OT-Growing in my gardens

More corn... whodda thought.. you can see it through the Arches..

Love your pics A of the corn as seen thru the archways.

Me too, you have a really nice place there A and garden!!

A - I think the Arundo and Sunflowers grown together - in the background of your garden or in some garden areas next to your home - would look awesome!! Grow all your other shorter plants in front of them. It would really set off your whole garden! I really like the bright colors (white and green) of the Arundo! Never seen one like that before. Very attractive! Must be a new cultivar?

I love your patio area in the photo posted above! Is that the pea gravel you added, on the ground in that photo? If so, I really, really like it a LOT!!! That's what I want to do with my yard for paths. I am done with the messy wood mulch. :-/ I love seeing how each of us has a different garden style. Mine is more of the cottage garden type. Yours is southwestern style with flare! I can't get over those beautiful outdoor walls! Where did you ever come up with that idea, Antoinette? Especially the curving at the top of the walls. Never in a million years would I have thought of something like that.

The corn field in the background is actually rather cool! I've never seen that much corn in my life! Looks so green, too! I was laughing when you mentioned onions! Yikes! That would make my eyes water! LOL! Do they grow garlic? Another scent that would chase off the bugs and everything else! LOL!

Near me is a citrus grove. In the Spring, the orange blossoms bloom! I love to sit outside at night when the scent is the strongest. It smells divine to me. I grow the yellow 4 O'Clocks and they smell like honeysuckle. I have them growing in several places in my backyard in clumps! At night, the scent is so strong. I follow the scent to see which side of my yard smells the best. The brugs and Moonflowers just add to the mix! A feast for the nose at night! LOL!

Jackie, Helena, Becky, thank you..

The gravel is actually river rock, not the very small size though, it is larger so it won't stick to your shoes and the tires. We chose the gray river rock so that it would deflect the sun... here is where almost the whole first load went.. it extends to both sides of all the raised beds, under all the cattle panels etc..

The Southwestern style of adobe walls is pretty much like what you are seeing on mine as far as the curves go. Except one thing, the arches are my design and I've not seen them anywhere else except a few photos that look a little like it, on hacienda type homes. We have a full view of the Organ Mountains and I didn't want to obstruct the view, so this is what I came up with and am really pleased with the work.

You can see how big some of the Hardy Hibiscus are and maybe the Arundo (Peppermint Stick) it may be a new cultivar, I don't know, when I saw it on the Plant Delights site (I was ordering clematis), I just had to have it. There is another variegated Arundo, that does fade. I have a small start of that one and found out that it also can take full sun and turns almost completely white.

Here is the Arundo variegata that does fade and it just now got a new small pup coming up. I had planted several rows of (MORE CORN) lol and it was blocking the sun, therefore it would not pup at all. As soon as I pulled out all of the corn stalks, a pup appeared. So the love full sun and lots of water...

Here you can see the new shoot and this one is about 3 feet tall right now.

A - I LOVE your raised beds and that river rock is perfect! Pulls it all together very, very nicely. I would love to do a section of my backyard just like that! Not as big as yours, but on a smaller scale. It's so ... perfect!!!

I am fast becoming a raised bed fan! As I get older, I hate having to bend way down to take photos or pull weeds. I'm not getting any younger either. How tall are your beds? I want raised beds that are somewhere in the 16 - 20" tall range. I just love yours! Thanks for sharing the photos with the new river rock. Looks awesome, A! :-) :-) :-)

Uploading photos at this time is really slow, so here is one more with more river rocks, they will be in every bed and we still need several more to complete our rock project... This is one long bed with Ocotillo plants and a couple of white flowered Crepe Myrtle shrubs. We have several long areas like this one with this type of rock..

A - That's a good view in the second photo. I like the white and green Arundo the best. The white stripes in it are really intense! And do I see hollyhocks in your photo? WOW!!!! You are really growing some wonderful plants!!!

The river rock really blends in to your garden and patio areas perfectly! A good choice! I love it, A! You've sold me on it! LOL!

The beds are made out of 8'x6"x6" and there are three rows to each bed, so that would make them 18" tall and 8'x8ft... they really do what I want them to, there is the very rare weed in there, mostly reseeds.

Here is where we pile our rocks and decomposed granite for the cactus, then we have to wheel it into each area.

Becky, is there any way you could get crushed shells there to use for the walkways?

Our house is at a slant, so we have a couple of stairs decending down to the raised beds, and then some more ascending beds in between the arches, then it levels at the floor of the patio. The water drains away from the house, then it goes into the beds behind the arches, then we put pipes for drainage into the floor of the raised beds, where it would get really muddy. That is the main reason we decided to go with larger rock.

Yes, I have been trying to get Creme De Cassis for about 5 years and kept getting the wrong seeds. Finally the T&M seeds came out true.. I sent you some of these also.. Hopefully you don't get rust on them.. I've never had rust on the HH. They should come true, I did have a pink and also a white colored HH, but they are far away from Creme De Cassis so the seeds should come true and hopefully did not cross. Those bumble bees love that pollen.

I sent you some cosmos too (orange).. look at these, they are turning yellow and have an orange ring around one of them.

A - Thanks for those details. I think if I do raised beds, they will be more like 4' wide by 6' long. Though I too thought of having a cattle panel trellis in the middle for vines. I don't know yet how I am going to do it, but you sure have given me some great ideas! Thank you! My yard is on a slope too. Which is going to be interesting when I do the leveling to put in more raised beds. Always a challenge here, but it is high and dry during hurricanes and excessive rain.

I like the river rock better than crushed shells. I don't want something that is glaringly white. LOL! Rather have some rocks that are neutral color so that it just blends in with my garden areas and the wooden raised beds. I know it may be expensive and will be one of those things that I add what I can afford each year. Eventually I'll have all the paths covered. The yard (entirely - front, back, and sides) is going to go! There is absolutely no good use for grass/lawn. I'd rather have garden areas and paths. My dh is warming up to that idea as he wouldn't have to mow the yard anymore! Love these hot summer days! Hee, hee!

How long do HH last? Two years? Or less? I managed to grow a beautiful double pink one and it bloomed like crazy for me this year and then promptly died after it went to seed. But is did get rust. Probably because it was in an area where it might have been getting too much shade. But I loved it!

Thank you for sending seeds for your lovely HH! And I love the orange border around your Cosmos! A mutant? LOL! I like cosmos! A butterfly magnet and drought hardy! :-) Thank you for sharing! I will love them all!

Your home and gardens look so exquisite. You've come a long way baby! lol
I bet you enjoy the millions of stars over New Mexico.
I planted some French Hollyhock seeds late in July. I can't believe there are flowers on it and it is four feet plus now. Must be different conditions than Alabama. Of course I babied it and watered it regularly.It has been such a dry season here that I have been disappointed in seed and have been buying plants from a local nursery. I would rather grow from seed and will try again next year.
I am seriously thinking of raised beds. I thought I was getting away from clay soil but it appears that I have just swapped the color from red to brown. lol

Just found this thread, it is a wonderful place you have and your hard work is really an inspiration. Love it!

Hey Windy, THANK you,
I haven't seen you around for a bit. It has come full circle hasn't it? In 12 years, look at us now. Wow. We both have moved, and have started over seems like many times. Let me know if you need seeds from this years harvest. I can send you a mix of all the above.


Joeswife, THANK YOU TO, same for you, let me know if you want a mix of seeds, seems like I got enough for a large cottage garden! I'm so excited too, got some of the Hardy Hibiscus seedpods going also..

A.

I have a smaller gardening area but still a big gardening brain. lol
I have actually moved again to another place in the same city. I like it here better and the 6 dogs are still with me.
I have driven by the other house and it appears all my plantings from 09 are fine except you can tell the family is not knowledgeable about plants. The hollyhocks are in need of staking. lol
I need to learn to let go. lol
It is hard getting things just right in a new garden as you know from experience. I vow not to move in a long time to come.
I love the hardy hibs. I bought a miniature one that only gets about two feet tall, but it looks kind of odd and out of proportion. Don't know if it comes true from seed, though, None of the pods have ripened yet, but hopefully they will before frost and I can save you some. It bloomed early in spring but is blooming now again. I don't remember any seeds from the first blooming so maybe it won't produce.

Gosh, those are so pretty, windy.. I can't find a hardy Hibiscus around here except Kopper King. Started a ton of seeds, but no plants from them.

I wonder where all the ones came from I keep seeing around here?

That one looks like one of the Luna series they run really short, I also have the red one and a couple of others in that series.,, none of the Luna series has made any pods yet. The pollen seems to be really grainy, as to where the pollen Moy Grande is really fine.

Deborah, I've got several pods on Moy Grande, so when they ripen, I'll send you both some, I also crossed Firebird with Moy Grande and have about 3 pods on that, I'll include some seeds for that one, they are really cold hardy too, the ones I put in two years ago all came back except Blue River, which is a beautiful large white flower looks like a giant white poppy, the roots are still alive, but I don't know why it hasn't come up. Maybe it will survive and come up next year. The hardy hibs are addicting. I've never started hib seeds so this will be a first for me too, if you guys want some cuttings let me know and before the first frost, I'll cut them down. I did root the white Blue River II, and actually planted outdoors and it was thriving, then I accidently pulled it out because I forgot what it was. DARN it.

They take a long time to root from cuttings, but they do root, you just have to keep changing the water and keep them where they get a lot of light.

really? does it get cold there? I have an old fashioned lilac I am looking to send somewhere, but they like a cold winter.

Yes, we got the most horrible freeze last year and we lost three truck loads of cactus, I'm in zone 7, I think they called it the 100 year freeze, it lasted quite a long time (weeks). We rescue box turtles and every night I was worried sick, we put blankets, old carpets and some straw in the turtle pens. Several turtles died this past winter in the wild, they did not go down far enough.

You can just use lots of mulch for your plants, I bring all my caudex plants indoors though.

Antoinette, I love Sunflower #13--how gorgeous!

All your pictures are wonderful. You have such a beautiful paradise there. Someday I'll come and tour it in person. You are so creative and have put your little world together beautifully. Come see my gardens and give me some ideas. Mine are just so flat and boring.

I love those arches! I tell ya what. Forget coming here. I'm moving in with you! Come on, gang. Who else wants to move in with A.? I'll drop by and pick ya up. LOL