Newbie Poster

Hello everyone! First time post for me, but I have been a lurker here for a while, and also a long time gardener. I started gardening in New England, and I have been in TX since the early '90's. I have lived and gardened in Tomball, Austin, Plano, and now Southlake. I thought I would introduce myself by showing a few of my "survivors" in my garden. They made it through the heat. I can't say they really made it through the drought, as I have an irrigation system and I also hand water, twice a day if temp's will be 100 or above. Here is the first , Angelonia. My first year for this variety, "Serena" and I love it. It has done very well. I will post some more photos of 'survivors' as I discover how to post onto this thread. And a big thank-you to all the posters. I enjoy reading but I thought it was time for me to 'give'.
Yours in Gardening,
tosaho
AKA TexasGardenGal

Another Survivor, Petunia Tidal Wave Silver. This one is not totally constant, as I give it a shearing when it gets leggy, right back to a little clump. A bit of fertilizer and it gets new happy growth. It gets afternoon shade from the house, so this helps it last during the heat. Oddly enough, I did overwinter this plant in the ground. When freezing temps were forecasted, I would invert a large pot over it. I also put under the pot a zip-loc bag of warm water, to get it through the night. I didn't, of course, do it for the savings, but for the early plant-in-the-ground start. I had flowers extremely early.
tosaho
AKA TexasGardenGal

Another Tidal Wave, this one is the cherry one. BTW, all these photos were taken within the last 5 days or so...

tosaho
AKA TexasGardenGal

Oops, wrong photo of Cherry Tidal Wave posted above, sorry, that is an older photo. Here is the photo of one taken a few days ago. I apologize for my mixup. I take tons of photos of the garden.

tosaho
AKA TexasGardenGal

Another survivor, perhaps a bit boring to some, the Gomphrena. Like I say, any color is good color if it lasts a month of such high temps.

tosaho
AKA TexasGardenGal

This one is hard to photograph, due to the airey nature of it. But I love the motion in the garden it gives with the breeze. I did give this one a shearing once so far this season. Gaura, this one is Cherry Brandy.
tosaho
AKA TexasGardenGal

Zinnia Profusion Fire. This one has outdone itself. Just a little deadheading and it is a dandy.
tosaho
AKA TexasGardenGal

Gorgeous! No doubt you find it easier to deal with the heat yourself when you can continually look at such beauty. Great job - and we look forward to more of your posts! Yuska

Love the photos! You have lived many places, me too- where did you live in New England. Many years ago I graduated from HS in MA- sure do miss that area.

Last but not least, this photo was taken Aug. 7th. It shows the celosia, cannas and what I call the full-casual nature of the garden. Thank goodness for those celosia; many are volunteers.
Thanks for letting me share.
tosaho
AKA TexasGardenGal

Thanks Yuska for your nice comment! Aprilwillis, I grew up in Dedham MA and also lived in Norfolk, MA. I tell all my "transplanted friends" who live here, "Gardening in Texas is like gardening on a different planet."
tosaho
AKA TexasGardenGal

Your garden is beautiful, tosaho!!! Thank you for coming out of lurkdom to post the pictures. :-) Don't go back now!!

~ Marylyn

Hi Tosaho! Welcome to Dave's Garden. ;) I've enjoyed looking at all your garden pics. Beautiful flowers!
Lin

Tosaho that last picture is really nice- I love the color and texture!
Yes gardening here is so different than gardening elsewhere! It took me a long, long time to get used to it- lots of sad experiments and lots of wonderful surprises!
Keep posting.
April

Thanks again for everyone's kind comments. Aprilwillis, yes, lots of sad experiments here. I am in a new neighborhood, with me being the first one in less than a year and a half. My next door neighbor is from NY, upperstate. The husband comes from a family of gardeners as his father had plant greenhouses that grew mums, etc to sell. So the hubby is probably frustrated. His SA lawn looks sad. The mower scalped it and it got burnt. Also, I told them they probably have chinch bugs. As like in NY he planted marigolds for the summer. I hand-watered them for 3 weeks while they were on vacation, and they looked fine. But not they are wretched, with a spidermite infestation like I have never seen. He planted BigBoy tomatoes among others. I don't think this one variety had much fruit here. So, you say, sad experiments. Gardening in TX is a different planet, esp. for those of us who come from the north. Regards, tosaho. AKA TexasGardenGal. AKA "Crumbs in my Keyboard" (too much time at the computer) ;)

Just for kicks, here was one of my gardens when I lived in Plano. I had the traditional 'gridwork' of annuals out front. This, I thought, was a little too 'out there' for the neighborhood, so I had it along the tennis court in back. I really enjoyed it as it was a really long border, and I could experiment. I did my research and it was a lot of fun learning. But only those who came into my backyard ever saw it.

Tosaho, those are very lovely pictures and very healthy plants.
It is a credit to you that you are able to maintain them in such great condition, under the very difficult circumstances we are having lately. Congratulations.
Josephine.

tosaho, your flowers look great considering this heat! Love the little frames and plant name beneath, what program did you use?

I used to have some of those petunias and they were beautiful, I need to get some more.

Thanks, again, everyone for the sweet comments... Yes, Frostweed, the circumstances in the weather are very difficult to say the least! I hope this ends soon. Hey Fly-Girl, I agree- the Tidal Wave petunias are great. Like I said I overwintered the light purple Silver ones. Since you are a half zone warmer than me, I bet you could do the same. Just give them a crew-cut when needed, and they come right back. They even get a bit aggressive at times, climbing over other plants. The purple one self rooted one of the long branches. Last fall, I transplanted tow of these babies to another part of the garden, and they are still growing. For the photo end, I have a good SLR digicam and I use a tripod with a remote to snap the photos. For post processing, I use Photoshop CS2. Having said that, I need to say that I do not add flowers or change locations digitally. It is an ethics thing with me, since the purpose of the photo is for you to see the flowers. What I do is: crop, sharpen, change levels (brightness, etc) sometimes color cast if the color is wrong, but the integrity of the flower is the same as it is in the garden. For the frames around the photo, I usually just put a plain black border, use the eyedropper tool to sample the flower, and write the name in the box below. Regards, tosaho AKA TexasGardenGal

Another winner that made it through the heat -Rose Double Knockout. I probably don't have to tell you about the Knockout Roses, as they are well-known, for a good reason. I have 3 of the cherry colored Knockouts. So I couldn't resist the "Double Knockout"I purchased in the heat of last summer. It didn't do much last year; and I transplanted it into a larger pot. It started out fine, until someone 'turned on the oven' outside. It was stressed in the pot, so I put in in the ground. It has done so really well even in the heat waves. Also, it isn't out of bloom much. Once it went through a down time, a cycle to make more blooms. But it has been doing well so much. I deadhead, as I want flowers instead of hips. The nice thing about this one is that I have it in full sun, and the flowers last a long time. The whole bush is so much smaller than the regular KO's, which need a lot of space. The Double KO I have reminds me of a petite hybrid tea. OK, my horti-grammer is limited... But I wanted to show this one to you. Actually, I wouldn't mind a couple more in the garden for spots of color. On this one, I had to look it up on the internet and find the retailer to get it. The Double KO's are not everywhere like the KO's. Those in the DFW area, I got mine at Calloways. Yours in Gardening, tosaho. AKA TexasGardenGal

Phew...I remember living in Acton, MA for 6 years...and the gardens there in the Spring were absolutely incredible...and such vivid colors! I'm a native Texan...so our gardening techniques are ones that I'm very use to. I can't imagine how different it must be for someone not use to the climate and heat. Very very different requirements.

Thanks for sharing your photos, tosaho...really lovely.

Melanie

I like the KO's too, I especially like Home Run, with those yellow centers.

That Double is very pretty, and I like it because it's smaller. The KO's get so huge, I just don't have the room, but may be able to squeeze in the Double.

Thanks for the photo tips!

Hi! I love your pictures! I have one of the Angelonias as well. Also Serena. Mine is white..I think these are just beautiful! Hope you post more pix...I never get tired of looking at beautiful plants and flowers!!