Actually the beds were already there, but Blooms has revamped them nearly to a plant!
Here's the herb (and succulent) garden. The 'Berggarten' sage (top far left), the ornamental oregano 'Kent Belle' (middle far left), and the Silver Squill (Ledebouria socialis) (bottom/nearest the camera) are the only ones from previous years. Oh yeah, and some Sempervivum arachnoideum's in the "tectonic pilings" above the squill.
~'spin!~
And here's the new all-succulent bed with an Americana theme. This bed gets pretty shaded by street trees and our persimmon, later in the year, so nothing has ever done well in here since we took out the Cistus that wanted to eat Santa Ana... but I'm hoping these plants, mostly sedums, will survive.
We have a cute little (fake) birdhouse to hang on the wall between the duck and the cat, just a little higher than the pic shows.
~'s!~
It has been such fun having Blooms here AND she is so industrious -- it's like having a fairy godmother: I just *imagine* how I want it (and shop for plants!) -- and under her skillful touch, my dreams come true!
~'s!~
It's so nice to be wanted. I've enjoyed the entire month+ that we've shared in this little hankerchief yard.
Here's a view that takes in that whole corner with Ceratostigma Plumbaganoides under the Persimmon tree, and New Guinea Goldvine climbing the trellis behind the 3 blueberry plants.
I've another pic or two to add if she doesn't mind.
~~~still waving [and still here... car went to garage today]
~~Blooms
This message was edited Apr 9, 2008 11:04 PM
Very nice Spin! Will you share blooms?!?!?!?
Next trip, Weegy.
Here's a pic of the front garden.
And here's the patio garden... on the left, Apricot, then Orange and then the little Lime tree. the Camelia is such a pretty little thing.
Planted the lime tree this year to take the place of a Guava that simply refused to make fruit.
This message was edited Apr 10, 2008 1:11 PM
This end of the patio has the Meyers Lemon [mostly behind the chair] and the bit of the Fig tree and blackberry bed.... just peeking into the frame is the Cleveland Sage that has taken over that corner entirely.
It's right outside my bedroom window when I'm here, lovely to smell.
We increased the plastic lawn (to the left of the last pic) by half-again the size it was, to make the yard seem more expansive... if a space that small could ever be expansive... it is sunny in the morning (until the fig is fully leafed out, anyway) and shady from the mid-afternoon.
I am loving going out there now that it is so "finished" looking and not looming with "gotta-do's"!
~'s!~
What a team you are you two. It looks wonderful, the hard work really shows!
Beautiful! You are a good team, as Louise said. Let's see, can I have Blooms in 2010? lol
Lest y'all think I do all the work, here's 'Spin spreading bark in the "hall".
And we took in Joshua Tree and Huntington and a portion of the hills we call Neverland up by Silverado.
the list reads: Weegy, and Kaperc
still here car still in garage, it's hard finiding some parts for a 20 yr old car. ~~Blooms
Classy hat, 'spin! Haven't been to the Huntington for years - I loved the portrait gallery.
We were enticed to go to Huntington by the post here regarding the new Chinese garden being open. I love Chinese (almost anything). They have done a great job of it, and the planning pic they have on display shows there will be almost as much more when they are done... if I interpret it correctly anyway (I *am* geographically challenged, though).
We also visited Blooms' favorite the Japanese gardens, and then wandered around the Desert Planting area until they herded us out at closing time! I love the geometric patterns so many of the succulents make. I think this cactus-pretender is actually one of the Euphorbias.
~'s!~
I think I am in big trouble here. I wanted a raised bed for my veggies so we bought lumber, soil and went to work. After planting tomatoes, zucchini, and green peppers I was so satisfied until my son said I shouldn't have used pressure treated lumber because of the chemicals. OK for flowers, but not edible food. Am I posining my plants using the treated lumber? DH bought pressure wood and I didn't read up enough about it before setting up the bed. Can anyone help me out with this?
Google is your friend in this case:
http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/pages/g00028.asp
http://www.ecologycenter.org/factsheets/pressure-treated_wood.html
http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/how-to/articles/new-pressure-treated-wood-decks.aspx
Personally, I wouldn't take the risk, because there is a choice. So many of the toxins we ingest are inadvertent or we're not told about them - I wouldn't want to add to the total, even if it's a slight amount.
Don't you just hate it when you find these things out after you've done something you thought was so good?
I'm with Kathleen, I probably wouldn't take chances. Granted you're exposed to chemicals a million different ways already, but why add to the list when you don't have to. PT lumber isn't nearly as nasty as it used to be, but the chemicals still aren't anything I'd want to eat. Can you get in there and put a plastic barrier between the wood and the soil? That way you don't have to worry as much about leaching and maybe you can get away with not redoing everything. Although I hear in the news all the time about the evil stuff that leaches out of plastic too, but I think it's a much lesser problem than the chemicals in the wood!
Thanks KasperC and ecrane3 for input about the garden. I will google this and study some more. I was so happy to see my garden set up and not I'm upset. I should have gone with regular lumber or even bricks, I hate learning things the hard way. Will let you know what we do in order to save all the hard work and $. Thanks again
That first Taunton link reports a scientific test of just exactly the dimension/style vegetable bed I made on our former property, also of pressure-treated wood. I am reassured that as long as the plant isn't planted within 2" of the wood, my risk in eating it is no more than food from the market and probably less because the soil has no residue of inorganic chemicals used in the past.
The choice was having to re-do the bed every 1-2 years because the termite problem is so severe here.
One of the consultants (at that link) makes a point I would follow, though: Handle the wood with bare hands a little as possible.
~'s!~
Thanks Crystalspin, I feel a lot better about my garden now. Hubby and I were talking about putting sheets of plastic against the sides so treated wood wouldn't come in contact with the soil. I'll make sure plants are safely away from sides of bed. My bed is 4 ft. wide x 8 ft. long and we put a divider between them so each side is 4 ft. x 4 ft. The wood divider is plan old lumber so I'm not worried about that. Thanks ago for everyone's information. Made my day.
I'm so glad 'spin was able to help. Good growing...
To be on the safe side we bought some plastic to slide between the soil and wood so now I can continue on with my veggies. Thanks again for everyone's help. So glad to have a place to come to with my questions.
How can folks think of Mexican Primrose as a weed when it looks like this?
Granted it also seeded itself all down the walkway, but I pulled those and it is also true it may use more of the aisle bed than intended ...teehee... but ain't it beautiful?
I let it grow anywhere it wants to on my property. Mine is the paler pink, though. If I'm going to pull weeds, they may as well be pretty weeds, then I have the option of letting it stay where it is or not.
That's a beaut, Blooms! Love that color. She'd be welcome here, too.
Well, I finally got my car back from the repair doc and will be leaving tomorrow -- am taking a few of 'Spin's transplants home with me.
Just a little bit here and there around the yard and I have a whole bunch to take back to my desert.
I like those Mexican Primroses, too. They've been "maligned" by people but, like WCsays, you can leave them or pull them or just have a few.
There's a house near me that has them growing with Salvua leucantha and Mexican Marigolds and the color combo is really nice for months on end.
I'm home and i brought some of the primroses from 'Spin's house with me. They do well here in Moab and mine had sorta died off as shade patterns changed.
Brought home a sta wag packed with transplants. Can't have too many Lychnis Coronaria and the coral pink salvia will love it here. Dug some volunteer Red Valerian [Centranthus Ruber] and some spare red salvia too.
And 'Spin is off to the Galapagos today. I sure hope she has good weather and a wonderful time. ~~Blooms
Well, if anyone wants Mexican Primrose, I am pulling it up and throwing it away. I have ALOT.
Home from the Galapagos (which is like being on location for National Geographic -- the animals really DO NOT RUN from you. Weird) to gardens that got a little dry but nothing kicked off.
Mex.Primrose still blooming as are the Lychnis and now the blue Nigella and Campanulas, and the New Guinea Goldvine too. Blooms left it SO TOGETHER!! I'm afraid she went home to weeds it will take her all summer to control, though!
~'spin!~
So how was the trip? Weather OK? Did you have fun?
Gosh Kathleen, you musta been sitting on top of your computer -- your Q was faster than I could re-look at my Home Page!
Weather was great, fairly hot. It rains pretty much every afternoon in Quito and daily at certain elevations/sides of Santa Cruz Island, but it only actually rained ON us (walking) once and we had raincoats for it. The humidity matched Boca Raton in August, i.e. the most muggy I have ever experienced, but we lived through it and it wasn't unbearable, just real noticeable. I would and maybe WILL go again: you need to board ON a boat to get to see many of the islands, they are that far apart.
Quito was "quaint" -- seemed OLD despite having the highest per capita density of Internet cafes in the world. Which we didn't avail ourselves of.
Guayaquil seemed quite modern despite having cobblestone promenades in places and old-style parks etc.
Could have spent more time everywhere, experiencing how other people live, as well as more of the islands.
~'s!~
LOL, no the computer is on my lap! Glad you had a good time.
