Thursday, May 7, 2009

Gardening is a matter of your enthusiasm holding up until your back gets used to it. - author unknown.

I have always wanted a rose garden. I started it last year and unfortunately I put it in the worst place in the yard! They got almost no direct sun. Like all flowers location, location, location is the first ingredient in growing flowers. Of course now that I think about it, I really didn't put that much thought into where I was going to plant them. I guess it was a good thing that I only paid $3.00 a piece for them. Because had I paid more I would have been very upset when they all died!


Well, now its a better year. I didn't just have a baby and I now have time to plan.
So of course being the persistent person that I am, I just started again.


New location- back yard where we get sun pretty much all day!



New plan= (its actually a circle contrary to the awful picture.)










Arches covered in roses will be on the right and left side of the rose garden. Then in the middle we will probably get a bird bath and a bench??? Idk.


We already have the the roses put in the places they go, now the hard part... putting down all that edging so that the gravel stays in. Now that's going to be a job!














This is Snowfire.. I think. I will have a picture tomorrow of what it looks like open, Its a beauty!



This is one of the roses I got on clearance at the end of the season last year.





Knockout roses... blooming like crazy!





I am not sure which rose this is. I guess we'll be surprised when it opens! I LOVE surprises!
I am thinking its a Floribunda rose since it has so many little buds on one stem.





Iris's are blooming and they are BEAUTIFUL! I have added more Iris's for the list of bulbs to buy this Fall!



My little bitty shady lady impatiens from park seed.



Purslane from my tipsy pots.

Hollyhocks!!!




Another Salvation Army find! A little... idk what. But I am going to use it as a mini-trellis.




Did you really think I could go one post without saying something about my Wave Petunias???









Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Petunia the playful kitty!


After a long cloudy weekend its FINALLY raining! YAY! Our poor grass was pitiful! But during the break in the rain I got out and took some pictures.
This is Petunia. She is a prissy cat that I bought a Salvation Army last week. She was glad it quit raining so she could go play.
She likes to hide in my iris's. Can you see her? : )
I told her to watch out for the thorns but... she didn't listen.
This is Moocher. Petunias Sister. (from another mother)








Sunday, May 3, 2009

Gardening 911!!!

Problem- I have a shade garden in the middle of some trees. Its really hard to work the soil since there are so many tree roots plus it stays SO DRY! We planted caladiums and elephant ears there last year, but most of them never came up and if they did they were PUNY! I thought it was because they didn't get enough water (we were in a drought Spring - Fall) But now we are getting plenty of rain and they aren't even coming up. So my dilemma is... do I try planting again or do I try to do raised beds? I have astilbe, hosta, impatiens, and coleus that I want to plant there and they should be ready to plant in a couple of weeks. I have also considered doing the raised beds and surrounding them with rocks to kinda naturalize the beds so they don't stand out as much.
PS. These are pictures from last year before we put in the bench and everything.
Do you see the neighbors burn can in the bottom picture? LOL