This is the before picture which shows that I have definitely neglected the bed all summer! There are lots of perennials in there and it is full of blooms and plants all summer and the early part of the fall. But, if I'm not careful, our centipede grass will slowly take it over. Most of the perennials have gone dormant for winter and need cleaning out. There are daylillies, irises, monkey grasses and gladioli in the warmer times of the year.
There was a big fire ant hill in the left back corner beside the tree. Last weekend when I was working in this bed it was very cold. I chopped and dug all around in it and didn't see any ants, so I thought they were gone. WRONG!!! Yesterday it was a very warm day, in the sixties. Have you ever seen a fire ant bed that has been disturbed? It looks like they are boiling! Since I thought the fire ants were gone, I proceeded to dig in that spot to plant a little pansy and you can guess what happened! I had on pink gardening gloves, thank the Lord. I felt something stinging me on my wrists up under the edge of my sleeves and when I looked down, my pink gloves were covered with fire ants!!!! Yikes! Boy did I move fast! I quickly pulled off the gloves and threw them down. I had lots of them on my sleeves and made quick work of killing them. Thankfully, I am not very allergic to fire ants, but I do have some red bumps on my wrists this morning.
This is the after picture: If you look really close you can see the purple pansies I planted peeking out from the pine straw. The straw is fluffy right now, but will settle down and after the pansies grow a little, there will be lots of color all winter and spring.
Today I plan to pick up a few more pansies to plant in the small bed around our mailbox and in one planter. I also plan to buy some fire ant killer!!!
This is another view of the bed from the back which shows smoke from burning leaves. When I see leaves burning in the fall, it reminds me of a children's poem I read to my daughter once. It was something about "Flowers in Springtime, Fires in Fall".
4 comments:
I love all your new pictures. I did not know that pansies can grow through the colder months. That must have been a bit scary with the fire ants and I hope you are okay!
Your flower bed looks wonderful. Now about that smoke... :o) My husband has been burning leaves all weekend. Thanks goodness the wind blew it away from the house or I would be suffering.
Debbie, would you like to come and help me work in my yard? I want to put pansies on the right hand side of the front walk. It is truly amazing that pansies do so well in the winter. Yours look great. Hope that mine do.
Marjorie
Your flower beds look great. It's so cold here now that there is no more outdoor work to be done.
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