Fertilizer Friday

Happy Mothers Day

Joining Glenda at Tootsie Time for Fertilizer Friday

http://www.tootsietime.com/2012/05/fertilizer-friday-flaunt-your-flowers_10.html

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

Cottage Flora Thursday - Fertilizer Friday

Hope all of you buddies out there in blogland are having a good day.

I'll be joining Tracie at Fishtail Cottage for Cottage Flora Thursday and Tootsie at Tootsie Time for Fertilizer. Ya'll go check out these blogs and see their pretties and check out the other partiers.

You can find them here http://fishtailcottage.blogspot.com/2011/05/cottage-flora-thursdays-20.html

http://www.tootsietime.com/

I have a few things to share today.

I was dancing the happy dance this morning when I found this Rose of Sharon blooming. I've been watching these buds form but I really didn't expect this. The plant is still a baby and is only about 15" tall but let me tell ya this plant is loaded with buds. Last year when I planted this tiny thing it was only about 3" tall. I didn't hold out much hope but boy was I wrong.

And also this morning I found this one spreading its wings. I'm so glad to see that it opened up more than the last little thing that bloomed. I would love to start a garden with just bulbs and have a lot of iris in it. That is a dream right now though.

Love that the shasta are really yielding me lovely blooms. They last a long time and the plants are loaded with buds and every day I see more buds forming. I'm pleased with the Shasta Daisy but I didn't realize how big these plants would be.

The pentas are awesome after shooting them with MG Bloom Burst.

I need to know why my Sarah Bernhardt peony still has no buds. This is the third year for it. I feel like ripping it right out of the garden. But I won't. Maybe it isn't happy where it is. It receives more than 8 hours of sun. The soil is good. I enhance the soil every year with fresh MG Garden Soil and I fertilize regularly. Any ideas?

Last weekend I worked my hiney off weeding this big garden. As you can see I have a lot of vacant spaces. The plants that occupied this space last year are no shows this year. I have given them ample time and now I'm needing to fill this space in. This garden is part shade. The front side gets more sun than the back. I live in Zone 8. Do yo have any ideas on what would look good in the back? It was a beautiful space with the dahlias and milkweed and okra hibuscus and a few others last year. I suppose these probably weren't the right plants for this space either since I didn't realize the amount of sun this part of the garden receives.

Inside I'm a furniture mover. I'm thinking I need to do the same thing in the gardens sometimes. I don't usually move plants around but I'm thinking maybe I need to move things around. Do ya'll do that? I'm afraid I will lose plants.

I'm wishing for rain. Rain come... I'm watering the gardens regularly now. Our grounds are so dry. Way too dry for one of the rainest cities in the US. I'll take thunderstorms - anything.

Prayers for the flood victims. And for the economy. Fuel prices.....trickle down effect... everything cost more.

Have a good weekend whatever you find yourself doing.

Some Blooms to Share

I'm happy that I found a few new plants to feature today. I was about to get bored with the same old blooms. Not that they aren't pretty by any means but it sure is nice to see new things.

I shared this one yesterday but I think it deserves a repeat. I'm proud of the Jean Marie Dahlia.

The bougainvilla is revisiting with some new blooms. I've never seen one as it was going into a bloom stage. It appears as if it is taking on new leaves and growth and then this. The blooms start out looking like leaves and are turning pink as they age. Neat.

Glad to see the milkweed blooming now. I've noticed some activity but not as much as it should be. But I expect it'll pick up soon.

I can't get enough of the geranium. I think the name is strawberry sherbet. Ya'll correct me if I'm wrong.

I have two shades of the butterfly weed. This one is more on the pink/fushia side. They are very hard to photograph.

While this one is more purple. It is blurry - sorry. The flowers in the background look nice this way though.

The marigolds are looking nice now. I gave everything a fresh shot of Miracle Gro Bloom Burst this weekend. I think bloom burst works pretty quick - perhaps within 36-48 hours. I noticed a big difference. You can see the nemesia behind the marigold taking on new blooms as well.

This is my first year to have the Shasta Daisy. They sure do get bigger than I thought. But they are so pretty. The plants are full of buds.

Today I'll be joining the following parties:

http://msgreenthumbjean.blogspot.com/2011/05/its-bloomin-tuesday_16.html

http://www.sidewalkshoes.com/2011/05/garden-tuesdayblueberries.html

http://www.anoregoncottage.com/2011/05/tuesday-garden-party-still-waiting-for.html

Ya'll head on over and check out these parties and see the other blooms gardeners are sharing today.

Hope you have a great day.



Tornadoes and Cottage Flora Thursday

Did anyone see this post before I changed it. I had Bloomin Tuesday on the title. Duh Rebecca check the calendar. Today is Thursday.

The tornado destruction in Alabama is widespread. There are 128 deaths in Alabama this morning. There are a number of bloggers in the Birmingham area and north. This year it has been so bad all across the middle of the country all the way to the southern parts of Alabama and to the Atlantic. My heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones. I know that everyone is praying for these people as I am.

It feels a little bit somber this morning but I'm going to share a couple of blooms today. I'm joining Tracie over at Fishtail Cottage for Flora Thursday. http://fishtailcottage.blogspot.com/2011/04/cottage-flora-17.html 

I was so delighted when I caught this bloomin this morning. I'd been watching the bud for several days. Finally it popped and it is beautiful. Sorry about the blur. The wind was blowing the flowers so they were hard to capture.

I'm enjoying the penta. 

 

See the vacant area here - this is where I had dahlias last year. All of them are no shows this year. The ones you see were planted this year. I put down 6 new bulbs earlier this year. I can't figure out why they didn't come back.Could a hard prune in the fall cause this? I did cut them back good when they had bloomed out in the fall.

My first shasta daisy on plants I had threatened to pull up. The plants are huge and need to put out some blooms before I get disheartened with it.

I am feeling the need itch desire gotta have more feeling I get so often this time of year. I will be making a trip to a garden center somewhere to find some more blooming beauties. A new garden area may have to go in to accomodate them. Ya'll know how I hate to put in a new garden - NOT. I love it.

Let me say something about sprinklers you hook up to a garden hose. Why is it I end up buying and having untold number of sprinklers only to have them work a month or so and sometime not that long. I don't buy the cheapest ones. I've bought expensive ones too and they eventually don't work. What's the deal. Have you found a great sprinkler that may last for more than a couple of months? Tell me about it.

Well I'm done. Hope you all have a wonderful day. Pray for those who have lost family members and lost their homes.

In My Gardens This Week

Today I am linking up with Fishtail Cottage for Cottage Flora Thursdays and with Tootsie at Tootsie Time. You can go to their links here http://fishtailcottage.blogspot.com/2011/03/cottage-flora-thursdays-12.html

and http://www.tootsietime.com/.

Things are popping here on the Gulf Coast as spring has arrived. The bridal wreath (spirea) is still putting on a show. I love their delicate blooms.

This is my twice a year blooming azalea. Soon they will be open all over the area.

Daffodils are slow to bloom and only giving a bloom at a time. Don't know why they aren't busting out like last year. But I'm loving the double bloom on this one. As you can see it is small.

 Nemesia.

Snaps are in their prime right now but they will be blooming all summer long and into the fall. They love it here.

Dianthus are putting on blooms but they are leggy. I didn't do the fertilizer yet so it is my fault. I'm lazy sometime - what can I say. But the Miracle Gro is on my counter in the kitchen.

Azaleas are so hard to photograph.

Purchased a few new additions to the gardens this past weekend. Loving this fire red here. So hard to photograph.

I fotgot the names of some of the plants I bought since I stupidly removed the ID tags. Shame on me.

This is a new dianthus. It will be different than the other I have. I'm looking forward to what these will look like.

This a very different verbena. Loving the soft colors. 

My Sarah Bernhardt peony is coming back and looking good. I'm so hoping for a bloom this year. I planted this two years ago and it hasn't bloomed yet. 

These shasta plants stayed green all winter long. I planted these last year from seeds I had done early in the year. They didn't bloom last year so I'm hoping for some blooms. If it doesn't do this year I'm pulling them out. 

My one and only hosta. Didn't do much last year so this year should be better. I would so love to have a hosta garden. Maybe soon.

Bought another Butterfly Bush. I'm looking forward to lots of butterflies this year and these awesome blooms.



I've got a lot to do today so I'm gonna keep this short.

Hoping you all have a wonderful day and a great weekend.