Seeds Of Crocosmia "Lucifer"

Day 12: The weather was a bit too cool for kayaking or bicycling today, and the government shutdown means I can't even go into work, let alone take a stroll up one of my favorite trails, so I decided to do a bit of gardening in preparation for next spring. The first project of the day was to move the half-sunken, enormous tomato pot forward so the Sweetfern would have room to expand (which, incidentally, it's doing nicely). I dug out half the soil in the pot and the space in front of it, shovelling the potting soil into buckets and the garden dirt onto a piece of heavy-gauge plastic sheeting I'd laid out on the sidewalk. Once loosened, the pot was fairly easy to "walk" into place without needing to be lifted. I relocated clusters of Grape Hyacinth bulbs and the chives, and then filled in behind the pot and installed four metal fence posts around it. Next spring, I'll put up 2 x 4 wire to keep Bambi out.

A few other small yard projects kept me busy for an hour or so, and then after I'd cleaned all the tools and put them away, I noticed that the Crocosmia's seed pods had opened. Crocosmia is notorious for spreading by both seed and stolon, so to keep the sprawl at a minimum, I harvested the pods for future planting. The hummingbirds love red "Lucifer's" bright flowers, so I'll set aside a corner of the yard where the plant can run rampant. After all, I have to keep my hummers happy, don't I?