June Begins With Abundance

Summer suddenly arrived on June 1st. The temperatures are rising, the rain chances are low to non-existent, and the mosquitoes are huge. Seriously, the mosquitoes are swarming everywhere. I tried deadheading plants last evening and had to give up due to all the bugs. The ever present wind has helped a bit in keeping the blood suckers at bay but not by much. Hopefully the city will FINALLY start spraying now that the rain has abated. Meanwhile, the strolling garden is going gangbusters with color and flowers.

The roses, larkspur, nepeta, dayliles and coreopsis, salvias, and scabiosa plants are blooming their little hearts out. The fertilizer I put out at the beginning of May coupled with more than 9 inches of above average rain made the plants the healthiest and fulliest in years.

The catnip is running rampant throughout the garden. I'm partly to blame since I've been transplanting it. Yes, I know it's a type of mint and mint can be a menace when planted in the ground due to its spreading tendancies. However, I never expected it to keep spreading and reseeding the way it has. I've transplanted some of it to give away to friends with felines of their own. Penny the Pill, my chubby ginger and white cat, barely gives it a sniff, and my elderly part Siamese part Tabby cat Symon likes it but can't consume that much. Getting old sucks, my furry little friend. He doesn't even get silly and cross eyed much anymore either.

 A windy view through one of the rose arbors. Annoyingly, the late snow storm and freeze in early March killed off any chances of apples, pears and plums on my young fruit trees. The peach tree, pictured in the upper right of this photo, does have several furry little football-shaped peaches still growing. I might be able to taste a rip one this year assuming we don't get anymore nasty wind storms before then.

The larkspur is gorgeous and rampant and at this very moment I'm sure its plotting reseeding everyone ridiculous spot it can think of. Good thing its so easy to pull out from the ground when not wanted.

The lilies are back! I haven't seen these beauties in a few years due to the drought. I lost the 5 foot deep maroon Asiatics I'd transplanted from my last home and it appears over half of the 50 or so bulbs I've planted over the years are gone too. But some of the remaining stalks are looking healthy and small little buds are popping up now so I have more of these lovelies to look forward to this summer.

The abundant rain has also revived this one Climbing America rosebush. Its been so scraggly looking for the past two years, unlike the pair planted behind it. The three bushes form a triangle arbor space under which I have a chair I like to relax in in the early morning before the yard gets too hot. You can clearly see the new growth compared to the thin growth above. I highly recommend this climbing rose. It's strong canes can withstand the whipping winds of West Texas, its leaves are a deep glossy green, and the lovely pink blossoms have such a lovely strong scent. I have a fourth one planted on the other side of the yard next to one of the arbors.

May 15th Garden Blogger's Bloom Day

It's been a while since I updated the strolling garden blog but now that things are green and starting to bloom I hope to update more regularly. The rain situation is still dire out here in West Texas. Rain is hit and miss here and the Lubbock area has not had even 3 inches since January. Cotton farmers have delayed their plantings in the hopes that May rains would occur but so far we've only mostly had a few sprinkles with little measurable rain. And the temperatures are suppose to hit the high 90s before the end of the week. Not good news. We just need a good, long soaking rain to penetrate the ground.

All is not bad news though. The garden is green, vibrant and blooming this month. It's easy to forget we're in year three of severe drought when wandering around in my back garden. The fence repairman made my day when he described my garden as "zen" as he walked around checking out the plants. And I didn't even prompt him. Blooming abvoe is snapdragons, dianthus, pincushion flower, and and purple salvia. The irises, hollyhocks, shasta daisy, and rose blooms are still to come. The wonderful thing about this whole grouping is that it is all perennial to my garden. Didn't have to plant one thing here this year as it all came back from last year.

Close up of the angel statue and rose bush planted in honor of Basil, my sweet tabby cat who passed away. If you want a very robust, striking plant that will keep multiplying I recommend this white saliva plant. I had three originally and have dug up seedlings to put all over the garden. Great as a background filler plant. It does spread out though, so give it some room.

This pretty, small (not even 2 ft. tall) iris bloomed unexpectedly this past weekend. It's the first time in 5 years it has bloomed since I planted it and I adore the color. Softer colors such as pastels and particularly blue-purples stand up to the intense sunlight and heat of West Texas better it seems. I have probably 100 irises scattered around my small suburban property but only about 20 percent ever bloom each year. I must be planting them too deep, or rather the dirt shifts over the bulbs due to dust storms and watering.

Neepeta Walker's Low is a must for the small garden. Blooms for months, the blue colored flowers are like a soft blue cloud in a flower bed, and the bees love it. I'm afraid of bees, and especially wasps, and yet I want to encourage the bees to come into the garden to pollinate the plants and the fruit trees I've planted this spring.

Been dividing the pincushion plants and spreading them around the garden. Awesome plant and I like how their blue heads bob and sway in the wind, which is something we never seem to lack out on the open plains here. The larkspur has reseeded everywhere in the grass and I've been slowly removing it by hand. Will have to get the lawnmower to finish off the rest otherwise the walking path is hard to navigate. Penny the Pill, my garden cat, loves to romping around in the larkspur stalks but she's very naughty and uses it for camoflauge as she tries to sneak closer to the birds feeding in the center of the garden. She gets rather dismayed when I reveal her location to the birds.

The Zebra Mallow got its first flowers this weekend too. They're only about 2 ft. tall and so much better behaved than their taller cousins the hollyhock, which are reseeding everywhere. Have chopped down the same hollyhock plant underneath the dining room kitchen twice now and will probably have to do it again. It would grow to 8 feet tall and block the window otherwise.

One of three clematis blossoms so far. The vines were doing so well and had climbed up to 4 feet on the Climbing America rosebush when three rounds of late spring freezes, the last one being last week which broke a weather record here, killed most of the buds and leaves. Doubt I'll get much of a clematis display this year.

There's lots more blooming in the strolling garden. I'll post more later. Meanwhile, please check out what's blooming in other gardens for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! We're having another lovely cloudy day with a few sprinkles that I keep hoping will lead to actual rain. The cooler weather has had such a good effect on the garden. The Cleveland Pear tree, whose branches bough down somewhat like a weeping tree, wasn't doing so well two weeks after being planted and I though it might be dying. But the cooler weather and the little bit of rain we've received this week seems to have revived the tree. Yay! The other tree I planted at the same time, the peach tree, is doing just fine too. It has four tiny little peaches on there so hopefully at least one of them will survive and ripen before the end of the summer. Meanwhile, here are some lovely flowers blooming in the garden today:

A fragrant daylily I purchased from Home Depot two years ago. The tag that came with it said it would be pink, when in fact it's a creamy beige with purple and yellow eye. It's doing really well and has spread.

The Scabisoas are all pale pink so far. Not a dark burgandy in sight, unfortunately. That color was the reason I planted the seeds two years ago. The pinks are cheerful though.

Do or Do Not - You Can Always Try

I have discovered over the years that many gardening rules can be broken... or at least you try. It might cost you a plant or a few plants but one of the appealing parts of gardening is that it's a living palette and you, as the artist, can move the plants around as much as you like.

I often read that you are only supposed to transplant plants at certain times. Well, I've moved irises around in the spring, summer and fall. And when I bought my first [and so far only] home five years ago, I dug up every bulb I could in my rental cottage to take with me. And boy am I glad I did. The four feet tall magenta asiatic lilies bloomed that summer and I have never found these again in the big box stores. I also haunt the clearance racks of Lowe's regular and have gotten such great deals that I didn't care what month it was when I had to plant it. For example, I got a lovely white rose standard for 75% off at the end of last october and planted it immediately afterwards... and it's doing just fine as the central focal point in the center bed. Can't wait to see it bloom for the first time this spring!

Pictured below: Transplanted lilies and larkspur. All doing just fine in their new homes. Got dirt? Will fill!

If you don't succeed, try, try again.... this circular bed dug two years ago was supposed to be a herb circle. Well, I learned that first year that I can kill more herbs than I can grow. So year two daylilies, gaillardia, and shasta daisies were inserted into the bed along with the parsley, dill and cilantro - the herbs I did succeed in growing. Now it's just the circle bed and this year the dill and parsley are already coming back in full force. The cilantro I've had to reseed. And a beautiful rose bush that I scored for $2.50 from Lowe's along with that rose standard mentioned above made it through winter just fine. Course, we really had a mild winter so I probably just got lucky with this one. 

That plant I saw and wanted... then couldn't find. My co-worker bought a new house right before me and I discovered what looked like striped miniature hollyhocks in her backyard. Before I could make it back over to dig it up - since they were cleaning out this overgrown bed - her hubby had run over it with the mower. No more plant, wah! Two years later I found it at a local nursery and eagerly bought it and planted it along the back fence. This was a pricy plant for me, though I'm sure most folks would find the price reasonable. Anyway, it died by winter, 5 months later. Then I discovered that the nursery on the Texas Tech campus had this plant - the Zebrina mallow - growing in their strolling beds and collected a few seeds. Got nada. In case you're wondering why I didn't order the plant from a nursery the reason is simple - I kill over 50% of all plants I've ever ordered. The odds are just not in my favor. So I try to buy my plants from local nurseries and big box stores, which I know get a bad rap but for a gardener with a small wallet they really are great options for plant buying.

Finally find the mallow seeds at Sutherlands's two falls ago. Plants came up last spring but died down almost to the ground due to the drought. But this year might be my lucky year. Several healthy little plants are growing and I am excited to finally get some purple striped blossoms this summer. Some plants are worth the wait. [I am wondering when they'll finally get taller though. The seed packet said they'd get 3-4 feet tall. So far not even breaking 1 foot.]

Ever wonder why when you scatter seeds that nothing ever comes up or your plants don't reseed like they're supposed to? Maybe it's because you're using mulch. For three years I regularly mulched my beds to keep them clean looking and to keep down the weeds. Last year I didn't get around to it fast enough and bingo! suddenly I have tons of baby plants coming up in the fall and early spring. Pictured below are about 1/3 of the tall coreopsis plants that have reseeded themselves from last fall.

No more heavy mulching of the beds for me! I want my freebies for next year's garden. And I've discovered some plants reseed themselved several feet from their mother plants. For instance, today I dug up 5 purple salvias, 1 maroon scabiosa, and 1 gaillardia babies from the grass walkways and transplanted them into the various flower beds. The salvias particularly are really good about putting out offshoots or babies. More free plants, wahoo!

And sometimes the plant just win. I have tried to dig up this large hollyhock for two summers. The tap root is so deep I can't get it out. So I've decided to just let it flower this year and then try killing it again... and dig out all the reseeded plugs that will obviously result. Meanwhile I guess I'll need to transplant the two pincushion plants being overshadowed by this monster. Seriously, this thing is 3 feet x 3 feet, the widest hollyhock I've grown so far. This is growing around the small patio and this variety of hollyhock has reseeded itself around three sides of the patrio. The seeds get between the concrete and the grass and the tap roots are impossible to pull out. So I'll just go with the flow and enjoy the flowers in the summer... while I quietly plot it's death in the fall.

A few other quips of gardening wisdom. Bermuda grass is evil and always will be. It is next to impossible to remove when I'm creating a new flower bed and then sneaks back in before the season is out. Like coachroaches, you cannot truly kill Bermuda unless you pave over it. So I just have to continue to curse it regularly as I putter around in the beds.

True gardeners are plant collectors. We can't help it. We have to have as much as we can cram in the ground. Got a bare spot to fill? I'll cram a daylily, rose or salvia in it as soon as possible. Course, it will probably involve shoving the garden cat, Penny the Pill, out of the way as I'm doing it because as far as she's concerned a bare spot is grounds for rolling in the dirt... before she waddles over to roll on top of my plants. A fluffy bed of larkspur? Penny finds it to be a very comfortable place for a nap. Funnily enough, she can't stand the catnip which is running amuck in three of my beds. I only planted it in one!

And if you see a plant with the words "The plant you can't kill" written on it just spit on it and keep walking. It's only teasing you. For example, I've killed marigolds more times than I care to admit. I simply cannot grow this plant. And yes, the stupid plants did have that written across the pot. The only reason I want to grow it is that it reminds me of my late granny. She had a green thumb like nobody's business. I've inherited my semi-green thumb from her. So each spring I buy a marigold and hope that this is the year I can get granny's signature plant to grow... but deep down I know I'm going to kill it within 7 weeks. I guess I'm an ever hopefuly optimistic pessimist?

 And last, but not least, you should always wear either sunscreen or a hat while working in the spring/summer garden. A rule I'm constantly guilty of not doing. Yesterday it reached 82 degrees with a soft breeze. It didn't feel hot enough to get a sunburn but my lobster reflection in the mirror says otherwise. I so need some shade in the backyard! Even Penny wanted inside to take her afternoon nap.

The Early Spring Garden

Today is a rare treat in West Texas - a cloudy, drizzly wet day. Awesome! Three months into the new year and we have yet to receive a full inch of rain in my area. The little rain and snow we've received has been light and soft, and therefore the moisture is not getting down deep into the soil. But we will take whatever comes our way, even a little drizzle. Everything looks great here when it's wet, even the obnoxious weeds in the Bermuda. So I'm just having a lazy day watching the drizzle and QVC's Cottage Farms and Robert's Garden on the tele. 

Spring is already here in the garden. The daylilies leaves have popped up and tripled in the last three weeks and the daffodils are finally blooming. The larkspur plugs that I've been digging up out of the grass [see photo above] can be seen in this photo with the blooming daffs. Hopefully they'll get big enough to hide the ugly brown stalks of the daffodils after they've bloomed. The patch of light green in the upper part of this photo is larkspur growing in the grass between the two beds. This is where I've been digging up transplants.

 I also found a large plug of scabiosa that had reseeded itself in the grass. Dug it up and replanted back into the bed. The roots were pretty thick so I think this one will survive the transplanting.

 This purple and light green combination is striking. The larkspur reseeded across the walkway into this bed and has come up through the voilas. Free plants, wahoo! So by the time the heat starts killing the violas the larkspur should be blooming. I have to say one of the things I love the most about larkspur is its soft, feathery texture. I always run my hands over it whenever I walk by.

 Don't remember the variety name for these cheerful violas but the color is striking from across the garden. Hopefully these will reseed before the heat comes around. Which apparently is next week. We are having 20-30 degree temperature changes within the week, which confuses the plants and causes everyone's allergies to go wild. Basically normal spring weather here in West Texas.

Bloom Day for March, 2011

There's not much color yet in the garden to film for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day right now. Mostly everything's just green, which is much welcome after a winter that seems to have gone on forever. We're having summer-like weather this week in West Texas and the plants seem to be responding by doubling each day. The blue Scabiosas did so well in the small bed last year that I've already dug several up and planted them in the other beds. The only pink one I had died within the first two months.

A few of the Dianthus survived and this little one is the first to bloom.

About two-thirds of the Snapdragons croaked it seems.  This one plant is full of buds though so it will interesting to see if there's more colors than yellow on the plant.

 Candytuft is a plant I've never been successful in keeping alive to long. This one was planted two weeks ago. Hopefully it will still be alive a month from now. White is the main color I want to increase in the garden this year.

Finally got a decent shot of the yellow mini-rose I planted yesterday. Such a cheerful little thing.

The Daffodils are going to town in the garden. It was a bit hard to shoot them due to the breeze again.

There are lot of plants coming up everywhere that are announcing spring is here. The lilies are breaking through the ground and reaching for the sun. The Asiatics particularly are growing like weeds. I left a small portion of their stalks last year so that I wouldn't make the mistake of accidently digging up the bulbs again this year. In the background, the Irises and Daylilies are perking up too.

The Veronicas are leafing up and mounded up into small bushes now. Everyone should have these!

And the Morden Pinks (at least I think that's what it is, I have to find the tag for it) is coming up too.

And I know this isn't a plant but artwork adds color and fun to the garden. This piece caught my eye at Hobby Lobby and I plan to go back and pick up a few more of these metal flowers.

For more Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, go to http://www.maydreamsgardens.com/

Reflections on 2010

It's hard to believe that another year is about to end and a new one to begin. This year has had a number of challenges, mostly due to having surgery on my shoulder, and garden plans had to go on hold. The third arbor has still yet to be erected. The out of control varigated artimesia needs to be pitchforked up... NEVER plant this plant unless you want it to run wild, good grief! And the beds need to be expanded so I can buy and cram more plants into the yard. Don't know what I'm going to do when I run out of gardening space. Guess I'll have to buy a new home. Meanwhile, in reflecting back on this year, these plants come to mind as the successes in my strolling garden:

Roses were never big on my gardening plan because I had read that they were difficult to grow and keep health. Well, they do have black spot and can be grumpy and lose their leaves at time but given the chance they were totally worth the effort. I've planted about 25 miniature, climbing and shrub roses in the three years in my new home. Their amazing floral displays only makes me want to plant more next year.

The Oranges and Lemons Gaillardia were favorites of mine. Loved how the color contrasted against its surroundings and the flowers were long lived. Butterflies seemed fond of it too.

It's funny how you can plant something and totally forget about it. I scattered some Scabiosa seeds in late fall, wondered what the heck were those "weeds" that were coming in the beds and was delighted by early summer to see that it was the mixed pincushion seeds I had planted. What a great surprise. I don't do well with growing plants from seeds so I was totally rocked to have something survive my black seed thumb. Even now, with the temperatures in the low 20s the plants are still alive and hanging in there waiting for spring to come. Can't wait for spring either. Being cooped up in the house due to the cold is no fun.

Mystery plant?

Ever have something come up and have no clue what it is? Should I pull it out? Or leave it and hope it's not some noxious weed? I had this problem last fall. Four plants come up at the end of the long bed. Had no clue what it was but since it was a nice bright green and seemed happy I decided to leave it alone and see what happened.

My best friend have given me a package of wildflower seeds packed into clay balls and I thought perhaps these plants were some of those wildflowers. When these plants survived [and stayed green!] during the winter, with our usual amout of snow fall, I began to worry. What kind of wildflower is green in the snow? Had to be a weed I thought. But something kept me from pull them out. Good thing too!

I think I figured out today that they are Scabiosa (Pincushion) plants. I think [and hope]! I vaguely recall looking at a packet of Scabiosa seeds last fall but don't recall planting them. Which doesn't mean much since I'm a flower nut and forget what I've already planted... which is the main reason I decided to start this blog. [P.S. didn't notice the spider on the blossom until I posted it on the blog. The bugs are already out in force, unfortunately].

Anyway, it looks like the plants have different colored flowers on the same plant. More bang for the buck, which thrills me because I'm not very sucessful with growing plants from seed unless it's a Morning Glory, Hollyhock or Four O'Clock.  The plant's leaves look different from my blue and pink Scabiosa plants, but the flowers look so similar. So far the pink has opened, a white blossom about a 1/5 open and it looks like some will be a deep purple. Looking forward to seeing those blossom.

What do you think? Is it the same plant?

This is a pink pincushion plant I planted in the west side bed two months ago. Pretty but not as showy and vigorous as the blue [which looks more light purple] version. At least not so far.

The blue version, which flourishes happily in the garden beds. I've already divided the plants once this past fall and will do some more dividing in the fall. During the summer the butterflies and bees can't pass these up.

Follow up: My best friend's mum confirmed this is a scabiosa plant. Hopefully it will survive the winter and come back next summer.

Fertilizer Friday - May 28th

It's been several days since I've posted, thanks in large part to a virus that attacked my computer. It's still not back to normal but at least working again. During that time though I've been faithfully documenting my garden's grow. Wednesday was exciting because I discovered two dragonflies soaring about the yard, neither of which would stay still long enough for me to photograph. I never saw any last year so this is a good sign. Dragonflies are good bugs for the garden.

The Bird of Paradise Bush is covered with blossoms whose shape always makes me thing of upside down pineapples. Bees, Hummingbirds and butterflies are drawn to this plant. There's no scent but I love the delicate leaves on the plant. Reminds me of Mimosa trees, which I think this plant either is a variety of or is related to. The only problem is it's trunk was turned sideways so its growing horizontally as well as vertically. Another problem is I had no idea how large these things get until weeks after I had planted mine and saw one at another house when driving by. That thing was a tree and taller than the house. Some pruning may be needed in the future to keep this baby in check.

This Asiatic Lily is one that I've had for at least six years. I dug up the bulbs from my old place and planted them at my new home and within four months it bloomed. It's got to be close to 4 feet tall and makes a nice statement in the middle of the bed. It's about 3/4 opened today.

The color is a little off in this image, as it's more of a creamy white color. It was bought at Home Depot last year and its tag stated it came from a nursery in Texas. A nice tall daylily, up to 3 feet tall, which is lightly scented. I had divided the 1 gallon pot when I got it and planted it in different spots in the garden. So far all seem to be doing well. This bloomed for the first time today and was a nice surprise! I think it might also be a rebloomer but so far have not been able to find the tag to confirm this.

The Hollyhocks have started blooming this week and they are one of my favorite plants. They are fun in how high they grow and the fact that their flowers open from the bottom and work their way up. This one is a medium pink, double petaled. Rust spots are a problem with the hollyhocks here but the blossoms [and bees] don't seem to care so I try to ignore the ugly spots.

The color on this one is off too. The bright sunlight made it hard to film this very pumpkin orange Asiatic Lily. Another one I dug up and brought to my new home. The lilies, including the Orientals, have been surprising hardy, withstanding snow, high winds and sweltering sun. Everyone should grow lilies if possible.

The [blue] Pincushion flowers (Scabiosa) are needing some deadheading. This is another plant I highly recommend. I started with three plants two years ago and divided them last fall to have about eight plants. Three of the plants will need dividing again this fall because they've gotten wider and are crowding out nearby plants. The plants bloomed into December until the hard freezes and snow finally knocked them down to dormancy. The butterflies love this plant, which thrills my four legged children who's cat stand resides right in front the window outside of which the side flower bed is located. Today there were three of these butterflies sweeping about in the garden, enjoying the wide variety of flowers and nectar available. There's also this creature that resembles a hummingbird but has an antanne that loves to buzz around these plants at dusk. They're always on the move so it's been impossible to photograph one. Someone said they might be a "bee killer" moth. Anyone ever heard of such a thing?

Finally, this gorgeous minature yellow rose is starting to blossom. It's one of my bargain finds from last year. Lowe's had a bunch of minature roses on clearance after Mother's Day and this one was a sad, sad little plant. At $1.25 it was barely a twig but had a few good leaves and I figured it couldn't hurt to try to nurse it back to good health. A large number of my garden plants are either division gifts from friends or clearance plants. This rose is doing well and the bright dash of yellow adds some spice to all the reds and pinks planted nearby. It also has a nice scent. I have about 25 different roses, minature and full size, and all seem to thrive here. Two of my bargin roses from last year died but they were pretty sad looking to start with.

Visit Tootsie Time to see who else is participating in "Fertilizer Friday" and showing off what's blooming in their gardens.