bayou's Blog

Took a walk around the backyard with my coffee this morning checking on my little friends.

To my surprise there was my calla (I call him Ginger) opening up to greet me.

I'd been waiting on him, wondering when he would say hello.

Two days ago he was trying to make up his mind.

Two days ago I moved the store bought hanging basket from the shade yard (we call it the plant hospital) over to the sunny area. It told me its doing just fine now and likes being up high and in the center of attention.

The sweet potato vine was quite miffed at me and demanded a close up. After all, he said "just because we come from a potato doesn't mean that we can't dress up real well"

While trying to sooth the feelings of the sweet potato vine, I could hear a soft voice calling to me from behind the plant.

"Good morning to you Miss Bayou. It's been a while and I must say I've missed you. You know, its time for me to begin my job. You're going to need a bit more shade back here so the other Crepe Myrtle ladies and I are preparing our tools and polishing our uniforms for a nice lovely summer. That nice topping you gave us last fall was very nice. Don't worry, the pink ladies over there will be along soon. One of the branches got her feelings hurt by the neighbor, but I think I've smoothed things out. "

So engrossed was I in my soft conversation, that I was startled by another rather raspy voice calling to me. "Hey! Yo! Momma. It's me. Ovah herah by de door."

I have tried for 13 years and have yet to be able to teach my Rubber Tree plant any kind of manners. *sigh*

Yes darling, I replied... "Hey baby, look at my new growth comin an lookin good doll face!" "I'm still waitin on the trim you promised me. Any idea on when you might wanna hook up and do some rootin, baby?"

"And speakin a' rootin, I been takin care a lil Clipper over there on the side. Yes, Miss B, I decided to name him for you. He's lookin like he needs a little bit a water, so like, ummmm, man, ummmmm SNAP to it lady!"

Oh, what a peaceful way to enjoy my coffee.

Can you dig it?

I haven't been able to get out in my yard for that last couple of days. I suffer from a bad case of Trigimenal Neuralgia and it's pretty much kept me bed ridden for the last couple of days. I'm counting down the days until I fly to the Mayo clinic to see the Neurologist and Neurosurgeon for surgery.

Well, anyway............the rosemary cutting is right outside my back door. Each day I make a couple of trips out there to check on it and say 'hello'. It's been a week since I planted it and it looks really fresh. I'm not sure yet because rosemary can stay fresh looking for a time just in water. But it's looking good. It's looking pretty healthy. I am going to be thrilled if it works because I want to give it to my nephew for Fathers' day.

I think I will name it and talk to it, like people used to do in the old days.

Any suggestions? 

This is one of my first plants planted here in the front yard. This picture was taken Oct 07....notice the pumpkins, its halloween time. The white chrysanthimums were planted in Oct 06. We had bought the potted plants to go with the pumpkins. Since things grew so well, I decided to plant the mums and give it a try.

We planted the caladiums early in the spring and they sprang up and made a beautiful accent.

I took this picture yesterday. The mum will bloom again in October if I deadhead it. I think it may be time to start separating the caladiums, but I've got to learn how to do that!

To the right is an existing caladium that peeks its head up from time to time.

Just for fun, here's a pic of the setup behind the plants on halloween night.

In between the storms and the hurricanes.

Before we moved to this house 3 years ago, we lived in a home with a very large lot out in the country. I nice little neighborhood literally built in the middle of the sugar cane fields.

We had a full back yard where the kids could run and play. Each summer we planted a small garden. We always had the hardest time growing tomatoes. Don't know why. We did have nice crops of cucumbers and peppers.

We mostly arranged my potted plants around the deck. I would put my ivy out and let it climb the lattice work. Once I planted a sweet potato and watched it vine all summer.

Then came Tropical Storm Allison and she decided to stall right above my area. 6 feet of water in my house. And no more trees. Very scarry thing that was. My husband and I were both at work, it was summer and the kids, in their teens, were at home. I was traveling in this torrential rain. The kids paid no attention to the sound of the storm. Storms are common in south Louisiana. My son heard something, looked out the window and saw that the tree had fallen. Then looked and saw that the water was starting to come into my house.

My husband had to fight water flooded roads to get to them.

We lived in a small apartment for 6 months while we fought the insurance company to get the house repaired.

My potted plants loved the location and stayed very healthy. I actually did some trading with my apartment neighbors.

I only lost one plant. And that was because my silly brother put it in the back bed of the truck when we were moving back home and the wind tore it up.

Then came Hurricane Andrew and he took the two trees from the front yard. We lived with a barren yard until we moved.

So I've been very much enjoying my new landscaped yard.

I guess I should say..............I'm really digging it!

Bayou
 

I know I wrote there's more to my plant story and intended for it to be my next blog.

However, I have to interrupt myself. How does one interrupt themselves? Hell if I know, I'm blonde, I have an excuse.

I decided to write about how much I am enjoying this site. I've been reading all day. I just discovered the forums. I know I've already made mistakes...posted in the wrong place, answered questions that had already been answered, and so on and so on. But hey, I'm blonde. That is always my excuse. *giggles* And no one's tagged me or called me on it.

The knowledge base here is astounding. I mentioned to my son, "There's stuff in here that's not in any of my books"!

I've been received so kindly. You're a welcoming lot, ye are. And that my new friends, is often hard to find.

So for today, I just want to write a great big thank you.

With that said..........can you dig it!

Bayou

We moved into this house 3 years ago. The first thing I must say is that I cannot take credit for any of the beautiful layout. The previous owner must have known a lot about landscaping and took a lot of care of the plants and area around it. Still today, anything I plant takes off immediately with health and vigor. It took us a year to figure out what was going to spring up next. I fear we lost some beautiful daisy's because I did not realize they were there.

We wanted to redo the ground cover/plants around the swimming pool this summer and my husband went crazy. The first picture is what it looked like before. The yellow gladiolas would grow quite tall and the lantana would spread all around the area. The two sego plants we added. I made my husband dig them up from a friends house, so they are a number of years old. (He was not quite happy with me for doing that)

The purple petunia had to go! It was beginning to take over the whole yard.

This is the newly landscaped area. My husband hired landscapers. My glads are still down there, but they spent 4 weeks in a bucket and are just starting to grow back up. You can see where the left sego has grown since last year. We just had some horrible weather this past week and the palm tree still stands. Like I said, anything I put in this soil takes very well.

I am hoping the hybiscus takes well.

So this is the present day yard, just finished two week ago. That's how I found this site. I was searching dwarf gardenia ground cover.

There's a middle part to the plant story that I will save for my next blog.

For now.... can you dig it?

Bayou 

I come from a family of farmers and gardeners. My uncles always maintained small farms in addition to their daily work. If I wanted anything, I had to go out in the fields and pick it myself. Corn and beans and purple hull peas to name a few. I was a bit spoiled. After an hour of sweating, my uncle would finish it for me.

Some of my fondest memories are of sitting on the porch shelling peas and drinking an ice cold glass of freshly made ice tea.

Today I have to buy my produce from road side vendors or local farmers. I still enjoy shucking corn in the back yard. I've grown up and added a modern touch to it. I've replaced the tea with a nice marguarita.

I am a house plant and landscape enthusiast. I have some plants that are over 25 years old.

That's a story for another blog.

I had written 3 paragraghs, accidently hit the 'back' button and lost it all.

More to come.