What's Growing - Part 9!!

This is what made me smile!!!!

How about this one??? Grandma's Blessing!

more minis blooming...

Pixie and Gram, which program do you use for your colages??? so beautiful... I use Picasa, which doesn't give me much choice.

Gram, school starts next week... where is everyone from the mostly minis thread??? are we done???

So, all my plants are actually doing ok... Marigolds took over my veggie garden...I think they loved the fertilizer that I used for the tomatoes!!!!

now, this are my favorite herbs... and they are so beautiful! Next year I am going to expand the rose beds and plant herbs among the roses.... then I am going to plant tons of lavender all over the driveway!!!

Kassia ~ Nice gardens! I think the herbs would look wonderful mingeled with the roses. And that dahlia or is it a rose?That would make me smile too!
I too am building a new bed...just started to add compost, manure and good soil.

This message was edited Sep 5, 2006 9:49 PM

BTW...Gorgeous roses!
As I was working in the new bed I stopped to take a break, turned around, and found this guy watching me.

Pixie, you've got a real rainbow today! I don't know why I don't see more frogs & toads. I live right on a lake and there are lots of places for them to hide. Maybe the heron eats them all.

Kassia, you're making good progress. the roses look happy! I don't know where everybody else is, but I had to work late. We use LumaPix PhotoFusion for the collages.Got hooked on it by another DG member (Anita). I really love Grandma's Blessing...pink roses are my absolute favorite.

Ok, I planted tons of gladiolas, just one yellow one bloomed... now, when can I take then out for the winter??? I can't stand looking at the green things...
Can I cut the daylilies and asiatic lilies down? it't looks very messy...

Laura, I have about 10 datura pods(the size of golf balls like you said) and the datura is growing like crazy... when can I spread the seeds for next year? I saw a border of daturas in Sherborn the other day and it was beautiful... so maybe I could plant in the front of the house...

I have been collecting seeds from everything I have... marigolds, holyhocks, purple cone flower and other things...
Ballon flowers ... I am going to do an experiment... let's see what is going to come out... I am going to do what I used to do in Brazil... just sow all the seeds in good soil and wait... that's what I did with the annuals (coreopsis) and they came out ok.

I planted some hard mums that I got from Rivers Edge ... they were blooming and root bound already... so I planted and took some of the flowers... I hope I didn't do anything wrong... are mums perenials??? I am planning to more next fall... they smell good...

Wow, so many questions!!!!

Pixie, how big is that bed??? this weekend Home Depot has a good price on those 3x5x8 pressure treated wood... (2.97 each) but I could not go and get it... besides that I have no tools yet... so I have the entire fall and winter to learn how to cut wood and make flower beds.!

how much soil are you going to need for that bed???

The yellow flower is a miniature rose... I am in love with miniature roses....

Gram, I can see why I could be hooked on lumapix photo fusion... it's really nice... I did so much scrapbooking until I started school...

I am printing some of my pictures 8x10 to frame it... the problem is I have too many that I like it!!!!

Hi kassia
you have been busy! let the datura seed pods mature when they are ready the pod will split open . I just leave them there and they sprout in the spring . If you want to start them early or want to control where they come up just collect the seeds then .
laura.
PS Datura would like the bed at the street but you would have to wait till the end of summer for any show

Mums are perenials where I live in 6b. In fact they multiply like bunnies! Most pressure treated wood is treated with arsenic - OK for flower beds but not OK for vegetables. There are some alternatives on the market including plastic "lumber" that never rots out.

Yankee - I checked out the pressure treated lumber story. According to an environmental group's website the industry voluntarily stopped using chromated copper arsenate (CCA), which is 22 percent pure arsenic in 2003. The EPA had gotten involved and the Consumer Safety Council etc. The biggest concern was children's playground equipment made of the wood. You can request wood that is not treated with CCA when you go to buy. The reason they used it in the first place was to avoid insect infestation in the wood.

Frankly I think I'd trace back the wood I want to buy and confirm it doesn't have CCA in it. Plastics also leach out over time and are subject to color change and decomposition. I've talked to some carpenters that were at my house and they say the plastic woods are not as inert as the manufacturer would have you believe - they discolor for one thing. Since they are made of petroleum by product I don't think they are a great option either - just my humble opinion but everyone can do as they wish.

Kassia - have you thought about putting some flowering shrubs where the hosta were?

My 92 cent bargin.

Anita, I have so many shrubs around my house that I don't want more... are there any roses that would survive???

I have "filigran' sage which is supposed to be more well behaved also.

well these weren't opening fast enough so here is the fireworks group shot

Al ~ Love those colors together! I bet gram will too, and be very happy with you for giving her a "pink & purple fix"! LOL

Too bad you don't live in Connecticut alyrics because we have SOOO many rocks you can just build flower beds out of the rocks you take out of the patch you dig to plant your flowers in! A friend in Northern CA uses concrete rubble to build his veggie beds - no rotting! I read that it does effect the pH of the soil a bit though. I saved the rubble from the walk I tore out so that I can make a rubble bed for my strawberries in my neighbor's yard. (Would be nice to get it in before it gets too cold to work outside.) I'm going to replace the "regular" strawberries in my yard with alpine strawberries next year - they are cute and produce tasty, small berries from the 4th of July until first frost.

Yep, those are my colors alright. Thanks, Al. very pretty.

Kassia, I don't think you want to take a chance on any roses in that spot if the they are going to get snow & salt dumped on them all winter.

think it's been wet enough...these are growing all over the lawn. this one's about 6" across

Gram - it came out a bit blue, but really is purple or dark lavender

I have some everbearing strawberriess that basically have smaller ones on them - still nice.


So the flash is on in this - it brightens up the butterfly bush. My pocket bug book didn't have this one in it.

Kassia, I have sun by my roadside and I have Bonica Roses planted there. I believe some of the other shrub roses would also work. Mine are doing great. Just keep some space from the road so the plowed snow doesn't break too many branches.
I also have lamb's ear up there. It is tough as nails and needs very little water.

I'd love some rocks Yankee! Now how to get them here?
On the concrete rubble - I have some and tried to use it to lay pieces for stepping stones in a steep part of our lawn going down to the woods. It must leach out something caustic or lime or lye or something because it killed the grass all around each piece. When we took them away the grass returned so I don't know what else to say about that.

Aly,
Lime is in concrete and even more so in mortar. That's why the rhodies everyone plants by their foundation shouldn't be there.

Al, I love the purple, pink and white "filigran"? are they perenials?

Yes, I am not going to take chances with roses... I can just imagine the big plow coming and dumping snow and more snow... so I think maybe the best thing to do would just do annuals (Marigolds would be good... they are happy flowers and they are taking over my veggie garden... I have tons of seeds and I will just sow them and let it go... look what I did with this flower bed that had mixed seeds...not so bad... I am just going to buy seeds and mix with what I already have and hope for the best... I already planted black eye susans, pink corn flowers and daisies,,, also I am thinking of zinias... I got a book on annuals and maybe this is the best...

more purple!

a lillte yellow

Gram, I have mushrooms here too... they dry out so ugly!!!!

Do you have to pay for the program you use for the collages???

Ok, more purple

now the turtles... they are so cute!!! I took them outside today so they could get some sun,... they loved... I also hold each one of them and I think they are not afraid of me... they are so cute...

Pretty pretty asters Al - they are asters aren't they?

Kassia I meant to ask you about the painted turtles. They are wonderful! We always had them as pets when I was a kid. now they aren't available in pet stores and I heard they carry some disease thats transmissable - is that true? How big are they?

I searched on the turtles - you're washing your hands well after handling right?
Cute cute cute. And the last one - cute!

Hi Alyrics, well, the guy from the Mass Wildlife told me they are safe to have in the house and that by law I can keep 2.
Thanks for asking... and yesI am washing my hands.after I handle them.. I am little OCD and a little germ freak... but I do walk around bare feet and for the most part I don't wear gloves when I am gardening... you should have seen me last monday... I feel like a kid when I do that.... but I do wash my hands well after all this fun... and handling the cuties... salmonella is a big thing with reptiles... but we all need a lillte dirt and some safe home soil organisms...

Hey - you have a little yellow dahlia there.


Andrea - those are annual asters "Fireworks' a bit bigger than the Crego Mix I usually have I think.

this was my perovskia
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/123776/

Al, That is amazing for first year growth! Do you have any sage advice?

Once again your response to the "Voting Booth" made me literally LOL.

This message was edited Sep 7, 2006 7:39 AM

Dave - did you see the one above Al's ? "At first, I thought DG was part of Lowe's." That was funny too.

Al - can I have your sun? I'll never grow asters like that. sigh. back to foliage.

Andrea - I rather like my sun so I'm keeping it. I have filled up my shade bed so maybe I'll send you some hostas ;) That Lowes comment was funny.

Dave - because that sage was new I couldn't say for sure it wasn't floppy since a few flopped, but it probably isn't rooted fully yet.

sage advice you say....hmmmm

Blooming today:

Nice Pix - is the big one annual poppy?

I still go around and look at all the cosmos, the color changes on some of them as they age.
This is my favorite coloring