Let's Talk about Gardens

@scottij and other gardeners, So much fun to read what is in various stages of bloom, Scott, in your gardens. Geraniums are one of the most consistent bloomers in my yard but alas, my indoor light isn't sufficient to overwinter them like some here can do. I am jealous that yours have been blooming since Dec. May I ask what state in U.S. you live?

As for your Mex. petunias, mine are filling in around a front tree but still bare sticks and the hardier lantana for me is the TX Gold variety which returns but not so the more stunning purple or multi-colored varieties. Soil and climates differ so greatly even within the same state that it is wonderful to learn about what works well where.

My earliest spring bulbs have mostly bloomed out but I'm eagerly imagining their "spread" next year. One bed in front is filled with pink evening primroses which surround a med. high salvia. Both, along with other red/rose salvias, are still dormant and I do hope they haven't died out. However my steady eddie May Night salvias are boasting there first deep purple blooms.

In West TX, each year is a wonder of what survives and what needs replacing. My neighbor's iris showed its first blooms yesterday which means mine will ff in a couple of weeks. Hollyhocks are mounding and my pink oxalis lining one bed by street are in full bloom.

A dozen baby snapdragons were installed along with 9 new strawberry plants yesterday. We had a mind tingling freeze last week which had me "wrapping" some of my new bloomers. Looks like they withstood the shock and today the temp is to reach mid-80's.

Can think of no more mood lifting therapy than that of spending time in nature and our gardens. Would love to see pics later of your trailers spilling over and around your sago palm. And as for meeting nice folks, can't remember ever getting acquainted with a gardener who wasn't just as likeable as they come!
I've not tried peonies before and had bought bulbs still to be installed along with 6 dahlias, another newbie for me. Our hard clay soil nearly did me in as I dug a new area 10" deep for the dahlias. I do my own soil mix and am so glad to have a wheel barrel for the "mixing".

Imagine my glee when my neighbor offered me two of her dinner plate peony sprouts to add to my new tubers yesterday. Although multiple sprouts, they seem in shock and I have them in potting mix until their new home is prepared and keeping my fingers crossed they make it.

Thanks for your reply, @ess77. Geraniums are a favorite and the color combo of your red/hot pink with tall saw grass sounds like a show stopper. In my area, snaps are easy to grow and the second yr, they spread and become a much larger display.

Is anything better than free? lol I "found" my med sized white stones dumped by my alley dumpster. No idea how many trips or buckets it took to bring them into my yard. They line one of the three large beds in back and in that area is the new tilted whiskey barrel with bright salmon ivy geraniums and blue salvia. This bed also has early bulbs, bee balm, strawberries, fushia cannas, succulents I can't remember the names of..shoot a monkey, coreopsis, cosmos, yarrow and May Night salvia and white perennial mums.

Laughing at the "dust" notes; at least those would stay in place unlike the many written ones I jot down and then spend far too much time looking for! Alas, I thought better dust preventing installed windows that can be lowered to wash more easily would solve my dust problems. I appreciate that they are easier to clean but am disappointed that they continue to allow dust to accumulate. However, my area is "known" for its frequent dust engendering gales. Hopefully you are in a less dust producing area!

@fiesty76 I have only lived in this area for two years now. I am a wanna-be gardener. This year, due to health issues, I will be an observer. The weeds are gleefully sprouting everywhere. We had big plans for our outside area until my back issues came along in January.

Around here, those who garden for veggies or flowers, take it mighty seriously! It definitely is a 4 season area. The starts and plants are showing up in not-so-local nurseries and big box store garden sections. Our local classifieds and trade pages on fb abound with people selling or trading seeds, bulbs, starts. The elementary school has an annual plant sale. People over-winter seedlings and starts indoors or in greenhouses with propane heaters going. I don't know if this is because there is not much to do in this town, to place such importance on gardens. The deer, squirrels, and other critters make it a challenge to be successful. Deer don't like daffodils, marigolds, lavender, but they love our blooming cherry trees!
Ginger

@gingerw Don't forget lyme,Dried blood too Yes it is serious my husband and I started planning in Feb we bought seeds from Burpees had a set up in basement by furnace and grow lights for the seeds Now in my apt I grow but not seeds I bought pots already planted with the flowers

@scottij Currently in the Tucson AZ area. Former Iowa farm boy, with long stays in MN and WA with a shorter stay in CA.

@gingerw, Beautiful photo of your blooming cherry trees! We don't have cherry but other fruit trees are in bloom here.

I so regret that back issues have placed you in the mostly "observer" status for at least this year! Due to a previous back injury, whenever my back royally flares up, it is all I can do to sit long enough to observe anything.

When I retired, people said I'd become bored. I promised myself after having to serve on too many boards and as a community volunteer that I would not join any group for one year. After 3 yrs of gleeful "abstinence", I agreed to vol. only if I could choose when and how much. Most want a commitment to a "schedule" and that wasn't going to happen for me.

Flower gardening became my passion at retirement and it has become the most rewarding, creative and challenging pursuit....ok...obsession !!! of my later years. Yes, several yrs ago, I joined an internet gardening and seed sharing group. Made some lovely friends, whom I still corrspd with and exchanged seeds with tons of people. Until I had so many little pkgs of seeds I realized they could never all be sown. Smiles

Our arboretum has an annual plant sale so I contribute to that as well as two ele. schools who have developed on-site gardens. I can vol. as I wish for both as well as for our Friends of Library and food bank without having a set schedule. Perfect for me.

In my residential area, there are no deer but we do have occs'l opossums, plenty of squirrels and most bedeviling of all, both slugs and snails.

One yr after hours of planting 18 tulips among the tree roots...what a job!...squirrels dug up each of the tulips and each had one large bite taken out of the bulbs...I was ready for WAR! lol Like deer they don't attack other spring/summer bulbs but other plants are fair game. I learned to wrap the tulip bulbs in brillo pads and/or dog fur and now have successful tulips in others beds, both front and back.

I know many enjoy house plants and maybe that might work for you? My indoor lighting isn't good and very few survive more than one season in my home.

My daughter called yesterday morning. We talk frequently but usually as she waiting for one of the grandsons to come out from some sporting practice. Sheer luck had driven me inside for a glass of tea and so I caught the phone.

She said, Mom, I got a call from your area code a bit ago and knew it wasn't you. Turned out to be from a rather panicky lung scan scheduler telling her she couldn't reach me and that the pulmonologist needed that scan done that day before my Monday apptmn't.

Daughter laughingly told her I didn't "do" cell phones and all who knew me also knew not to call before heat drove me inside from my yard at mid-afternoon! At 11 am, I reached the scheduler who asked if I could get the scan by 11:30; otherwise would have to cancel and reschedule the Mon. apptmnt'.

Luckily (for all concerned lol) I'd showered/shampooed the night bef. so was 90% clean, minus fingernails, and was able to change clothes and make the scan.

@scottij, Thanks for your response. Lived two yrs each in MN and NV but early marriage yrs and long before the gardening bug took over my life. Smiles Being in AZ now, you may appreciate that Thurs. I bought two succulents on "special" not knowing what species they were.

Once home the tiny printed tag for one said: "aloe ciliaris" or "climbing aloe". Research showed this grew fast and became huge. Not the traditional aloe plant I'd wanted! The other had no label attached. Will see if our arboretum or wild flower park will accept the huge climber!

Some of the annual seeds I save and sow each yr need very shallow sowing resulting in too many lost due to birds who have neon sight! This yr I'll soon be trying more in seed pots in the hopes that once sprouted the birds will find them of less interest! Wishing all who garden a season of beauty and success.

@2011panc, I would love to join you on the patio, or perhaps, you could join me in our backyard swing. I plan to let Mother Nature manage most of the gardens this summer. I'll do some weeding, and will get some potted plants to add additional color to whatever comes up by itself.
Did your iris bloom yet?

@ernmfs Is that a bottle brush tree? Love them....another of the strange kinda' weird plants that get my attention. I have a large clay pot w/bottle brush plant, will grow into a bush in landscape I think, need to look it up. Had it for a couple years, another one of the 'throw-aways' from Lowe's garden store I got for a couple of $$. It's survived well through winter and coming back, filling in the pot and overhanging. I want to see how full and beautiful it'll get this year.

also, have a shrimp plant, same thing. It needs a lot of water so I'm having to decide where to plant if I do or how to keep it happy. I don't yet have ability to schedule watering every morning, or every day, but that's one goal. I want to be more scheduled. We'll see....anyone have any watering tips for hot/warm climate? tips on how to keep a schedule with all I have going on? i know that's an important part of overcoming these multiple censitization issues, but I've not yet conquered. Suggestions?

Had some of the storms working across southern states last night, lots of wind and rain, thunder but not a real thunderstormy kind of thing. Just the individual components, if put together at one time would have been real stormy night. Seemed to get one part of the storm at a time.....nice. Calm, windy storm!!!

Working on how to best see my messages or ones I want to see. Suggestions there? I think I know the options with new system, but haven't found what's best for me. Want to get more messages in my new folder, but don't want to have to go through the front page of site where you can't see individual conversation patterns. So, working on it....

Spent lots of time downstairs enjoying the patio with the new colorful, blooming baskets, geranium mixed pot is having a ball, and my crown of thorns - very special as raised from tiny pup and had over 11 years, still happy and blooms 365 days year, stalks fill the big clay pot, about 21/2 feet tall with new growth. I have some kind of ivy flowing over the sides that looks nice, I love that plant. Read they usually live about 10 years.....hope we prove the experts very wrong!!! I'll grieve if anything happens to that beauty....will send pics in day or two. blessings to all. elizabeth

@fiesty76 What a great message. So newsy and you....I love hearing about your activities....you got your scan!
Hope all is ok.

You and I are both trouble makers, I think. The younger generations don't understand about me and my cell relationship. I enjoy it now that I spent hours, days working to set it up and learn how to use it. Sort of....But, it's not attached to my hip, don't keep it with me all day, mostly when I go out. I still have a land-line. That phone I answer. not the cell. although, the scam calls are a very real problem. my blocked calls in the phone is full! can't block anymore, so now have to learn how to clear it out to add new ones....I want those folks to leave me alone!

I love the thought of a climbing aloe! Never heard of it. Wish we were neighbors...I'd take it right now.

Those squirrels are nasty buggers. I'd be a wild woman if they ate my bulbs! Wild!!!! I love watching them eat all my wild bird seed, hanging upside down by their toes on the side of the feeders. But, I got the seed w/ground chili peppers. They hate it! it burns their mouths. So, squirrels are eating the seed with nuts and fruits the cardinals and woodpeckers and others all love. I don't have a feeder they can navigate anymore. They have to feed on the ground, dropped seed. I want to help them out, but can't afford to keep them happy, so, they eat dropped.

I just now, about a week from when I put it out, am seeing birds eating the spicy seed so I'm happy...they like it. I also got a feeder designed to drop down and cover the seed openings if anything heavier than my birds lands on the perch. I actually saw it work. No squirrels there now & I put out peanut suet balls thanks to John Bishop. Took them a few days, but now the birds are loving it! And, have seed/suet cakes and wire holder for my woodpeckers. Have a hummingbird feeder up now...can't wait to watch them find it and have fun! Used to have a hummingbird bush, yesterday/today/tomorrow......birds covered it every dusk. It died and I haven't done much for the tiny babes since. This will be a good addition.....

Now, I think I'm through adding feeders and bird stuff. I'm focusing on plants....need to repot, plant and clean-up now, more. My 'boys' are coming over in a few days to help. Goody!!!!!

I'm loving this, my friends. It's so fun, invigorating and satisfying to have the birds feed at the window feeder, all the others . They are full of energy and joy and give me great joy! And, of course, the beauty or the garden....It makes life so better, doesn't it? Such a good thing for us! I rarely think about health issues now. Love it! But, at the same time, I'm remembering my father's favorite reminder, from the Bible.....'everything in moderation'. So right. Then we have a more even life. our bodies learn to relax a bit, to live w/o the pain, as much. Getting there, friends.

Happy day and many blessings. elizabeth