Friday, May 18, 2012

Friday Blooms

Just a few blooms here today....

Love the hydrangea's this time of year. They take a while to get a full bloom but they are gorgeous when they begin to open up.

I don't remember the name of this one.



This is the endless summer hydrangea.


Dianthus pretty happy this time of year. They are not fussy at all. I just clip off old blooms when I get around to it. Can you see the weeds. The gardens are needing my attention right now.





Salvia.


Don't remember the names of the Butterfly Bush.



I've been pretty busy lately. All I really want to do is to keep Momma's gardens going. It pleases her to sit out and look at the pretty blooms and that is what is important. She is doing OK. She has healed nicely from the surgery but she is not the same. I see changes. It's hard. I hang up the phone and cry or cry myself to sleep at night. I will not take her for granted. Today she wants to get out of the house and go shopping. I was so surprised when she asked me take her shopping and of course I changed my plans to accomodate her wishes.

Hope you all have a nice weekend.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Fertilizer Friday

Happy Mothers Day

Joining Glenda at Tootsie Time for Fertilizer Friday


I love this verbena salvia -oops. It just keeps on performing and maintains the flowers for a long time. It spreads and grows taller and fuller every year. I will have to thin it out soon. I may come home with more flowers today since I am making a trip to Home Depot for lovely flowers for my mom.

Shasta Daisy

Dainthus

Begonia

More Begonia's. Thought the caladiums were history when I redid this garden bed.

Mandevilla

This was an unhappy hydrangea for the past 2 years so I moved it to a new bed and it is thriving now.

Endless Summer Hydrangea

Zinnia Green Envy

This one is a darker shade of green

Snapdragon

Strawberry dianthus

Butterfly Bush Budleia

Hibuscus

I want to collect some seeds this year. I have never tried collecting seeds till 2 years ago. I am learning.
I am wanting to collect seeds from this beautiful hibuscus but the entire bloom falls from the tiny shrub with every bloom as soon as the bloom is done. The blooms only last about a day. You can see in the photo below where the one from yesterday fell.

In this photo you can see the elbow I find on all of the blooms and this is where it breaks from. Any ideas how I can collect seeds from this plant. Is this normal?


Hope you all have a great weekend.

Happy Mothers Day

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

This N That

Hooking up with Jean for Bloomin Tuesday.





http://msgreenthumbjean.blogspot.com/2012/05/its-bloomin-tuesday.html


In case I haven't said it before, my friend is a metal smith and he is getting creative. When I found this old magazine rack in the shed someone had left a very long time ago I originally had planned to place some garden fabric in the bottom and plant flowers in it but now that he sanded it and painted I really don't want to fill it up with flowers. Isn't the lamp shade cute. Can you believe the lamp actually worked after being exposed to the elements for a long time. Tried placing a solar lamp in it but the holes in the shade aren't big enough to let out much light. Maybe I'll hang a small wind chime on it and place a container of flowers inside the basket. Makes a great outdoor table.





Oh no. I went to take photos of my plants and look what I found. At first it appeared that it was soil from the heavy rains we had earlier but upon further inspection it was not.

Due to the mild winter we had it has been mentioned that bugs, snakes and other little creatures would be running a plenty this year. Last week a city worker found a rattlesnake in the front ditch. Yikes!!!

Now I've never had much of problem with bugs messing with my flowers but this was different. These critters meant to eat up all my foliage and do it quickly mind you. I hate using pesticides but ya'll forgive me. I ran to get the stuff I already had mixed up (sorry I forgot the name of the product) to kill pests on the fruit trees. Nasty little creatures. I took care of them though.


Love the poppies but they only last a day or until it rains each day. Wish they would hang out a little longer.

We can't spend any time outdoors without Molly dropping the ball everywhere. Buddy he doesn't care and is content just laying in the grass near MY chair. Molly on the other hand must be ball hunting. If I'm digging the ball goes in the hole. If I'm standing the ball is at my feet or John's. So here we go... the ball is dropped... off she goes.

...and she waits...


And she goes from side to side waiting...

The ball is thrown and off she goes...

She gets the ball but she goes to sniff out everywhere the ball touched the ground before bringing it to be thrown again. She is a Rat Terrier so that nose of hers picks up every scent.

She is actually hiding behind the pole here. She will hide behind a tree or anything and wait to hear the ball go bouncing. Funny dog and very entertaining.



While we played ball I decided I needed to edge the garden since the grass is inching ever closer everyday. So out comes the shovel. Only meaning to tone up the areas and pulling the grass line out a few more inches. I often start off this way but I don't know about you but I always think I can eye the curves and lines. Well I should no by now that I can't but I never stop trying. While I started off small I didn't end up that way. I actally pulled it out about 15". But it looked horrible and the lines weren't even in the least.

Lots and lots of grass dug out. The hardest part is unloaded the grass. Love digging and lifting the grass out but placing it somewhere is lots more work.

I thought about something I could use to give me some defination. A bath towel would do the trick. I could shape it easily and really just needed to define the area and it worked great.

This area will be a work in progress for a while as we create a nice retreat area with chairs and tables etc.

I forgot to take a photo after potting up these plants for the area. So I rushed out last evening and mind you it is still early when the clouds came up quick and the bottom fell out.

And it rained for a while...
Hope you all have a fabulous day.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Cottage Garden Party and Fertilizer Friday

Joining Fishtail Cottage for

A Cottage Garden Party.

http://fishtailcottage.blogspot.com/

And Tootsie Time for

Fertilizer Friday

http://www.tootsietime.com/

Cottage Garden Party - button (3)

We had a ton of rain yesterday and more expected today. Set some records in areas with near 7" of rain. Though I received plenty of rain I live in an elevated area.  

First Cosmos of the season - 'Cosmos Happy Ring' and it does look kinda happy, however the write up from Park Seed states where I purchased the seeds boasts of 5" flowers. Appears as though it is shy by about 4". Pretty blooms though. They are a petite variety only about 15-18" tall.






My friend sanded down and painted the footboard from the iron bed I have saved to place in a garden.
This garden is definately a work in progress.

Zinnia - Green Envy.

Hope you all have a nice day.

 
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