Strolling........

Monday, June 7, 2010

I was strolling the gardens one morning last week and just happened to have the camera......These "smoke rings" up in the tree caught my eye. I realized they were some kind of spider web, perfectly round. Not the big elaborate webs that I am use to seeing everywhere from the Banana spiders. I thought they were pretty cool. Below: Southern Charm Verbascum

Beautiful Oakleaf Hydrangeas in full bloomA Work in Progress

Our newest Hosta

Minature Solomon's Seal, which I just love!

The Parterre Garden

Mary Jane Nectarine

Gazebo, not quite finished with this yet either!This is the pathway going into the shade garden/Camellia garden.

What Else Has Winter Stolen From the Garden?

Wow, I am surely not very consistent with this garden blog! Oh well, I'll keep plugging away when I can.

I find that I am realizing more and more plants that didn't make it through all of our winter freezes from the past year. Yesterday I realized that all the Fleabane was gone from the Olivia & Drayton's Memorial Garden. In the memorial garden alone we are missing, Gaura, Cleome, Diamond Frost Euphorbia, most of the First Love Dianthus, even a couple roses. I'm really disappointed about that. But alas, a gardener's heart gets use to this and learns pick up the pieces and move on. I already have some new ideas! So, it's just new opportunity to plant some more and re-decide my layout. No problem with that!

This memorial garden has given me hours of torment over the years, just trying to figure out what I want it to look like and feel like. I haven't accomplished it yet, but I AM getting closer. I may have to rip out some of the "bones" that my husband planted in their in the beginning. Some, such as the Loropetalum seem to be taking over way too much space; much more than I was willing to give up. I still have to give this garden much more thought. It's just so important to me. I may never get it the way I want it, but I sure enjoy working on it. We have bought and replaced at least 5 different types of daylilies in this baby garden. I want a true pink and keep getting peach, yellow, purple or salmon, everything but pink. I'll keep trying! Also, all the Pink Four O'Clocks that we planted here last year came back this year as Fuschia. I knew that might happen. Anyway, here are some recent pictures from the baby garden.

This is little statue that Bruce got me for the baby garden for Olivia's heavenly anniversary this year. It's very heavy concrete and therefore hasn't made it out back to the baby garden yet, because I am not sure of the exact spot. I was advised (by my darling hubby) that he would not be moving it back there until I was 100% sure. I wonder how long she will sit here on the garage pad........hmmmmmmmm.

Aging With the Dogwood

Monday, March 22, 2010

Every year, usually in March, I take a photograph of Bruce beside the Dogwood tree that we planted in our front yard in 2006. When we first bought this place it was a sand pit. There was no landscape anywhere and only freshly laid grass in the front yard. We put grass in the back yard. There were old trees around our lot but nothing ornamental. Although the change is stunningly amazing as each year passes, I use the Dogwood tree in the front yard as a point of reference. I like watching everything grow and change through time, but I have made it my "thing" to document this Dogwood from year to year. We have a couple Dogwood's that we planted in the backyard too but it's shadier back there and they aren't growing quite as rigorously. Below are a few photographs of this transition. (I swear to my husband that he still looks as young and handsome from year to year next to that Dogwood, and no babe, you aren't looking balder or grayer..........heheh...) Notice this year how brown the lawn still is and how warmly dressed Bruce is. It has been a L...O...N...G winter!

April 9, 2006 (ab0ve)March 26, 2008 (above) March 29, 2009 (above) March 21, 2010 (above) Say warm and happy gardening!!!!

Spring Is Sprung for 2010 !

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Today is the first day of Spring 2010! Has it really been a whole year since I have updated our garden blog? That is pitiful! Yes, I have been very busy since I started college almost 2 years ago. As you can see I haven't been gardening nor blogging near enough. All school work and no play is making me a dull girl! I promise to make a better effort this gardening year. I told my husband Bruce that he should learn how to update our garden blog too. He is much more knowledgable about plants and all than I am because he is a horticulturist. Hopefully he will get into it and this blog will be fun to read again. We have had a particularly cold winter and it is still cold, still having freezes here in Florida well into March. Our gardening season hasn't really hit us yet. Bruce has been out there doing maintenance and cleaning up from the winter freezes. Many plants are starting to bloom now, a little later in the season than usual. Some are still blooming such as Camellias that are usually finishing up by now. It's been an interesting winter. We've still taken lots of pictures so I will post some on here. We delayed our annual February/March trek to Tallahassee Nurseries because of the weather. We want to wait until they will have a full selection of plants and flowers for spring and summer. Maybe we'll go over Easter weekend. I need to get outside and prune all of the roses. I should have done that already. Our wholesale supplier of annuals went out of business this past year so we aren't going to have as many great and affordable choices as we usually had. Here are just a few photos of what's blooming right now (I'll post more later!):

Camellia

Quince

Some Annuals

Hope that you are all off to a great start to your Spring and your gardening endeavors for this year!

Welcome to a New Gardening Season!

Friday, March 13, 2009

I know it's been way too long! I started going to college in August 2008 and there wasn't much time left to garden blog and hardly time to garden! But Spring is well on it's way and garden fever is hitting strong. Don't we all love this time of year.

Every year at the beginning of the gardening season, usually February or early March, Bruce & I head up to Tallahassee and go to all of our favorite nurseries. This year was no different! We went last Friday and had a blast. We went to Tallahassee Nurseries first. They really didn't have a lot of the new spring stock yet. We have had a lot of late freezes here in Florida this year so gardening season is a little behind. We did purchase, some Euphorbias, Southern Charm Verbascums and a "Sawada's Dream" Camellia and I got one unmarked Sedum that I liked. Oh, and we also got a Styrex tree "Silver Bells".

After we left TH, we headed to Espositios. Much to our surprise, we found "Pink Pearl" Azaleas there! We were tickled. We have been looking for them for a few years. We use to have them in our Brudaca Gardens and have missed them. Haven't been able to find them anywhere and even had nurseries looking for us. What a surprise to find them obscurely tucked away at Esposito's. We bought 11 of them. Can't wait to get them planted. We are going to dig up some Red Azaleas that our planted in the front of our house (they were purchased as a different Azalea, but were labled incorrectly). We will plant 9 of the Pink Pearl's there and 2 in the Baby Memorial Garden with the "Conversation Piece" Azaleas. We did see some new Azaleas at TH that we liked. They are Encore from the "Autumn series". Our favorites were "Autumn Princess" & "Autumn Twist".

While we were at Esposito's, we also got a "Sawada's Burgundy" Camelia that was on sale and some pinky-apricot Nemesias for the Baby Garden. Next we went to Native Nurseries. Bruce found some treasures there that he was real excited about. We got 3 Native Anemones and (I forgot what the other was, I'll have to look it up). All in all, we didn't buy near as many plants as we usually do on this annual trip, but we were happy with what we did get. The selection really wasn't very extensive yet and again, I think that's due to the late freezes. The nurseries really haven't stocked up yet. Also, Tallahassee Nurseries looked kinda messy. They haven't gotten cleaned up from winter yet.

We had a blast though. It was so wonderful to spend this precious time with my husband and doing something we both love so much. These trips are always great fun for us! Now, we will have fun getting everything planted. Bruce has already gotten half our vegetable garden planted for this season. I've been too busy with schoolwork, but he's very excited about it. We have some different kinds of lettuces, brussel sprouts, broccoli, strawberries......we also just a couple different kind of peppers and tomatoes to plant. We've ordered some leeks and I think Bruce planted some type of onion also. So, we are off to a start. Lots of work to do to get things open and breathing again and looking it's best.

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!

Odds & Ends.....& of course Four O'clocks & Oliver

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Since I am here, I thought I would throw in some Odds & Ends! Below is a picture of my baby Oliver. He is mama's boy. We had to take him to the vet last week. His first signs of old age are starting to manifest themselves, although him & I both started getting gray/white hair around the same time two years ago! LOL! (Actually, I think mine started way before that but my hair color in a box kept it hidden from even me!)

He is so sweet and gentle, tender hearted & sensitive.

See how much the Coleus bed out front has grown! It looks great!

(I know that window ac unit is terrible but it's to cool the garage for our pets, haven't found a good way to screen it yet. My husband doesn't seem real concerned with it but it bothers me.)

I had to throw in our latest Four O'Clocks surprise! They are an awesome peach color that I am not really able to catch with my digital camera. The picture does it no justice at all. Bruce has dubbed these "Daddy's Peaches". He calls me Peaches and he says these are a gift from my Daddy in heaven. I thought that was sweet. Gotta run!

Crepe Myrtles Everywhere!

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!