New Toy

I got a new camera so I thought I'd post new picks of the flowers. I'm still trying to figure out the camera, so I've been getting annoyed with it. Either the pics come out really, really good or they look like crap. I really wanted a DSLR, but I just can't bring myself to spend the money, so we got a Nikon L100. It's not bad for the money. Anyway, here are some of the good ones.

It's that time again!

The garden is in bloom, somewhat anyway. All the plants that I put in last year have already started to fill in the bed, so I don't think I'll need to get too many new plantings. Still need to find a spot for my small peach tree and the Japanese maple that we have. Don't really want to put any trees in the yard since we got a nice open space and plenty of nice shady spots to - kinda a nice mix. I've already managed to mistakenly pull out my black and blue salvia and a few of the tiger lily seeds that I planted last year. Hopefully, I left enough behind for me to enjoy. The compost has turned out really well - time to get more started.

My newest hydrangea bush in bloom



My lily and all her new babies.



My euphorbia, surprised to see it made it.



Dragons tongue in her glory.

Bugs!!

Ugh...I just remembered why I never wanted to get into gardening. I found the ugliest bright green caterpillar with a horn at the tail. I was thinking this is the kind of caterpillar that decimates tomato plants overnight, but after much research, I think this is the caterpillar that turns into a hummingbird moth. It is a very interesting moth so I kinda wouldn't mind seeing it but I don't think I can tolerate having these caterpillars right beside me when I work in my garden. We'll see...

Garden, end of July

I had planted a new garden for Mother's day which seems to have taken forever to take off. You can see pics in a previous post.
Well, here are some new pics, enjoy.



Excuse the mess in the garden.

Moonflower

My moonflower finally bloomed tonight. Here are some pics from earlier in the day and the final bloom.


This pic was taken around 4pm after a nice rainshower.



6pm and counting.



Finally, taken around 9pm. It's probably the size of a sandwich plate, 6" or 8".

Garden's Growing

I'm so excited, my garden is actually looking like a garden as opposed to the muddy pit it was when I first started. My favorites so far are the Black n Blue Salvia and the Cleome. Now, if I can just keep the deer out. The second round of rooting my hydrangeas is working out pretty good and my rosemary and salvia have rooted well and are growing good already. My moonflower bush looks like it'll be ready to bloom any day now - I can't wait. The blooms look like they are going to be huge. Guess it's time to go ahead and lay some mulch down so that it looks a little neater.
My compost is turning out really good. Got my catalogs ordered for my organic veggie garden that I'll be starting in the Spring. Planning on tomatoes, potatoes, yellow and red peppers, cucumbers, carrots, and maybe some squash or zucchini. Probably should grow some corn considering the price, but I'm wanting to keep it small. I've also got my peach tree in a pot that I need to decide whether to plant or move to a bigger pot.


Some pic, enjoy.





Black n Blue Salvia



Martha Stewart Lily




Cleome

How does your garden grow?

Late Spring blooms

Ode to my garden

Garden is blooming
The weather is chill
Summers around the corner
Oh, what a thrill...

My newly started garden is off to a good start. Had my DH till and add more topsoil to our hard clay yard. Unfortunately, I don't think we added enough organic material. I guess we'll just have to wait and see and hope for the best. I've got lots of stuff planted that likes good drainage - rosemary, anise hyssop, mint, oregano...
Can you believe, 95% of what's in the garden was given to me. Gardeners are the best at sharing!!!

Mother's Day Garden

For Mother's day, my dear, sweet husband extended our flower garden, at my request. I needed a new hobby and my daughter loves flowers, so it worked out great. Well, the garden ended up being way bigger than I had planned and I had a huge plot with only a couple of plants in it. I threw some seeds out, but being as impatient as I am, I had to get some plants. I didn't want your everyday run of the mill plants that you could get at Walmart or Lowes, so I went on craigslist and started looking for people selling plants. Luckily, I found a wonderful, if not strange, woman that had posted some moonflower bushes for free. I really didn't know what they were, but hey, they were free. So, I went to her house to pick up a couple and ended up with a carload of free plants. She works at a local nursery and had tons of plants that she was moving around. So, I got me some moonflower bush, cuttings of sedum and rosemary, Martha Stewart lily, another type of lily, purple oxalis/wood sorrel, pink flowering shamrock, mint (which I've been told I'll regret planting, but I love to smell it), winter blooming camillia, and some bay laurel, which I wasn't able to root, but I got tons of leaves for soups. After I finally got all of that planted, my mother divided her shasta daisies and irises, so I got that going now. I also met two more women, just from going to yard sales and walking neighborhoods, that gave me some salvia, black n blue and fairy queen, anise hyssop, Turk's cap hibiscus, lemon balm, spearmint, verbena, dragon tongue and quite a few other plants. So, I've got a garden full of one of everything. These all multiply, obviously or they wouldn't have had some to give away, so my garden should fill in nice by the end of summer. It's messy right now, but it'll get there.