October Garden Report

Not surprisingly, the Sasanqua camellias are starting to bloom. Even after a brutal pruning in the spring, they are loaded with blooms. Tough plants.

The azaleas are blooming again; perhaps it's the cooler weather, or perhaps it's the watering I've been doing. Either way, I'm happy to see them again.

The really big news is the tree work we're doing. We love trees and hate to cut them down, but we had several that were dead, diseased, or sick. So, in the last three weeks the tree surgeons have removed three dead Birch trees, two sick Modesto Ashes, two sick Elms, and an ill-placed, messy Mimosa.

Diseased Elm

(At the base of this elm were five azaleas that we transplanted. I'm happy to report that they are doing fine in their new locations.)

Diseased area

Big Bare Spot!

Don't dispare, we still have a Gingko, a Mayten, a Liquidamber, and a Flowering Plum out front. In the Jungle we have a Valley Oak, a Flowering Cherry, and a huge Philadelphus that's almost a tree.

In the back yard we have three huge Valley Oaks, two smaller Valley Oaks, a huge Magnolia, a Hackberry, a Cocculus, two Sweet Bays, two Japanese Maples, a Chinese Evergreen Elm, a Dogwood, and four Redwoods.

Chinese Elm

Chinese Elm Bark

The good news is that we now have more sun on the pool, plenty of firewood, and lots of compost, so we've been splitting, stacking, shoveling, and raking a lot lately.

One of the transplanted azaleas