Batnavel's Blog
Batnavel's Blog
Last Post 3 days, 19 hours Ago
Sep 1, 2008 | 2:38 PM PST
Ok, this is pretty silly of me, but I clipped this off something in the yard last fall, and I cant figure out what it is. I know that when I did it, I figured it was a seed pod, and my intention was to dry it out, and see if there were indeed seeds inside, and plant them. Well, I came upon it in the garage, and broke it open, and there are indeed seeds inside, and now I CANT REMEMBER FOR THE LIFE OF ME WHAT IT IS. Check out these two photos and tell me if you know. The seeds are about half the size of a pea, and really wrinkled, like a raisin. What every it is, I am assuming I will know again this fall, as I still have all the same plants. Acutally, I had sooooo few last year, you would think I could narrow it down. Im thinking possibly Crepe Myrtle, or Canna's ( although I know Canna's come from tubers or rhizomes ) Help me out here.
And for something a little prettier.....another Kentucky moonshine inspired hybrid of mine......a double morning glory:
Hope you are all doing well. ^v^
Aug 26, 2008 | 5:56 AM PST
Here are a few photos of the ULTRA RARE Hibiscu-althe-zin-dahlia
-sun-moon-flower vine.
You can ONLY grow these in Kentucky !!!! : )~
Hope you are all doing well. ^v^
Aug 9, 2008 | 9:34 AM PST
I love nature, and weekends off. Here are some more photos I took this morning. I caught a busy bee doing his thing. Unfortunately, in one of the pics, you can see the handy work of a Japanese Beetle!!!
Here are some other shots:
Thanx for looking.....have a GREAT day. ^v^
Aug 8, 2008 | 10:57 AM PST
I wondered around just now and took a few pics....
Still didnt get the Heavenly blue at its best.....was up too early, and then took a nap......but here is what I got!
Some of the old containers still doing very well. Vinca growing up nicely.
And a newer container. This was a rescue from Lowes:
Most of whats in the GIANT flower box are all rescues from Lowes too:
Double Red Althea:
I added a little more color to the front corner of the house, and the Hosta added a little color of its own recently. :
Sunflowers :
And some new Petunias that were clearance at Lowes:
Have a nice day!!! I have to work til Midnight thirty, but then I am OFF for the weekend. Weather is supposed to be beautiful here!!
Aug 7, 2008 | 5:23 PM PST
Seven days early!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO. And, I FINALLY dont have to work at the butt crack of dawn, so maybe I can get some good pics of the Heavanly Blue Morning Glories tomorrow. I actually got a chance to see them today, as I got home from work before noon, and there wre about 10 or 12 BIG BEAUTIFUL blooms, but they had just started to close. I want to get them in all their, "GLORY" -- So hopefully tomorrow morning is the time, and I will share with you then.
Looking forward to getting some time to read some blogs.......have to go retrieve some pics and get my itunes and other things set up now.
Hope you are all doing well!!!!!
Aug 4, 2008 | 12:47 PM PST
AHHHHHHHHH, my computer crashed. Seems the harddrive might be fried. Anyway, hvae been offline for a little over a week, and will probably be off line til about the 15th.-----I MISS YOU GUYS!!!!
At the library now, and have been busy, so I dont get here that often.....dang work for not having accesible internet.....AND the library has a no Myspace policy,,,,, yuck.
Anyway, in exciting garden news, the Heavely Blue Morning Glories have FINALLY started to bloom. I have had star of yelta for months, and didnt know where the heavenly blues were. Check this out though....I hav eonly seen them through cell phone pictures from my wife. I was out of town for a week, and now that I am back, I have worked every single morning, and leave before they open, and get back home after they close. I keep telling her to get the good camera out there. Hopefully there are some good opportunities this weekend, as I am FINALLY off.
I guess the worst news of all as far as the computer is yet to come. If indeed the harddrive is trashed, I may have lost about 5000 pictures that are NOT backed up anywhere, and NOT printed. I am crossing my fingers.
Hope you are all doing well. Hope to be back on line soon with photo updates for you all. Take Care. ^v^
Jul 26, 2008 | 12:18 PM PST
This mornings trip to the garden was VERY exciting for me. My first Gladiolus bloom, my first Double Purple Althea bloom, and a TON of tomatoes ripening. Then, to top that off, my wife says "I want to go to Lowes today" --- I got some GREAT deals on clearance plants, all in pretty good shape, a few annuals and a few perrenials.
Here is the Double Purple Althea bloom. There are a ton of buds ready to pop open on these. I have two Double Purple, and one Double Red.
the buds......
The Gladiolus.....
The Maters.......
Thanx for looking. Have a great day. ^v^
Jul 22, 2008 | 11:13 AM PST
Well I had the day off, and had to go to lowes and walmart to see what they had on clearance. Got some really good looking Petunias, a pretty good size tropical Hibiscus, and one of those pre-assembled container gardens with a little of this and that......all cheap. Did some planting, weeding, trimming etc, and then took some pics. Here they are for your visual stimulation.......
Here are the new Petunias:
My pumpkin......I pulled the vine out today, it was rotting, and there were maggot looking worms penetrating my pumpkins flesh.....I may not grow pumpkins in the future, but I did it, at least once!!
Here are my .37 cent petunias, and my $1 Dahlias in the background:
This is not my new Hibiscus, its the one that had the two distinctly different flowers, well, this is the THIRD distinctly different flower, and this one is a perfect blend of the previous two. Call it grafting, call it cross polination, call it whatever you want, I call it the absolutely beautiful nature that God and Gardeners create:
My Sunflowers, which have become great stalks to tie my tomatoes to:
My Crepe Myrtle on the side of the house, with some weak looking Glads
And finally, another of Gods wonderful and mysterious creations. This beautiful flower popped up next to some Caladiums that I planted this year. There was nothing there before but some grass, and I havent seen this flower anywhere in the neighbor hood. I am sure its not a weed, because its too clean and beautiful. If anyone knows what it is, let me know. I think it probably arrived in the wind, or via a birds foot or something, but I am glad it did, and I hope if forms some sort of seed pod so I can plant it again next year. It is thriving in full shade, with poor soil and minimal water. It looks a lot like a Petunia to me.
Thanx for looking. Have a great day. ^v^
Jul 17, 2008 | 3:03 PM PST
Here are a few pictures from around my garden....
Convulvus:
Veggie bed. Sunflowers are HUGE and blooming. Tomatoes are HUGE and producing tons of fruit, Lettuce and Herbs doing well also.
I call this the Great Wall of Morning Glories. (Note to self.....next year plant less )
And finally, my Pumpkin, and my Canna.
OH, wait, I forgot my containers. Finally got some Angelonia, and some of my Vinca from seed from last years Vinca is blooming too!!
Have a great day!!! Thanx for looking. ^v^
Jul 17, 2008 | 2:53 PM PST
My wife and I had an AWESOME vacation in Northern Michigan from July 4th through the 13th. Here are some pictures from that, mostly containing flowers, since this is the garden guides site.
This is approaching Mackinac Island on the ferry:
This next one is the lovely flower lined walkway to our future house....again on Mac Island.
Here's me stopping to smell the flowers after the Wine Beer and Food festival we went to on the island.
Another Mac Island house with some flowers.
This is us having a picnic when we went BACK to Mac Island and stayed two days later in the week. Not enough people take a picnic on Mackinac Island, and thats a shame.
These next few are in Harbor Springs. The window boxes and landscaping there is just amazing....oh yeah, there are a ton of millionaires and billionaires that live there, so they can afford to hire professionals!!!
And now back to the island for two more.
Hope you enjoyed. I will be posting another blog shortly of the current status of some of the stuff in my garden. Have a great day. ^v^
Jul 15, 2008 | 6:12 PM PST
....and my yard was sooooooo over grown. We had a lot of rain here, so everything is out of control. Still feeling the stress of being back to work and trying to get the yard in shape. In a day or so I will post some pics from vacation, and some updated pics of the yard. We traveled to northern michigan, and I have some BEAUTIFUL pics from Harbor Springs and Mackinac Island. When I returned home, I had RED tomatoes, sunflowers in bloom, crazy amounts of morning glories, and a soon to bloom Canna. Hope you are all doing well. If any of you posted new pics, send me a message so I can check them out. I wont have time to catch up on all missed blogs.... :(
Jul 3, 2008 | 9:00 PM PST
At 6 am we will depart for Northern Michigan. We have a fun filled agenda, and we are both very excited. I should have some great pics of stuff like the Butterfly House at Mackinac Island to share with you all, as well as photos of the garden when I return ( I have a care taker lined up if there is no rain while Im gone ) Everyone have a great week, and a happy fourth of july ^v^
Jun 25, 2008 | 9:18 AM PST
Another moment of amazement in the garden the other day. I glanced toward my Hibiscus and saw a TOTALLY different kind of flower than I have ever seen on this plant. I have seen this type of hibiscus flower before, just thought it was a different breed. I had the same exact kind of tropical hibiscus last year as I got this year. (except color) This year they have been just flowering away with PEACH ruffly flowers that last a day or two. When I looked over, BAM, RED, and a totally different looking flower, differnt shape and all, from the same exact plant. I didnt research it, but I am thinking its some kind of Male/Female thing. Anybody know????
The first photo is the flowers I have gotten since I planted this.
This second photo was the surprise. I almost didnt get a photo. This is actually the second one, as I missed the photo op on the first one.
I think its totally weird, but awesome.
And while I am at it....here is another pic with some more Morning Glories in bloom.
Everyone have a nice day!!!
Jun 22, 2008 | 10:11 AM PST
I had the weekend off and the weather was beautiful. Im feeling a little beat down this morning, and I am pretty sure its cause I went non stop all day yesterday. Mowed the lawn, finished the kitchen trim, worked on the new corner of the deck, sealed concreted pots, built a frame for wine corks to hang in the kitchen, got a haircut, and some other misc. Here are some recent pics:
Here is a pic of where all my vinca used to live. Most Vinca was transplanted here and there and are all doing well. There is still a few in each of these containers also.
These next two pics are Convulvus that bloomed the first time on 6.20.08 -- Cant wait till they're covered with these little flowers.
Next is a double shot of Morning Glory. All star of Yelta so far, no Heavenly blue, which I thought I had the first morning. For some reason I thought Morning Glory were perrenial......but I found out different today. 
Here is a shot of the corner of the deck that we are sprucing up. Sarah bought this awesome fountain. I moved the flower box that was back in the main garden and added some mini petunias and some convulvus to it. This is a work in progress. Want to get a few more plants.
Here is a pic of the concrete Garden Lady face I made a while back. I just painted and sealed it today, and I think it came out kinda cool looking. ^v^
When I moved my herbs to the veggie garden, I threw out all the Nasturtium except this little bit. The plants were looking crappy, and I didnt know if they would bloom. Well, they did, and I think the blooms are beautiful. I have big plans for Nasturtium next year.
Some more concrete stuff I had made a while back and just sealed yesterday. A wine chiller and some bowls.
And finally, a pic of my sunflowers, reaching toward the sky. I tried to get the angle to make it look like the metal art and the plants were one......soon enough they will have thier own big yellow shiney heads!!!
Hope you enjoyed. Now I am going to Lowes to see what they've got. Have a nice day!!!! ^v^
