Our Garden Dirt: Roses

Hot July in the Garden

Monday, July 28, 2008

I know it seems as if I have really neglected this garden blog, but really, it's July in Florida! Go get yourself a nice cold glass of Iced Tea and cool off. It's too darn hot to do much outside in the garden. So I admire it from afar, from the windows of our cushy air conditioned house. Really though, we get out there enough to do what absolutely has to be done and that's about it this time of year. It is much to hot and humid to enjoy much time outdoors. In the evening when it's cooler and I would go out, we are usually having one of our evening rain storms. Then the mosquitoes come to feast! They love me and if I am not completely doused in that horrible repellant, they will eat me alive! I do still take a meandering walk around the yard to check things out before I high tail it back inside. Here are a few photos that I took the other evening on one of those walks.

This is in the Baby Garden.

That is pink & white Gaura and & First Love Dianthus.

Also in the Baby Garden, Diamond Frost Euphorbia & some miniature roses. This is a container garden. I love the Red Fountain Grass

Rudbeckia, Ritidiba & Purple Buddleia

Some of my amazing Four O'Clocks

Coleus out front have gotten monstrous and we are even pinching them back & taking cuttings!

Chinese Abelia~the Butterflies go crazy for this.

There is actually a lot of color out in the garden for the dead of summer. Of course, we have tons of Four O'Clocks blooming: Peppermint, White, Yellow, Fuschia, Pink, Peach and variations of all these colors. Our Crepe Myrtles are blooming, Roses, Cleome, Rudbeckia, Ritidiba, Buddleias, Rose of Sharons, Malvas. Jacobinia, Crinums, Daylilies and the list goes on. I have a beautiful view of the Baby Garden and some of the other gardens from my office window. It sure makes the day more enjoyable! Happy Gardening!

Sunday Morning Coming Down

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Yesterday I went Garden Center hopping. Okay, so I only had time to go to the big box stores because I didn't leave the house until after 5:00 and all the independents are closed by then. Below is a picture of what I came home with this time. Most of the plants are going in some pots that I am putting together. They are Draceana, some different Coleus and Joseph's Coat (Alternanthera) Burgundy Thread. I have some other plants that are going in the pots as well. I'll show them on here when I put them together. I am still waiting to get a few other plants from our wholesale supplier. I also got 3 daylilies; Lullaby Baby, Minnie Pearl & Little Business and a Texas Sage. I am so addicted to plants. I think it's getting out of hand; plants and books....those are my downfalls.

This morning I went for an early morning walk around the gardens with my camera. I love listening to the birds first thing in the morning. There was a pair of cardinals singing to each other and chasing each other back and forth amongst the trees. I actually got a picture of one by zooming in up into the tree with my little digital camera. See that speck of red in the tree???....trust me, that's a male Cardinal. (The males are brighter red for those that wonder how I could tell it was a he!) Below are some of the other photos I took of things that were blooming. I took 195 pictures and I had to narrow it down to just a couple to put on this blog. Don't you just hate that part. I want to share them all!

This is the first Crepe Myrtle that we have blooming so far this year.

It's a 'Natchez'. We have 5 other varieties that are getting bud on them but not yet blooming.

This is a garden bench that we bought recently. Got a good deal on it at Ross'. That is a White Althea bush blooming beind it. This is in the "White Garden". We haven't decided yet if this is where the bench will stay.

Here are some of the roses that were blooming this morning:

Sexy Rexy is starting to bloom again

Tamora Rose has one bloom so far this year!

Madam Lombard Roses

The Dark Lady Roses

Climbing Eden Rose

Climbing Eden Rose growing on our Gazebo

Below are some 'Milk & Wine' Crinum Lilies that are blooming right now. I love these! They are so beautiful!

Okay, so you know I had to sneak in some Four O'Clocks right!

It just wouldn't be me if I didn't. Haha!

I'll be working out in the gardens today so maybe I'll have something interesting to tell you about later! Until then, Happy Gardening!

Baby Garden Dilemma

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Wow! Is it really June already? Yesterday and today were the first really insanely hot days here in Florida this year so far. (Where we live anyway.) The Garden is starting to show stress from the heat and drought. We have been hand watering in addition to our regular irrigation just about every day and things are still dry. We are also having trouble with some moles or voles. It's very disappointing. There are tunnels all over our yard. It's like the NYC Subway. They eat off the roots of plants while searching for earthworms in their tunnels. This of course starts to damage the plant and it is starting to show especially in some of my rose bushes in our Baby Memorial Garden. I went out this morning to do some planting in the Baby Garden. All I managed to plant were 3 Pink Gauras. I just couldn't figure out where I wanted to place things. The whole garden is starting to look so hodge podge to me. I haven't thought it out well enough. As my husband says, I am an impulse plant buyer. I buy it because I like it and then I try to stick it in somewhere. But I think that's an okay way to garden. Hey, plants can always be moved, right? It's all about trial & error. The Baby Garden theme is pink for Olivia & White for Quinn. At first I had trouble finding alot of true pink plants. Now I seem to be coming up with an abundance of them. So far, these are the plants that we have in the Baby Garden:

2 Pink Serissa, Belinda Rose, Abraham Darby Rose, Our Lady of Guadaloupe Rose, Moonstone Rose, Sexy Rexy Rose, The Fairy Rose, a miniature garden rose, a Conversation Azalea, Mansize Camellia, Kitty Camellia, Pink Perfection Camellia, a Sioux Crepe Myrtle, Near East Crepe Myrtle, a Cameo Quince, a Blush Quince, a Pink Althea, Flowering Almond Bush, Hoshima Flowering Cherry Bush, Loropetalum, 2 Sago Palms, a Callaway Crabapple Tree, White Muhly Grass, White Nemesia, Nicotiana Flowering Tobacco, Appleblossom Pennestemon, White Four O'Clocks, Pink Four O'clocks, Miniature Mallows, Pink Hollyhocks, Liriope, Narcissus, Indian Hawthorne, Pink Celosiana, Evergreen Giant Liriope and Vygie Sedums. There are also 15 Marcia Faye Daylilies planted there that I am going to dig back up and move to another garden. They were not as pink as I was led to believe. They are very pretty but alot of orange, peach, yellow coloring to them. This morning I planted some Dauphin Gaura. I still have a Siskyou Pink Gaura to plant, August Beauty Gardenia, Pink Muhly Grass, Pink Cleome, some Zinnias and a few more roses. It sounds like alot but everything is basically small so the garden still doesn't look like much yet. I have a wish list of alot more plants that I still want to add to it. We also have a bird bath, two little statues and 2 little baby wrought iron chairs. I am just having such a time planning this layout. I think it's just soooooo important to me because it's my daughter and sons memorial garden, that I am not able to make it perfect enough.

As I write this, Bruce & I are sitting out on the back screened in porch watching it rain and listening to the thunder. Haven't seen any lightening yet and I guess that's a good thing since I am sitting out here with my laptop plugged in on the porch. Probably not the brightest thing I've ever done. We really need the rain but I don't think it's going to amount to much. It's coming in waves. The thunder is getting louder RIGHT now! Funny though, there are still birds chirping.

I joined Blotanist which is a collection of worldwide garden blogs. I am really enjoying it. I get so excited as I look at other gardeners blogs and read their stories. I have to say though that I realize that my blog really pales in comparison to most of the ones that I see. The photography on some of them is absolutely gorgeous so I find myself daydreaming about getting a really good camera so I can improve my garden photography which is something I love to do almost as much as the gardening itself. Also the blogs are so interesting. I find that most have a really good sense of humor, are very talented, and much excellent writers. I have a long ways to go here but I will improve over time. I am starting to really enjoy this blogging thing!

I didn't get to take photographs this morning because my husband had the camera at a job today but I will take some picture this week and show the perils that I am having with the baby garden. Does anyone else have a memorial garden like this that they've created? I would love to look at some pictures, layouts and ideas.

Well, my blog wouldn't be complete without some pictures and I just happen to have some that I took the past couple of nights.

Here is a picture of the Pink Cleome

This is a Manarda but I am not sure which one.

Pink Hollyhock

Mutant Four O'Clocks

Here are some Four O'clocks in the backyard. One is 5' tall.

Busy In the Garden

Friday, May 16, 2008

Wow! I can't believe it's been over two weeks since I've posted. As you can tell by my absence, we've been busy in the garden! I have to say that on Mother's Day Bruce took me out to the cemetary where my Dad & Granny are buried. I am always spreading Four O'Clock seeds out there and trying to get them to take hold and come back year after year, bigger and better. Four O'clocks were my Daddy's very favorite flowers. There isn't much rain out there and I don't get out there weekly to water them. But, when we got there, I was happy to see that there were some baby plants coming up. Just a few but that was better than none. We spread a bunch of seeds from our garden last year and watered everything. When we got back home it was early evening and I was elated to see that some of our Fuschia Fours & some Yellow Fours were blooming! That was a nice Mother's Day gift from God. Mother's Day is hard for me because both of our babies are in heaven and my mom is in Pennsylvania. It's a day that makes me feel lonely and just blah. Bruce always tries to make it special for me but the reality of it is what it is. So, having these other Fours blooming when we got home was like God saying he cared and my babies are there with him and wishing me a Happy Mother's Day. I will take some pictures of them tomorrow to post on here. I have some other photos to post. Let's see, which do I want to show you today........let me look through my photo album. By the way, we seem to have the grasshopper problem pretty much under control. We are seeing some here and there but not bad at all. Now the moles or voles......ughhhh, that's another story!

White Four O'Clocks

Seven Sisters Roses

Gallardia "Desert Sun"

Boltonia & RitidibaClimbing Eden Roses growing up our GazeboElly in the GardenAlachua Red Climber RosesThese are some new annuals that we just planted; Coleus

Pink Vygie Sedum

New Urn plantings; Cordyline & Dahlberg Daisies

Clair Matin Roses

Aloe blooms

Everything's Coming Up Roses!!!

Saturday, April 26, 2008

All of our roses are starting to show the rewards of all our diligent, hard work! There are quite a few that are blooming and if not blooming, in bud. I love roses so I always look forward to this. When my roses start blooming in the Spring, I start getting the fever and excitement of another season of dreaming of all the roses that are yet to come. Tomorrow, Bruce & I are going to the annual Gainesville Rose Society Rose Show at Kanapaha Botanical Gardens. I'm very much looking forward to it. Below are just a few of the pictures I took of some of my favorite roses in the gardens yesterday. Enjoy!