HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?

[fhmmany2]

 

It is definitely Spring here (although we are supposed to have a cold front coming through - highs will be in the 50s instead of the 80s!). Our first snake has appeared  and we have taken 3 turtles away from Tuffy this week.

I took some photos in the yard yesterday - white dogwoods are blooming (the pink ones are not blooming yet), but they are all in different stages - some in full bloom - some just opening:

(Click to make bigger):









Azaleas will be in bloom in another week - they are all full of buds:



Roses are all putting on lots of new growth (I trim mine back in the Fall, not in the Spring):



Potatoes and English peas are coming up - the straw mulch will protect them if we have a late freeze:





Apple and plum trees are blooming (so is the pear tree, but I didn't get a photo of it):



There are 3 colors of hyacinths so far - pink, salmon, and white. They are a little windblown:



And I potted the new miniature rose and it is on a table out on the deck:

[Anniebell]

Frankie 
Your trees and flowers are beautiful. Loved seeing the
photo's. 

[clayMaine-iac]

Nice, Frankie!!

You know that I am terribly jealous.  We still have several feet of snow on the ground. 

My grandson turns 4 in May and he wants a "garden" for his birthday.  I am trying to decide what to plant.  He loves fruits and vegetables.  Any suggestions??

PS He lives in Massachusetts so he has a longer growing season than I do. 

[fhmmany2]

  Carol and Deanna!

Deanna - as I told everyone on the OCD - some things are worse than snow - I didn't see the snake Sunday, but Lewis told me he estimates the length at 8 1/2 feet.  the only good thing about that is that with that length, it had to be a non-poisonous snake (probably a rat snake, but i hope I don't come across him in the garden later in the summer).

Our grandchildren all love to get into the garden - and they love to grow and pick things that make a lot of things that need to be picked! Early in the spring, plant some Strawberries.  Carrotts and radishes are fun to plant early, too - lots of fun for kids to dig them up. Later on, maybe some tomotoes (our 5 year old likes the little ones - Sweet 100s is a great variety - they make literally hundreds of tomotoes on one plant), cucumbers, squash, and especially plant some little pumpkins - Jack Be Little is my favorite variety - the pumpkins are the size of baseballs, and the grandchildren love to paint faces on them and decorate them in the Fall. (Big pumpkins do not do well here - they rot in the heat - but I'm sure you could grow some big ones up there, too!). Watermelons are fun for children - the vines grow up to a foot a day!  And don't forget sunflower seeds - all children love them. They grow so fast, too, and he will get to harvest the seeds in the heads to feed to the birds. I'm looking forward to seeing your "Grandchild" garden. I have always enjoyed see debi and Aisalyn's garden so much.

[Pepe]

FRANKIE, loved your pictures.  I sure miss the beautiful dog wood we had planted in Tennessee.  I think it spoiled me to live in Tenn. for 8 years and come back to the frozen tundra.   You know I have never tasted fresh English peas!!!  I can picture tiny new potatoes with English peas in a cream sauce for Easter dinner.  Oh my gosh sitting on the table with the mini rose is that Ladybugs with hats on????  They are the cutest things I have ever seen!!!  Where in the world did you get them??????????? 

[fhmmany2]

Pepe - fresh English peas just taste different than frozen or canned - I can't describe them, but they are really good (much larger than the canned peas, but just as tender). Those are lady bugs on my table - if you look closely, one is holding a pitcher of lemonade, and one has just had her glass filled  I bought them from a magazine/catalog last summer - I will try to remember which one!

[fhmmany2]

Pepe - I thought I remembered the catalog, but I checked last night just to be sure. The catalog is "Tender Heart Treasures". I am putting the link below. Funny thing, though - they have a better catalog than they do a web site. The catalog has an entire page of lady bug items - the web site has only one.  (There is also a grouping of ants havng a picnic - I might need that for our picnic table!  ) Click here to request a catalog (I would have ordered one for you, but didn't want to do that without your permission!):

TENDER HEART TREASURES

[Pepe]

FRANKIE, what  a dear heart you are to go to the trouble of looking for the catalog .  Hey order anything you want for me, I love catalogs and love getting mail.  Something to look forward to.  I am on my way to the website right now to order one. 

[dudley5]

  PRISSY MENTIONED ON THE OCD ABOUT OUR POSTING OUR TX PICTURES OVER HERE SINCE IT HAS BEEN IN THE 70'S AND 80 FOR A MONTH OR SO NOW.....GOT OUT TODAY AND TOOK SOME SINCE THE COLD FRONT IS COMING AND WILL BE HERE AT MY HOUSE IN AN HOUR OR TWO.....

[dudley5]

SOLOMAN PUPPY W/FAVORITE TOY GROWING IN MY ROSE GARDEN 






MY NEWLY PLANTED PINK KNOCKOUT ROSEBUSH I JUST PLANTED A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO

[dudley5]

I THOUGHT THESE HAD DIED LAST YEAR SINCE I WAS SICK AND DIDN'T GET OUT TO WATER THEM AND WE WERE SO HOT AND DRY UNTIL THE HURRICANE HIT US BUT THEY ARE BACK AND BLOOMING....NOT MANY LEAVES BUT LOTS OF PINK BLOOMS....









MY ARM AND HAND....THESE BLOOMS ARE HUGE.....

[dudley5]

THESE ARE BLOOMING BUT SHOWING THE NEGLECT OF MY BEING SICK LAST SUMMER

[Prissy]

Dudley,
Thanks for posting these beautiful pictures.  I think I recognize tomatoes, roses, a variety of columbine, irises, cactus blooms, Hibiscus and more.  Love seeing Solomon among the plants.  You have much more blooming than we do now!!   

Frankie,
I always enjoy seeing all the wonderful things blooming in your yard.  Beautiful!

[fhmmany2]

  dudley! Your plants are so far ahead of ours! Beautiful blooms already - and your tomatoes are huge! The hibiscus is especially beautiful - love the huge bloom.

 Lewis broke down and bought some plants yesterday - tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, etc. - but with this cold front coming through (it is 20 degrees cooler than when we woke up this morning) they will have to stay in the greenhouse for the next week or so. I did see a dark purple hyacinth bloom this morning (that is 4 different colors out of 10 bulbs!) and a dark purple iris has bloomed, too. I should take photos of how really awful our yard looks - I said at first that it would take a year for the yard to recover from house construction - now I think it might be 2 years! I really do not know where we will start once warm weather is here to stay.

[Pepe]

LINDA, you sure know how to make a grown woman cry????  What beautiful flowers!!!  Love that cactus and that red rose, I love seeing all the flowers!  I am surprised Mr. Casper wasn't in the rose garden with Soloman!!! 

So good to see activity start up on this thread again!

FRANKIE, I ordered my catalog should be here in two to three weeks they said, thanks again.

[dudley5]

SHIRLEY I FORGOT....I ORDERED SOME LAVENDER PLANTS FROM THE Q THE OTHER DAY FROM ROBERTAS AND THEY SAID THAT WHEN YOU HAVE LAVENDER PLANTED IN YOUR FLOWER BEDS THAT DEER DON'T LIKE IT SO THEY STAY AWAY....HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THAT OR TRIED IT?

[Pepe]

LINDA, no I never heard that about the lavender and the deer.  I did happen to plant a lavender plant last summer late and hope it survived the winter.  It was a small plant so we shall see.  I have planted lavender in every yard I have ever had as I love it so much.  I just don't have any sun hardly everything in this  yard is sand and shade!!!! 

[Prissy]

Here are some pictures taken during this last week.

In our front yard, we have two oak trees with small circular beds around them.  The deep red dianthus has come back and the Stella day lilies are just starting to get their green leaves.  This year I added daffodils into the beds knowing they would bloom each Spring before the trees get their leaves and cause too much shade!

(Clickable photos)

            

Here are pictures of some of the plants in the bed at the back of the house, just outside the master bedroom.   The big bush is a Chinese fringe plant with fringe like maroon flowers.  There is purple oxalis with pink flowers and dark purple foliage and regular oxalis with light purple flowers and green foliage. 

         

Texas Gold Columbine and a close up that is growing by the gazebo.  This plant blooms in the shade in early spring and comes back every year.  Usually, the heat of summer causes it to stop blooming.

      



 

[Prissy]

More flowering plants:

(Clickable)

Clump of peach colored dianthas


Purple pincushion flower


VInca groundcover with purple blooms.


We bought these "tilted" pots last year and I thought they might look good in the brick corners at the front of the house.  Does anyone have ideas what I might plant in them;  perhaps a plant that kind of "spills" out?

   

[Pepe]

PRISSY, came to see your flowers but can't see them.  I am really having trouble with the site today.  The pots you described I am picturing in my mind.  Hens and chickens are neat in those pots and you don't have to do them every year.  I am trying to remember the trailing flowers I had in my window boxes they were small and had a dark leaf and dark purple flowers, and my mind seems to be a big blank this morning.  Hopefully Later in the day the computer will allow me to see the beautiful pictures you have posted.