Pretty!
Container Renovations 6! (smile)
Irwells50...see, I LOVE your "crammed planter" and am trying to be more adventurous in mixing it up.
KatG - got my 1st full sized tomato today and I'd almost forgotten how a REAL tomato should taste (it's been years since I grew tomatoes). The cherry tomatoes haven't even been hitting the fridge. ;) They're our new "candy".
And yeah...I planted Sunpatiens in my front pots (had such GOOD luck the 1st few years) and like last year, they just aren't thriving. I don't get it - they have fresh potting mix & everything. Think I'll lift them tomorrow morning & try some root pruning. (:
this is my creation that I started in April
and here it today!!
Dale - Very pretty container!
Denise...Isn't just amazing how good they are? So sweet! I haven't seen a lot of Sunpatiens around this year but I did plant and couple and they're not doing so great either. Being so dry, I've been watering, but they look spindly or something. I might try a few more...I'm a sucker for punishment! hehe
Dirty - That pot looks fantastic! It's amazing how things grow so fast. I had a few marigolds planted with my tomatoes - they sure have expired in the last heatwave. Petunia's are starting to show signs of heat demise also...
However, these are still hanging in...
Been training my vines around the columns in my potting area...they're doing pretty good. I've got a mix of Impomoea Mautiatis (morning glory family), Hyacinth Bean and some Moonvine...
View from the pot! hehe
I have another bloom that opened of that stinky but gorgeous Stapelia today
My Rangoon Creeper is blooming too! This is such a beautiful bloom - starts out white, turns pink and then red! Amazing!
I nearly gave this one up for dead a couple of months ago, but he's coming back and is kind of unusual looking - Jatropha Multifida with a little devils backbone
I'm still into the foliage plants big-time - With a little regular trimming, they just last so long. These are still behaving from last year.
Just like a lot of these ones - Caladiums went dormant for about 6 months and now they're back and beautiful!
These huge pots are doing good also. Lost some of the ice plant/copper plant in the one, but it's a nice break when you don't have to be replanting all the time.
Kiwi Cordyline
Petrea or "Queens Wreath" with dusty miller and moonvine...
After my bakers rack collapsed, I moved this succulent pot into a little more sun and it's really gotten more colorful
Another container from last year - Black elephant ears and cat's whiskers that have just rebloomed...I used to treat some of these plants as annuals, but I think I'm developing some patience as it's exciting to see what is going to appear the next season.
This message was edited May 17, 2009 1:36 PM
I just LOVE this! One of my container customers sent me a photo of what she did with her heads! This is so cool!
And another one from PamelaQ - They're fantastic!!!
I decided to make butterdly/hummingbird container spots this year. I still have to take pics of them but they seem to be doing ok right now. I have petunias, bananas, mandaville, fushia, and brugs in different spots. Hopefully the hummers and the butteflies will come to play soon.
Katg, we have the new patio cover installed. I really love it. It's very basic brown structural steel with galvenized poles. It is supposed to withstand a hurricane........Probably not a high three or cat 4.....but then neither will the house! If the house survives, the patio cover should too! haha!
I love it. Here is a shot of the yard. I'll get a better shot of the patio itself later. It is totally surrounded by plants. It is sooooo COZY! It is so relaxing to sit out there. It has been so cool with such a great breeze! It should help keep the sun offf of the living room windows as well! I am so glad that I went ahead and had it installed now.
Jeanne
Jeanne:
Your garden looks fantastic...so lush and relaxing. Your new patio cover sounds fantastic and functional. Please post some pics when you get a chance, I would love to see it.
Ummmmm Tina! Sounds really good! Pictures please? hahaha
Okay...I don't know if this is just a Florida thing, but I doubt it!
Today's lesson for me as a Container gardener:
If you have an area where you're storing a bag of opened potting soil...check it first before putting your hand in to scoop out soil -
uuuuhhhggg!
I nearly had a heart attack today when I was putting my hand in this bag and something big moved! I don't get crazy when it comes to snakes but I really don't like touching them, especially when I don't expect them! I screamed and the poor guy looked more afraid than I did! I posted this photo on my Florida thread and my dear gardening friends identified him as a corn snake...very beneficial snake for rodents etc.. Whew! Very pretty snake and I just tipped the bag and gave him a few minutes to regain his composure (hehe) and he slithered off.
Lesson today: Always check your potting soil! LOL!
Corn Snake! Great one to have around! They are excellent mousers and eat voles, moles, squirrel babies, and cotton rats.
But I bet you did a fancy quick-step back-up!
Say, KatG, what size pot do you have your Apostle plant in? I just got 2 really nice ones. What is your secret?
Pyro: It's probably in a 3 gallon pot (which I bought it in) kind of crowded. The plant is new to me and so amazing. It hasn't stopped blooming now for the last 2 months. Have you seen your's bloom yet? The blooms just keep coming out of the same stems and are pushed out about every 3 days. You are going to love this plant.
Pyro: I'm thinking of putting the soil bag back out and if the snake comes back, moving it to a quieter place. Florida garden friends say that it my have been in there to lay eggs. Don't want to interrupt nature and from the sounds of things would like to have this one around as I Hate rodents! haha
Remove most of your peat and put the bag back out. If she/he comes back you can relocate it to a quieter part of the garden, warm, though, but not too hot/dry. Corn snakes are very tame, they seldom bite even if picked up. And if he did bite he would not hurt ou, his teeth are tiny - good for holding onto baby mice.
You would be burying me!!!! That snake would have surely done it poisonous or not!!!! Here in La. you have to check everywhere for those boogers!!!! With Larry and all 9 FEMA cats that I inherited after we started to pickup the units from Katrina we didn't have 1 snake last year and very few lizards!!!! I hate loosing my lizards but haven't missed the snakes at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yikes!
I'd had a heart attack, no doubt! LOL! I have a great respect for snakes. I prefer them elsewhere!
I thought it was bad enough when I found a huge toad in my bag. I made my son come and take him out. Uck!!!!!!!!!!!!
That old startle reflex is pretty strong! You should have seen me jump when a baby thrush exploded out of the bush that I was weeding under yesterday! His momma told him to be quiet to keep the predators away, and he was a good little bird--- until I put my hand on him! YEOW! I just about fertilized the flowerbed!
I would be happy to give a home to every toad, frog, or non-venomous snake that you find! The squirrels are rampant here and the mosquitoes are fierce. I love all of those crawly things and they really are beautiful. That corn snake that Kat has pictured above is so shiny not because he is slimy, but because the scales are almost like glass they are so smooth. And the colors are only ones that Momma Nature could think up! They are beautiful creatures that God created and they have a purpose here and are extremely valuable to the delicate balancing act that Nature has to perform each and every day.
One of my friends always bragged that there were frogs in her garden (not toads, these were from a nearby stream - these were Southern Leopard Frogs which have a tendency to travel in the summertime), and that their croaking was so load that it kept her up at night (but she loved them).
Then as our area became more urban the stream became more of a sewer for all of the motor oil and lawn fertilizers and insecticides that flowed off of everyone's lawn. Last summer I asked her if I could come get some frogs for a class that I was doing. She sighed and said that she had not seen a frog in 2 or 3 years, and the gnats and flies and mosquitoes were so bad that she could not even use her yard. She said that she took back all of the bad things that she said about those frogs keeping her up at night and how much she missed them (and the other associated critters like dragonflies, etc).
Everything has a place. And it (and we) are all connected!
Take the bad with the good!
jeri:
We had hurricane Charlie here in 2004 which was just devastating. It is actually stange how my lizards kind of dissapeared that first year too, but I think they've come back triple. I walk out on my lanai and theres an anole convention...they just scatter! I really do love having them around though...All different colors, sizes and shapes. I would ship some to you if I could!
Kat
I have some really cool frogs hanging around too...they like to sit in my heads! haha
After the last 3 hurricanes I can see the lizards packing up their ditty bags and heading north!!!! I think for the next one I may join them!!!!! LOL!!!!
Now that 2nd picture is really unusual!!! I have some strange looking lizards on the front porch. I'll try for pictures tonight.
Katg, here is a picture of the patio with the new cover. We also put up another Intex pool for the grandchildren this past weekend. It is relaxing to sit in during the hot days of summer!
Thanks for the kind words about the garden! We enjoy it! It's my "Little Hawaii" or 'NaNa's Jungle'! LOL!
