Susie your yard is lovely! You've done SO much in a short time. I can only imagine what it will look like next year. Blisters aside it looks like all your hard work has paid off. Thank you for the tour.
A tour of my backyard.
Its just absolutely beautiful Susie!! Paradise for sure.
Bravo Calalily! What a labour of love. Your hard work has paid off! Joelle
WOW - very impressive! You do have that knack! Carol
suz, you must be havin' a blast! Love the pics!
Susie
its sooo green and beautiful
and
be expecting me ,in say....mid Febuary.....
also do you know how to root citrus?
Just found this thread and wanted to say how beautiful your yard looks Cala! You have been a very busy lady!!
Thanks all. I'm determined to make a jungle out of the back yard.
If anybody wants to come down, just let me know a few days ahead of time so I can sweep the floors and give the dog a bath!
CC, come on down, can't guarantee it will be warm enough to swim in Feb, but we can go plant shopping. I know how to root the variegated lemon. What kind of citrus do you want? They sell at very reasonable prices down here cause it's citrus country.
I would be in the poor house if I had that much land to plant!!!
Do you have a banana bush yet Cala?
Beautiful pics, Calalily!!!
Your hard work really has paid off!!!
Variegated lemon tree???
I have never seen or heard of one of those, sounds interesting!!!!!!!!
Janet
Lilypon I have a bunch of banana trees and also some dwarf cavendish. Are those the ones you mean?
Larry, there is one nursery that specializes in citrus, but he just fell and hurt his back really bad. I'll ask him if he's got any limequats or knows where to get them.
The variegated lemon does not bear as well as the Meyer nor is it as juicy. It's more of a novelty, the flesh is pink. I'm going out right now and take a pic. I forgot to take one the other day before I went to SA.
Did the alligator come back and gobble you up Susie?
Sorry Cala I should have said Banana Shrub (Michelia figo)......looks like your zone could also grow Michelia champaca (I think that's the one Joy perfume comes from).
Susie, your yard is wonderful. Thank you for sharing those amazing pictures. They are truly inspirational. Do you prune your Caesalpinia pulcherrima, Pride of Barbados, at all? Mine is about 10 feet tall and very lanky. Also, how on earth do you water it all? Do you have an automated sprinkler system which helps you? I hope so!
Lilypon,sorry I am a little slow sometimes! I had forgotten all about the banana shrub. I saw one at a nursery, but didn't buy it(though I want one when I figure out where to put it).
Clare, the caesalpinia is a young plant, that's why it's still little. I think they can be pruned, or maybe there is a shorter variety that I see from time to time. I'll have to ask my friend Cathy. I have a sprinkler system but do water by hand from time to time. It takes all day to water all the gardens by hand.
Kell, haven't seen the gator since they drained the resaca and refilled it(to get rid of the salt). I did see two big turtles out there, not sure what kind they were. They didn't look like sliders. Hopefully they are vegetarians.
Does anybody know if rabbits eat bluebonnets? Something ate my bluebonnets.
Prolly a Texas JackRabbit !
Hey, I saw one of those! it had the biggest ears I've ever seen on a rabbit.
Thanks, Susie. Your yard is just beautiful. I think there might in fact be two different Caesalpinias. One has tiny blue green leaves and thorns on the stems, and the other has tiny blue green leaves and no thorns on the stems. The C. pulcherrima with thorns is definitely shorter. I have two of those, but this other one with no thorns is huge! I'll be sure to post pictures of it when it blooms. Both have beautiful flowers:
Here's a better picture. That last one was so small.
Yes, I remember the man at my favorite nursery talking about them. He called one a bush and one a tree. I'll see what else I can find out, if I ever get a day off to go there!
WOW, Suz! I remember when those plants circled your Tenn. yard! You labor of love had paid off! Your home and yard are just beautiful!!! I imagine Bill has a great time mowing all that grass. You need to add a photo of your new family member.
Mel
Oh yes, Bill loves mowing around them! I had to mow a couple of times and that's when I decided to change the shape of a few beds(more room to plant too). He came home and said "Did you decide to redo those beds after you mowed?" He had not complained about them being hard to mow around but he said thanks when I fixed them with smoother corners.
Do you mean Bleu the Weimaraner? here is his pic
Awe, what a cutie! Those are really sweet dogs. Thanks for sharing that pic.
I would love to know more about this tall Caesalpinia if and when you learn anything more about it. I have been very tempted to prune it, but the main stem/trunk is so thick that, unless it filled out quite a bit at the top, it would look like a tree that has been topped.
No, don't cut on it. I've got to go to Brownsville tomorrow and I'll stop at the nursery. I hope he's gonna be there so I can ask him!
Bleu is very sweet, he follows every step I make. He lies in the grass near where I'm working and if I move to a different section of the garden he follows me(even if I tell him I'm coming right back!). He has learned not to dig in the gardens, not to steal the plant stakes or wee wee on my plants, but he still steals every empty pot he finds and then he runs around the yard like he has a great prize!
This message was edited Dec 13, 2004 2:35 PM
I won't cut it. I know that would ruin its shape. I would hate to make you go out of your way on my behalf, but if you do happen to make it there and if your nursery guy is there, that would be great! I've taken a few pictures of it, but it is hard to see. It is the lanky tree on the right.
Bleu sounds like a well-mannered angel and looks like one too. I have two angels that follow me around as well. They don't dig, but Duke can't help lifting his leg on an occasional plant or two.
Here's another shot:
The Duke:
Miss Dutchess:
The Duke again:
I just ran across this thread. Your yard is beautiful, Calalily!!
I'm a sucker for a sweet dog, like Bleu, my choc. Lab Charlie Brown will steal a plastic water bottle out of my hands and then play with it like it is the greatest invention since the tennis ball! What is it about plastic?? :)
I think I'll just watch this thread and when I'm completely stir crazy from Ohio winters, I'll just hang out here, look at your pictures and dream...
That lanky Caesalpinia is hard to see with the China doll and Michelia champaca in the background, but you ge the idea that it is taller than the house. I just put it in the ground there because it was rootbound and drying out really fast, and I didn't have a larger container to move it to. My M. champaca went in the ground for the same reason. I am a renter, and I wanted to take these trees with me the next time I have to move again, but they just got too big.
Your tree is very tall! It's not out of the way, I just exit from the freeway, drive up the frontage road then back out on the freeway.
Love your doggies. Is Duke older? He has a gray muzzle.
Bleu isn't always good about watering the plants, he messes up sometimes. He's still a pup so he squats more than he lifts his leg.
That is so cute. Duke sometimes still squats too. He just gets too tired to lift his leg! LOL! Yes, Duke is 10, and Dutchess is 9. Duke used to be all black when he was a puppy, and now he has all that white around his mouth. It is a pain growing old! Thanks so much for going to the nursery on my behalf. I will owe you one.
This is Duke when he was a puppy:
Awww, he has such a sweet face.
He was such a menace when he was a puppy. He got into so much trouble all the time. We would call him Devil Dog!
Gonna be an awesome garden when it all grows in!! Yu go girl!
:-)
Thanks Kyle. I want it to look like your gardens!
Clare, my puppy was bad yesterday. He chewed on a patio chair and stepped on a brugmansia seedling. I knew I shouldn't have bragged on him.
LOL, Susie! They can't help being little rascals. Duke destroyed many a patio chair in his day. We had a lounger set up by the pool, and he would lie on it half the time and tear it apart the other half of the time. It finally was so destroyed that he couldn't lie on it anymore. Poor thing just could put that together. You can see the lounger in the background of this picture.
I hope your seedling will be all right!
Has Bleu learned to swim in your pool yet? Duke had so much fun in our pool when we had one.
