Second Time Around

Lavender should be pruned every year to keep it healthy and blooming properly. I hadn't been doing a very good job of maintaining. I pruned for the first time in 2024, I think, at the end of the season, which I have since learned is a bit too late, although still necessary. Last year, I pruned in November, which was WAY too late.

I used this year's wonderfully smelling lavender clippings as mulch for my wisteria and my mourning glories. (Yes, I've spelled it that way intentionally. Lizard helped me plant the wisteria, mourning glories and apple trees. They were the last things we did together at home.)

I also fashioned some of the sprigs that were still alive into upside-down hanging plants in my master bath, which sees plenty of darkness now. Which is required for drying lavender. Which is why I put them there. They were extremely aromatic for about a month, but not so much now. I haven't tried crafting with lavender yet. But I will one day.

Healthy pruning at the right time (before the blossoms are completely spent) sometimes results in a second or even a third bloom. I had little hope because I was actually pruning properly, but still a bit late - at the end of July. I didn't really expect much of a second bloom.

Some of my youngest plants have blossomed heartily again! It is the coolest thing in the world to see! And smell...

Even some of the older lavender plants shot up a few spiky blooms. Just to prove getting old doesn't really bite, as we are so fond of saying and believing.

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Lavender Wake-Up

I began Lizard's mini lavender farm in 2021. I tried to extend it at least a bit each year, but then Parkinson's limited his access it. I had to spend a year's worth of lavender expansion budget on rock stairs to enable him to climb into the garden. Then he lost the ability to balance on slopes...

This year we decided to dive into the apple trees we'd wanted since the day we bought the house, technically ending the mini lavender farm expansion. I was beginning to realize Lizard would not be able to care for his lavender garden anymore, and then, the end came so quickly, I truly was not prepared. Emotionally, spiritually, physically, the works.

My first re-visit to the sun-baked mini lavender farm a week or so after the Celebration of Life, my initial thought and reaction was, "What's the point?" What would it matter if I let it die? He was no longer here. It was no longer his lavender. I didn't know if I would be able to hold onto the home by myself. (I'm still not entirely sure I can, but I know I should not make that decision before the one-year mark.)

A couple of weeks later, I decided the lavender farm isn't going to take care of itself, and Lizard would not want me to let it die, so I'd best try to revive it. Thank heavens lavender is drought-tolerant.

I replaced two of the lavender plants that didn't make it through the winter with home improvement center lavender and the third with the only home-grown-from-seed lavender tall enough to survive transplanting. That was back in May. I'm proud to say all three are still going strong, as is the rest of the mini lavender farm. (And the other two home-grown from seed lavender are finally tall enough to transplant, but I'm waiting until fall.)

The entire mini lavender farm is in need of new and fresh mulch, as well as and some rock border replacement, thanks to the local wildlife. The new apple trees also are doing well, although I have yet to finish the landscaping around them because it's just been too darned hot.

We bought a mature wisteria and a blueberry bush when we bought the apple trees. The wisteria found the pergola all by itself. I haven't had to train it or the mourning (pun intended) glories I planted at the base. They are healthily climbing and doing their best to bring me daily cheer.

The third and final clematis didn't survive our July heat dome, and I'm throwing in the towel on clematis. No clematis on this property has survived more than one year in 18 years, so I give up. Mourning glories and wisteria will suffice for the shade I hope they will produce within the next couple of years. The ivy that came with the house didn't survive the transplanting to the pergola, even though everything I've read says ivy is extremely easy to root. There's always the Virginia creeper that seems to grow wild everywhere here...

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed some of the leaves on the wisteria were turning yellow. My heart sank. I googled and learned I need to mulch the clematis in this heat. I couldn't afford to buy more mulch, and the lavender needed to be pruned, so, I decided to use the lavender trimmings as mulch.

I hate cutting the lavender because it feels like I'm killing it. (It's actually necessary, but it's a mindset thing for me.) And yet I LOVE cutting the lavender because the smell is SO incredible. Now when I water my wisteria, I'm overcome by the wonderful aroma of lavender. And the wisteria looks healthier!!!

A few years ago, I generated a bunch of AI images of bears in a lavender field because I'd missed my award-winning shot. AI has improved a bit since then, so, last week I tried to generate new AI interpretations of a bear in Lizard's mini lavender farm. I'm tickled with the new images. But I'd rather have real photos of bears in Lizard's lavender.

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Easy Being Green

This was supposed to be my St. Patrick's Day post. I was so spent and exhausted at the end of the day on Monday, March 16, I forgot to hit publish. I kept thinking I could publish a little late on Tuesday, but I didn't get on the computer until after 7 p.m. That has happened a few times in the last several weeks. I guess that's just my new blahg schedule these days.

I'm hoping to start as many of my raised-bed garden veggies from seed again this year instead of buying established plants in a few months from one of the local garden centers. With no real winter this year, I might be able to get an earlier start on transplanting...

My goal was to plant my peppers and tomatoes for the coming summer on March 1. That was Sunday. I'm teaching 5- and 6-year-olds this year, and they are still at the very active and very excited stage in which it's a real challenge to keep them in their seats or to get them to listen to anything I say. I have to make everything into a game to capture their attention at all. Lizard's also struggling a bit more these days, and his needs outweigh anything in the garden. By the time we get home from church, we're both so exhausted, we both end up taking an afternoon nap. Then it's Bible study and my weekly call to my mom, and I don't get much else done.

I did, however, get my seeds planted in clean yogurt containers on March 2, and they've been coming up like crazy!!! (I also remembered to sprinkle poppy seeds in the garden right before our March 15 snowstorm that was supposed to be half an inch and instead delivered nearly six inches!!!) I can hardly wait for fresh tomatoes (and poppies!!!) from my garden!!!

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Scented Surgery

I wish now I had snapped a photo of my oldest and hardiest lavender before giving it the most severe haircut of its 15-year life. It outgrew the garden and was hanging over the sidewalk by a good ten to eleven inches. It complicated snow shoveling in winter, which now is being done more by my kind neighbors than by me, and it was a continual magnet for dog marking.

I hated clipping it back so much. I felt as if I was removing arms and legs. But, oh, my, the aroma!!! Of all the garden work I do, I don't think anything is more pleasant than touching and inhaling lavender!

I got what I thought was this bright idea to try to root some of the clippings. I hadn't done any research at that point as to how to do it successfully. I finished my task (first mistake), then began preparing each healthy sprig for vase living. After dunking about ten vases' worth of sprigs, putting away all the tools and garbage bin, and sweeping the walk, I looked up how to root lavender clippings.

I quickly learned I'd done it wrong. I should have been preparing the sprigs and putting them in a vase as soon as I cut them. I should have cut them with sterilized clippers. I should have clipped the tips, not the entire branches, for rooting, then clip what needed to be pruned. I changed out the water in the vases with homemade rooting hormone, and I moved all of the vases into indirect daylight. Indoors, of course. It was too cold out for anything alive. I did do that part right.

I learned it is possible to root from woody clippings, but it's more difficult and takes longer.

I change out the rooting hormone each week and regularly remove dead clippings. I moisturize the live leaves two to three times a week with a gentle spritzing of clean water. I'm down to four vases now, and I'm continually cleaning up shed leaves. This experiment has not been as successful as I would have liked.

However, I have learned so much, and I expect to be far more successful next year. I have two or three sprigs that seem to be attempting to form roots. And I've had vased lavender throughout my living room and kitchen for going on three months now. My pruned front yard lavender won't be thwarting snow shovels all winter, and it should bloom as always come June. I truly cannot complain!

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It Works!

I read I might be able to get a second bloom from my lavender if I clip the blossoms at the base of the leafless part of the stems. I also have way too many volunteer larkspur I absolutely love but don't want to go to seed. And a ton of mosaic vases I created from recycled jars. Perfect combination, don't you think?

I clipped more lavender over the weekend and noticed bunches of new tiny emerging blossoms in the areas I clipped a couple of weeks ago!

I could do this all summer long!!! I love the way my hands smell after I clip. I love being right down in the lavender. I love the way the clipped lavender still smells two weeks later. I love having fresh flowers in the house. And I love that clipping the lavender makes the bushes more full!

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Plan B

I'm still working on the design for the landscaping in our unfinished backyard. When I first began leveling and terracing, I thought it would be so cool to have a fire pit at the top of our slope, away from all trees and anything that might be flammable. I'd planned to surround the entire "picnic" area I planned to build with flagstone to make sure no sparks could ignite.

After the late December Marshall Fire in 2021, there was no way I'd ever consider even a barbecue grill in our backyard. We are surrounded on the other side of the back fence by an extremely dry and miles-long grassy field that will always be open space that will never be human-watered. That field actually caught fire just a couple of blocks south of us late this summer, and deputies were stationed on every street of our little village to enforce mandatory evacuations should they become necessary.

Thank heavens, our nearby West Metro fire department (which immediately afterward traveled to the Gulf Coast to assist with Hurricane Helene recovery) contained the wildfire in just a few hours, and our neighborhood was never evacuated. But that was just way too close, especially after two previous fires, one and four miles respectively, from us.

I've been trying to decide what to do with the upper portion of our backyard because it is so sloped and because all the snowmelt and rainwater (when we actually get rain, which did not happen often this summer or fall) from the big grassy field significantly erodes our slope, regardless of how much terracing I construct. I'm literally fighting a losing battle.

I also don't want to have to water whatever I plant there because the water drains down toward the house. I'm also trying to be water-wise in what I plant.

I got this bright idea earlier in the year to plant sunflowers along the final segment of the fence on the steepest portion of our slope. I don't get to go east to search for huge sunflower fields much anymore, and I thought it would be SO cool if I had my own sunflowers. Then all my neighbors who've never seen the sunflower fields could take pictures of MY sunflowers. And so would I!!!

I bought six more lavender plants to extend the current lavender garden about six more feet, and then I would plant giant sunflowers across the remainder of the slope. I even considered planting red sunflowers. Wouldn't it be cool to have a whole garden of gorgeous red sunflowers?!?

I haven't put those final lavender plants into the ground yet, and I need to get busy because our first snow is expected this week. End of season. End of perfect planting time. Our outrageous heat (and other unexpected life complications) this summer kept me from doing much of what I'd planned.

But, good thing I didn't carry though just yet. When sunflower season approached, I realized my planned sunflowers would all face the wrong direction. They would face the fence. Yes, immature sunflowers sometimes follow the sun. But once the blossoms open, they face east. My backyard is east of my house. I would have views of the backs of my sunflower heads.

Now I'm considering a couple of apple trees for that spot. I've probably lost the season now and will have to wait for spring. I've decided to let mostly wild sunflowers grow rampant in the front yard next year. (I've also been spreading all my red sunflower and pink cosmos seeds in the front yard for the last three weeks.) The sunflowers likely will all face the front of my house, but I'll have plentiful flowers in August and September, which I haven't had for the last several years now because everything I plant goes to seed by the middle to end of July. This year's late summer/early autumn wild sunflowers got devoured by grasshoppers in this heat.

This means my neighbors will have a great view of the backs of the sunflowers next summer, but they can always come up to my porch for a visit and a better view. Plus, I'll be able to cut fresh bouquets for them, too!

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