The afternoons end quickly, now, and my summer habit of early evening gardening ends in the dark, as the sun sinks below Bill Clinton's office. The gins and tonics and the crushed mint drinks of the sunlit terrace have been replaced by cider.
Recently I dug up the last of the gloriosa lilies, pulling out long, fat tubers belonging to the last plant, a threefold return on the initial investment. I may dig up the lily bulbs for the first time this winter, too. The long freezes and many, rotting thaws of last winter have me spooked. The boxwoods will be sprayed with Wiltpruf. Also a first. I may wrap them, against snow breakage...
Temperatures will dip below 40'F late this week, and I'll try to collect some Malabar spinach seed before then. The raspberry's offspring have been divided from the mother plant, and the Plectranthus cuttings I bought from Cape Town in June are about to bloom.
Perhaps I'll mulch the blueberries.
Yay for cider! Bill Clinton's office? Really? Unless they're under that dripping ice machine of a gutter, the box should be fine without wrapping or an antitranspirant. Justin is hardy to zone 6 so unless they're exposed to howling winds, I wouldn't anticipate problems. They don't usually deform from normal snows as much as big pieces falling off of roofs. If you get more than 6", a little rustling to free them up mid snow is all I've ever needed. Then again, maybe you'll be someplace warm and sunny this winter and would like to be without worry. I hope that's it :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've been meaning to look up whether that monolith south of us is Bill's building, for a while. Turns out his official Office of Former President (or whatever the title is) is on the top floor, but he moved his foundation to Water Street (bottom of Manhattan = nice flood zone) because the Harlem rent was too high!
DeleteBoxwoods - thanks for weighing in. Well, I do want to take special care of them, as they are yours, and I did lose two last year, which was weird (one did succumb to the ice gutter of death, which has STILL not been fixed). I'll make sure no plants are in the death zone this time. I'll be back from sunny climes before the real winter sets in...
If it's a freak winter and my advice kills them, we'd be happy to bring replacements...especially now that the 3rd section of the High Line is open :)
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