Gratuitous Domestic Posting (TM) -Gardening Division

Back in from the garden. The Missus is home with the younger two and the bus will be dropping my oldest off shortly. (I was remiss, btw, in describing the Butcher's Wife as working full time the other day. What I meant was that she works five days a week. She's actually part time and comes home with the younger girls after lunch.)

Nonetheless, I was able to get a moderate amount of work done. Would you like to hear about it?

Oh, good!

Well, first of all, I transplanted a few specimens. Most pressing was an orange butterfly weed that had been totally swamped by my big, sloppy Buddleia. These aren't supposed to be very easy to move, as they have deepish taproots, so we'll see what happens. I moved it over in front of some white coneflowers. It'll be a nice effect if it works.

Next was the task of moving a couple of clematis - a jackmanii and an Ernest Markham - from a west-facing fence to a south-facing one. They've done okay this year, but they are stringy rather than lush. They'll get a lot more sun this way and, I think, will be happier.

Project number three was moving my crabby, pouting Improved Blaze from the garden fence around to a spot by the front door. This rose had never been happy where it was. I hope the change of scene will help - the new spot is a bit cooler and doesn't get quite so much concentrated sun.

Finally, I moved the potted oregano on the porch out into the garden. I now have two big clumps of the stuff out there. If anyone needs some fresh oregano, feel free to drop by. Bring scissors.

I'm generally successful when I go to transplant things. The nifty thing this time around, tho, is that I have no particular emotional attachment to any of these plants. If one of them goes belly up, I'll simply shrug and toss its lifeless corpse. But I like the spots where they all are now. If one of them should go to an early grave, I'll certainly bring in a replacement for it.

Last project for the morning was whacking back the big forsythia. I've been good about keeping its sides trim, but less so about its top. The result is that the thing started looking like it was sporting a mohawk. Not any more. Now it looks like a Marine recruit.

Alas, I'm still suffering from this damn cold. A morning in the garden is supposed to be pleasant, not a chore, especially a chore done in a drug-induced haze. Come to think of it, neither is blogging. So perhaps I'll sign off here.

Yip at you later.