Gardening, anyone?
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JazzyGirl, iIt looks a lot like a Mother Earth Iris but I can't see the inside details to be sure. I'll check all of my catalogs to see if I can find it
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That is my garden. It's not weed free. 😇Far from it! I use a lot of mulch and used an editing eye while photographing. I didn't include any close- ups of the big border (the second to last pic) for exactly that reason. It is riddled with weeds. I'm going to have to have some help this fall really cleaning it up and pulling up some older perennials that are getting woody and not blooming as much.
I have still not really gotten full health and mobility back since sx and chemo. And the AI is not helping. I'm learning to ask for and accept help so I can still enjoy gardening. I have a young man helpabout 4 hours a month. I just can't do it all myself anymore. Maybe I'll make a comeback. But for now I need help and I'm trying not to feel guilty.
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Jackbirdie, if you have your young man lay cardboard boxes over the area of weeds and place wood chips on top of the cardboard it will kill all the weeds and you'll have beautiful dirt to plant in in no time! My whole garden where I plant corn, peas, tomatoes etc is done that way and I have very few weeds to pull and they come right out when I need to pull a weed or two. My sister gave me a dvd called Back to Eden by Paul Gautschi, he does his gardening this way and it is just amazing! My DH was going to use the rototiller on my garden area and I told him I'd never speak to him again if he did! He was amazed that I took my seeds out and immideatly started planting. I've started doing all of my flower beds this way also and It's easier for me to start over a bed as I have a horrible time pulling up flowers that someone else planted. This way I don't see them and they don't come up the following year.
Just do a google search for Back to Eden Gardening and it will come right up.
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Jackiebird- it took me a long time to feel back to myself (years really) and I still get fatigued easily sometimes, which I know is the result of everything we all went through as well as the AIs. You are right that they don't help anything. I was diagnosed in the fall of 2012 and also had major open abdominal surgery around the same time, and with all that and having to continue to work, I had no energy to do the extras for a long time. I did little gardening the year I finished my major treatment (2013) and was able to finally do a bit more the following year. Last year, a bit more. I have a small yard thankfully.
So just do what you can and a good idea to find someone to help with things you cannot do yourself. You will get stronger with time, but no one prepares you for how long it takes to really feel better.
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Hope everyone had a happy Mother's Day. I had to cancel my visit to spend the weekend with my mom in Florida as my DH is still recuperating from his accident but we talked to her and my mother-in-law in Seattle and had a nice day together.
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Hello everyone. Re; forsythia - I have the regular kind. Some years it is spectacular. Some years it has bloom on the bottom where the snow was, and some years, like this year, no flowers at all. One year, it was in full glorious lemon bloom, and we got about 4 inches of snow on top of it, it looked like lemon meringue pie.
Re: Kale. I don't like it too much either, but when I put it in a soup, I don't find that it is as bitter.
Re: bishop's weed - my nemesis. It is everywhere and impossible to get rid of. It does make a nice ground cover in some areas, but when it gets into the flower beds, it is impossible to get out. Thankfully it isn't in the vegetable garden.
Still cool here. Nothing really blossoming yet. A few pear blossoms - not sure if more are to come or if most of them were killed with the april freeze :-(
Still to early for cherry and peach. Supposed to be warmer and sunny this week, so spring may finally explode.
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Juniper..What a great herb garden you have.!!!
Balthus.. Love your arrangement of pictures !!
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The farmer's market here says they'll have cherries in 2 weeks. Yay! And we will hunt down those pie cherries vigorously. We planted a tree last year, but don't expect any cherries for another 3 years. Optimistic at 75 aren't we?
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haha. Yes. My mother wouldn't buy green bananas after 60!!!
Please share pics of the pie cherries when you get them
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Before the pie or in the pie? DS lives in Hood River and we can usually get some there. Good excuse for a visit - besides the grandkids.
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Both! I love before and after cooking photos!
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Hi, Gardeners! I've got to get out of here if I want big beautiful flowers and delicious fresh fruit! Love the photos, coveting the pies... and I do appreciate anything I can keep growing in the weird Austin flood/drought cycle. And short, wonderful peach season is almost here!
Here's a photo of my kitchen window view with little vases of wildflowers from my yard. Have a great day!✌️❤️LINDA
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My mothers day present. The hummingbirds should love it.
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Beautiful flowers TwoHobbies! I love it!
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Hello from the Gulf Coast!
I'm new to the forum and have been browsing through several topics during the last few weeks. I've decided that yours is my absolute favorite! The photos of your flowers and herbs are gorgeous, and I've been interested to see the variety of flowers that are beginning to bloom across the country. I believe that the gardening muse is reserved for optimists, and is a great affirmation that we still have a lot of living to do!
I've loved gardening since I was a little county girl, and have been keeping up our flower beds and lawn in Mobile for the last 30 years. My DH was not allowed to touch my lawn mower, (small) chainsaw, or weed eater until I ended up having a recurrence in the spring of 2014, then had pretty bad SE's last spring. I THINK that he tried his best to do a good job, but I noticed that he would just mow around the garden bench and outdoor table instead of moving them as I always did. I forbade him to even try to do any weeding, because he is clueless about the difference between flowers and weeds. In January, I decided to reclaim my yard (he was very willing to let go), and I've been outside almost every day since then. We're just past the blooming season for azaleas and camellias, and many of the late spring perennials are just beginning to bud. The first day lily bud of the season just opened today (see picture). I'm not sure of the variety but it is a survivor just like us - having come back after being crushed by a tree limb after Katrina, and by being rolled over during an amorous nightly tryst by a couple of urban raccoons.
I'm looking forward to more pictures! I've been wondering if any of you grow peonies. I've never seen one "in person", but I wish that they could survive our hot summers.
Take care everyone!
Angela
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Angela- welcome. Beautiful day lily! Congratulations on reclaiming your garden. I have peonies here in Oregon and had them before in Pennsylvania. They are near the top of my list. Carefree, fragrant, long living and great cut flowers. I am sorry you can't enjoy them there. They do need a cold snap
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Finally caught up on all the posts. Luv the pixs ladies, especially the birdhouse Blessings. I got some great ideas from the private gardens tour that Dh and I took on Mother's Day. Some ideas I can implement soon, others will have to wait until I win the lottery. One house had a huge collection of tall birdhouses in various designs and colors.
Here's my haul from the Master Gardner's sale on Saturday. . .all were priced between $2 & $6.
Scottie
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Welcome,Angela. There are wonderful things you can grow that we cannot. For instance those beautiful camelias. I will appreciate my peonies a little more now!
Scottie thats a bargain haul. Happy Planting
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I have peonies also. They didn't grow in OK or TX, so I'm really enjoying them here. I saw a rhododendron today that was covered in purple blooms and almost to the roof of a 2 story house. What a sight. The other plant I couldn't grow before is lilacs. There's a town near here settled by Welsh coal miners. I think every single house has a lilac.
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Angela- welcome to our thread. This is one of my favorites too, and becoming very active now here in May with all the spring blooms in the northern hemisphere. But we have folks here from Australia and other countries as well if I recall. I don't have peonies, but do like them!
Scottie- you absolutely SCORED at that plant sale. Now where to plant everything........
I took a walk around the neighborhood tonight and saw some incredible things in bloom. Next walk I am taking my camera to take photos of other people's stuff. I saw the most incredible roses in bloom, biggest flowers I have ever seen on a rose bush. I hope to be able to share those with you soon! I am flower-a-holic.
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Scottie- great deal on the plants! Everything looks so full and green and healthy! Hope you find the perfect home for each of them.
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Bleeding hearts busting out all over here--hey, Michigan's slow on the uptake--and there was a vase of the sprays on the front desk at the local YMCA
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Jackbirdie, Have you ever been to Heirloom Roses? They sell on line, but also have a demo garden that's really fun to walk through. They're south of Portland, but I can't remember exactly where. It was out in the country by a dairy farm. I think that manure might be their secret weapon.
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JACKBIRDIE
– I remember the days when I couldn’t even open a jar lid. I could no longer do
ANY of the household tasks I used to do, or any of the outside ones, either. My
“gardening” consisted of watering some flowers on a hot day. Then finally came
a day when I was outside, sweating like a pig, and hauling flagstone pavers
across the yard. I just had to stop and marvel. I never thought I would get
there again. I still can’t be out in the heat, and my face turns red and my
heart races, and I usually have to take a day or two off after a marathon yard
session, but still…..hang in there! Your time will come. (We always hire folks
to do the heavy or cumbersome stuff since DH got sick…)BALTHUS
– Nice selection of pics!FLAVIA
– Do you have fruit trees? Nice!WREN
– Our favorite Farmer’s Market opens tomorrow. (We have several year-round
ones, but this one is special.) When the cherries are available, they sell out
immediately because they are so good!Hi,
BOOKLADY1 – I couldn’t see your pic, but I bet it was pretty.TWOHOBBIES
– Lovely plant – what is it? Looks like a mandevilla….Welcome,
ANGELAO! Wow – the first daylily bloom I’ve seen! We’re in CA, and nothing has
popped here yet, but they’re close. I have peonies. I demanded them from each
landscaper who re-did our yard, and they all refused me. Said they weren’t worth
it. Said they only bloomed for a week. Stubbornly, I bought five plants. They aren’t
worth it. They only bloom for a week. And they are ridden with ants all the
time! But I LOVE them!!! (p.s. It gets up to 115 degrees in the summer here.)SCOTTIE
– What a great haul from the Master Gardener’s sale! They all look so healthy!
We were going to throw out a heavy patio umbrella base that is intricately
carved… so instead I begged DH to hang on to it and use it as a base for a tall
birdhouse. We’ll see how long it takes us go get around to making it. LOLQUEENMOMCAT
– Oh, bleeding hearts! Would love to see those!~
~ ~URGHHH!
It was 97 here today and everything is wilted. We are on water restrictions
because of the drought, and can only water on Sundays and Wednesdays. (O.K., so
I cheat a little…. ) But I do save water in buckets and use that for my really
thirsty plants like my big hydrangeas.The
trumpet vines are blooming brilliant orange, the agapanthus is ready to pop,
the daylilies will bloom soon, and the coreopsis and salvia are going nuts.Still having issues with Windows 10; should have more pics when I get that sorted out.
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Queen- I love bleeding hearts. The original and the all white! Great old fashioned perennials! Every garden should gave one. You just made me realize I don't! Going in the list for this fall!
Wren- almost all of my roses came from there. Haha! Roses are such a pain. I can't resist them though. I usually dig a bigger hole and plop a clematis in with it. They seem happy together.
Blessings- thanks (and also to the others) for the words of encouragement. Sometimes it seems I'll never get there. But I'm very grateful I was able to move my pride and ego aside and get help for now. I've been able to enjoy the garden instead of fret over it.
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Prickley pear catus? Beautiful flowers
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Jazzy- Lovely!
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Lori- yes, that is my pink one. I also have one that will bloom in yellow (not quite yet). I have a elephant ear cactus that blooms tangerine colors and my claret cup that is just finishing with it's red bloom. I am cactus blessed!
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JAZZY - and Salvia and Armeria? I'm so glad I was told to cut back my salvia this winter by half. They get so leggy they fall over. Now they are lush and full. I wish someone had told me to do that with the Coreopsis. Now they are all so tall they are laying on their sides.
Funny cactus story: Our yard is supposed to be "woodsy"... we have all the "foresty" plants and décor, the waterfall, the little woodland animal statues... quite serene. But right next to our shade structure by the waterfall, the neighbor's GIANT cactus has grown about two feet above the fence. That's California for you...one minute you're in the forest, and the next you're in the desert.
Only 96 today, but the wind is blowing like crazy. We have postponed the ceremonial draping of the Japanese Maples until tomorrow.
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