Becky's MGs Part 5

Ronnie - Isn't that the truth! Those "diluted" blooms are like no other flower I've ever seen! Please may nature give me seeds from this vine!! Sarah - THANK YOU for the gift of this vine!!!

Y'all know how much I like vines ... well ... here are the 2 fence panels next to the corner where the Cape Honeysuckle tree is located. These two fence panels are covered by 2 seperate vines. One is a Coral Honeysuckle vine and the other is a Crossvine. I always think of the song Jungle Fever whenever I see all these vines growing all over the fence. This is MY kind of garden!!! I love vines!

The Brug bush died to the ground from the frost this past winter and is finally making a comeback! Can't wait for it to start blooming again. The smell at night is intoxicating!

Here is looking down the side fence past the Coral Honeysuckle vines to the Passiflora vines growing all along the fence. This is part of the butterfly garden, so I have a Purple Porterweed bush and two Golden Dewdrop bushes growing together in that garden section. You have to squeeze between the giant Cowpen Daisies and the Porterweed to get through that area! The butterflies are everywhere sipping nectar from all the blooms! It's a delight to stroll along this overgrown path and watch the butterflies and bees flitting and zipping along on their merry way everywhere! It's like a busy intersection! LOL!

This message was edited Jun 13, 2009 11:31 PM

Here is my Passiflora going wild! They are literally attacking my water Iris plant in the one pot. I have daylilies, Lemon Bacopa, Lantana, and a Jasmine bush growing in those garden beds along the fence.

When you walk down the path to the daylilies and look back, you can see the Plumbago bush nestled against the fence. In another month, that bad boy will be reaching out to touch anyone walking by! These plants become man-eaters in my climate/zone! It's insane the growth they do in just a short time. I need to sharpen my pruners! LOL! Oops! I don't want them to read my mind and start freaking out! LOL! The Secret Life of Plants Society ... hee, hee, hee ...

As you reach the end of the mulch path, you can look down to the back corner of my yard. You'll notice it slopes downhill. LOL! Who would ever guess there were hills in Florida! Thanks to our home builder who loaded our lot with fill before building our home. Sheesh!

In this photo you can see my Jasmine bush and the Lantana bush. My dh used the weed-whacker on the Lantana and chopped the heck out of it! Grrr. I hate it when he does that! I am sure the Lantana was screaming bloody murder as my hubby butchered them. I bet they silently scream whenever he walks by now! I know I would if I was a plant! LOL!

At the bottom corner of my backyard, you can turn around and look back towards the house and see my lone bird feeder where all the action takes place during the day. Birds, rodents, and squirrels hang out there off and on all day long! Never a dull or quiet moment in my yard unless it is raining!

It has taken me 5 years to go from a bare yard to this! And I know some of you are looking at it in horror. My dh for the longest time hated all the plants. He wanted it simple with just grass. I never wanted to go outside when it was just lawn. Yuck! Now I want to be outside ALL day long! :-) This is MY garden and is evolving constantly. This is my joy!

At the back fence near the corner, you can see my potted Brug and right across from it is an old birdbath that has my Sun Smiles and Kawaii MGs growing in it! One of my cats is buried under the bush to the far right. We had the cat 10 years when it had to be put down due to stomach cancer. Just thinking about the pain that cat must have gone through still makes me sad ...

wonderful garden view, becky, I love your style and your tastes, we think alike alot sometimes, I love your vines really nice.. I am glad someone else likes the jungle look and the wild flower garden style, it is cool you can do both at the same time..

Moving along the back fence is the area where I have the "blue" morning glories growing up the fence trellis. You can see my water garden to the far left.

Thanks, Debra! I have commented on your thread several times about how we are both drawn to plant and grow similar plants, especially vines. My garden is a mass of everything. There is no rhyme or reason to it currently. Someday I may make the garden beds more flowing using an actual design, but right now I am just growing everything I can get my hands on. Most everything you see was grown from seeds or cuttings that everyone was so kind to share. Debra ... you especially, have shared some mighty nice plants with me, as well as seeds! Thank you! I can't remember the last time I bought a potted plant. It's been several years! LOL! I thank DG members for my garden which is filled with plants from all of you! :-) I should call it "My Friendship Garden". :-) :-) :-)

Here is my water garden. Actually, now that I think about it ... the waterlilies were purchased in a DG co-op. Though I did get a couple of waterlilies from a DGer in a trade!

Here is a close-up of the waterlily pads and a bloom. Unbeknown by looking at this serene photo ... underneath the water lurks an invasion of Cuban Tree Frog tadpoles! I hate those things!! They eat my waterlilies and then grow up and eat many of the bugs and other small critters in my gardens. They are a horrible nuisance and pests! Ugh!

I was walking around hand-pollinating some of the MGs this morning and almost stepped on this fella. I am not normally scared of snakes, but I do hate to be surprised by them. This one and several others live in my yard. This one and a large rat snake live together under the waterfall/pond near my screened porch. I found that out by surprise when I had to lift the pond up to drain the water out, I found both snakes all cozy under there! They slowly slithered out from their nest until I finished cleaning out the pond. Then they came back when I was done and disappeared once again under the pond. :-) I like them in my yard because they help to keep the rat population down. With the birdfeeder in my yard, it attracts the rats which in turn attract the snakes ... and lizards ... and hawks ... and owls, etc. I've definitely got a good eco-system and wildlife habitat in my backyard! LOL!

Here is a closer look at the snake. I am not sure what kind he is. But he is not poisonous. So he can stay! :-) He is about 3 feet long and rather thick. Hard to tell how old he is. But he isn't afraid of me. We have a mutual respect for each other and try to stay out of each other's way ...

Here are some more MGs growing along the back fence. As it turned out ... most all the MGs growing along this fence had blue blooms. That was not intentional, it just happened. :-)

I love Salvia plants as you can see in the photo! :-)

Under my Oak tree I have another garden bed with lavender trailing lantana and pink blooming rain lilies growing in it.

This is the west corner area with Petunias, Nasturiums, Zinnias, Daylilies, and the Spanish Flag vine growing up the fence trellis.

In contrast, the west side fence looks bare. Here I have a potatoe vine in a hanging pot. I. aquatica in another pot. Daylilies in the long container. And various other plants growing in the ground. It's going to take time for this area to fill in...

More bare area along the west fence. You can see the Pink Flaked I. purpurea vines in the pot that looks like it's life cycle is just about over. I will be collecting more seed pods tomorrow...

Here is one of the seating areas in my yard under the Oak tree. Cheap plastic chairs and table. It's functional.

My dh and I had planned to build a white trellis style pergola here against the back of the house this year, but the economy bottomed out and that project is on hold until we can afford to it. So it remains an unsightly area for now with seating ...

And here is a wide view of the Oak tree and the garden beds along the fence.

At night, I leave the front porch light on. It, unfortunately, attracts the bugs to that area. I went out the door to take the trash out and found this small rat snake climbing up the brick wall to try to get to the bugs to eat them for dinner. I am always amazed that snakes can climb brick walls! And it did startle me to see him! Sheesh! This snake lives under our door jam. We have quite a few snakes in our yard. Hopefully, that is a good thing! =8^O

It's funny how they can make their long bodies turn at right and left angles to climb these exterior walls of my home!

I shall end this evening with a Moonflower bloom I finally got around to photographing! The vine has had several blooms already, but I never had my camera with me when I saw them.

awsome tour.. I love your place.. doesn't it feel good to see your efforts produce something beautiful?

Yes, your hard work paid off beautifully!

"As ye sow, so shall..."

Well... Ya'll see what I was talking about .. in enjoying the entertainment.. that was a great
show.. unsightly area with seating... what a HOOT.. and the snake.. I might gone through life and never have had the chance to see such ingenuity from them..
and to see how one has so many MG's ..and is able to selectively collect seeds.. you don't let them have their way and climb everywhere.. growing all together.. the discrete pannels you have for them is great.. colums of diffrent colored blooms.. must belovely inbloom... we will need some pictures of it then.. if you would..
one question.. do you trim them at the top .. or loop them back around.. or both..
well one question does leed to another.. is it just the heavy handed weedwacker you depend on..or is there a technique to manageing the volunteers that escapes me so far
Horray.. great show..

Wow Becky, your blooms and garden are really amazing! Enjoyed your pictures very much.

Thanks, Debra, BostonArea, Helena, and Gordon! Yes, Debra, all the hard work has paid off. But I've got much more to do! I eventually want most of the lawn ... gone!

Gordon - I have the vines separated out around the picket fence, though sometimes they do grow together. I can usually unwind them. BUT ... along the taller backyard privacy fence ... well ... that's another story. I have several cultivars growing together and have to use masking tape at each bloom to mark what it is. Takes time in the morning to do that while I rush to get ready for work...

Since I only grow one vine of each cultivar at a time, I don't usually get full coverage along the tall privacy fence. But I could if I planted more seeds. But therein lies the problem ... keeping track of what bloom is what cultivar when hand-pollinating them. And YES! I do hand-pollinate ALL of them! So I don't grow as many as I should to really put on a show.

I don't prune my MG vines unless they get really crazy. The squirrels use the trellis on the privacy fence to come and go from the trees into my yard. It's like a ladder for them. Sometimes on their entrance or exit, they severe a vine. I call that natural pruning! LOL! But mostly I just twine the vines around and through the trellis and neighboring vines.

Because the temperature/climate here is so hot during the summer, the MG vines seem to have a very short life span. They germinate and grow quickly, bloom like crazy with fertilizer, make seeds (usually), and then promptly die. Which is why I can get two (and sometimes three) grow-outs per year! At first I thought it was something I was doing wrong, but gardenpom said the same thing. So I truly believe that the annual MG vines come and go quickly here in the hot south of Florida. Now perennial MG vines or bushes is another situation entirely. They usually do well year round in my area.

Here are my native vine pruners! LOL!

This message was edited Jun 14, 2009 10:41 AM

Becky, your garden gives me such a thrill! I love the "lived in" look. My husband is also always "mentioning" how "untidy" my vines are looking, and how he doesn't like the plants spilling over the edges of the flower beds, but luckily he doesbn't do anything about it. He HATES gardening - he can after two years of me going crazy about MG, at least recognize them (all the other plants are Petunias. Why I don't know, because if I talk about my Petunias, he'll ask "Which ones are they again?" LOL!)
Whenever I widen a bed he complains about the lawn getting smaller - don't know why he complains. It isn't as if he or the boys plays rugby on it, and I need bigger beds!

This coming growing season will have me giving more attntion to my vegetable garden. I want to try and grow enough veggies for the family right through the year. So please hold your thumbs...

I so miss summer! We have had a few really cold days the past week, with rain for three days in a row. Usually I love rain, and although I am greatful (less dust, and happy plants) we aren't suppose to get rain in winter... I can't wait for the wonderful smell of summer - the sun baking on the plants, and the wonderful smell of lawns being mowed... At least I have lots of birds visiting the feeders.

Do you have Leonitis nepetifolia? My sunbirds just love them, and don't even look at the feeder I bought them! Let me know if you want to try some seed. I have a few I can pass on to you.

Thanks for sharing your lovely garden,
Elsa

Time for a new thread: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1002415/

Elsa - Sorry to hear that winter is upon you! I can't even fathom that at this moment! Enjoy your birdies!

I have TONS of Lion's Ear (Leonitis nepetifolia) plants growing wild everywhere. They have taken over several of my garden beds! And sadly, they don't get very big or have the lovely large orange blooms like they should. They have tiny blooms with some orange petals. I don't think they like growing in Florida's humid/wet climate. But I genuinely appreciate your offer, Elsa! :-)

Gorgeous bloom on your moonvine Becky.

Thanks, Jackie! Are you currently growing some MGs? I've been waiting to see what you are gonna post photos of! :-)

Elsa, are you marrie to my Joe? LOL sounds like you are!

Elsa and Debra - I think our husbands are related! LOL LOL LOL

Heh sounds like it anyways.

Becky, I've got a Rabenda x Pres Bush setting buds along with a Pres Bush vine.
My only problem, mine are in 3 and 1/2 inch pots. So got to move them up
to 1 gal pots and soon. I have Mt Fuji no sora, 10-10, Count Drac,
Gray Fog, Xiong's chinese, Blue Streaks, Joseph's beautiful Asagiri and his Blue Silk
M's Pink Frost, Gray Star via Helena, A's Fuji no Monet and Marginata, Wedding Bells and lots of othrs. Becky, many of these germinated but still in 6 pks
Waiting on Blue Star and Apricot Candy.
Last but not least, pandurata.

lovely garden, blooms and critters Becky... love them all esp the critters... thankyou :-)
this one is beautiful
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=6684317

Shows you, men are all the same... my mom always says the only difference is that some has moustaches, and others have beards.LOL!