It was a glorious day for working outside. A nice breeze for cooling and to keep any pesky insects away and just right temperature. I started with mowing the backyard and trimming around things after Bruce used the rider yesterday to do the rest of the yard(we have an acre here).
After lunch I tackled cutting out dead canes on my "William Baffin" rose. I finally used the new pruning saw Bruce bought me at Lowes a couple of weeks ago. It's quite lethal looking but does the job. It also has an extension handle for trimming higher tree branches. I did accidentally cut off one branch that was not dead. It's hard to tell when you're working at the base of the rose and the leafy parts are up above.
After the rose, I moved on to finding the honeysuckle vines by the back fence that were buried in grass and old dead growth. I was surprised to find that all four plants are still there. One has spread and one is so tiny I had to mark it so it won't get mowed over in the near future. I'm not sure if it's the dogs or the neighbors weed killer in the fall that causes them to die back so much but I hope they take off now and continue growing. I do not have invasive varieties so I hope the neighbors are not trying to kill them.
When trimming back my non blooming wisteria that likes to wind itself around the deck rails, I discovered a new bird nest. Not sure who's living there but I was wondering why twigs and bits of our shredded boat tarp were ending up in my fountain(which is right below where the nest is resting on the top of the arbor).
After all the trimming I planted the new peonies and replacement tomato plant in the vegetable garden. I also potted up the impatiens finally and tucked the extras into a few garden spots. I had a couple of new perennials to plant. I made a shade hanging basket with a couple of Paula Jane fuchsias, a coleus and a impatien with a dark eye to put by the front door. I added some new annuals to some containers that needed replacements for plants that didn't make it earlier this spring. It's much easier to take care of things when they're in pots or in the ground and have more room to grow.
I hope to weed the flower gardens- I did the vegetable garden today, tomorrow, and to fertilize some reluctant bloomers like my Endless Summer hydrangeas. Still have my apple trees to plant. Not ready to dig up old trees until they actually die(girdled bark-winter rabbit damage). I think I will plant new ones and leave old ones in place for now. The weather is supposed to cooperate tomorrow. I'm trying to get things done will I'm off this week before summer school starts next week.
