(...if not sooner.)
-- Anything left over from the "To Do: Autumn" page? Carry them over into this season, if so.
-- Take delicate potted plants into warmer over-winter storage. Last year, I put most of them on the back porch, but I don't know that I want to do that again. Options? (Garage or shed for some...) Related: Should I move the nicer pots out of the elements to protect them? Or just accept that they have a finite lifespan and not bother too much about it? (Definitely move the hanging plastic pots indoors. They're not that durable. Also, the spider plant can over-winter in the garage-- and the hanging lobelia may reseed again this year.)
-- Prune roses back pretty severely. That includes the rambling rose outside the bedroom window, all the old-fashioned shrubby pink roses around the yard, the sad rose in front of the garage window, and the traditional red and mini white on the north side of the patio. Research Knock Out Roses to see if they ought to be pruned, too.
-- Look into "Winter Sowing". (Basically, you put seeds in plastic
containers of soil outside in an out-of-the-way spot and let Mother
Nature tell them when to germinate. Works well for certain plants.
Might be interesting to try. Cleome... Tomatoes... Marigolds...)
-- Consider what seeds and annuals we want for spring. Maybe order some day lily seeds online.
-- Knock down/destroy any remaining spider webs and wasp nests around windows and doors-- and shed, too, possibly.
-- Clear area around A/C unit outside. (Seriously. DO IT NOW.)
-- Work on patio at the bottom of the yard using old pavers. (Do we want to avoid putting it under crepe myrtles?) Also, do we still want to put a fire pit down there? This would be a good time to work on that, too.
-- Trim back shrubs in foundation planting. Consider pulling some out entirely and replacing with something low-maintenance. (Knock Out Roses? Dwarf varieties of evergreen shrubs?)
-- Dress up the covered area by the front door. Maybe hang a welcome sign? Put out a pot (or three) with hardy, drought-tolerant plants? Just something.
-- Put stones around the boxwood in the front that bears the brunt of so much run-off from the roof. Something to protect the roots and prevent erosion.
-- Remove the many new "pups" from around the sago palm in the front. What should I do with them, though? I'm not sure we want/need any more around the yard... Maybe someone in the family could use them...
-- Take down the extraneous small crepe myrtles on the northeast corner of the house. (They're too close to the "main" one growing there, and as a result, they don't look good.) Probably not worth attempting to transplant them, but might be good to get as much of the stump/roots as possible. Otherwise, they just keep putting out new growth. Also, could use the hole(s) to put in something else... One of those prolific pink roses? The two roses already there haven't bloomed much, but maybe they're still settling in...
-- Transplant the small (white-flowered?) crepe myrtle up-start(s) to somewhere in the front yard.
-- Identify a few more good, hardy perennials (maybe even small shrubs) for this climate. We need more plants to fill in the flowerbeds. If any of these perennials can be started from seed, all the better! Would even be willing to order seeds online, if I felt they had a good chance of success...
(Awaiting further additions.)
