January 2020
January 2020
Wednesday 1 January
Starting this first day of the new year chilly and cloudy. Still trying to work outside as tomorrow is expected to be a lot of rain.
Planted another camellia, wide hole, mulch with pine straw, fertilize with the Houston fertilizer. This one is from Larry Bates last spring. The flower buds I think froze with the early hard freeze we had in November. I put it in place of one that died (Rev. John Bennett from Magnolia Gardens, 2018). Redid the chicken wire. Bob’s Tinsie (1962), originated by Nuccio’s Nurseries of California, brilliant red, anemone form on a moderate sized bush.
I planted a second camellia today, Rosea Plena (<1829, from France). This I placed to the left of the allée behind the azaleas replacing a dead Adeyaka from Camellia Forrest. The new camellia is from Savannah last spring by mail. It has lost its buds also; again I think due to the bad freeze in November.
I am continuing to trim on the south farm road so vehicles do not get scratched. And I am taking used hay to mulch in the potager after weeding to put on the compost pile.
Friday, 3 January
It’s been raining for the last two days, too wet to be out. So I have been thinking about seed, what I have and what I need. Transplants need to be started by the end of the month and peas planted shortly thereafter.
Kelly Rauls of Andalusia did send a late Christmas gift of narcissus to force. Three Ziva bulbs. Ogden notes these bulbs were developed in the 1970’s in Bet Daga Israel under the direction of Herut Hahel of the Volcani Institute. Also introduced were Jerusalem and Galilee. Ogden further notes that they were bred primarily for forcing. “In the most popular clone, ‘Ziva,’ the foliage follows, rather than accompanies the blooms, making for a dramatic display, but also shortening the time the bulbs have to replenish themselves in the garden.” I got a similar gift last year in a red pot also. It is of interest there are many in bloom outside at this time of year here.
Saturday 4 January
The rain has stopped (3-4 in.) and it is sunny and chilly.
Planted another camellia north of the annex. Bobby Fain (1982) was developed by Dr. Homeyer of Macon GA and propagated by Nuccio’s Nurseries of Altadena CA. Again fertilized, pine straw, chicken wire. I bought this one last spring from the Camellia Shop, Savannah GA.
Sunday 5 January
A sunny and mostly warm afternoon.
Planted another camellia north of the annex. Tama Beauty from the Camellia Shop, Savannah, last spring. Tama-No-Ura was discovered in the wild by Tomokazu Fujita in 1947 in Tama-No-Ura, Fuku’e Island, Goto Archipelago, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. It was named and released by the Prefectural Camellia Society and 1st exhibited in Nagasaki in 1973. It was introduced into the West by Nuccio’s Nurseries in 1979. The Camellia Shop says that Tama Beauty is a seedling of Tama-No-Ura but no date is given by the American Camellia Society directory of camellias. There are several camellias with the Tama name and its seems that most if not all have been introduced by Nuccio’s.
I am enjoying the field of narcissus outside my annex window. The lack of a hard frost has been a boon to the winter blooms. How long will it last and what damage will the next hard frost do the progressive growth.
Monday 6 January
Expected to go to Nashville today to pick up the Model A, but the hauler got sick so I am taking advantage of a warm, sunny day.
I started the morning by ordering my seeds for this year. Again Pine Tree as they are the cheapest and I ordered some form Southern Exposure Seed Exchange as they had 2 tomatoes recommended by a couple places for hot, humid climates: Arkansas Traveler, (1968 Univ. of AR per one supplier. Another notes a pre-1900 heirloom grown throughout the South from NW Arkansas to North Carolina) and German Johnson, an heirloom pink in the Carolinas and Virginia (one of the 4 parent lines of Mortgage Lifter). I am still looking for a tomato that will do well with me. The Sun Gold is a small fruited that produces pretty well for me for a couple years and I use in salads. Cherokee Purple is another for the hot/humid and I will plant seeds of it also.
Weeding in potager, put out all the old paper products as mulch near the well house and behind the potager.
Planted another camellia, Laura Walker Variegated (1958) that I had bought from Camellia Shop, Savannah. Laura Walker Variegated originated by Mrs. JC Walker, Marshallville GA. It first flowered 1953. Again north of the annex.
Another camellia from Larry Bates: Ville de Nantes (1897). A sport of Siebold’s 1834 cultivar Donckelarii, it was first recorded by the French grower Heurtin of Nantes in 1897. Semi-double with dark red, blotched white, fringed blooms. North of the annex.
Tuesday 7 January
Another sunny but cooler day.
Another camellia from Camellia Shop, HA Downing (1900) originating in the US, also known as Mardi Gras, Lauren Bacall, Lady Mulberry. Also north of the annex.
Still weeding in the potager.
Wednesday 8 January
We did our trash pickup on the highway. Chilly, 34 degrees with scattered light frost.
Another camellia from Bates, CM Hovey (1850). Synomyms are Colonel Firey, Duc de Devonshire, Firey King, Solaris, William S. Hastie, Mississippi Hastie, Hawei (China). It is named for its propagator, a distinguished American nurseryman. It was offered for sale in London as Covent Garden in 1878. It is similar to another, CH Hovey (1878) which was introduced by CM Hovey of Boston. This one also planted north of the annex. The last three or so I have fertilized with old cottonseed meal.
Another Sea Foam planted on the north side in front of the house.
I was reading my last years writing yesterday. Brechter recommended fertilizing each month from March to fall for the first year or two. I think I shall try that with all my younger smaller camellias this year. Fertilizing with the planting is a bit early.
Narcissus are blooming around the park. The First Breath of Spring, Lonicera fragrantissima, called Winter Honeysuckle by Odenwald[1], is budding out. Time to cut some stems to bring inside and force which also makes for a more bushy shrub. I had this first in NC. The Flowering Quince, Chaenomeles speciosa, is showing color in front of the potager.
The Japonicas are blooming around the park but I think a lot of buds were killed in November, an early deep drop to 20’s for a couple nights. The red camellia near the dinning room window had a couple flowers the other day but I couldn’t see any more buds and this bush usually flowers nicely.
Thursday 8 January
I now have all the camellias planted except one from Alabama which I plan to pot up and keep another year.
I carried hay and mulched in the potager. Can I move as much as I want to? It is a good mulch and does break down quickly to enrich the ground. I want to use in all over the potager.
Harvesting Persian limes, kumquats, blood oranges, and Meyer lemons in my pots on the patio. I have already harvested my few satsumas.
Saturday 11 January
The storm front they have been warning us about all week came through this morning with a good deal of wind and rain. I haven’t seen any damage yet but haven’t been out in the park.
I am working on the camellias still, caging some that I haven’t, labeling those that need it.
Watered all my pots since I am going away to ILM for a week. Something has been eating the heart of some of my agaves in the well house? A first---birds? mice?
Monday 20 January
Chilly and windy. A couple days of frost coming up. Last week was warm and a lot of rain Saturday; which means limbs down. There is also a pretty big sink hole in the lower farm road! I need some concrete blocks to fill that up.
The warmth has a lot of green around. Even the bananas on the patio are putting out leaves. The next couple frosts will probably take care of that. The warm weather in Wilmington had a lot of camellias blooming, perhaps my best year for that there. Here I blame the November freeze for loosing a lot of camellia buds. But I did cut several camellias yesterday for the house and a few branches of the osmanthus which is in bloom and trimmed back ‘the first breath of spring’ for a more dense plant and to bring in for a nice smell. I also cut some narcissus in the south lawn. There are the first daffodils blooming in the drive bed. And the first Snow drops on the alee. Actually they are snowflakes (Leucojum aestivum).
I did bring some bamboo sticks from ILM to use with my camellia cages.
Despite the cold the cattle are not eating the hay as much as searching for green in the pastures; I think due to some green growth during the balmy last few weeks. We are a plantation here, growing grass. We use cows to mow the grass. Even the magazine I read is named ‘The Stockman Grassfarmer.’ Good soil feeds good grass, feeds good cows, feeds good soil, etc. The late Allan Nation, editor of ‘The Stockman Grassfarmer’, used the term ‘grass farmer’ to describe a new type of agricultural producer who was something beyond the conventional mild of a farmer or a rancher.
Monday 27 January
It’s the rainy season. That means I don’t get to do much outside. It is either raining or everything is so wet and mushy that it is hard to work. It rained all day yesterday and was chilly. Today is cool and cloudy and wet. But it is supposed to warm up. I have lots of sticks to pick up, lots of azalea beds and fence rows to weed (not exactly the right word to describe the removal of bushes and trees), lots of hay to use as mulch.
Spring tries to come, more daffodils, green on the boxwood, green on the spirea.
Friday 31 January
It is still chilly. A dreary day. Cloudy. It was wet enough to have a lot of mud and it rained again last night.
I did cut some more privet in an azalea bed yesterday. I have been working all week on this one bed. The privet are trees. I am using roundup despite the alarm spreading about it. Since several plants are trying to grow, maybe this spraying of trunks will be helpful. I try to dig the plants up if possible but often they are either too big to reasonably to so or in such a place I can’t. The smaller privets can be easily pulled, if only I could get around to all the beds each year. It only takes a year or two to have them huge. Connie said I would never get them all done. I suppose not without a larger team. I am a gardener of one and an older one at that. I have no job to go to but plenty of excuses to not be outside struggling: too wet, too cold, too hot, raining, and even too dry. Its hard to pull weeds out of clay if the soil is dry, nay, impossible. So I need a slightly wet soil, reasonable temperatures and I can work that one day a year.
Connie wants me to do some burn piles but they are too wet too. And often it is too windy. I am paranoid since I lost control in the pasture a few years ago and had to have the fire department help on that windy day in March.
All my lemons, limes and oranges are gone. I still pick kumquats.
I listened to Felder Rushing this morning. He’s our Mississippi garden guru on MPB. I learn very little but occasionally. Today he recommended Celeste fig as the most reliable. He also noted a successful, large fruited, local Mississippi variety, Kazeri from Clinton, MS. He also put in a plug for Hutto’s in Jackson which he has before. Talks about their fruit trees suitable for the deep South. I should visit sometime.
It’s our best year for the narcissus and daffodils.
[1] Plants
for American Landscapes, Neil G. Odenwald, Charles F. Frying, Jr. Thomas E.
Pope, 1996. A good source of information about plants in this area.
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