Lilies

 

Spider Lilies

Water Lilies

 

These photos were taken at Mercer Arboretum and Botanical Gardens.

Mercer Arboretum and Botanical Gardens Part V

More beauty from the gardens.

 

I loved the Oak Leafed Hydrangeas and want to add some to my garden!

 

Painted Lady Butterfly

 

Sea Urchin Cactus

 

Spider Lillies

Mercer Abroetum and Botanical Gardens Part III

Still basking in the beauty of the gardens.

The Butterfly Garden

I took some pictures of the flowers in our butterfly garden. The salvias were lovely but have faded with the heat. Fortunately there is plenty of Black-eyed Susan, Butterfly Weed, and Verbena. I'm not quick enough with the camera to get pictures of the butterflies; we had several lovely swallow-tails yesterday and always the little yellow sulphur butterflies. Anyway, here are some of the flowers:

Spring

Oh my, Spring has arrived and my garden is in shambles. I never even got around to pruning the roses much less ordering any new roses. JMM has been out this morning pulling weeds. He left one giant thistle just to see how big it will get. Our three gorgeous plumeria are dead from the unusually long hard freezes we had this winter. The lavender is fine and we did put in 6 more; I'm tempted to turn the whole bed into lavender since it thrives in our climate, requires little care, attrracts bees and hummingbirds, and smells devine. Roses and lavender--heaven on earth. Got to get my gardening act together.
The goldfinches are gone but we have seen the first barn swallow. No hummingbirds yet but one feeder is filled and hung so that any hungry hummingbirds on their way back from Guatemala can refresh themselves.

Love is shoveling shit

My sweet DH spent the morning shoveling cow manure to be composted for my roses. One of the good things about having a cow pasture just an acre away is the lovely manure to compost for the roses. How does he love me?--let me count the shovelfuls...

Speaking of roses, I've decided to add 2 new roses next year:

http://www.growquest.com/rose%20section/floribunda%20fragrant_wave.htm

http://www.growquest.com/hybrid%20t%20st_patrick.htm

Cooler Weather

We have had the hottest, driest summer I can remember--and I've seen a lot of them, LOL. Today is the first 24 hours that we have not had the air-conditioner on since May. We've had much needed rain too.

I've been fighting rose fungus on my roses. I have 4 different fungicides that I alternate but the best treatment is the cooler temperatures.

The hummingbirds are still with us but not in the numbers that they were last week. We usually have some passing through well into October. We send them on the way to Central America well fed. They love our salvia and bottle-brush bushes and butterfly weed and of course the sugar water in the feeders.

This has not been a butterfly year. A Monarch or two, a few Gulf frilaries, and a Tiger stripe now and then but nothing like normal. Maybe it was the horrid heat or drought.

Believe it or not, I still have a few tiny tomatoes and quite a few bell peppers.

Good by to Summer 2009!!

You can never have too many roses.

My Day Breaker roses have survived this hot, dry summer with blooms almost all summer. It has meant almost daily watering and trimming but the beautiful blooms have been well worth the effort. I am battling rose fungus now; I have learned that proper pruning is the basis for controlling fungus and that you must use more than one fungicide to keep the blight in check.

I am planning to expand the rose beds this winter but haven't made up my mind with what. I definitely want something with fragrance. I have asked JMM to think about putting up a trellis so that I could cover it with climbing roses; that will be a major project since the trellis will have to be very sturdy to stand up to the wind that comes through here.
Here is a picture of my sweet Day Breakers:

http://www.growquest.com/floribunda%20day_breaker.htm

Thought for the Day:

We are all in this world together - people , plants and animals - and we had better make the most of our opportunities. We are all here for some purpose: I believe that it is to live a good life, individually and collectively. That means for us humans to do as little harm as possible, to other humans, to animals and to the whole environment, and to do as much good as possible. To live simply, not elaborately; to consume the least possible, not the most possible. If you have any religion, let it be helpfulness, love and unity. We will then fulfill the purpose and take our part in the great plan. It is as simple as that."~Helen Nearing (1904-1995)

What's new in the garden?

Tomatoes and bell peppers, that's what!! We planted 4 varieties of tomatoes. I usually have good luck with cherry tomatoes so we have several of those. For my new variety, this year I am trying Roma tomatoes. Only 2 bell pepper plants, one generally provides all we can eat but I want some to chop up and put in the freezer. The little pea plants are doing very well and will have to be thinned out before long.

I am contemplating getting a solar oven and learning how to cook with it this summer. It really is ridiculous to use the oven during the summer while running the airconditioning to keep the house cool. I saw a couple of books on solar cooking but I'm sure it is like anything else, you learn it best while doing it. I would also need some kind of cart on wheels to move it in and out. Interesting. Need to look into the different types and the cost.

Another project for the summer is to do some home canning. The last time I did home canning was back in the 1970's. Funny how the things I did back then are now all the rage.

So much to learn; so much to do!!


Thought for the day:

Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate. Albert Schweitzer

Garden Update

It is beginning to look like spring! I am certainly ready for it because I am tired of being cold. I love my house but it is the coldest house I have ever lived in; I think it has something to do with the large tiled area or maybe it is the high ceilings but whatever, in the winter, it is cold and I am cold an I don't like it.

Anyway, back to the garden. The sugar snap peas are up and growing toward the trellises. The rain this week has certainly helped. JMM planted the cucmbers and some seedless watermelons this weekend. I want to plant a couple of tomato plants this year although I usually have very little success growing them. Actually, I've done well with cherry tomatoes in the past.

We pruned the rose bushes on Valentine's Day as usual. JMM moved 2 of them as they were really too close together.

Gardening

JMM is finally catching some of my interest in vegetable gardening!! He put up trellises for sugar snap peas and got them planted this morning. We were discussing tomatoes and have decided to do little cherry tomatoes this year. He has some corn to plant the first of March and he wants to plant some seedless watermelons too.

On the flower side, the butterfly garden should be even better this year with many of the plants reseeding themselves and others well established. Roses need to be pruned on Valentines Day.

I hope one of these days to have several bee hives but that is well down the road.


Thought for the day:

"The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions, and not our circumstances." --Martha Washington