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Monday, February 24, 2003
Spring Cleaning. valentine's day the
Spring Cleaning. valentine's day the is 'traditional' date for pruning roses in houston, but i didn't prune my rose then 'cuz the weather was overcast and drippy. however, the across-the-street neighbor did indeed prune his many roses that weekend.
yesterday i finally took care of my one lonely rose. it has many bud eyes ready to sprout, along with a bit of new growth, so i'm hopeful that it will be more productive this year than it was last year. the rose came with the house so i'm not really sure what it is, although i kinda suspect it's a hybrid tea rose.
my major accomplishment this weekend was completing the eradication of the mock indian strawberry (duchesnea indica). some gardeners are more tolerant (last reader question on the page) of this pest than i am, but i also think my infestation is more aggressive than hers.
to be honest, there wasn't / isn't much else growing in the corner (approx. 15' x 7'). formerly the location of a children's playset, the ground was bare and compacted when the previous owners removed the playset in august 2001. we didn't do anything to encourage proper grass and i was actually grateful for the cover provided by the mock strawberry. but lately it has started encroaching on the 'real' grass so i decided it had to go. since last fall, the st. augustine grass has been slowly creeping into the spot and several lawn violets of unknown variety (viola ??) have popped up so it doesn't look as bare now that i've weeded it.
Posted by Erica Bess Duncan | Permalink