One year's growth!

HA! I was looking back at photos of my garden that I took last year. I was pretty astonished!

Here is my unknown Cassia bushes when I first planted them. Just babies! These were planted in April 2007.

This is the same bush bed taken on October 25, 2007. Not even a year! Sheesh! I haven't a clue what kind of Cassia these bushes are, but the Sulphurs sure loved them!

Mexican Flame vine on the left trellis shortly after I planted it on April 9, 2007.

This was taken on February 3, 2008.

This was taken on April 1, 2007. This is the Passiflora that grows like crazy!!! This was right after I cut it back.

Taken on February 8, 2008 right before I did a hard prune on them again!

You sure get some rapid growth there Becky!! I love your Mexican Flame vine!! All great pics! I hope mine picks up and grows at least half as good, :-)

Deb - Thanks! It's probably because we get such mild winters, so they don't die back or go dormant. The Mexican Flame vine seems to like the cooler temps here because it is finally blooming again. Has been blooming since December. I was walking through the backyard gate and looked at the other side of the fence and the vine is growing on that side, too! It's just like a wall of yellow and orange blooms! This vine seems to be making up for no blooms this past Summer/Fall.

I just wanted to show folks what they might expect when growing some of these plants. They often are smaller (cute) little pot plants when they purchase them from the local nursery. But once in the ground they can become quite large and in some cases bordering on the verge of invasive. Just to the left of the MFV I have been growing (for 3 years) a Honeysuckle vine. I was warned how "invasive" they can become! LOL! It is literally in the shadows of the MFV!!! Who knew????!!! LOL!

I would love to see some before and after photos of some of YOURS and other DGers here! I'm particularly interested in any of the Pipevines. And really any plant that you have had great success with! I love a plant that does really well in my yard! Makes me feel like I know what I am doing! ROFL!

You coulda had me fooled, LOL! I think you know what you're doing...:-). The most invasive plants I have here are weeds. When a plant I intended to grow goes crazy, I call it "great". My yard is pretty bare looking compared to what it will be in May.

We have had the mildest winter I can remember here, and some things are really getting bushier. My passionvine didn't die back at all (the Blue Crown), but the passaflora incense did. It should be coming back up soon. The parsley stayed all winter and is ready for BSTs. My senna is still green too! The native salvias didn't die back all the way either. I planted seeds of Tritoma (Red Hot Pokers) last year and the foliage has stayed fountainous. I will probably see blooms of that this year. The Yarrow is the same. None of the Buddelijas died back,

All in all I learned a lot from what I did amiss last year, and hopefully it should be shaping up very soon, and I can see what I did wrong this year, LOL!.

Deb - Please post photos of some of your plants if you can! I'd love to see them. I am still in the design works of my backyard and am once again looking for ideas. I did the toss and sow method on many of the bog beds, but have a number of other areas that I have to come up with a plan for.

Anyone have some good plants for shady areas that butterflies/hummers like?

LOL, becky, you didn't really need a trellis for those vines--they just helped themselves to your fence! They are all so beautiful. Hubby bought me a section of split rail fence to grow the MFV on that you are rooting for me. He saw how excited I am about getting it so decided to surprise me (he knows I love the look of vines on split rail). He actually bought me two--one for my Lady Banks rose which was temporarily put on wire strung between two T posts. See what you did for me by offering to root a MFV! Thanks a bunch!

NL1950 - They are in a vase of spring water hopefully rooting as we speak! LOL!

I kept some cutting of my Passiflora vine, too, before I whacked them down. (Just in case.) But anyone wants one of them, I just have a few. D-mail me.

I love your interesting growth photos Becky! I just started some cassia from seed that another DG'er sent me, and I have some passiflora seeds to start too, so now I have a good idea what I'll end up with (I hope) and in what kind of timeline! I'm growing both for my butterfly friends, so I hope to have great success.

Oh I'd love to jump on that offer for some of your Passiflora vine, becky, but I just don't have a place for it right now. I've been working on a butterfly bed (actually, a whole area) and slowly expanding it but I have to go easy. Just got diagnosed with osteoporosis in my spine so have to go easy on my back. I have reached my limit on new things to plant for this year. Still excited about that MFV. Hope to start getting compost worked into the ground and then get hubby to put up the split rail fence. Looks like you have lots of goodies for the butterflies--bet your yard really comes alive with them during the warm weather.

Thea - Your climate will warm nicely in the summer months and the MFV and Passiflora will love it. Make sure they both get full sun daily.

NL1950 - I understand!!! The great thing about DG is if you need something (seeds/plants/info) you can always get it sooner ... or later. My yard gardens have been a work in process. I started them 3 years ago and still have lots to do. I decide each year what to tackle and then try to stay within my plan for both physical and financial reasons. Gardening is wonderful, but it can get expensive depending on what your projects are. Putting in lasagna beds and sowing seeds is the cheaper part of gardening for me. But I always seem to have bigger projects, too. I just priced out another project and it is going to be rather expensive. So I will be doing it in stages as money and time allows. When it is done, it will be a nice addition to my backyard. My dh is getting more and more involved in my projects. He is starting to see my dream yard and has become very interested in helping to create it! :-)

This message was edited Feb 17, 2008 9:43 AM

Becky, Michigan Bulb has a great little shade collection for 14.95. I'm going to get it when I put the 'real' pond in. It says 29.99 here, but I have a special flier I got in the mail.

They also have buy one get one free going on until spring. That means if the plant comes in sets of 6, you get 12 for the same price. Some come in threes and you get 6. I recommend you all getting on their mailing list.

Thanks, Deb! I will check that out. I did some moving of plants from deco containers to the ground yesterday in that shade area. I moved my red shrimp plant next to the Firespike which is just below the hummer feeders. That entire corner garden is my hummingbird garden bed. But it is partially and sometime fully shaded, so it takes some research and planning to try to add the best plants. Rather challenging! That shade bed has been an issue since I started doing garden beds 3 years ago. It's become the endless search for the right plants and combinations. lol But I love a good challenge.

I think my biggest personal problem is that I try to tackle everything instead of just concentrating on one area at a time. I always feel like I have to get it ALL done each year! I guess I need to just chill and enjoy the journey more. I don't know why I feel pressured to get it all done. Probably so I can sit, relax, and enjoy it all when it's finished. LOL!

Oh becky--I understand that "time and money" thing! We built our house ourselves and I started landscaping our yard 3 years ago. Like yours, it's a work in progress but I love doing it. My hubby isn't much on what he calls my "weed planting," but he will help me dig some of the bigger holes for trees and get out the tiller to help make a new bed for me. He does enjoy the overall effect when we sit out of the front porch though.

NL1950 - How awesome that you built your home. Boy! What I wouldn't give for a tiller! HA! Though the lasagna beds have worked well for me here. My dh thinks my wild flowers are weeds too. LOL! I think my dh likes strolling around our yard now. So much more interesting than it was before garden beds.

Don't know if your local newspaper has such a feature but ours has a "Community Service" section in the want ads that's free. If you have such a feature, you could try running an ad stating that you are looking to buy a used tiller. So many people have stuff sitting around their home/garage/shop that they don't use anymore and don't think to sell. You might get a good deal on one. I think some of these men have to be "macho" about the whole flowerbed thing. But, like yours, my hubby enjoys the results of all the "weed" and tree planting I've done too. If he refers to all the flowers as weeds in front of my granddaughter, she really gets on him for it. She's my little helper and just loves all the flowers. I let her have her own flowerbed and a little patch of my vegetable garden is hers too.

NL1950 - I will start checking the classified ads. Good idea! This is more of a city than a rural area, so I don't know how many folks would even use a tiller here, but it's worth checking out. No want ads for free though. :-(

That's great that you are encouraging your young granddaughter about gardening! Bless you for educating another generation of gardeners!! :-)

She really does love to grow things. My grandson will also have a little garden but he's not as enthusiastic as his sister. But then she's only 8 and he's 12--getting too cool. If they are introduced while they're young, many times they get back to it after they are done being teenagers. Both my daughter and my son did. And it's so fun watching them learn. It helps a lot time-wise being retired.