Shelia, I love your garden. Every time you post a picture, I see something else I have to have. I'm now suffering from "pond envy". LOL
Let's see your garden!
Just make sure you get someone else to build it Crow. I think building that is what did me and the DH in. I have had two back surgeries this last year. He is having some problems too. We do love it though. I have the same habit of moving things around, but you have really got a great plan it appears.
Wow Sheila that is a beautiful scene. Seeing everyone else's gardens makes me realize just how much work I have to do! I love the uniqueness everyone brings to the table.
I don't want to post too many pictures of the whole "scape" until it comes together as many of yours have!!! :-)
Here is "Prairie Blossoms" small but nice coloring....
Does anyone else grow callas? I find they return pretty well for me.
I got some in a swap last year and can't wait until they bloom. I have them in an area that gets very little sun, but hopefully they will thrive.
ooo....lovely photos......keep them coming..! :)
Steve, I had been wondering if callas did well here. I saw some for sale at Lowe's a while ago and was wondering if they would return. I didn't get any but will keep my eye out for sales next year. nancy
Sheila ~ by all means let your neighbor grow the Azaleas and you can use all that extra ground for more plants. Pretty photo of your water feature.
Thanks Pod.
This is probably not kosher but this is my neighbors newest pond. We are calling it the San Antonio River Walk. It is less than 30 feet from I am presently sitting. I have pond envy really bad as this is his third pond in a relatively small space. We have an arbor/gate that we can go through at any time and it is two way. Long story and someday I will tell it.
We purchased a 2X4X6 galvanized horse trough at Tractor Supply today to make a water feature. Now we have lost the picture and directions to finish it. Guess we will just have to wing it.
Christi Lou
The River Walk is a good name for it. I see they even have wine to entertain there! LOL!
Welllll........we don't have to drive.
These are somewhat grainy shots of our garden a-building before we get hit with rain -- again -- in about an hour. My apologies: the digital camera is on the charger just now.
The entire garden is planned around a backyard retreat we share with the dogs -- La Folie des Chiots -- it is technically their "doghouse", but more like a little recreation cottage, with rocking chair, dog beds, a bowl of water, a tin of dog biscuits, lamp and retro radio, etc.
The foreground container garden includes: rosemary, lavender, salvia, 4 kinds of coleus, licorice plant, thyme, snapdragons, impatiens, sweet potato vine (3 kinds), variegated mint.
Corner garden along the fence. This one contains verbena (red), Turk's cap, Veronica, Creeping Speedwell, lavender, rosemary, coreopsis, Lantana, hibiscus (intense pink), snapdragons, million bells, Mexican mint marigold.
We've had very little sun in the past week, and our blooms have retreated a bit, but the hibiscus is about to pop with 5-7 blooms, and they are generally 7-8 inches across. We call it the 'dessert plate' hibiscus. :-D
This message was edited May 29, 2007 8:42 AM
And finally, the rose garden, new this year. Thirteen kinds of roses, and I'm currently struggling against black spot -- so much moisture, so little sun -- also, to soften the look, 5 kinds of mint in this garden, lavender, salvia, impatiens, artemesia, thyme, balloon flower, moonflower.
And a little fountain, which the dogs enjoy. I have serious water feature envy and want a genuine rock/stream/pond water feature, but we have "issues" in our backyard that will take some time to overcome. Namely, part of it lies over a former driveway from the 1930s (previous owners just poured dirt on top), so we'd have to get in and bust cement if were are going to do it where I have in mind. In the meanwhile, this little fountain has a very pleasant sound, and the birds love to drink out of it!
Roses here: Don Juan, Belinda's Dream, Distant Drums, My Valentine, mystery rose we call Golden Girl, Hot Cocoa, Georgetown Tea, Green Ice, Over the Rainbow, Carnival Glass, Rose Window, Westerland, Cupcake.
Blooms are in retreat just now, though Hot Cocoa is about to pop with five new blooms, what an amazing color that rose is -- and Green Ice, Georgetown Tea, and Don Juan have blooms in bud now, too.
This message was edited May 29, 2007 8:50 AM
This message was edited May 29, 2007 9:04 AM
Beautiful, Susannah. The "dog house" is a delight. If we could ever get rid of all the junk in the storage barn I would like to make it a little retreat. My roses are mostly just sticks right now because of all the rain. Oh, gosh, the sun was out for maybe 5 minutes I thought somethings would have a chance to recover just a little. Looks like rain again. It is raining.
Susanah, I have ran across a thread awhile back where you showed your "dog house". It is indeed a treat in your landscape. Love the colors and plants you have in your yard too.
Yes -- you are exactly right. I realized after I posted this that I had posted about La Folie late last summer/early Fall in the what was then the "red garden" -- '06 was all about red/orange flower tones, offset by lime green sweet potato vine and variegated coleus.
We changed palettes this year, spinning off the colors of the cottage and then sparking things up a bit with some red/pink/coral. It's nice and bright and cheerful, though you'd never know it with all these grey cloudy-day pictures just now. And this year we have grass! around the cottage! and a passiflora vine that's just insanely happy climbing up one side of it.
Here's the cottage inside, this morning. I think I've added quite a bit to it since last year. We're about to do a faux tin ceiling via a wallpaper that mimics the textured pattern and effect. Maybe painted white; maybe painted silver. Not sure!
Made my husband get up off the couch and come look at your pictures of the "dog house". Trying to get him fired up to throw away all the junk we have that is not even fit to give away. Some day.......
Of course, he says "Thought we were gonna rest awhile after that last project and you already have three more started". Isn't that what keeps us going? This rain is causing an enforced rest. With all that I should be doing to catch up in the house......no longer care as much as I did in the past. The garden is my passion now.
Some sunshine at last. Two of the little Poms stretch out by the tea table. They like lying near the butterfly garden -- gives them something to study and chase!
What a great thread you started. This is inspiration. Maybe I am missing something, but in the landscape forum there are no comments. I don't have too many nice combos, but I do enjoy my fencescape.
This is part of my Darwinian bed. With yarrow, four o clocks and bog sage, it is survival of the fittest. I'll try to get a pic of the bed in the afternoon when the four o clocks are blooming.
LouC,
When we were kids, my brother and I ate the fruit of the Loquat, and it was delicious. My neighbor gave me a loquat tree about six years ago, and I was so excited looking forward to what I had remembered. Well, this tree produces sour loquats for some reason. He said it was better not to fertilize them. Why, I don't know. I'm still hoping in the future to once again have that delicious fruit. Even though we're not enjoying the tree, our feathered friends are, and that's fine, too.
Sheila, your pond is just gorgeous.
I have enjoyed looking at all the great gardens here. Someday I hope I will have one like you all do.
Just looked at everyone's garden again. Lovely. It is so dark here that the lights just came back on outside. They are the kind that have a sensor. Looks we are all in for it again. Keep those pictures coming.
Thank you, Steve, for having the imagination to start this. Of course you now have me thinking about lillies.
A dark garden in Dallas this morning, just ahead of storm. This was taken at 10:00 AM. Notice the automatic light-sensor lights are on!
Thanks Posie, just remembe my back problems began from all that work! LOL!
I am sure you are getting pounded with rain about now Susannah. Stay dry!
And it won't be long before you get it Lou.
Oh, Steve, I noticed you have 7b as your zone and I have 8a. I am on the SW side of FW, and couldn't tell which I was in, but since we have such brutal sun in the summer choose 8a. I couldn't tell from the USDA map just where FW fell.
I just came back from working at the wildscape greenhouse, and boy did it come down over there, the noise was deafening, and we could hardly hear ourselves talk, but it was kind of neat.
Thank goodness nothing bad happened, but it was quite an experience.
Josephine.
Glad you didn't have any wind damage, etc. A big store lost it's roof in Plano due to 60 mph winds during this morning's storms. We only got a light sprinkle here, not complaining for sure. Maybe this sun this afternoon will help dry out a bit.
Our rain gauge shows 3/4" today and that was all in about 1 hour or less.....sun is out....even have blooms from a couple of buds that have been there for a week. Yaay
Oh, my goodness, Susannah_C. I work in a space where we have no windows. I did hear today that it was black as night outside at one time. Your picture proves that was a very true statement. A bit intimidating I would think.
LouC, I really like the looks of your loquat and went searching on-line. I read several articles that it is a messy, trashy spreading tree. Do you agree?
Thanks Lou! I am so glad everyone decided to jump on in! There's a lot more gardening expertise and imagination here than I think all of us gave ourselves credit for. Seeing everyone else's "plan" gives me a lot of inspiration and new ideas.
Sheila, I put 7b because all of the garden mags mailed to me say I'm in zone 7. I think it cuts right through this area...parts N and W are in 7, S and E are in 8. A new map came out a year or so ago with new zones for the whole country, and just about everyone went up a half zone or so. I think we're all in "8" on that scale. I usually pick plants that claim to grow in 8 because of the heat, too, but at least we get enough cold here we can grow daffs, hyacinths, and even peonies.
I notices how dark the sky was at work today, too....I love it when it gets like that!!!
BTW Sheila I am in NW area of Ft Worth....actually the Azle area now.
Here is a picture of the loquat just one year ago. As you can see from the recent picture it has more than doubled and this is only the end of May.
It stays green year round. I have had absolutely no problem whatever. Very occasionaly a leaf will turn yellow and fall off. So far there has been no mess and no problems whatsoever. I wanted a specimen for the corner of the back bed and it has worked out to be just about perfect. When it flowers it is barely percetible....can't really see it unless you are hunting for it. Same with the fruit. It didn't even fall to the ground. I guess I could limb it up some if need be but I like it natural. I highly recommend it.....as a showy specimen.
This is a lot closer. Just at the beginning of last Spring. Everything is huge this year. Most likely thanks to the soaking that must go to the center of the earth.
I had a loquat at my previous house for 20 years. It would ocassionally get freeze damage to the top, everything above the roofline of the house. It did get messy after it got large, but all trees are messy to some extent. The fruit drop was pretty bad on years of heavy fruiting and little trees sprouted from every one of them! The birds love them though. I recall one year that I had a huge flock of cedar waxwings every day for weeks feeding on them. My son was small and he asked what were "those bandit birds" because of the "mask" they have at the eyes.
We live in what is considered "the Cedar Belt" actually Cedar Hill, TX is neighboring community. In that regard we are overrun with Waxwings every year. I have 3 full grown yaopon hollies and they strip the berries. Their twittering and beauty is worth the mess they make with their purple droppings on our deck. Maybe they will help keep the fruit picked on the loquat. Fruitless mulberries are considered a trash tree too. When we moved here some 40 years ago DH pulled three little switches from the flower bed at the previous home. They are still going strong and provided years of comfort from their shade. Think they are supposed to live only about 20 years but these are still healthy. Probably because they are pruned by professionals every few years....and I don't mean topping.
I hate to see it when trees are topped off like that. I am all for cutting trees in power line areas, we have way too many outages, but to cut for no reason topping just doesn't make sense.
My patio with a mixture of nicotinias.
