The next few pictures were all taken March 21st. The wisteria and Lady Banks roses have outdone themselves this time. Some of you have seen pictures of my neighbors tree house before. A couple of these pictures were taken from that vantage point. This is a sensory experience if you were able to be here as the aroma is to die for. Almost forgot, cross vine is intermingled with the wisteria.
Christi
A picture just can't do justice to this Lady.
Paradise
There are hundreds of seedlings coming up in this bed. Have no idea what all is there.
Those are beautiful pics Christi. I bet your patio smells wonderful!
Crow
This Lady is just a teenager, been on this arbor for only a couple of years. The other is about 6 years old.
Tried to get pictures from lots of angles but this just cannot be captured in one dimension. What is not easily visible is that we have wire strung from the arbors to the house and the wisteria is on it. The flowers hang down like grapes and later when the leaves come out it is heavy shade. Some people do not like wisteria but it has been a blessing to us.
Crow, how was your trip? The seeds are in the ground but have yet to show their little heads. Can't wait to have the other side of the yard with all red flowers on the fence.
Trip was waaaay too quick. We went to Scotland and back in 7 days and had the wedding to attend in the middle of that. That's just too many hours on a plane for getting to stay only a few days. I of course got a cold, then it progressed to sinus infection and pneumonia. I'm still not kicking very high, but I'm improving. My DH has been grumping at me this morning because I just had to go out and putter a little in the garden. He's telling me I'm going to relapse with the pneumonia. Hmph! I showed him, I gave him a list of what to do while I went back inside to the air conditioning :)
I hope I didn't miss too much on Dave's while I was gone!
Crow
Heck! The garden is what gets me well. We aren't as hot here yet though. I wouldn't want to be a frequent flyer myself.
Hope you are feeling better soon.
It is official! Spring is here! Pecans do not bud until nature tells them there will be no more frosts. Guess what? They are budding this morning. YAY!
Just beautiful garden! Even with all the cold weather you've had, it's a great way to welcome spring. Your green thumb is showing...ummmm.
Wisteria and Lady Banks are much like a lot of wildflowers, the weather is either "just right" or it isn't. This year is a boom year for these two. Thanks. This is only about a 5th of the back yard.
Christi
I've seen your gardens, all of you. My inspiration to work harder and harder.
Christi, your wisteria and roses are gorgeous! All I have in bloom right now is the Texas mountain laurel which is as tall as the first story of our house. It has been a magnet for butterflies, bees, and hummingbird moths the last week or so. (I had never seen a hummingbird moth before and was sure I had found some little creature from outer space.) My irises are growing like crazy and should start blooming in a couple of weeks, and the lilies are popping up. The big mesquite trees are beginning to leaf out here, and that's supposed to be a sure sign that frost is past. I hope so!
How beautiful! Mitch gifted me with a Mt. Laurel when he moved to OK. It is now about 24"s. May have to find a larger one to buy because I've been told I probably won't live long enough to see this one bloom. hahahaha
The bees are really buzzing the wisteria, both small honey bees and the big bumble bees. They are only interested in the flowers, not me.
Wish we all lived close enough to actually tour the wonderful gardens.
Christi
Patricia, that collage is stunning! You should make note cards with that photo. I'm not that industrious, but you should do it.lol
I want to talk squash with you at the RU. I want to grow lots of those big pretty giants you've grown in the past. We are going to raise a few feeder pigs this fall and I'll feed them the surplus. And least that's the excuse :0)
Lillies just started popping up here too and the roses are setting buds. If there is a good side to little rain, it's that there is very little black spot. woohoo!
Lynea, some of those big winter squashes/pumpkins are so tasty that you are not going to want to share them with the pigs! Red Warty Thing and North Georgia Candy Roaster are probably my favorites. There are lots more I have not grown yet. Thank you, I'll put making notecards on my list of future projects! LOL Like I will ever finish all I have going now. There are lots of beautiful butterflies already. I can't get a picture of the whole tree that shows how many there are since so many of them are the dark ones that only show up in a close-up.
Christi, my TX mountain laurel was about 24" tall when I set it out six years ago. It is on the northeast corner of our house and took off growing the second year after I set it out. It's at least 12 feet tall and since it is multi-trunked, about eight feet in diameter. Maybe yours is just about ready to do the same thing. Now how long mine had been growing in the pot at the nursery I don't know.
My magnolia grandiflora is the tree I am really waiting to see bloom. About 1999 a lady in Georgia sent it to me in a trade when it was less than a foot tall. It is now over 10' tall, but not a bloom yet. I was so excited a couple of springs ago when I saw fuzzy "buds" developing. Umm...new leaves were developing, not flowers. Maybe this year!
This message was edited Mar 22, 2009 6:02 PM
Thanks, Lynea, and maybe I'll have some varieties that you don't. Planning the veggie garden is the part I enjoy most!
You girls are making me jealous with all those flowers my big bloomer right now is the cross vine, and I also had mountain laurel and columbines.
Beautiful blooms and garden, Christi! I love the Wisteria. I've not actively pursued it, though I grew up with it. Just moved here with DH July 2006 so I haven't yet decided EXACTLY where I want it. Long story.
Patricia, that collage is stunning! My garden's not yet at the point where it's pulling in the butterflies yet--working on it!
We put in a Mountain Laurel last year, I think it was, and it's about 30" tall now. I didn't realize it was going to be years before we'd see a bloom. ;-( How long you think?
My peach tree had one bloom Friday evening and yesterday I lost count at about 20! Whoohoo! Last year's crop wasn't very good because a frost came shortly after it bloomed and we lost most all of them. I was very sad.
I've seen quite a few blooms in the garden so far, although a couple of them I can't recall what they are. Will have to get an ID and make tags.
Missed the Montgomery Co. Extension office Spring Sale b/c DH was home and we had too many errands to run. I made sure and pointed it out to him both times we passed by and made an audible sigh and feined a sob. Guess I'll have to go in the fall.
Looks like this week will truly herald Spring with storms possible everywhere. Need to pack the straw around the potatoes in the garden today but may not be able to hold it down. Clouds are moving fast from the South. Last week was perfect for all the children on Spring Break.
Carole, my TX mountain laurel started blooming when it was not any bigger than yours, but the bloom clusters were very short, just a flower or two. I thought the first year that the plant had been mislabeled when I bought it, but each spring the bloom clusters have been longer and longer. The last two years late freezes wiped out the blooms, so I was delighted with this year's great long clusters. My sister found a mountain laurel in the front flower bed of her home in Austin that the previous owners had kept pruned way back for some reason. I told her not to tidy it up by removing the "strings" she would find on it later this spring as those are next spring's bloom stalks. lol She's a very tidy person with a very small yard and would have whacked them off thinking they were something dead.
Christi, Spring????????????????? I did the BIG NO NO last sunday. I took off the cover of my little greenhouse. Then the Weather man said mid 30s sat.,sun. then it was to be mid 40s, now its back to mid 30s again! Whats an old ghouse man to do???????? Well its back on with cover again thats what!!!!!!!! Then i have to call Rita. Jerry
we did the same....took the ghs down.....and this afternoon expecting "severe thunderstorms with threat of large hail and damaging winds".......
Too late for me. Everything is either in the ground or too heavy to lift over and over. MIL is 91 and broke her ankle this morning. Waiting for DH to tell me which hospital to meet them. He had gone to her house to do her yard (70 miles from here). Don't know any details as of yet. The garden is on its own.
Christi
Christi, Sorry to here about your MIL. Hope she gets better soon. Greenhouse back up. Hope wheather does'nt get as bad they say! Jerry
Christi, I'm so sorry to hear about your mother-in-law.
Christi,
I love wisteria too, and yours is wonderful. Mine is just now in bud, so it won't be long. Here it is last year....
Lovely, Sharon!
Hi txlady, thank you. I love roaming through this forum, y'all sure have great plants down there. I have to admit I have a bit of zone envy right now.
Christi...How is Mike's DM doing today? Hope you all take some time for yourselves too. Caretakers forget that they need to step back and take care of themselves too. Prayers for you all.
Your pictures are super. The yard is really coming alive, can't wait until I come visit again. Both of us are too busy for that now though. I want you to visit my abode when you can also.
I think we all have a bit of zone envy when we come on DG!
MIL is doing remarkably well. They fitted her yesterday with braces so she can start therapy. Moving to a rehab center on Monday. This lady is not the typical 91 year old.
Poster child for showing us we don't necessarily have to act as old as the calendar says.
Thank everyone for your prayers and concern. I'm so fortunate to have such a great group of friends.
Hey, Sharran, welcome to Texas!
Christi
Morning, Lou and all....
Thanks for the Texas welcome, I have been hearing it for many years since it was my "vacation" home for so long. My husband came from your neck of the woods, and we spent many vacations there, visiting family and enjoying the beauty. Since he has been gone, I have been unable to return, but maybe someday. His family does still come to my house when hurricanes are looming there.
Funny thing, though, last year they came here just before Ike touched down there, and while here Ike caught up with them and toppled many trees here in my area, left me without electricity. When they returned to Texas, they had electricity long before I did. They told me I should have gone back with them! Maybe so.
Hope you folks have a good day....rain here, and not a sign of sunshine.
Since your extended family was fleeing Ike I suppose that means they live somewhere along the Gulf coast. ???
Would love to have you as one of our Texas regulars. I personally travel all over the map here in DG. Friends all over the world now. I just love it.
LouC
Yes, Lou...south of Houston in Orange County, I think it is. The town is Orange, but relatives are all around that area.
Friends are important, no matter how far away.
Okay, about the Texas Mountain Laurels, I moved out here in the Hill Country in 1989, the year my daughter graduated from high school. At some point after that I started some TML's from seed to add to what was already on the property. And yes, I lived to see them bloom! So don't make me feel so ancient! Blooms on one of my TML "babies", one that just bloomed this year:
I can hardly wait. I don't how old this was when Mitch brought it to me. Just about 12" and now in only a year it has doubled. Think he was the one that told me they take forever to bloom. Linda, you're not near as old as I am.
Christi
LOL! I've got a grandson who is a senior in high school now. Life sure does slip by while you're busy living it! I don't even remember what year I started those TML's. Could have been 5 or more years after I moved here. My memory isn't so good.
