Gardening, anyone?

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  • Lucy55
    Lucy55 Member Posts: 3,044
    edited June 2016

    Wonderful photos ladies.. I've been enjoying them all :-)

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  • queenmomcat
    queenmomcat Member Posts: 3,039
    edited June 2016

    image

    My back yard, with basil in the left bed, and chard in the right. Still not managing to get a decent closeup of the roses: there are five in this shot, but the paler colors don't photograph well against our pale garage.

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  • Blessings2011
    Blessings2011 Member Posts: 4,276
    edited June 2016

    Gardening Gals - I am LOVING all the pics! I am so envious of all of you in cooler climates. All my spring flowers have come and gone: peonies, gladiolas, violets, and agapanthus.

    I still have blooms on the hydrangeas, trumpet vine, coreopsis, daylilies (although I am ready to dig them up), cuphea (Mexican Heather). roses, salvia, gazanias, lavender, clematis, and dianthus.

    They're predicting 109 this week, so I found a way to protect my front-porch hydrangeas from the blistering sun: an umbrella!

    image

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  • queenmomcat
    queenmomcat Member Posts: 3,039
    edited June 2016

    Blessings2011: thank you for the picture! I laughed, but in a nice way, at the lucky hydrangeas with their own umbrella. Lovely porch too, though I expect it's a bit hot just now. As for climate....at least you don't have to deal with winter. And snow.

    Did I mention snow?

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited June 2016

    Love the pictures, everyone! After reading what some of you are dealing with in temps, I'm not about to complain. Yesterday was great in Mobile - with a nice breeze and lower humidity, so I spent the whole day outside happily doing yard work. I just wonder what happened to spring! I kept waiting for the hydrangeas, etc to reach their peak, usually about this time. However, the blooms seem to already be fading after only a couple of weeks, and the whole yard already looks the way it does in August. I'm sending one picture that doesn't show the sad blooms. At least the leaves are still green...

    image

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  • TwoHobbies
    TwoHobbies Member Posts: 2,118
    edited June 2016

    What a beautiful gazebo, Angela. Blessings great idea with the umbrella and it looks charming.

    I think its pretty much hot all over the country excep the pacific northwest. I saw a lot of red on the weather map. It's keeping me busy watering all those containers I planted, but so far I'm keeping up.

    I saw my first hummingbird today. I went to go get out my feeder and get some "juice" ready for them. Darn, can't find the feeder. Still looking...

    I gave in and had landscapers come. They took out some bushes, trimed our hedge, weeded and mulched all our beds. It was worth it. My summer project will be one shady bed in the back yard which I haven't been able to work on. Three of them were here for six hours. It would take me all summer to get that much done.

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  • Blessings2011
    Blessings2011 Member Posts: 4,276
    edited June 2016

    queenmomcat - that's o.k., I was laughing too. I bought the umbrella when the neighbor in back of us cut down all the 100 foot redwoods... and my Encore Azaleas were suddenly in the broiling sun. But then I had the gardener move those pots to directly under MY tall redwood, and that seemed to solve the problem. Snow? Send me some! PLEASE!!! The entire front porch is a gazebo attached to the house. When we had the house built, we shored up the ceiling so it would hold an outdoor ceiling fan. But these days it would be like sitting in front of a hair dryer set on high.

    AngelaO - that's your yard? I thought it was a park! Beautiful!

    Thanks, TwoHobbies... charming and whimsical... the look I was going for.....

    In the back yard.... cool kitty by the waterfall....

    image


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  • queenmomcat
    queenmomcat Member Posts: 3,039
    edited June 2016

    image

    Snow, as per your request. (The two vehicles out on the road are snow removal equipment--a front-end loader and a pickup with a plow blade. I live on a dinky little dead end street, so they can't just bring through one of the giant orange industrial plows.)

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  • Jazzygirl
    Jazzygirl Member Posts: 12,533
    edited June 2016

    Trumpet vines blooming at my client site

    image

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  • Wren44
    Wren44 Member Posts: 8,585
    edited June 2016

    Those are so pretty. Someone in the neighborhood has them spilling over a cedar fence.

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  • WenchLori
    WenchLori Member Posts: 1,558
    edited June 2016

    We may actually get some peaches this year. They are very small but packs a sweet juicy nibbleimage

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  • Blessings2011
    Blessings2011 Member Posts: 4,276
    edited June 2016

    Oh, queenmomcat.... I know the snow causes awful hassles for folks.... but here in parched California, I see those big piles of snow and think how much we could use that water....

    Jazzygirl - I love my trumpet vine - I just wish it wasn't full of ants.

    Wren44 - Mine grow on a redwood trellis attached to a cedar fence. They spread rapidly. The other day, I peeked through the open gate to our next door neighbor's yard. The vine was twice as big on their side! They're leaving it alone... it provides greenery and color and they don't have to take care of it.

    WenchLori - Nuthin' like a home-grown peach! Sweet, juicy, nothing like those golf balls they sell in the stores.

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  • WenchLori
    WenchLori Member Posts: 1,558
    edited June 2016

    I agree Blessings! I wish my trumpet vine would wake up. I cut it back 2 years ago as it was blocking the view of the lake when we'd sit in our rocking chairs. Now it's getting pissy with me.

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  • Lookforward
    Lookforward Member Posts: 392
    edited June 2016

    Blessings your porch looks very inviting, the heat must be very hard on your garden. The last few summers have been hot and dry here,

    , but we are back to normal temps mid 70's and rainy.

    Angela lovely yard and gazebo.

    Goats beard , one of my favourites. The bees love it.

    image

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  • Lookforward
    Lookforward Member Posts: 392
    edited June 2016

    Oriental poppies

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  • WenchLori
    WenchLori Member Posts: 1,558
    edited June 2016

    My 5 layer lily is still blooming

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  • Scottiemom11
    Scottiemom11 Member Posts: 1,298
    edited June 2016

    ,AngelaO that is a gorgeous southern gazebo. I'm looking to add one to my back garden one of these years but will probably end up with redwood. The beaver war goes on. We're probably going to cut down the rest of the roses and let them grow back. They haven't caught the beavers yet and ever few night they chomp more of the roses. We have gone from a torrential spring to a near boned summer. All of our new plants are suffering.

    Scottie

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  • Jazzygirl
    Jazzygirl Member Posts: 12,533
    edited June 2016

    image

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  • Jackbirdie
    Jackbirdie Member Posts: 4,693
    edited June 2016

    loving all the great photos and stories. Don't hate me. I'm in the above mentioned PNW. 64 and sunny here. Slight breeze. Here are some cherries from my tree yesterday. Plums coming soon!

    image

    And trying to root some pretty fuschias.

    image

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  • Jazzygirl
    Jazzygirl Member Posts: 12,533
    edited June 2016

    Ooh Jackiebird, cherries! Those look beautiful and delicious. Will you eat them for a snack, make a pie, do tell?

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  • Lookforward
    Lookforward Member Posts: 392
    edited June 2016

    Jackie cherries are my favourite, they look delicious.

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  • WenchLori
    WenchLori Member Posts: 1,558
    edited June 2016

    Ooohhh, cherries! Yuuuummy! My fav! Pretty fuschias too :-)

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  • queenmomcat
    queenmomcat Member Posts: 3,039
    edited June 2016

    katy: right. Fuchsia. And pansies as winter flowers. Oregonians can be stinkers sometimes. Just saying.

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  • Jackbirdie
    Jackbirdie Member Posts: 4,693
    edited June 2016

    Cherries. Yum. Well I ate a lot of them fresh. I am making some cherry liqueur and gave a lot away as I didn't have the energy for the pitting required for pies or jams. I make limoncello every year so I modified the recipe. Takes a long time to age but not a lot of active prep time. I order little swing too bottles wholesale and give it away as gifts. The cherry would be very festive at Holiday time!

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    This is the first step, macerating the purposely brushed cherries in alchohol. I used vodka this time instead of grain alchohol. (Which I use in the limoncello). Later I add strain the cherries out and add a simple syrup/suspended sugar water and give it another couple of months in the dark. Time does all the work 😁

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  • Teka
    Teka Member Posts: 10,052
    edited May 2022

    Love the wicker furniture, gazebo and cat!!!

    I can cyber taste the delicious peaches and cherries. ;o)

    Such pretty flowers.

    Jazzy, that's so true.

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    *johnny-jump-ups* *peonies*

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    *bellflowers*

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  • TwoHobbies
    TwoHobbies Member Posts: 2,118
    edited June 2016

    I have cherries too. I was hoping I could juice them in my juicer but it says you need to pit them still! A pie or tart sure sounds good. I usually just eat a handful every day off the tree but my boys say they are too tart.

    Such pretty pics, all. My peonies did nothing this year. Too shaded. I am waiting for day lilies to bloom mine just have buds.

    Here are some wildflower a from my walk this morning. image

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  • Wren44
    Wren44 Member Posts: 8,585
    edited June 2016

    Two Hobbies, Any idea what that yellow flower is on the left? We had some in our front yard and couldn't decide if they were weeds or flowers. They were in the parking strip, which is an absolute jungle.

    Teka, We have those bell flowers also. I looked them up online and they are also called Canterbury Bells (mostly in England I think). Your peonies are beautiful.

    Jackbirdie, We bought a cherry pitter last year. DH is a pie maker and loves cherry pies. We buy the pie cherries in bulk when we can find them. It's still a pain to pit them but faster than by hand.

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  • TwoHobbies
    TwoHobbies Member Posts: 2,118
    edited June 2016

    Wren I don't know what those are. Theygrow low to the ground at the edges of the paths. I think they are so pretty. If I ever find out I will let you know.

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  • Blessings2011
    Blessings2011 Member Posts: 4,276
    edited June 2016

    WenchLori – I always used to cut my clematis back each winter when it died, then I realized that the new growth could wind its way up the dead branches like a trellis. But did I cut my trumpet vine back last winter? I can't remember! It sure does get tall fast, though… That orange lily is stunning!

    Lookforward – thanks, we love the porch, and I would take greater pains to decorate it, but it's just too dang hot to sit out there. Will be 107 all next week…. Sheesh! Goats beard, eh? Never heard of it… very striking! Wait – can you get opium from those Oriental poppies? Love the color! We see mostly Iceland poppies out here.

    Scottie – no beaver traps? We tried humane rat traps once, but only got a tiny field mouse. He looked so cute and so sad I made DH let him go. So sorry about the beaver wars…

    Jazzygirl – Gardening IS good medicine, isn't it!

    Jackbirdie – My gosh, I think ANYTHING can grow in the PNW, depending on where you are… I remember flying to my Nana's in Puyallup, Washington every summer… and marveling at how the geography changed to solid green once we got past California. I could eat that whole bowl of cherries by myself, and never mind the consequences! Cherry liqueur, huh?

    Queenmomcat – Our pansies last most of the way through winter here…

    Thanks, Teka! Years ago, I told what was to be the first of MANY landscapers that I wanted peonies. All of them said no, they only bloom for a short time, and they're not worth it. Having visions of Martha Stewart giant vases of peonies all over my house, I planted some anyway. They bloomed early, for about a week, then poof! Gone. Just like they said. Yours are so gorgeous! Love the bellflowers, too… I've tried campanula, but they didn't do well. Loved the blue color, though.

    TwoHobbies – I so hate my daylilies. They are wilted and scraggly and dead. The heat is just awful for them, and I don't like the look of all the dead leaves in the garden. I wish I could dig mine up and send them to you! Pretty wildflowers, and nice bee on the daisy.

    Wren – if my weeds are pretty and I can't tell that they are weeds, they can stay! LOL… I think I have one of those cherry pitters around somewhere… the only problem is that I eat all the cherries before I can make anything with them.

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  • Blessings2011
    Blessings2011 Member Posts: 4,276
    edited June 2016

    Pic of the front porch from the street... Japanese maples, crape myrtle, hydrangeas, daylilies, rhododendron, wild violets, clematis, and you can just make out the butt of my bunny topiary on the far right!

    image

    How we shade the dining room window, as well as the view of the neighbor's shed. (DH and I painted the trellises the same color as the house, and stapled on matching shade cloth. Then we added trim, and leaned them up against the wall.) Makes for a cool walkway, and a nice place to display tchotchkes. The plants are heavenly bamboo - my first experience with Nandina!

    image


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