Spring 2011 - What's blooming in your garden? Part 3

Thanks Jackie. I found another Pandy.

That's a beautiful delphinium Pixie. Don't have those here.

Becky love your passiflora's. I believe you have a red one also. If they were hardy
here I would collect them all. I think it's a host plant of the flittery butterfly. The typical
one below is the one that is hardy here.

Is this the first time you are growing bell peppers? If so, you are doing good for a beginner.
I plant all kinds of peppers and bells are the harder one's for me to grow. Don't know why.
You should try some of the sweet peppers. They are the best. I'll send you some seeds
with the Pink Double Delight this fall if you want to try a few...You must have a super green
thumb. That's like my sister. When she see's a nice houseplant that is dying slowly at
my house, she takes it and it grows beautiful for her. I do much better with outdoor stuff.

I'm surprised your bearded iris is blooming when it's so hot there. Mine bloom mid spring
when the temps are cooler. They are all done now. It's too hot and humid. We are back
into the mid 90's again.

This is my favorite daylily.

Carnival in Brazil.

Someone sent me their old Fragrant White Cloud Tabacco seeds.
Had no trouble germinating them.

Zinniared - Love your daylily blooms! Outstanding! Your passiflora looks like the one I had covering my east fence and grew for 4 years until we got that really cold winter 2 years ago which killed it! It was beautiful and very lush! I like your White Cloud Nicotiana. I bet it smells great! :-)

My bearded iris finally bloomed after two years. It was from a trade. The name is Fogbound. It knocked my socks off. It has produced 3 blooms that are large! I love it!!!

It's one of many plants I have growing in a self-watering bucket and it seems quite happy there! ;-)

This shows the area where I have the Mauve Splash (F1) and the Sazanami #2 F1 growing up the arbor. Next to it is the different beds and the containers with a NOID brug that is dropping it's skirt getting ready to bloom and my cantaloupe vine growing in another ebucket next to it. The bed in front of that has some yellow blooming daylilies that I've had for years. And also some mums growing in there. The 4 O'clocks and the lantana are to the very right in the photo. It gets shade from the trees in the vacant lot in that corner of my yard. It's a blessing as it gets so hot back there. I think the MGs will appreciate the few hours of shade before the sun hits them.

everyones blooms are gorgeous!

my rain lillies have been blooming since it is raining every day after 100 temps

i keep missing the morning glorys.. i. plantesis is going to town , tho..

monardas are going full blast and hummers love it..

the moon vine i overwintered has taken the pole and is happy..

I found one, but it was hard to shoot..

Your pink blooming platensis is so pretty Debra.

Linda, love your Daylilies.

Becky beautiful Fogbound

Debra - Is that a rain lily or an oriental lily? It's beautiful whatever it is! Love all those blooms you shared here! You know I am a fan of monardas! I bet your hummers are flocking to yours! Lucky you! I gave up trying to grow that plant here. Instead, I have a jungle of Scarlet Milkweed! I actually had to hard prune most of them because they were shading my daylily bed too much. Much to the disappointment of the monarch butterflies. Don't worry though, I left plenty still blooming and standing tall. ;-) Sweet little MG you found! ;-)

Thanks Jackie! I just found a new plant (bearded irises) that I love and can actually grow here! Thank goodness I am on a strict garden budget or I might find myself with a few more plant obsessions! LOL! I am swooning over the clematis, too! God sure created some amazing plants.

I had to laugh out loud at my dh. I cut off a bloom of Incense passiflora and brought it in for him to see. He said it looked scary! LOL! He said it looked like an alien plant. He's such a newbie to plants! I loved the bloom! LOL!

Becky, Incense is a lovely passionflower.Trying to get Maypop (incarnata) sprouted here.

Thanks, Jackie! I really love it! The blooms are so intricately patterned! ♥ It's got at least one bloom every day now. I am such a sucker for these unusual vines. I am glad I live in a tropical climate so that I can successfully grow so many different plants. I'll deal with the mosquitos and hurricanes to live in Florida! LOL!

Becky would love to have your climate. Ideal for growing all the exotic plants,
my favorites. Although as I get older, I appreciate the cold hardy perennials more,
less work for me. :-)

Jackie, I am with you, prennials for me more and more...

Jackie - I hear ya! I also like the perennials and all my daylilies, roses, and brugs come back every year! As well as the species MGs.

Debra - Beautiful hollyhock. The color looks similar to the very first one I had this year. I love hollyhocks! Are they perennials or annuals?

I am getting cucumbers forming on my vines.

Daylily raised bed overflowing with plants!

Becky, I think the Hollyhocks are bi-ennials but don't hold me to it. If so, they grow the 1st yr,
bloom and die in their 2nd yr, their life cycle completed.
My new Hibiscus, hardy, on sale at K-Mart for 3.99

Jackie - Ooooh! Isn't that a beautiful hibiscus bloom! I am not surprised that it is pink! LOL!

I am growing some Asian cucumbers and this photos shows the formation of a cuke. It will make curved cucumbers. Pretty cool! I think they are also burpless cuke. So neat to get so many plants producing edibles. ;-)

Becky you have done so well at growing veges, much better than I. I would have
loved to be able to grow green bell peppers and my own onions. At least we could have grown our own favorite stir fry
lol about my pink Hibiscus, You know I love the girly girl pink flowers. :-)

I've had quite the success this year doing veggies. I now know some plants that I can grow here and those that don't do well.

A lot of folks here in Florida aren't buying flower seeds. I've been watching the seed displays at the Big Box stores and the veggie and fruit seeds went pretty quickly. There are still plenty of flower seed packets on the display shelf. I even overheard the neighbor behind me hollering over to his neighbor across the street that he hoped to have tomatoes in 6 weeks! LOL! Everyone I know has a veggie garden now. It's all the rage here! We talk gardening at work, but it's about veggie gardening, not flowers at all. No one seems to be interested in flowers these days. The economy is making mini-farmers out of a lot of folks. Many folks never did much gardening before now. It's actually pretty cool! But probably bad for the flower seed business.

I've learned to grow both flowers and edibles together to make a lovely display! But it seems that most gardeners (newbies or seasoned gardeners) are putting their money and effort into edible gardens these days. I think the sticker shock price at the super market for fresh veggies and fruit has forced a lot of folks to grow their own food. Everyone I talk to thinks that this economy is going to stay pretty flat for the next decade. If that is so, maybe veggie prices will come down if everyone is growing their own. Or edible plant seed prices are going to go up! I've bought seeds from some well known and reputable online seed companies and all of them have said that their profits have jumped up for veggie and fruit seeds. They give complimentary flower seed packets with their customer's orders! LOL! Isn't that a 360 from a few years ago?! Amazing ... and pretty cool, too! I also heard that the book Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew has sold off the shelves! A sign of the times. I have farmer's blood in me, so I am really getting a kick out of all of this!

The bell peppers were so easy to grow in the 5 gallon containers. The onions are grown in a small pot. I actually thought they were chive seeds, but instead appear to be yellow sweet onions. Yum! And my tomatoes are still going strong too along with the eggplant which is loaded with veggies and the cuke vines! My dh is amazed at all the food I've been growing this year! Me, too! Everyone is talking about growing their own food at my work place! We all exchange ideas, seeds, and advice! And even share food. It's really neat! Before, no one really did any gardening. Now it seems everyone is! I think once you grow something successfully, it gets you excited to try more new plants/edible food. And it's relaxing! A stress buster! Two things everyone needs in their lives ... food and relaxation! :-) :-) :-)

Here's my eggplant showing the some of the veggies hanging off it. It is loaded with developing eggplant veggies!

Becky I think you're right about the sticker shock. Tomatoes are outrageous around
2.00 a lb
and bell peppers 1.00 each.
You're eggplants look great. What size pot are those in? a 5 gallon?

Jackie - Yes! Mine are grown in 5 gallon buckets. I'm trying to get cheap gardening down to a science! LOL! Free buckets. Cheap seeds (I shop around for the best seed packet prices!). Inexpensive potting mix. (I watch the sales and get the potting mix when it is on sale and then add whatever I feel the soil needs to make it light and fluff.) I still use Miracle Grow fertilizer. They make all kinds for different plants. They have a new organic fertilizer which seems pretty good for growing veggies. Also rose fertilizer, bloom fertilizer, regular Miracle Grow. My plants seem to be doing great with how I am growing them. I also like fish emulsion which I often mix in with the Miracle Grow. I'd love to make my own compost tea, but I haven't progressed that far yet. LOL!

Everything is in containers/buckets. I haven't seen the bug problem this year yet. Last year I had some bugs that destroyed some of my plants. The funniest thing is my watermelon vines. I started WAY TOO MANY in the ground in a small garden area. You should see them! The vines are taking over everything!!!! LOL! Don't know if I will get watermelon fruit this year, but it's been really interesting growing them! LOL!

You should really try growing veggies in buckets/containers. The new way to do the buckets is to just use one 5 gallon bucket instead of two like I do. Then drill the holes for drainage, but NOT on the bottom of the bucket but about 2 inches from the bottom up on the sides of the buckets. Some folks are using straws to prevent the holes from clogging and I think they are putting a colander or something on the bottom to keep the roots from getting root rot. You should see some of the veggies people are growing in buckets! It's amazing! For me it works really well. I love bucket gardening. :-)

our potatoes are still growing and blooming, he planted yukon golds, and the green beans are doing okay in spite of the temps and wind, tomatoes are already turning and have too many, peppers are blooming, cukes are vining, squash is vining, already picked and ate my sweet snap peas..


jackie, this seed was in one of your packets, do you know what it is?

I have alot in containers, but I still don't get the self watering part.. your gardens are awsome, Becky.. my holly hocks come up every year, but peaches and cream did not this year, got three different ones instead in that area, Imust have put some other seeds out. The beautiful Chaters white that I had for two years got moved this spring, and then died. :P~

now I have ALOT of full sun fence to grow mgs on... see this area? this was the 24th of June

here it was this afternoon during a break from their clearing of the property to the south.. then they grazed all the property so now it is all flat dirt, and the big cottonwood there comes down next weekend.. ( to the right) the squirrels have their nest in that tree..

here it is this evening..

I have NEVER seen the neighbors this far down...

North Fence just got thinned out, extra plants are given away..

Thank goodness for the dogrun, our big elm and the pear tree for shade, I had to move alot over there for now..

The patio used to be half shade on the south at noon, and full sun on the north end.. Now we will watch the sun all day until fiveish or so.. this shot looks ugly, but we are still growing ..

North flower bed prennials

Debra - So sorry to hear about the neighbors cutting down the trees. Why have they decided to do that? Sad that the squirrels are losing their home. And the shade will be hard to replace in your yard. How disappointing for you, your plants, and the critters! Funny that you can now see the neighbors further away since the areas on that side has been cleared out. You can see what their home looks like from that angle now! LOL! You need to plant something along that area to give you some privacy again. Some tall bushes or something, maybe?

BUT ... more sunny area to grow sun-loving plants! I hope you get some rain soon! We have finally been getting rain once or twice a week. They've been good soaking rains. My yard looks a lot better. The grass/weeds were almost completely burned up in many parts of my yard. It's looking green now again.

Your north flower bed looks awesome and has filled in and is blooming beautifully! I long to grow plants in the ground again. (sigh)

Debra, did I send you out any Lilac Luster sds that you know of?
What about the Weird Purple Saz which threw some neat blooms.
Heres what the Weird Saz threw
one day. Other than these 2, I can't imagine what it came from.

Oh Yes, that what is is... weird Saz. I planted them both..