Showing posts with label bog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bog. Show all posts

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Excitement In The Yard

Ok, so those that know me well enough know it doesn't take much to excite me.

:)~

The Moonflower bloomed! Twice! What an amazing bloom. And the fragrance! The household was none too pleased when I made every single one of them shove their nose in those huge blooms. Heh, but they liked it! What a payoff for being so patient for so long. I didn't expect the blooms to be so large - a good 8 inches across! Hopefully the other 2 vines will see fit to bloom also. What an awesome treat! I wish they made perfume that smelled exactly like that.

And it's raining! Real rain - as opposed to the sprinkles that have tried to pass as anything worthwhile.

I've had the most beautiful raspberry colored poppy blooms! I've never seen any with quite that intense of a color.

There are green tomatoes everywhere. We're waiting patiently on a ripe one. The plants are as tall as me! I've had monsters before, but never any this tall.

The pumpkin plants are plotting to take over one whole corner of the garden. I'd forgotten how large and sturdy those stems get.

I'm still harvesting broccoli. I am amazed the side shoots are getting as large as they are.

There are small zucchini coming. The way they grow, they'll be big enough to harvest in 2 days. lol.

The corn seems to be doing OK. We were really late putting it in, but I think they'll be time enough.

Something ate my pole beans right to the ground! Grrrr! But, the bush beans seem to be coming along nicely.

I talked my Aunt into trying Winter Sowing next year, I think! Ok, for right now she's excited about it, who knows come February and having to trudge through snow. When I told her I actually had FULL flowerbeds this year, she was stunned. I've always had empty spots everywhere. Not so this year with WSing!

My petunias have gone bonkers! They are actual bushes and a good 2 feet tall.

The marigolds that were listed 'dwarf' turned out to be 20 inch monsters. lol. Dwarf my butt! But it's pretty much a happy surprise. I'm still waiting on them to bloom.

The impatiens that I over wintered and planted at the base of the tree are a mass of blooms.

The buddleias I grew from seed are nice bushes now, no blooms yet.

The hummingbirds are continually fighting over the bee balm.

The Datura bloomed - it's Jimsom weed.
:(
Not such a nice surprise. I suppose I'll be yanking it soon, but the Cerinthe major Kim sent should fill in the spot nicely as it's already making a good, sturdy clump.

4 O'clocks are blooming profusely. I must remember to catch the seed! And I've already collected seed from the Lupine and toad flax (I am still enamored with its cuteness.)

The flowerbox around the mailbox is doing fabulous. The morning glories on the pole are already puting on a good show.

The globe amaranth is the most intense magenta! They're a little small yet, but healthy. The borage has been sitting at the bud stage forever. Bloom already, darn it!

The lizzard tail in the bog flowered. The ferns are happy campers and I'm waiting on the cardinal flower to bloom.

We spent last night cleaning out the pond filter - again. Yuck! But maybe it'll do something about that freaking algea bloom that doesn't seem to dissipate. We lost one of the koi fry. I think he might have gotten caught against the edge of the screen I put on the end of the filter pipe so they wouldn't get sucked up. 3 left, starting to color up and growing like weeds. I'm hoping they make it.

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Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Getting There

Slowly but surely, we're getting things accomplished.

With the long weekend, and two whole days with nice temps and no rain, I finally was able to get most of the WS seedlings in. Since I'm being so very meticulous with placement and care, it is taking forever. With such a weird spring, I lost a lot of the seeds to rot, so I'm trying to fill all that space with what I have left.

Most of the no-shows were for the semi-shade area of the flowerbed, so I'll have to resort to placing some of the sun lovers there after all. It can't be helped.

WS lesson learned this year = try to save some bucks for the good potting soil, or go plain pete. Some of the jugs ended up as bricks with no germination at all. Not surprising! Of course, when it finally comes time to do it again, I know it's going to be the cheap stuff, or not do it again at all :(

Both the pink and deep purple butterfly bushes made it through the winter (yes!) so I guess it pays to really mulch those well. The iris are budding nicely, can't wait for them to finally open.

The dollar shop allysum seed I planted last year turned into the most amazing, gorgeous blast of color by the ponds. They are so huge and lush they look fake.

Junk hunting turned into a success. Hubs got a nice deep wheelbarrow (you would have died laughing watching us finagle that huge thing into the trunk of the tiny neon), which was missing its wheel, but no biggie. I got a beautiful column pedestal for the center of the bog to put a pot on for some added color. Ok, so there's a small hole in the bottom on one side - that just gets to be put in the back where nobody walks anyway! And I got tons of six packs for seed starting indoors next spring. Woohoo!

Most of the garden is planted, though there's still a bit to clear out to get more of the veg seeds in that Kim sent me.

I can't believe how well every single one of the veg I grew from seed are doing! We've always had pretty good success with them, but this year is almost unreal. I so wish I had a camera. Ok, maybe not - I haven't had time to weed out just yet. There is so much satisfaction when I look at those strong healthy plants and know that WE did that. From tiny, sometimes almost invisible seeds, came these huge healthy plants that will fill the freezer soon. Even the onions are almost knee high!

The bee balm is kind of taking over one area by the pond, but I don't mind, I like it. Besides, it seems to be the hummingbird favorite every year.

The Lizard Tail in the bog (that I got for a buck last year because Lowe's left it out in the late freeze) is going gangbusters, along with the purple water iris we pulled from a ditch.

Now, if the flowers grow to be as happy and healthy, we're going to have one hell of a gorgeous yard!

It's good to be a gardener!

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