HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?

[fhmmany2]

I moved some ferns, hostas, and pillows out to the new bench. The pots on either side of the bench hold the new clematis plants - we are shocked that we haven't killed them yet - they are even started to climb the string to the bench. We have never been able to grow clematis!:



A shot of the garden - as I said, not very big at all:






Mary - I planted sunflowers in memory of debi, too - these are supposed to be the giant variety, but they are not very big yet:



This is the bed full of Sasha's hibiscus - they are budding, and should bloom in a couple of weeks:




This is a hibiscus that we have had for years - I think I posted a photo of a bloom several years back. The blooms are small, but they are double blooms:




The gate into the garden - there are morning glories growing up the trellis - but they haven't bloomed yet:




Granddaughter Laney gave me these for my birthday - I think she thought they were daisies, because her puppy's name is Daisy, but according to the tag inside the pot, they are Mums - whatever they are, I love them:



Pepe - I wanted to take a full shot of one of the gardenias for you so that you can see how many blooms they have. As you see, this one is located where Scooter and Peanut are buried - wish you could be here to smell the gardenias!:



O.K. - You've walked around my yard this afternoon - now it is somebody else's turn!

[Anniebell]

Hi Frankie
Love your new bench- garden and flowers. Your yard is
so pretty. I don't think I told you that I have an old wiskey
barrel fron when my brother owned a bar. It's huge  It is
really wide at the top and then gets wider at the middle
of the barrel. So I planted my potatoes in it, hoping it
will be wide enough for the plants to spread out ( if I
get any plants)     One of my neighbor ladies told me
I was "nuts") to think I would get any potatos  planting
them in a wiskey barrel.  I hope I get a few potato's to
prove to her I'm not  so "nuts" after all.  

[Pepe]

FRANKIE, I love the gate into the garden where you have the Morning Glories planted.  Love the Morning Glory flower.  I can't even imagine how that many gardenias smell.  I know how two or three can smell but not that many.  What a wonderful tribute to Peanuts and Scooter.  DUDLEy sent me a email about this coco mulch that is poisonous to dogs and than on the news last night with Charlie Gibson he was talking about some of this flea and tick medicine you put on the back of dogs are making them sick and causing some deaths.  How horrible is that.    The garden and all the yard pictures look wonderful, thanks so much for taking the time to post them.  I do need to take some pictures, but about all I have is weeds growing in my poor flower beds.  It is just killing me to see the weeds take over.

[dudley5]

O.K. - You've walked around my yard this afternoon - now it is somebody else's turn!

AND A WONDERFUL TOUR IT WAS INDEED 






PEPE.....HANG IN THERE....IT WON'T BE THAT MUCH LONGER AND YOU WILL BE SITTING OUTSIDE PULLING WEEDS.....AND ENJOYING EVERY MINUTE OF IT    

[Mary]

Frankie, I loved your garden tour. Your deck looks so spacious. I really wanted an 18' x 18' deck but Norm was in sticker shock about how much everything costs. 12'16' is all I got and he now knows that I was right. He was going to put in a multi-level deck himself. 11 years later...nada and I am not surprised.

Your "not so big" garden looks larger than ours but Norm has 2 areas that he plants in.

The deer keep nibbling on everything. Annoying. The woodchuck has disappeared. Norm saw that it was being chased by a raccoon and we haven't seen Woody 5 since.

The doves that make their home here had a baby dove. Cutest thing. Well baby left the nest too early. He was stuck on the walkway on the side of our house and couldn't fly back, so Mama dove protected him. Ushered him to a more protected area by of all things the trash cans!

I went to our dollar store hoping to find something like your garden bench. They had no outdoor furniture but I bought 2 clear plastic glasses with red and blue stars on them and a bag of candy.

My hibiscus are only about 4" tall.

We had so many mums years ago and loose some every year. This year we only have two that survived. I'll look at it as an opportunity to buy different colors than we have had in the past.

I have to admit that our best and most prolific garden "things" are:



WEEDS!

[lucrezianoine]

Good morning!

Oh darn it Frankie your garden looks too nice, makes me jealous

The bench looks so inviting and I love all the flowers and plants.

Mary~I agree that the only prolific plants I have as well in our backyard are Weeds! DH and I have some real work to do. The only question I keep going back and forth with in my mind is whether to have DH and I do all the work or save up the money to pay a landscaper to just do it for us Oh the dilemma..

Jules

[fhmmany2]

 

Carol - you can absolutely grow potatoes in a whiskey barrel (or any other large pot!)  My Mom once grew them in car tires!  A few years back someone came on TV and talked about growing potatoes in tires - you planted the first tire, then added old tires to the stack as the potato plants grew - the theory was that potatoes would grow all along the plant as the stack grew. My Mom lived in the country, where the neighbors would not complain about a stack of tires, so she insisted that my brother bring her some old tires, and she planted the potatoes!  It worked pretty well, but there was some rot - no place for the water to go once down inside the tires - but it was a fun experiment for her. Instead of digging, she just removed a tire to find potatoes!  She only tried it that one year, though!

Pepe and dudley - I was so grateful to get the email about the mulch. So many things can be dangerous to our pets. Peanut could not wear flea collars, and they are very dangerous to some dogs. The medicine for the backs of dogs' necks has never worked for us. This month, we started Jack and Tuff on a pill to prevent fleas - and it does work. In fact, it worked instantly (the package said it would kill fleas within 30 minutes, and it did!) We still have not noticed one flea on them. the pill does NOT work for ticks. It's name is "Comfortis". Fleas are awful down here. There could be some side effects - stomach upset for one - but our dogs have had no problems. We got the medicine from the Vet, of course, and it is given once a month just as the heart worm medicine. It is prescribed by the weight of the dog, too.

Pepe - hope Summer will come to you soon. I keep seeing things to prevent deer from getting in your garden, but I know you have tried everything already.

Mary - our deck is 12'"by 24" - and it is that size because it could not be larger without cutting the dogwood tree! (It was also easy to build because the lumber did not have to be cut - it came in 12" lengths.) Pepe and I have been talking about all of the pests in the yard. Squirrels dig in everything here - so far, they have not found the garden. Armadillos dig and root in the yard every night - they sometimes dig up hundreds of feet of grass in a single night looking for worms and grubs to eat - they are really destructive.

Jules - the front of our house has no landscaping at all. Last summer the old shrubs were ripped out when the house remodel began. Because of storms this Spring, we did not get plants in in time. It is already too hot here to plant large things, so we will, hopefully, get that done in the Fall. We have a landscaping program on a CD - bought it at an office supply for $10 - but we may have a landscaper draw up a plan. We will be living with what we plant for years to come. I want a water feature at one corner of the front bed, for one thing!

Time for me to get to work before it gets hot - supposed to be near 90 today. I want to get the citrus trees trimmed and the little greenhouse cleaned today.

[dudley5]

 

FRANKIE I USE THE FLEA PILLS ALSO.....STARTED LAST YEAR AND LIKE THEM....HOWEVER I ONLY GIVE THEM IF WE SEE A FLEA ON ONE OF THEM AS I DON'T LIKE TO GIVE THEM PILLS IN THEIR SYSTEM THAT WOULD KILL A FLEA AS SOON AS IT BIT THEM UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.....

MY ROSES ARE BLOOMING SOME MORE AND SOME HAVE BLOOMED THAT HADN'T ON MY LAST CAMERA TOUR AROUND THE YARD...

















THESE ARE THE YELLOW KNOCKOUT ROSES....THEY BLOOM YELLOW AND THEN TURN WHITE SO WHEN SEVERAL ARE BLOOMING YOU END UP WITH YELLOW AND WHITE ROSES ON THE SAME BUSH....



THE ONE ON THE LEFT IS NEWER AND STILL YELLOW WHERE THE ONE ON THE RIGHT IS A DAY OR TWO OLDER AND ALREADY TURNING WHITE...



THIS IS ONE OF MY SIX SPATHPHYLLIUM BLOOMING NOW



SHIRLEY...THIS IS MY ORANGE IMPATIENT LIKE THE ONE YOU JUST GOT....AND SOME TOMATO PLANTS I NEED TO GET INTO THE GROUND AS THE ONE ALREADY HAS 2 BABY TOMATOES ON IT.....

[fhmmany2]

  dudley - your roses are beautiful! Mine are having some problems - black spot is on some of them, and we are working with some organic things to try to solve that right now.  My rose bed needs a lot of work! Our little town has planted yellow knock out roses in most of the public flower beds around town. I wasn't sure they were knock outs, because the yellow ones are new to me - I've never noticed them for sale anywhere. But looking at yours, I know that is what they are. I will try to take some photos around town soon. We only bought the flea pills for the dogs last month - the Vet tells me that all of his patients are having a tough time with fleas right now - that seems to go in cycles - fleas are worse at some times than others. I will probably give the pill again this month, then will check to see how things are - I don't like to give lots of medicine, either.

[Pepe]

LINDA, love the beautiful roses!!!  Are those petunias growing amidst the Knockout roses????????  Keep the pictures coming!!!!!!!!  Healthy tomato bushes.  Have you given  up on the Heirloom tomatoes?

[Anniebell]

Dudely ~ Your roses and orange impatient are beautiful !!
I love all the flowers that everyone posts. 

[Anniebell]

Frankie ~ That is really interesting how your mom
planted potatos in car tires.  I told the lady that said
I wouldn't get any potatoes growing them in a wiskey
barrel. And I told her your mom got potatos growing them
in car tires and how she did it. She was really surprised.
She still doesn't think I am going to get any potatos in my
wiskey barrel.  This is funny. I said to her if some one
can grow them in car tires what makes you think I can't
grow them in a wiskey barrel?  She said in tires your mom
put dirt in them so the potatos could grow. I couldn't
believe what I was hearing.  I  said "Gee I never thought
about that I would need dirt." She said well that is why you
won't get any potatos. And off she went. 

[fhmmany2]

Carol - Yep, Mom had to keep adding dirt as she added car tires as the potato plant grew I think she ended up with a stack of 5 tires or so. I think she overwatered them, though, and that is why she didn't get as many potatoes - many of them were rotted when the tires were removed. Plant nurseries sell the whiskey barrels here (and you can smell the whiskey when they are new!). I have lantana in 2  barrels out at the road at the entrance to our driveway, and three of our citrus trees are in whiskey barrels.  They are great for growing things. I have always wanted to try a "salad in a barrel" - lettuce, a tomato plant, a cucumber plant, a couple of onions, etc. all in one barrel - I think it would be very pretty! I just do not have another empty barrel.

[Prissy]

Mary has sent me some flower pictures to post for her.

Picture 1 is petunias.




Picture 2 is picnic for 2. Gerber daises and peonies.




Pictures 3 and 4 are close up pictures of peonies.






Thank you Mary for these beautiful pictures.  We are always happy to have photos from you.


Linda,
Gorgeous roses and I'm glad to hear about the Double yellow Knock out Roses.  We have been looking for them around here.

Frankie,
Loved seeing your yard.  I still hope that JoAnn, Jennie, Skip and I can see it in person some day!!

Hello to Carol, Jules and Pepe!  Always glad to see your posts.  And Pepe I know you are most anxious to get in to your flower beds.


I recently ordered a small green house from CostCo while they were on sale!!  It has arrived and the parts are in two boxes.  This is a project for Skip at some point!!  It is so hot now, that he is only trying to work outside mainly in the early morning, but he does work into the afternoon.  Hopefully, the greenhouse will not stay in the boxes too long!!



Here are a couple of views of what the greenhouse will look like.  It is only 6' by 8' but I think it will be big enough for our needs.  We are going to set it on a foundation of gravel on each side and pavestones down the center.

[Mary]

Thanks, Prissy.

[fhmmany2]

Mary - beautiful photos! I especially love the peonies. Thanks to Prissy for posting them.

Prissy - I know you will love your greenhouse when it is up!

I just had to post this photo. Today we have been working on cleaning up storm damage from 2 weeks ago. Lewis was cutting branches from the large trees that blew down, and I was stacking firewood when I noticed this - we have happy firewood!  Can you see the smiley faces? Wood grain can sometimes make funny patterns in wood! Click on photo to make bigger:



Pepe - as you know, I am pretty sure that you and Lewis are twins separated at birth  As I posted earlier, he had 2 tomatoes in pots hanging on a metal shepard's crook, and two pots hanging in the pear tree. He moved all 4 pots to this post, then he decided to rig up a watering system so that the plants would not have to be watered every day. Can you see the container of water on the top of the post? It has rubber tubes running from it to each pot for a slow-drip watering system. I had a feeling you would enjoy seeing this:



And, Carol - I took some whiskey barrel photos for you, since I know you are container gardening this year. I posted photos of our barrels filled with lantana before - the barrels are at the road at the entrance to our driveway. Since our winters are so mild, the lantana comes back year after year:



And this is two of our citrus trees. These barrels are located in the small greenhouse. I did not plant the ferns and begonias around the oragnge and lime trees - seeds just fell into them from pots that were hanging above the barrels last winter, and the plants came up:

[Anniebell]

 

I just can't tell all of you how much I enjoy the garden
thread. You have taught me so much about flowers,
trees  and plants I never knew. Everytime I think your
flowers couldn't get any more beautiful sure enough
they do. My favorite of my moms flowers she had was
I think called a minature rose bush. Every year it was just
full of little tiny roses. And every year the bush got a little
bigger and many more roses. Most of the flowers she
had were the ones that came up every year by them
selves. Are they called perennials?

Prissy ~ Thanks for posting Mary's petunias,daisy's and
peonies. They are so pretty. And hope you can get your
Green House up soon. 

Pepe ~ Hope your eye gets better soon so you can get
out in your yard like you want to. I will love to see pictures
of your flowers when you are able to post them.   

Frankie ~ You can't miss the smiley faces in the wood.
That is Amazing.  Your wiskey barrels look so nice with
the lantana growing in them. Seeing that makes me
think I will get some potatoes in mine. Pepe told me
that potato plants are pretty. I can't wait to see them.
I wish we could have other fruit trees here other than
apple trees. I really like your citrus trees. How did Lewis
come up with the watering system for your plants? That
is really clever.   

[Pepe]

CAROL, I think you misunderstood what I said,  I told you the potato plants would flower, I wouldn't call them pretty though.    I sure do wish you good luck with them though.  Just wish you could have gotten some seed potatoes I think you would have had better luck growing them. 

MARY, love those peonies, one of my favorite flowers.  My peony bush came up very healthy looking and again I am going to get one flower from it, can't figure it out.  I sure do like those placemats on  your table and the dishes, very cute!!

PRISSY, I am sure you will enjoy your greenhouse this spring.  You can collect your seeds from your plants this fall and start them in the greenhouse in early spring. 

FRANKIE, hey I can see the smiley faces!  You sure are observant to notice that while you are working, stacking wood is no easy task and you had to be tired.  My gosh those tomato bushes are huge,  I swear Lewis should have been an inventor he can think of all kinds of things.  Did you plant tomatoes in the ground also????  Love the Lantanas, can't imagine mowing that expanse of lawn.  Love the long driveway leading up to your house.  I hope and pray you don't get hurricanes this summer.  How are the chickens doing???????  Does Gumbo still play with Tuffy?

 

[Anniebell]

Pepe,
I'm sorry. You did say they would flower. I don't know
where I got the pretty from.    I didn't know
about seed potatos.  I wonder why the man I bought
the soil from didn't tell me to use seed potatos. I told
him what I was using. He probably thought I knew
what I was doing.   I planted my potatos 2 weeks
ago and they haven't started to come up yet. I don't
know if that is bad or ok.  I hope I get some potatoes
but if I don't Thanks to you and Frankie I will know
enough to plant seed potatos next year. 

[fhmmany2]

 

Friends came after church with a trailer and carried away the firewood we had stacked so far. This is the same friend who came and helped Lewis clear away the trees that fell at the office, so we were glad to give him the firewood.

Carol - I think Pepe was right - I think potatoes are a pretty plant. The ones Lewis plants have little purple blooms - I don't know if different potatoes have different color blooms or not! Usually we just grow red potatoes. Lewis did grow sweet potatoes one year - but that was several years back. Seed potaotes are just treated with something that keeps the bugs off until the plant can get established. It is good to dry them, too, before planting so that they will be less likely to rot.

Pepe and Carol - Lewis just likes to try new things. Gardening is his hobby just as some men like sports. Lewis enjoys sports, too, but if given a choice, he would much rather be at home in his garden. I don't know where he came up with the watering system - he just likes to figure things out. Each of the tubes has a screw in the end (just a metal screw like you would use to build things). The screw can be tightened or loosened to adjust water flow.

Carol - you can carefully dig down and check on your potatoes - then cover them back up!

Pepe - there are many, many tomatoes out in the garden - I have no idea how many - probably at least 60 plants - maybe more (I will ask).  The chickens are fine - we gave the 2 young roosters away to good homes, and Lewis is collecting eggs every day. We do not need any more chicks. Jack and Gumbo still love each other - and Tuffy and Gumbo still hate each other. Tuff barks at the chickens all of the time, and Gumbo hits the fence trying to get to Tuff. I enjoy mowing the grass - as I've said many times, I solve all of the world's problems, just thinking about things as I mow!  Of course I would not enjoy it at all if we had a push mower!

EDIT - I asked - there are 85 tomato plants, including the ones in pots. Pepe asked what we do with them. We eat them (including having fried green tomatoes - not healthy, but it would not be summer to me without them), freeze lots of them for cooking (I have never in my married life bought tomato sauce), and we give the rest away to family, friends, and the local nursing homes and Council On Aging to serve with the daily meals they serve to Seniors.