happy valentines day, video, trim day

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

i want to wish everyone a happy valentines day
but
i especially want to wish my wife she one
for putting up with me picking on her at times in this blog
and
for being such a good wife friend and mother

VIDEO
thanks to all who have taken the time to vote for our video
former physician takes action in the face of alzheimers

its is in third place in the overall voting for fan favorite 
however
its way ahead of all the other videos in the number of 
people who have actually viewed the videos
at 2500+ viewings since the contest started
no other of the videos is close to ours in total viewings 
over the last week

today is the last day to vote at
http://patients.aan.com/go/about/neurofilmfestival

TRIM DAY
when its valentines day then i know its time for
trim day is what i call it
i go through my landscape and trim those things that need to be trimmed
eg

my salvia greggii or autumn sage has gotten leggy and overgrown 
so i will shear then down to about 4 inches so that all my 
plants will get new growth on them 
all 15 of them 
these are one of the best plants for our landscapes
they are tough and produce flowers from spring to fall
butterflies and hummingbirds love them
mine are never watered 

i also trim my peach trees so that a lot of the new growth 
that doesnt point upwards is trimmed off as well as some 
of the small branches so the tree wont me overloaded with fruit

i trim any of my oaks or native fruits trees and crepe myrtles that 
look like they may have damaged branches or if the branches keep 
catching me when i walk by


(please dont butcher your crepe myrtles by cutting off all the 
branches
just trim those lower limbs that are growing wrong)


this year ill trim my turks caps as they are getting too large for
the area they are in
i trim them down to about 4 inches 
the plant will easily grow back and produce lots of flowers for 
the butterflies and hummingbirds
this is another tough plant 
it likes shade and doesnt get any supplemental watering

i trim my lantana xesmenia shrimp plants but not my creeping
lantana

any plant with dead branches or dead flowers are trimmed
of course as much as possible of this goes in my compost
pile or brush pile (i maintain 3 large brush piles on my property 
as a source of cover for animals and birds)

some of my plants are just cleaned up so the dead stuff is removed
they just look better
i am careful to not remove anything that has seeds in it as the
birds use these as a source of food during the winter months


i also have several tall native grasses that have gone to seed
but i dont trim those until the new growth has replaced the old 
in the late spring 
again as the birds use these as their food sources

all this trimming allows me to get an up close look at all my 
plants looking for damage dead or unhealthy plants
i also use this as a time to pull any winter weeds(which i compost)
and to clean up the beds as i move about my yard

yep trim days a big day at the country n

the organicgreen doctor