Hot August Blooms & Garden Views

signs of autumn...Beautyberry

solidago "Laurin"= dwarf goldenrod

Hyacinth Bean vine

i bet she is going to throw it all around that nasty grass like lasagna gardening or something.

Very nice pictures Anna.

Anna, your goldenrod is so pretty!!

My volunteer Rock Rose is going like gangbusters!

This shrimp plant I got from Smock at the Spring RU in Arlington this year.

Is the shrimp plant hardy outside? I love the color. You have a lot of things in full bloom Stephanie, must be nice to sit out in your yard.
Cheryl

I tried four bales this year - that's what the melons and cucumbers are growing on. The insides of the bales are fluffy and cool and wet and the vines are up to about 20-22 feet long and loaded with fruits, so I guess they like it all right.

Next year I'm going to do almost the whole yard in bale gardens.

You're right - I have a lot of hay going into lasagna beds, too. This year, I have two kinds of melon, sweet potatoes and a mix of old fashioned flowers in the first three lasagna beds. I have another huge bed that I could have planted into a long time ago, but it only gets enough sun around late June. I'll just keep adding to it until I decide what to do.

If I take long enough making up my mind, the bed will be as tall as the fence and I won't have to worry about what to plant there any more. ;)

Those beautyberries really are beauties! Are they easy to grow?

And the hyacinth bean vine - how pretty is that! Does it bloom all the time?

I love the Rock Rose - do you have it mixed with butterfly bush in that spot? (I don't recognize plants very well yet.)

It's absolutely inspiring to see what other people are growing - thanks for starting this thread! :)

Have a great day!
Elizabeth

Cheryl~This is the first year I've had the Shrimp Plant, but I planted in the ground after several people told me it was hardy if well mulched in the late fall/early winter.

Elizabeth~The Rock Rose wasn't intentionally planted there, it came up on its own! I did have a Rock Rose planted several feet away, but pulled it out early last year (2008). I've had more volunteers this year of this plant than ever before. It is with a Butterfly Bush, but it won't be staying there. Rock Rose gets to be about 4' wide in every direction, so it's not an ideal plant for this spot or in this place. If you're coming to the RU in Arlington, I'll bring you a Rock Rose. I've got several to pull out! LOL

Remember the photo I posted of the totally stripped chocolate mint plant? Well, I met the culprit late this afternoon. A little cottontail rabbit hopping across my front yard with me working there. He was heading right for where the chocholate mint pots were. Didn't seem concerned about me at all.

We have all kinds of wildlife in our yard at night, including a bobcat that I've seen 3 times even in daylight, and always had rabbits but never any plant damage. I love just about every animal there is but this little thief will have to go if he keeps this up.

Glenna

OK I am going ask, what is a bale garden?

I heard once at a garden club presentation that you could drill a hole in a haybale, fill with soil and have vegetables grow. The advantages were that it didn't need fertilizer or mulch and it was higher off the ground for easier access.It would then degrade and by the next year or two there was no need to kill the grass. I may have not remembered all the details....

Bananna18, that's right. People do different things with them so there are a lot of different methods - there's not much you can do wrong with them, actually.

The idea is to age some bales of hay or straw and stick plants in them - after that, the variations are pretty much endless.

No digging, no weeding, no tilling, no stooping or kneeling.

newtons, if you look at the large version of the picture I posted, you can see the four bales sitting on the ground. I wasn't sure that I'd aged my bales well enough, so I bought a bunch of dishpans at Dollar Tree and cut about half of the bottoms away. I set those on the bales, filled them with potting soil and then planted seed in them. It can be tricky to start seeds in the bare bales, so this way I didn't have to worry about that. Plus it raised the plants up higher for even less stooping, it shaded the hay to keep the roots cool and as the soil settled, it gave me room for top-dressing with Black Kow or fertilizer granules, and for flooding with water on very hot days.

There's a strawbale gardening forum right here on DG. :) http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/strawbale/all/

Stephanie, I would be tickled pink! Is there anything I could give you in return? I posted a have list on the trade thread, but if you're looking for other things, let me know and I'll find you one. :)

DNP, your chocolate bunny is pretty early - those usually come out at Easter, don't they? ;)

Have a great day!
Elizabeth