SPRING IS HERE!!!

Thanks for the info on fuchsia mites. At one point I had around 20 fuchsias, but had to give some away a couple years ago when we moved. I absolutely love them and now have 9, so I am extremely interested in anything that will help with a potential infestation.

That oxalis is beautiful Kell, and Doss, I love the hosta shot too. I absolutely adore going out in the garden and seeing new signs of life like that…it is so exciting!

Here is a pic of the first waterlily pad to make it to the top of the pond. It’s not much to look at now, but I take it as a definite sign of Spring :-)

That does look like spring! And the fish are gorgeous.

Sorry about the dead lead on Thiodan.

I was at the nursery today and after the guy confirmed what Doss said, he told me that he has about 40 fuchsias in hanging baskets and has used "IMMUNOX with Insecticide" by Spectracide with excellent results. The key to it's success being that you have to start using it BEFORE you see any signs of damage from the mites, and to use it at three week intervals. He said he starts spraying when the plants get their second set of leaves and continues the regimen religiously every three weeks, and has had no mite problem, but you have to use the Immunox that is labeled "WITH INECTICIDE".

The Bayer works pretty well too and you only have to apply it once a year.

Nice photo, Sunnyg, how do you keep your pond so clear? We've had a couple of waterlily buds sitting up; I'll have to check tomorrow and see if they've opened. Got three unnamed lotus on sale-in the greenhouse until DH gets the pond pump fixed.

Oh SunnyG, your pond is great. I always wanted koi! I had a little pond but the raccoons would come fishing. What is that big bubble on the butt of the dark orange one? A water bubble? I love how it is surrounded by orange.

I like the ease of use of Bayer Tree and Shrub too, Doss. I have used it to get rid of scale and they are gone with just one dose. I love that it is a soil drench to for I always spray myself somehow. I am not big on spraying any poison every 3 weeks. No plant is worth that.

I was cleaning up a mess of gallon can plants that I had never gotten around to plant last year and found this. Some how it had flipped over. Pretty determined lilies. LOL

Kell, that lily deserves a prize!

Hi Ladycakes! It sure does. LOL. I have to cut it out I guess and give it a proper pot tomorrow as a reward.

Kell, give her a beautiful pot... definitly worth having it!!!!

Hey, did you see Wayside catalogue? they have some Kordes roses I want.... but I don't remember if they are good or not....

No I haven't. I think Wayside is so so. But I could be wrong.

I googled Kordes roses and the only thing that comes up is Wayside. You may just have to order from them if you want those roses.

No, offhand I know Palatine carries most of those Wayside Kordes, Hortico has lots of Kordes too.

That is one tough lily Kell…great pic!

Thanks for the comments on the fish and waterlily pic. LOL Kell, I didn’t even notice that big bubble in that shot…yep, it’s a water bubble. We have a small fenced yard, and I’m really hoping the raccoons don’t discover the pond. Kaperc, as with many of my gardening endeavors, our water is clear though a lot of dumb luck, LOL. We put in this pond last summer, and it’s only around 90 gallons, and has a small waterfall. We clean the filter periodically, and use a net to take out debris, but that’s about all we do. We have parrots feather which is supposed to help, and up until this past weekend we had a couple tadpoles in there as well. Wow, you have waterlily buds already? How neat! How big is your pond? I’d love to try lotus or even a second waterlily, but our pond simply isn’t big enough.

It's pretty big, sunnyg. lol One reason for having it, though not the main one, was to use up empty land. Not fancy, very natural and wildlife friendly. Here are pictures from last year http://www.breezedale.blogspot.com/ This spring we expect it to look a lot more 'grown in.' Pump is broken right now, so it looks awful. When egrets are visiting the pond $koi$ are not recommended, so we have regular goldfish and they manage to survive the infrequent visits. LOTS of parrot feather and other floaters and underwater grass. We have ordered more waterlilies so the coverage should be better this summer, when it gets very hot and the pond is in full sun. Clear water is a wonderful benefit of a small pond!

What a fun blog! I imagine that that macaw is well established in your home by now. Your pond and stream are really beautiful.

Thanks, doss. I really need to update it. It's mainly for family spread far and wide - they look in now and again to see what we've added since they were here. The macaw is definitely part of the family - or rather she thinks WE are her family and should do as we're told. lol DH will appreciate the comment on the pond very much.

Parrots can be very bossy! You'll enjoy her a lot I'm sure.

We do! She calls me Bird Girl. :-)

Wow, awesome pond kaperc! I’d love to see how it looks this summer with your new lotus and waterlilys. I also enjoyed your shots of Julie’s shower. I had a parrotlet for many years, and always like looking at pics of his larger parrot cousins.

I love those lobelias too. Hard to grow here unless in really sheltered areas. I love Crystal Palace Lobelia, it is my favorite color, I think of all plant colors. So striking

Ajuga with hakone grass and maple Beni Fushigi on the right. It's one of my favorite spring spots.

What Spring is looking like at my place.....

Gorgeous. Is that Pride of Madeira?

Here's a kurume azalea blooming right now. I have a lot of them and they make the yard really beautiful. The only drawback with kurumes is that their foliage can get the uglies. They are very much underused in my opinion. Their cousins with the huge flowers are much more popular.

Yes, echium fastuosum....aren't they just spectacular?! I wanted them for the longest time and just didn't get around to getting any (when you want *everything*, it takes awhile to obtain *everything*)and then 2 years ago a friend gave me seedlings. This year I had seedlings to pass on. I finally got a Tower of Jewels also.....just need to figure out where it's going......then next year I'll have seeds from that to pass on seedlings at our next RU. Also received seeds of echium pininana recently, so I'm looking forward to having those. I think I see another plant group obsession forming here......

I love Echiums too! I don't have too many though, my garden's kind of small and the ones I like get a bit too large. I do have one E. fastuosum though. It's just starting to bud, probably another month at least before it blooms. It's the 'Blue Candles' cultivar that is much more true blue rather than the purplish blue that most of them are (I have a weakness for true blue flowers!)

If you want more Echiums, Annies Annuals always has a good selection...they have one new one that they grew last year, it was huge and had a rather "interesting" shape. They had a naming contest for it and it wound up being called 'Mr. Happy', and now they're offering it for sale http://www.anniesannuals.com/plants/plant_display.asp?prodid=2051&account=none A must have for the serious Echium collector!

I wish that my photo had picked up the deep colors of the echiums...they range from the deep blue through the deep purple and several pinky lavenders. Just brilliant colors. I've seen Mr Happy, I may have to add him to the group. I try not to spend too much time looking at Annie's goodies.....I see that she carries plectranthus barbatus that I'd like to get, but I know I can never order just one thing!

Yes, they are spectacular. Mine bit the dust last year and I replaced it with lorapetalum. Just didn't last long enough for me. I sure think that they are beautiful though.

I think that I'll keep inter-planting new seedlings to be there when the older ones need to go. And maybe every two years start a new planting of them elsewhere so that I'll have them *somewhere* on the property instead of losing them entirely. As it is, I have to restrain myself to keep from planting them everywhere. They're fronting a large stand of romneya coulteri, so if I lose them in their present location, it would still be okay...it wouldn't leave a large bare spot.

That sounds like a good plan. They sure are stunning and bloom for such a long time.

If you make it up this way for the Cabrillo spring sale this year, you can always drive a bit farther and go to Annie's in person...the prices are much better if you go there in person rather than mail order, plus they often have some things that aren't listed as available online.

LOL...liz..... I just posted another thread whining about how I can't make it to the Cabrillo sale this year. I've been waiting for their inventory list to pop up...supposed to be ready in March. Anway, I spent a fortune at the sale last year, plus gas,lodging, meals...I can just imagine how wiped out I'd be if I went to Annie's also. I'm truly thankful that I don't live close enough to Annie's to go there every week....'cause you know I would.

Only thing that stops me from going to Annie's every week is the traffic! When I lived up in Martinez I could get there and back without fighting with all the traffic heading toward the Bay Bridge so I went quite frequently, but now that I've got to fight traffic at least on the way back, I go quite a bit less. (I hate traffic more than I love plants! LOL)

That's true...even more now, I suppose. When we lived in Martinez, I loved going over that way, to Berkeley, or Tilden or whatever. It must be a nightmare from Dublin. There are many places down here that I miss going to now that I used to go to a lot. I simply won't go anywhere that involves freeway stop and go . It makes going somewhere a chore rather than enjoyable.

I can usually get up there with no trouble, but I have a list of nurseries in Oakland/Berkeley that I usually hit on the way to Annie's, and unless I shop really quickly at all of them (which I never do!), traffic's almost always bad by the time I'm heading back. Some days I get lucky though!

My monster calla is blooming, actually it blooms almost year round it seems. I never planted it, it just showed up in my garden. Not in the best spot so I have to eventually move it but it always looks so impressive I never want to disturb it. It's over 5 ft tall.

One of many too busy and crowded beds

And my little spitfire girl, Kasey, 1 year old now. She needs grooming, not sure if she'll hold still for one though.

Sue : au contraire..."buzy and crowded beds" = GOOD !!!

Lovely Sue. I like your busy bed and I love Callas in any size. Now that puppy though is something else. Very cute.

aw, she's a real cutie!

I enjoyed your CA weather during spring break, just got back last night - now I'm sporting a nice tan .... and we had a few snow flakes fall this morning !! : (