More Plants

I set out this morning to get materials for the irrigation system -- mostly pipe fittings. As it turned out, I was able to get half the fittings I needed and the rest were special order items, and the ones I would have had to order were the only part of the system I could have set up this weekend.

So I hauled all the stuff home, dumped the pipes in the yard and the sprinklers inside, and went to Annie's for a quick pick-me-up.

I got only a few plants -- this is the time of year when Annie's starts looking really sparse because we're basically done with planting for the season in the Bay Area.

Mainly I wanted some sweet peas for this bed by the front steps. I started some inside from seed, but they have, as we say, failed to thrive. I really should have planted them outside weeks ago, but with the carpentry on the stairs going on that was not going to happen. So I bought three sweet peas and when I got home I planted them here with some blue star creeper I got at the Cal Poly plant sale last week.

Also in that bed is a new pelargonium from the same Cal Poly plant sale, and two other plants I put in months ago (a pinky-purple pelargonium from the SLO Botanic Garden plant sale, and a plant from Annie's). I kind of have no idea what to do there, because it's a narrow little strip but it is right along the driveway where people walk. I guess I'll just muddle around with it for a while.

The other thing I did this afternoon was spray the living hell out of the roses. See, here's the view over the roses before spraying:

That's Bonica in the foreground, perfect and infection-free. Behind it, The Fairy is basically covered in powdery mildew. And there was mildew all over almost every other rose. Yeah, I know that's the deal when you have warm days and cold nights, but it was kind of a bummer. So I went mad and sprayed them all with fungicide.

Now I'm going to spend my evening with scratch paper and a site plan, figuring out more irrigation details. I have to go take some exams later this week, but next week will be one huge orgy of flexible hose.

Technorati Tags: david austin, gardening, plants, roses

posted by ayse on 06/04/06