What's happening in your spring garden #5

Jerusalem Sage...looking good,smelling sweet!

Little of this, little of that. When the centranthus is looking this good, I remember why I put up with it...well, that and because the swallowtails love it.

My Columbines are beginning to bloom. They are the easiest to grow and the most reliable for me.

another one

another

Another one. I'm still waiting for the all yellow and all white to show up. They're usually later.

Oh, I love columbines!!! I have ONE coming back from last year, but it seems they don't do so well in our hot climate....

They are biennials, though, aren't they, Rob? I have ONE spot so far where they will grow. It gets morning sun only.

Kathleen, all the columbines I've grown have been perennial. I don't know if there are some varieties that are biennial, but most of the ones that you'll find at nurseries should be the perennial sort.

I have seedlings sprouting in several spots, in the beds and even some succulent pots. Will have to move those. They sure are sweet!

Here's a mini rose against a nutmeg scented pelargonium.

Another new iris for me, Indulgence.

Did a google search and found several sites that said biennial, but many more say perennial. I would guess it's one of those things that might apply to one variety and just gets repeated until people like me come along and think it's true! LOL

Did find another variety of Aquilegia I would like to try, though!

A couple I got from Weegy...number 1

Number 2

Before it started raining today, I got this shot of Mr. Lincoln---he's such a HAM!

I posted this in a couple of threads already, one of my favorite roses, very unusual coloring, very distinct, long lasting on the bush and in the vase and it makes these lovely one stem bouquets. Highly recommend this rose.
So dark out today, I got a lot of dark background shots.

Brass Band

and here I didn't even get home before it started raining. Major bummer!

Picture of Sally Holmes' sweet little face yesterday, and before it started raining today.

Linda

PS. Awwww, just as the photo was uploading I looked out the door and a baby hummie was feeding just outside. Awwwwww! Such a tiny little birdie.

Rob...the McKenna's Giants columbine should do fine for you where you are...I have them and they do great. Yes, they are perennials for us. Just give them part shade and they'll do fine. They reseed like crazy, too. Just don't forget where you planted them...they're hard to spot when they're dormant.

Eeeeek, it's raining, it's raining.

I spent last weekend clearing up the ground around the house, scraping up the dead (thx to Roundup) weeds in preparation for laying out weed cloth and my pavers in my new front yard landscaping. Now, why the heck would I throw out pre-emergent over ground to be trampled by my two 17-year-olds Sunday, given how dry things have/had gotten? I am so bummed!

When will I ever learn how unpredictable spring is?

Here's a pic of the latest work; pavers inviting visitors from the street to the sidewalk toward the house.

Linda

Progress, girl, progress!! It's looking good!

Ha, thanks guys, I just love to know I CAN grow these columbines after all!

My lettuce is in bloom. It will be really cool if it self-sows!

Hey Rob, Sharon from Las Vegas. I have columbine all over the front landscape. Three years ago I had one plant. Partial shade from tree branches & rose bushes but still hot. They do great and have spread all over. I delete where I do not want them and give the plants to someone else. Here they are early spring before it get hot. They have already bloomed and are now going to seed.

SK, my Columbines have been blooming every spring for the past 6 years. As they reseed, if I don't like where they are, I dig it up and move it. They don't mind shade part of the day and I have lots of Coneflowers that come up after they're finished blooming and have been cut back.

I love everyones roses and iris.

My Freesias are just about done blooming, but I love them too.

I have some white Freesias growing with this shrub in a pot. I always forget the name of the bush, but it looks good.

Spring is such a messy time. But your blooms are unbelievable and make the mess worth it.

My poor rose tree was suffering, dry, wilty, looking out of sorts. I doodled around on the surface a bit and found that the finch seed was considerably thicker than I knew, had even developed a kind'a solid lid of sorts. So I scraped the surface off and laid out a couple of inches of new planter soil on top. I also whacked back the bloomers around the bottom of the pot. Cleaning up, as spring demands. I think I'll move the socks.

But look at the silly, goofy little tree I found at the hardware store yesterday. I've avoided the lighting section at our locally owned HW store for months, knowing that if I went back I'd have to bring it home. And I just didn't want to spend $60 on a goofy lamp. Well . . . I negotiated the price down to $20 and came home delirious (smudge here, missing bead there, loose bird . . . each cost them $20 LOL). Life is good; no watering, feeding of either birds or vegetation, 24X7 bird watching potential.

This is the same HW store from where I purchased my 5 huge concrete puts for $120. I'm there often and they know me, as a result. Not sure why they'd be so "easy" otherwise.

Not sure if the table it rests on is visible, but I made this table. I wanted a potting bench-like table behind my floral sofa in my "garden room." It's my sofa table. I made the bench out of pieces of redwood and just looked at other pieces of furniture to see how it was put together and just . . . made it! The top is slatted and I figure I can move it out to the garden any ol' time I want or need to. In the meantime I watch the seasons, the hummingbirds, finches, TV, laptop monitor, etc.

So that's California in my house this weekend. More 17YO workers in the front landscaping tomorrow.

Linda

Linda - your yard is really changing - great job!

Sue - that rose, oh my it is so gorgeous. I have been looking around for one for my front bed, this one looks perfect!

Linda, I'd be baking for those folks at the HW store! Great find and your yard is really coming into your plan.

Argh, 'Brass Band' seems sold out everywhere... can order for next year tho, but I'm not good at waiting !!

Toots, did you try Regan's? If they're still around, they always had the best selection of roses in our area.

PS.....they're in Fremont. They don't have a web presence, so you'll have to call them. I've found roses there that I couldn't find anywhere else.
Regan's Nursery
4268 Decoto Rd., Fremont, CA, 94587
(510) 797-3222


This message was edited May 2, 2009 6:05 PM

One of my favorite 'cottage style' pelargoniums

Went looking for scented geraniums today. The nutmeg you gave me, Sherry, does so good in my planter box, but the rabbits have been digging burrows in the empty spots, so I thought I would get some others to fill it in. The herbs and some of the flowers at HD and Lowe's were looking pretty sad and the prices were outrageous. I think I'll check over at the lavender lady's (is it Betty's?) on Mission and see if she has some. For now, we have very large rocks planted in the box to discourage digging!

Regans does have a web presence and I was there on Wed. and they do have it. 5 gal pots are $26.99 or $28.99, can't remember now or you can wait until the late summer sale when they often go half price. But this is a popular rose.
http://www.regannursery.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/home.home/index.htm

K, got me...who is the 'lavender lady'? Too bad Herban Garden is gone...they always carried lots of scenteds and everything else I wanted in the way of herbs.

Sue. thanks for the link. When I did a search, I just got mapquest and phone info for whole 2 screens---and links to a nursery back east with the same name!

Thank you ima and Sue !!!! I'm off to click that link. Is anyone doing the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour today? I'm going to the Pleasanton / Livermore homes. Middlebrook Gardens will be selling plants at one of the Livermore gardens, so maybe I should go there first ?

They are done shipping their bareroot roses for '09 ding dangit! I'll give them a call anyway, we could always take a drive there.... Mother's Day is coming up right : ) !

It's worth a drive, a real nice nursery!

Odd imapigeon, when I Google either Regans or Regan's, it was at the top of the list in both cases, same thing when I added the word nursery after their name.

Must have been the search engine I used....I've learned in my website development class that there are a TON of variables that contribute to where a site shows up.

Yep, I used a few others long time ago, I stick to Google now.

well, one of the houses on the "Bring Back the Natives" garden tour was SOOO close to Alden Lane. So, I stopped and they did have Brass Band... I paid too much, but it is a beauty with tons of buds, so there you have it. Plus a bunch of other great things to punch up my front bed.