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!

Crepe Myrtles Everywhere!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Everywhere you go there are gorgeous thriving Crepe Myrtles of every color that is available. They are such a welcome part of summer here! Their fantastic, billowy blooms are enough to make anyone want to smile!

This is a closeup of Carolina Beauty

We have been having a lot of rain and thunderstorms which have kept us out of the garden somewhat the past week or two. We also had some sad events take place in the past two weeks~but I am back to my garden blog, ready to seek the beauty in the world again instead to try to divert the sorrow. The most we've done in the garden the past two weeks is water (the couple days it didn't rain), fertilize, weed & Superthrive. We did go out to the wholesale nursery last week to get some Crepe Myrtles. We already had 5 of them but I wanted to see all of them while they are blooming so I could pick my most favorite ones and one for a prominent place in the front yard. This was really hard to do because they are all so beautiful! Alot of the colors are very close but just different enough that they have their own appeal and of course different growth habits. We came home with a 15 gallon Carolina Beauty which is for that prominent spot in the front yard. We also got a 3 Gallon Cinnamon Ruffle, 3 Gallon Burgundy Cotton, 3 Gallon Dynamite and a 1 Gallon Zuni. The Zuni we purchased as a gift for a friend. (I hope she doesn't see this before I give it to her! LOL!)The Burgundy Cotton was really my first choice for the front yard. I love this one so much. The problem is, it doesn't get tall enough for what we wanted out front. The Dynamite we already planted in memory of Eddie. Eddie was the 26 yr old (kind of x) boyfriend of my niece. He was killed in a car crash on June 12th. We bought and planted this Dynamite Crepe Myrtle in our front perennial bed in memory of Eddie on June 19th, which was the day of his funeral. It will forever be dubbed our "Eddie Tree", in memory of a life cut way too short. Sadly a friend of ours had a fullterm stillborn baby last week. We will be planting something in her memory in our Babies Memorial Garden. We haven't decided what we will plant for her yet. I want to give it more thought. We did get the 15 gal Carolina Beauty planted out front. The other's will have to wait a couple more days.

This is Bruce planting the Carolina Beauty

It will grow 20'

This is the Burgundy Cotton which will grow to about 12-15'

Closeup of the Burgundy Cotton

Dynamite Crepe Myrtle will grow to 20-25'

"Eddie's Tree"

This is a closeup of "Eddie's Tree"

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This is Eddie's tree where it is planted.

This is Cinnamon Ruffle~will grow 6-10'

Closeup of Cinnamon Ruffle

This is the little Zuni~will grow 9-12'

We already have a Near East & a Sioux Crepe Myrtle (both light pinks) in the Babies Garden. They are blooming right now. The Sioux just started today! Out front in our side yard we have a Natchez that is blooming and two Tuscarora's that are not blooming yet. I love Crepe Myrtles. I wish we had room to have one of every variety and color! Later in the week I will get some pictures of our existing Crepe Myrtles that are blooming. Have fun playing in the dirt!