This is contagious!

Jenn - would LOVE to go shopping with you!

Huskyluv wrote:

Boy I wish you lived near me, Lisa, and could coach me on my gardening and give me more ideas.

You guys give me too much credit! I'm finding it too chilly to take pictures today...Brrrr.... I was spoiled with the 70 degree temps of last week and this week we're seeing snow flurries again!

SabakaMom wrote:

Huskyluv wrote:

Boy I wish you lived near me, Lisa, and could coach me on my gardening and give me more ideas.

You guys give me too much credit! I'm finding it too chilly to take pictures today...Brrrr.... I was spoiled with the 70 degree temps of last week and this week we're seeing snow flurries again!

again? ew

Oh Lisa I know! We went from the 70's the past couple weeks to the 40's all of a sudden. If it weren't for all the gardening I've been doing I wouldn't mind it so much.

Okay gals, I have a landscaper coming out tomorrow to measure and get me a quote for having a weed barrier and mulch put down in all the flower beds. Here's hoping it won't be some astronomical amount.

Val costco sells a good weed barrier, not hard to do. It is a pain to cut around all the plants though. I don't care for them as they are a pain I do the old fashion put a ton of mulch down to block the weeds and then weed the whole summer with weed killer and by hand. I use thw barrier under stone or if its a bush area with no flowers. Good luck on the quote!

Yeah I saw Costco and Sam's Club carry the weed barrier. I'm just being lazy and don't want to do it myself because it would be a huge pain to cut around all my flowers and plants. I really don't think I'm going to get the weed barrier but I figured I'd at least see what the price difference is with and without it. I'm 99% sure I'll just be getting mulch done and that's it, but it doesn't hurt to find out. Hubby also wants to see what lawn care they offer as far as fertilizing and also they do pressure washing so I will also price that out to have the house pressure washed once the pollen goes away.

The landscaper came out and I'm having her quote me on a number of things including lawn fertilizing, extending the irrigation system, and pressure washing. But as far as the gardening aspect, she is quoting me on the weed barrier, mulch in all the beds (basically everywhere that the pinestraw is currently), and edging rocks as a border around the flower beds and trees. I would prefer cedar mulch but I am having her quote me on cedar and cypress mulch just to see what the price difference is. I should have the written quote by tomorrow.


Check out this lovely little beauty...it is currently gracing my kitchen table and smells heavenly!



I planted all my new Phlox and Sedum between yesterday and this morning.

Work around the Magnolia...I planted Phlox, Autumn Joy & Moonbeam sedum around the tree.

The pots circling the trees respresent where my phlox and sedum would be planted.







And around the Japanese Magnolia I planted Phlox and Autumn Joy sedum...







I ordered an x pen online Tuesday. Going to use it to block off the area that I want to plant my ferns since it's where Dakota normally romps and without the pen to protect my plants he will most certainly trample them to oblivion. Should receive my ex pen sometime next week and then I can plant my ferns!

I LOVE that rose!

Remember....no more buying plants...

I've been good so far, I haven't been shopping that is.

Hubby has a friend that's a landscaper/horticulturist-somthing-or-other. He was going to ask his friend on some ideas of what we could plant in the front...not sure if he has a greenhouse somewhere, but if he does, maybe we'll get a friend discount (or I'm at least hoping for a small one)...we got a few more weeks to go and then we can look at planting something in the bare retaining walls out front (where the pansies once graced)...

Work those connections, girl! It definitely helps a ton to get discounts.

Claudia! I went to Lowes and looked at all the plants but I didn't buy a single plant!!!

They didn't have any red trailing verbena. They did however finally bring in some purple lantana which I wanted...but I resisted!

Got the quote from the landscaper about the mulch. Way more than I expected.

Woo hoo! Temptation resisted and success without buying more plants!

I can't wait to see everything in full bloom!

My azaleas in the front are looking so good and my liriope is growing nicely too. Thought I'd share a before and after of the day we planted it versus now.

Before (March 12th/3 weeks ago):


Now:



A bumblebee on my Homestead Purple Trailing Verbena



My Astilbe Erika is growing quickly (bareroot planted March 17th), here's how it looks now:



I ran into a cute little green snake yesterday while working. Forgot to get the pic off my camera, I'll post it soon. Most snakes scare me but this one was rather cute and such a pretty green, blended in with the trees in the woods very well.

everything is growing in very nicely! its going to be a super nice week so i know my plants are probably going to grow like crazy i'm pretty excited!

Beautiful!

Update!

So how long does it take bare root stuff to normally start taking off?!

So far we've got mixed results. Of all the stuff I planted with regard to bare roots and bulbs, so far the only things really starting to show themselves and take off are the Hostas, Astilbe, Daylilies, only some of the Phlox, and my Gladiolus. Some of my Heuchera are peaking out of the ground but they suffered a setback from all the rain and possibly the cold...I think my Lily of the Valley took a hit from that too, plus what little Convalleria I had growing was attacked by caterpillars. 4 of my 5 Hosta are coming along nicely even though 2 of those 4 were hit up by caterpillars...they seem to be recovering well enough though. I'm very happy to see 58 of my 60 Gladiolus shooting out of the ground.

Question for you folks, some of the leaves on both of my Hibiscus have turned yellow and some dropped off. I see some flowers on it also getting ready to open. Any tips on what I might do about the yellow leaves? I googled some info and it seems like the yellowing leaves could be anything from over/underwatering to stress to lack of nutrients.

Pics....

My shade garden BEFORE (March 17th)


My shade garden AFTER (today):


Sorry I took pics looking in different directions, I couldn't remember which way I had taken it the first time.

One of my newer, healthy Hostas:


One of my Heuchera, trying to make a comeback...


My newer shade garden on the other side of the patio. I put up an ex pen to keep Dakota out as it's an area he normally runs in and would trample my plants without protection. Here I planted my ferns and toad lilles...


I'm seeing some growth in my raised vegetable bed! (Had to put the cross bars up to keep Dakota out!)


Look at all those tomatoes!


I added some stone edging around the Magnolia here:


Here's a shot of the growth in the back right corner of the yard. You can see some Glads growing along the fence line, and my sunflower growing, there is also my two flowerless creeping Phlox, my lantana and you can barely make out the new growth from my bare root Bright Eyes Phlox.


Here's a close up of the Bright Eyes Phlox coming up...


A better shot of my Sunflower plant that sustained some damage from the caterpillars. This one started from seed and is proving to be a real trooper.


Now looking the other direction in the back left corner of the yard. You can again see Glads lining the aluminum fence, also the daylilies are coming along quite nicely too.



And these last few pics are showing some of the damage from caterpillars that we are recovering from. Since putting on the powder last week the damage has dropped significantly. And while I am still seeing caterpillars every now and then I am not seeing them everywhere like I was before using the powder.






Until next time, that's all folks!

looking good, val!!!

damn caterpillars! everything else is looking great though

OMG Claudia, I did it again!

So I got just a few more things. Most of which were on clearance!

So the new loot includes:
- 2 pink Knock Out rose bushes
- 2 Orange Kangaroo Paws
- 1 Pink/white Verbena
- 1 orangy/pinkish Petunia
- 4 Eastern Star Dianthus

Pics of the new stuff:

Knock Out roses


Kangaroo Paws (I will be putting them in bigger pots once I find something.)


Closer pic


The rest (1 Petunia, 4 Dianthus, 1 Verbena)



And a couple other update pics:

One of my Hibiscus is blooming already...


And my veggie seedlings are making some headway, slowly but surely.



Now comes the fun part, planting all the new stuff. Still haven't found anyone selling trailing red perennial verbena.

Gurrrl! No you didn't!!

Ok, well, I guess you're excused this time since they were on clearance, and the kangaroo paws look pretty cool...

Love the hibiscus! Reminds me of home!

i picked up 3 50%off plants at Lowes the other week! looking good!

Oh I most certainly did!

Planted the roses and petunias today. Didn't get to the rest because of a hail storm this afternoon. Boo!

Before:


After:


That area could use more filling in but I'll keep checking Lowes' clearance section to see if I find anything there that I can use to fill in the gaps around the roses.

Another update!

Got some larger pots to put my two Kangaroo Paws in for the front porch.


Closer look


Also got a close up shot of an open Kangaroo Paws flower. Very different!


My flower cart!


A shot of the flowers on the front right side of the house.


Both hibiscus are blooming now...it's funny, the flowers are as big as the plant itself!


I see one of my Dicentra (Candy Hearts) finally splitting the soil! About time!


Also finally gracing us with it's presence are 3 of my 5 planted Dahlia, here's a pic of one of them...


Planted my 4 clearance Dianthus between the crepe myrtles in the backyard...


My sunflower is growin' like a weed! For size perspective I put Faith next to it, she measures 8.25 inches tall at the shoulder!


My Day lilies should have flowers opening up in the very near future!


And last but not least, my gardenias have started blooming!


Oh and while I was pulling weeds in the flower bed along the back fence I found what I believe is one of my Stargazer lilies pushing up out of the ground. Just as I was starting to lose hope that any of my Stargazer bulbs made it!

Looking great!! I want gardenias so badly