around the well from last year and planted blue bonnets.
They are native to TX. But, it looks like they’ll just be annuals here. And I might have done better to wait to plant them in the Fall to have flowers next year. We’ll see how it goes.
Did I tell you about my grapes? I don’ t think I did. My friend, Ann, thought she ordered 2 seedless white grape vines. She ordered 2 pairs and they came bare root.
She gave me a pair.
I have put one by the south fence and one on the northside west fence. I have a Task on my calendar to water them every 3 days. Today’s the day. I’ve been filling a bucket and pouring it slowly into the ground where they’re planted. And I have leaves!
This may be another “takes decades.” But, time’s going to pass whether I have something growing or not.
I went out to take pictures to show them to you and it looks like Southside Johnny is already trying to produce a cluster of grapes. *boggle!*
A couple of other nice things I saw while I was out: it looks like one of the caladiums that I put in a pot after overwintering in a bag inside is sprouting, one of the gloriousa vines appears to be sprouting and one of the bleeding hearts has started poking some leaves out.
I’m gross and sweaty and I need more water and a shower. I’m going to finish the water I have and this bowl of kettle corn before going out to turn of the hose that’s watering the shade garden first.
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This year got complicated.
They decided to extend the festival by a week. So, there were 3 weekends instead of 2. We made plans to go with my younger sister and her husband, reserving the same house we stayed in last year and decided to go the weekend in the middle. Yay!!
We thought that meant they could come after work on Friday, have 2 solid days of art and take one day off to get home on Monday.
But, no. Nothing is open on Sunday or Monday. So, what’s the point of that? And our rental was occupied until Friday morning.
So, we gave back Sunday night (our hosts were understanding.) and crammed as much as we could into Friday evening and Saturday.
We’re home, now, and my hips are still annoyed. We did have a fun time, though. We saw a lot.
Yesterday, there was a guy with a laptop in one of the stores that was participating in the festival. He was showing a video to the store owner and the few other people who were there. CBS Saturday Morning had run this: https://youtu.be/XBtkgV51ksA
We mostly think that’s great. But, we also think it’s likely to make everything more crowded which is not to our personal advantage.
There was a lot that was excellent.
I expect this one to get a prize. https://www.artfieldssc.org/galleries/art/2026/i-am-surprised-we-didn-t-meet-sooner/260577
I’m not going to post a bunch of pictures this year because you can scroll through and have a look as it suits you here: https://www.artfieldssc.org/galleries/?festival_year=2026 And if you have a look at the top of that page, you can click through to all the previous years.
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Yes. I do have parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. Also, oregano, cilantro, basil and chives.
The thyme, oregano and parsley are in one of the troughs. The rosemary and sage are each in a very large pot. The chives are in the ground. We have a couple of big pots where the cilantro and basil get replanted in their correct season. They overlap some; so, we don’t use the same pot for them. And I did seed some dill in front of the herb trough, too. Mostly to feed swallowtail butterflies. But, I’ll dry a little for me, just in case some recipe wants it.
I replaced the rosemary and thyme this year because they both died this winter. The rosemary didn’t care for me transplanting it and the thyme just wore out. I don’t think it lives longer than 3 or 4 years. None of mine ever has, anyway.
I’ve been considering moving the parsley and oregano to the ground. Specifically, to the area between the walkway from the patio to the driveway. They get really big and crowd each other and the green onions I store there.
It would take less effort to find a(nother damn) (s)pot to keep the thyme in and just clip those 2 more regularly. It’s not like we d/won’t use (most of) what’s dried when it slows down in winter. Neither dies back completely. So, a little fresh is available, then, too, if we ever need it.
I have 2 pots I could put the thyme in. One has a pawpaw seed in it and the other has caladium bulbs. I haven’t seen any growth from either one, yet. So….. I’m not sure which one I’d use. And I’d like to move the thyme, if I’m going to, sooner rather than later.
I may put in asparagus. I can get crowns delivered from Lowe’s. But, I think I want this summer to be sure the bed is well prepped and not trying to grow stuff I thought I got out but didn’t. But, if I plant this year, we’ll have a real harvest sooner…..
It didn’t do well in a trough in the middle of the yard. But, I think that location was bad because the metal trough got hotter than the ground and it didn’t get watered enough because it was too far from the house. It did well in the raised bed until the trees-of-heaven took it over. The last year there wasn’t enough to feed us. But, we got one good meal out of it.
So, that’s what in my head lately. I need to make some mustard and maybe pull some weeds while it’s not sweltering.
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It could use a pressure washing. I have removed all of the Red Hot Pokers from that side of the house. They were growing to the left of the HVAC unit and were a little stunted by the shade. I have plenty thriving on the south side. So, giving those away was no loss.
There is still a little patch of bearded irises I should probably move. But, they’re close to the fence and not in the way until I decide where I want them. I’ll deal with them later.
The muscadine I started from seeds a few years ago will stay on that piece of fence because I expect it will die if I try to move it. One day I may get fruit. Or not.
I ordered 3 bleeding heart roots from American Meadows, one each of pink, white and red. They have been planted on that left side.
I’ve also been putting wild violets over there. They are growing all over the place and I like them and I don’t mind them spreading around in that area. Some are white with purple throats and some are all purple. As I have removed them from other beds, I’ve moved them to this one.
Left side I want to get some ferns going over here, too, and I’m dithering. The Autumn fern hasn’t come back as quickly as the other two. I took it out of its pot and planted it in 2 pieces in front of the bleeding hearts. If it actually comes up, I’ll be pleasantly surprised. If it doesn’t, it wasn’t a good choice for our yard and it’s probably just as well.
The Japanese Painted fern and the Cinnamon ferns are doing well in their pots. I would like to put part of them in the shade garden. But, I also like seeing them off the patio. I think I’ll wait until they start moving into dormancy to put pieces of them over there. That will give me the summer to be sure I’ve cleaned up that bed to my satisfaction and give them winter to get established.
Cinnamon at the bottom, Japanese Painted at the top (I need to move the JPF to the shade. It’s getting sunburned.)
To the right of the HVAC, I have had swamp sunflowers (Helianthus angustifolius). They are native and great Fall food for pollinators. They did moderately well over there, leaning out for the sun. But, only moderately and the lean proves they aren’t in the best spot for them to be happy.
Right side I’m taking the 3 largest pieces to a friend tomorrow (She wants them. I’m not just dumping them on her.) And the rest I’m going to plant behind the lilies growing in the middle of the back yard. Because of how all those things grow, I think it will make a nice display for a longer length of time.
A wild thing has shown up there and I’m not sure what it is. I have Eastern columbines (Aquilegia canadensis) planted in the roadside bed and this looks similar. iNaturalist thinks this is a Black Snakeroot (Sanicula canadensis). Both are native and these leaves look like it could be either one. I’m going to leave them alone for the summer and see what I think later.
Snakeroot or columbine? Another thing in that bed? A feral asparagus showed up.
They’re everywhere After moving the sunflowers, I think I’m leaving this alone until Autumn. (Except for making sure there are no Virginia creeper, elderberries or silk trees trying to come back.) When I get through this year, I’ll make some decision about that I want to keep/have toward the front of the house.
I am the Audience 