Accessible Gardening: My garden's a tight space..., 1 by 1gardengram

1gardengram wrote:
That one "mini" rose is the only one I've had that has gotten so large. All the others have stayed small. This year I lost a bunch of the ones I had purchased in the fall and wintered over. They looked great all winter, all green and pretty, and as soon as winter was over they did a crash and burn. I have very few of them left. First time that's ever happened. That's my sad story for this year!! LOL

When we tilled the ground for the main garden (the one you've been seeing pix of), there was a mint plant. I dug it up and then we tilled. Well guess what? There was some mint I missed and I've been dealing with it for six years spread all over the place. At some point I read that mint adds good amino acids or something beneficial to the soil, so I don't pull it up until it is in my way or gets out of hand, like it is now. No one has pulled it out for nearly a year and it's making me crazy. Usually I don't mind it because I keep it under control.

I found my helpers at church this morning, just back from Scout Camp, and two of them are going to come and start tomorrow. I will give them a list and walk through it all with them and then they can just work on it whenever they want to. I don't want them to think it all has to be done in one day.
I'm just so glad they are back!!

I'll add a picture of my bench. My daughters gave it to me for a combination birthday gift and Mothers' Day gift a couple of years ago. It is concrete with the lovely stained glass design on the top. I love it. I have surrounded it with things that smell good: lavendar, thyme, Star Gazer lilies, and one particular daylily that smells good.

The tall pines are Carolina Pines and they are everywhere. They are messy, dropping cones and branches all year, and are a good source for free pine straw for mulch. They handle storms better than most other trees. From the air they are a beautiful green carpet. From down here, they are a mess of bare branches that will soon be on your lawn, as only the tops stay beautiful. The squirrels eat the cones and then drop the seeds here and there, so little teeny pine trees come up all over the place. They do add something to the ambience of a yard overall, and ours have ivy climbing up most of them, which I love. The squirrels run and play and squabble all over all the trees and I love watching them. Many, many birds nest in them and in the ivy. So they earn their keep, I guess.

I don't know about the lantana wintering over. It disappears here in the winter and comes right back in the spring. I'll send it and if it doesn't come back in the spring, I'll send some more. I'll need your address, too. Want some mint? teeheehee

Since my garden is such a mess this year, I think I will cut back daylilies, as we dig them up, and cut back the iris as we clean their area. I've got to get a handle on this whole thing. I know that by next year, it will look much better. Things will be arranged more appropriately. I can't wait!!

Talk to you tomorrow. The heat index is going to be over 100 again tomorrow, so we won't be out there for long. Maybe they can come back in the evening when it cools down some.