There was a Zebra in my yard.

Feb. 3rd,2012

   Today is my sister's birthday. She isn't 104 as she claims to be on Facebook. I thought that was funny and that I should share it with all the people who read my blog. After checking into FB (Facebook) this morning, I ventured outside with the twins and my furry friends.
  The weather is so nice, even though the groundhog saw his shadow and claims that there is 6 more weeks of winter. We have not had a winter at all, with the heat, we've barely had to use our heater at all. This comes as no surprise living in Florida.
  First on the list of to do today was to clean out the perennial flower beds. There was a lot to do. Aidan had on his Zebra costume from Halloween and was a great helper. He took all of my debris and carried it to the burn pile, being the sweetie he usually is. I am not sure how he wasn't sweating to death, with the summer-like weather and all. I should have taken pictures.( note to self: take camera outside with you next time.)

  I cut back everything. Plants should be either cut all the way to where the dead from the winter freeze ends.Some plants only require some shaping.Took stock of what I might have to replace later on. I lost my beloved Amaryllis. This was a huge one that I grew from seed. This was upsetting, it was choked out by the Iris. The Amaryllis can be grown from seed, it takes months for the seeds to germinate and then takes three or four years before they produce big blooms. I should have mulched immediately but didn't. If I were helping someone in their yard, I would have insisted that it had to be done right then.
 
 Mulch helps protect the plants from bacteria,fungus and helps the soil hold moisture. There are different kinds of mulch. You can buy Cedar Chips, Rock, or Pine Straw or leaves you rake out of your or your neighbors yard. This is a good reason to be nice to your neighbors who have lots of trees on their property.

This is the perfect time to put down granular fertilizer. Slow release fertilizers are heaven sent, These fertilizers can last 3 to 6 months before you need to reapply. YAY!! I still like to use and occasional liquid fertilizer to feed the leaves of the plants.

It is important that perennials be cut back, fertilized and strawed. This is usually done a couple of weeks before the weather warms up.

After cleaning our clippings, The Zebra and I went and had lunch with Ella Rose.