This past weekend was spent finishing off some trimming in the front yard. The hedge, made of privet and boxwood, but mostly privet, was the target for my husband for the day. He used the hedge trimmer and cut the hedge back quite a bit, filling a few waste containers with the cut privet stems. The hedge was very overgrown since we missed the final trim in fall because the rains started early last year. Now the front yard looks must better with a good line shape on the hedges. My husband also trimmed back some of the passionflower vines on the fence to keep the vines farther away from the rhododendron.
I spent a good deal of my time doing my usual front yard rose trimming I must do every week to two weeks in spring/summer, then hitting the fallen over calla lilies in the back yard. Most of the calla lilies are so tall that they fall over quite easily as come into summer. At this point I don't have the means to purchase the large amount of metal stakes it would take (and it would take a number of them) to hold the calla lilies in place. The tall calla lilies tend to fall onto the lawn and the sidewalk area leading to the gate. For now I cut back the stems close to the ground knowing nothing ever hurts large white calla lilies. I had three areas I needed to clean up and now the back yard looks much tidier.
After all the trimming was completed, I took a pack of perennial sweet peas and planted them under the obelisk in the back yard, in the trellis boxes out front, and next to the trellis holding my clematis vine. I know it is much later than these seeds should have been planted out but I'm taking a chance to see if the perennial sweet pea does better in my yard than traditional sweet peas. The perennial sweet pea has red and purple coloring on the flowers but unfortunately has no sweet scent like the traditional sweet peas. Frankly I'd love it if I have a sweet pea vine that grew well. I had a multi-color sweet pea a few seasons ago that grew so-so on the obelisk, but just didn't do much in terms of flowering. No doubt I need to work at the ground more, making it richer so the sweet peas grow better. This time it's taking a chance with one packet of seed and seeing if there are any decent results with the perennial sweet pea variety. I noticed the three areas where I planted out nasturtium seeds are producing small inch round leaves, finally all the nasturtium seeds are growing and establishing well. I'm pleased to see the nasturtium leaves growing from underneath the climbing roses, near the obelisk, and next to the chair under the green arbor. I can't wait for the nasturtium flowers to open and the vines to produce seeds so I can plant more nasturtium throughout the garden.
