carolyncat353's Blog

Hurray!  I was notified that my new computer has FINALLY been shipped!  Wonder how long it will take me to get it set up?  The new one for the shop came in last week, and I spent about an hour on it, then our computer tech came and finished and was here for 2 hours!  Of course, I won't have the stuff to transfer that he did!

Let's see what's happening...My brother's youngest son graduated from High School this past weekend, and we had a family eat out of seafood afterwards (boiled crawfish, gumbo, fried shrimp, etc..! good!).  He won a couple of awards, unexpected, but nice!!  I'll let my brother tell you about that.  The ceremony was nice, small school, lots of info on each kid that you don't get to see at a larger school. 

Summer has set in.  By 10 every morning it is almost too hot to be outside.  I have flowers blooming, and flowers dying.  I have pulled up all the pansies and debating on cutting the petunias way back.  My glads are just about through blooming, but I may plant another round.  Such a beautiful, graceful flower.  This time of year I focus more on my veg. garden, which seems to be doing good, except for my Tomatoes!  BER is happening on several, but yesterday I picked one and had a GREAT tomato and spam sandwich (my favorite!)  I have about 9 eggplant on one plant that all should be ready at the same time, and the other has about 5 that will be ready when the first ones are-What am I gonna do with all that!  I have lots of little cucumbers, the vines are beautifully healthy, but the cukes seem to be maturing slow.  My beans are about done.  I burnt (BLACK BURNT) a large pot of them yesterday, too.  Forgot them on the stove while messing around outside....Can't believe I did that! I'd better put batteries back in the smoke detector!

I started a few more house plants yesterday, too.  Swedish Ivy, wandering jew,  and planted some more caladiums over Pretty Boy's grave.  The pansies were done.   Time for another trip for a load of dirt & compost, fertilizer and ant poison...

Ya'll have a good day-Later Gators!

Today is Memorial Day.  Let us all pause at 3 pm today in honor of our military men and women.  May God keep them safe and return them to their loved ones:

Remember what "Memorial Day "stands for, because a price has been paid for us to have our bar-b-ques safely.  God Bless the USA

Good Morning, all!  It is sunny and a little cool-just right for the morning stroll!  YG, I wish I had the capability to do a video-I'm just getting good at this! (lol).  Nana, will send you a pm about the peppers.  Thanks to everyone for the comments-I enjoy them!

As we head to the front of the house, you see my very large, very old crepe myrtle with the torn up flower bed around it.  It is a work in progress, nothing has ever grown very well here and I'm thinking of putting Encore Azaleas there. Less work.  Turning the corner you see  2 very large azaleas, with a graceful, white Natchez crepe myrtle between them.  One of the bushes has a cardinal's nest in it-HOPE Motley stays away!  I can hear the mother bird's "chip chip" when I go out the front door. 

The front porch is 'stuffed' with large plants.  One big Boston Fern on a stand, the beautiful arching Foxtail Fern, a large pot of aloe vera, Swedish Ivy with the red underside, Coral Berry, that is just covered in bright red berries, a Giant Scheffelera that is screaming 'REPOT ME', Leatherleaf fern (florist's fern), and hanging baskets of airplane plants, and pothos ivy. 

The front flower bed is filling up with sprouting Margarita, lime-green sweet potato vine, along with the purple sweet potato vine.  The 2 color mixture  stays all summer, no weeding needed and looks great, though it sprawls all over-that's what clippers are for! When it fills in, I have 2 cat garden ornaments that peek out at you. A  bird bath is in the middle of this bed. In various pots in the bed I have different colors of kalanchoe that are still blooming, and a large pot of portacula (?sp) spilling over with rosy pink blooms.  There is also some volunteer St. Joseph Lillies coming up in here, too. Those will be dug, and potted up for sale. 2 Mexican Heather plants anchor each side of this bed.

Along the house, under the picture window is a shelf made from an old headboard that I have plants on that didn't get sold at the yard sale.  I have Jade plants, Kalanchoes, peperomia,spider plants, & pothos, a small rose bush and bromeliads.  Also, in front of the window is my "out of control" Rubber Tree.  It's been cut back, but is so sprawling, I don't really have a good place for it! Next to the water faucet, climbing my house, is a HUGE (think REAL huge!) pothos.  It survives the winter and the leaves on it are wider than my 2 hands put together. 

Next to the garage door are more plants that didn't get sold: Rose of Sharon tree (about 4 ft. tall), 4 pots of daylillies, aloe vera, St. Joseph lillies, and a Night Blooming Cereus.  I have in a planter a flowering shrub-type plant that I believe is called a Princess Flower.  It makes a deep purple flower later in the summer. This was bought at the auction I went to several years ago, thus no Name!

Crossing into the east yard at the corner of the garage is a huge planting of Crinums or Milk & Wine Lillies.  These are purple/lavender colored.  Then, I also have some in a large tub to be sold, along with more St. Joseph lillies. 

 Looking toward my neighbor's house along the fence is what is left of my fall-blooming Cassia tree. In bloom, it is totally covered with yellow blossoms. It was falling over and I had to cut it back severely.  It is re-sprouting but has no good form to it; needs work.  Then, my long row of daylillies, with 2 crepe myrtles planted in this bed, also.  I have red ones, yellow ones, orange ones with a kind of stripe in them, bi-colored ones, and some with a dark eye.  At the end of this bed going to the back yard is my Weeping Bottlebrush, which has just finished blooming.  I will have pictures of it when the computer situation is fixed.  It was Gorgeous! The bees just take it over, and the hummingbirds live in it!

Along the house, is a bed of tall, white, butterfly ginger.  They will take over if you let them and in late summer, they have a powerful perfume! There is a mixture of Amaryliss and St. Joe's in this bed, along with a plant I dug from my grandmother's that makes a little red lily-type flower with green edges. It, too, is very prolific!  Very pretty, but I don't even know where to begin looking for it's name! I'll have to post a picture of that, too, to be identified.

Last-my $1.00 hydrangea I bought 2 years ago on clearance.  It is only about 1-2 ft. high, but I have several pinkish-white blooms on it.  It will be one big flower when they all open! In scattered areas behind it I have wandering jew, and purple heart jew.  This is lizard haven-Peanut spends a lot of time here looking at the wall to grab a lizard.  From here we go back into the back yard. 

I realized I have left some plants out.  Like my Asiatic Lillies!! The Red one bloomed and smells OH, so sweet!  It does perfume the patio! Also, a distressed plant I bought that kind of resemble a bush honeysuckle, but I don't know that one either! And there are a few more, but you get the idea!  Bit, by bit, during the summer I hope to add pictures of the real thing!

Going to have a root canal, now (yuk!), but you all HAVE A GREAT DAY!

This is the 3rd segement of " A walk around my yard".  If you are interested in the first two, go to my blog.  I have pictures from last year of several of these plants in my photos, too.

First this morning, before leaving the patio, I picked 3 bell peppers big enough to stuff! That will be Great!! Along the walk from the patio is one large pot of pink & white striped Amaryllis bulbs.  They have already bloomed, but the pot is full and needs dividing.  My 3 blueberry bushes in large pots are full of berries, and I see some already turning that deep, purplish blue ready to be eaten.  These should have been put in the ground last fall, but I missed again!  I hope I get to pick them before the birds!

Along the side of the house I have tossed various daylillies that I have dug from other areas, and "temped" them in with a sprinkling of dirt and lots of mulch, that way they will be easy to dig and move or pot up and sell. Some are blooming, mostly red & yellow. This area gets lots of shade from my large purple crepe myrtle tree during the summer, and it shades the west side of my patio.

Under this tree I have one of my Hawaiin Ti plants-about 4 ft. tall, and starting to put on it's " PINK" leaves. Next to it is a small banana tree in a pot that has been there for 2 years.  It was given to me and I just can't decide where to put it!

Next in a VERY large container is what I belive to be a "Cestrum" It is a shrubby plant, about 4-5 ft. tall with lots of tiny, tiny yellow tubular flowers.  I bought this at an auction 3 years ago and don't know where to put it either!  In the ground is a Hibiscus that freezes to the ground every year, and comes back with yellowish/red flowers.  Montbretia and rain lillies are mixed in with this plant along with plenty of St. Augustine grass.  Someone should make me clean that up! (lol)

Now, "THE SHED", where I have a multitude of house plants, sick plants, rooting plants and plain ole' ' I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THIS' plants.  Step around the base of the greenhouse that never got built and the first thing is the table with rooting plants on it.  I am starting here some Angel Trumpets, Morning Glory Trees, Night Blooming Cereus, burrow's tail, various little cactus' (don't know what they are either!), and some yellow and coral colored kalanchoes.  I have a large pot of Hidden Ginger here, also, and 2 large Night Blooming Cereus, one that has a spidery, white bloom this morning! A real ugly plant, but a gorgeous bloom!  On a makeshift bench I have some red Kalanchoes, a very unruly boston fern, that needs to be divided and babied, and a large, bowl shaped pot of bromelieads, that also need to be divided.

Along the shed is a Climbing Rose that has never done much because this area is deeply shaded by my 13 year old Oak Tree and a Red Maple.  It is so cool here in the afternoons! I really need to move that rose bush!

Next to the Rose is my large, out of control Pencil Plant.  He really needs some sun, and a Much bigger pot!  I keep him tied up, because he keeps trying to get away! (lol). He is tied to the shed that houses green & white striped airplane plants, green airplane plants, Gobs of bromeliads (all alike-they multiply like Rabbits!), a Petticoat Fern, 2 large, Snake/Mother-in-Law tongues, arrowhead vine, my silver & burgandy wandering jew, hoya(wax plant), which is blooming now, also, RedBird Cactus, aloe vera (several), closet plants (2), Swedish Ivy, and 2 sick corn plants(they are improving!) I also have my largest Hawaiin Ti plant under here, but it doesn't get enough sun, and it's leaves are trying to turn pink, I need to move him where he'll get more sun!

Along one post of this shed, my butterfly vine is going crazy! No blooms yet, but it is full of it's tiny buds and should bloom any day. I love seeing those little butterfly looking blooms in the fall. Next is the MOUNTAIN OF FRESH PINE MULCH, and my newly planted Arizona Ash tree. 

Looking towards the front of the house and planted along side the sewer plant/pump is a mound of red daylillies that have just about finished blooming, and on top of it, I have a long planter filled with burrow's tail and some sort of sedum that I have never defined!

There's not much else on the west side of my house, a small azalea that blooms in pink, and a Pink crepe myrtle.  I am constantly thinking of doing something here, it receives a lot of sun, and I'm leaning toward planting my Blueberry Bushes somewhere in this area.

Tomorrow is the front and east side yard!  Hope you're enjoying this! I am!

HAVE A GREAT DAY!

The short rain showers yesterday where just what we needed! Everything is fresh and smiling, covered in dew drops!

Turning away from the vegetable garden and facing the patio it is a riot of color. The first thing you see are the stately white gladiolas in full bloom (3 of them) with just the tiniest red stripe in them.  Beyond them is the Alamanda bush with it's yellow trumpet flowers waving happily in the breeze.  It is absolutely covered in blooms this year-it has always bloomed, but not like this! Around the base of this little tree it is filled with sedum, actually, overrun with sedum!  Need to pull those out!.  Next to the Alamanda is the Bird of Paradise with its gray/green foilage.  It looks kind of floppy, but I think the cat has pounced in it chasing lizards.  At the base of the BOP, the small flower bed is filled with basic green wandering jew, yellow mums that are budding out, and volunteer vincas.  There is a pot in there also of red and white petunias. 

Next to those swaying gladiolas is my sedum bed.  Reddish-pink ice plant have almost overrun the bed, but I have various sedums and pink portucala planted with them.  And of course, 2 'short' sunflower just starting. 

The flower bed holding the glads is about 4 ft. long and also has burgandy & gold, red & gold, & yellow & green coleus, bee balm (that the dog keeps eating!  This must be good stuff! Last year, the cat ate it!), pink and white begonias and scattered zinnias just coming up.  The purple, white and yellow pansies are dying back quickly now, and will be pulled up soon.

The break in this bed is my Little Purple Crepe Myrtle, another VERY tall Rose of Sharon, and "The Angel Trumpet'.  Angel is about 5 1/2 feet tall now and growing nicely, with Shrimp plants at her feet. Above Angel, is the "Bird Church", my bird house with a Cross on top.  I have a family of bluebirds in it now.  So exciting to watch!  On the west side of Angel, I have St. Francis holding his bowl of water with sand in it for the butterflies watching over the lettuce I let go to seed (Did you know lettuce will get 3 ft. tall if you let it?) There are 2 red gladiolas in this bed-one in full bloom, and 1 in full bud. The 3 bell pepper plants are loaded down with peppers and need to be picked.  The dianthus and snapdragons are about done for and will be pulled; the volunteer verbena is taking over.  The deep pink rose bush here (dug from my Mother's yard) was awesome in early spring, and is again, full of buds.  There is another glad coming up on the far end, but is not showing it's color yet.  There is a large pot of blue/black salvia ending this bed that the hummingbirds visit all summer.  It has outgrown it's pot, and needs to be in the ground. 

Cross the walk to see another planting of red/white petunias, and a few short sunflowers coming up.  Again, pansies, dianthus and snapdragons are dying and need to be pulled.  I planted some caladiums among those and my Grandma's Chicken and they will be up soon.  On the spool table I have a pot of catnip, and my mother's calla lily that has never bloomed, but still hangs on looking like someday it might! Along the house are the Humongous Swamp Lillies.  They will be blooming soon.  On the patio side is my Extremely large blue plumbago that is totally covered in sky blue blooms everyday, in contrast to the Red Hibiscus that is starting to bloom right next to it.  These 2 plants take up about 6 ft.

In pots on the patio I have Rosemary (just love to run my hands through it and smell Christmas!), jade plant, pink geranium and red geranium with white trailing verbena.  There is a Mardi Gras Hibiscus I purchased last year at the Farmer's Market and it is really putting on a lot of growth! Can't wait to see it bloom.

There are also daylillies in pots and white ginger in pots (these are to sell or give away), and starts of shrimp plant and baby Rose of Sharon tree, and some seed starts sitting on the "cat house", next to my patio table and umbrella.  I do a lot of re-potting on the top of the cat house, and Motley sleeps underneath. 

Tomorrow we'll do the balance of the backy yard and the side yards.If you missed the first chapter-go to my blog and take the first walk. 

To answer the question about the "Morning Glory Tree", it is a small flowering tree that makes a blue/purple bloom like a morning glory, blooms in the early morning like they do, and the flowers are done by noon unless it is cloudy.  Not cold tolerant, but grows quickly, roots easily from cuttings and can be grown in a pot.

HAVE A GREAT DAY!

It is cool today, and a little rainy.  64 degrees right now and it is 12:15!  I want my summer back!  Because I'm still having computer woes, and I have so much in bloom, I will walk you around my back yard.

The Red Mandevilla is blooming like crazy and just starting to vine well.  It will crawl my walk -through arbor to the top by the end of summer.  I walk past the Rose of Sharon that is in a pot and just starting to bloom and peek at the sparse purple/blue blooms of my clematis growing on the "arbor to nowhere" aka "the bird blind".  The blue morning glory and the white Moonflower vine are starting to climb the arbor now, and by midsummer they will be gorgeous! There is also a pot of sedum hanging from this arbor and some petunias in a pot. This evening after the rain goes through I need to clean the birdbath that is under this arbor. 

The corner bed has my deep red azalea that is dying in it.  I clipped it W-A-Y back yesterday, and fertilized, hope this helps.  I am also spraying with diazinon to kill the lace bugs.  In this bed the black-stemmed elephant ears are sprouting nicely, and the small blue plumbago I planted in early spring is growing madly, and blooming.  There are also a few caldiums finally starting to sprout, left over from last year, and the pentas I planted are growing somewhat slowly, but showing their red and pink faces every day.  The volunteer Red Bud tree finally put on some leaves and is growing quickly this year. Yay! I noticed that the Hidden Ginger that I have here planted in a pot is busting the sides of it.  I really need to plant it in the ground.  My Golden Shrimp Plant I bought at one of the Garden Shows has several bright yellow blooms on it.  Gorgeous!

Turning towards one of the veg. gardens the Morning Glory tree is blooming, and just clustered in buds.  It makes a beautiful little tree full of flowers all summer.  In the vegetable garden I have one row of snap beans (so far I have eaten 1 pot full, and put up 4 quarts), that are doing nicely, and the cucumbers are TAKING OFF!! Last year I didn't have many, so I am real excited about that! I have zinnias and marigolds mixed among these vegetables.  Motley likes to lay under the beans and watch the birds-I have 2 birdfeeders on either side of this garden plot.  At the edges I have some Heirloom sunflowers coming up that I got from someone here on GG, and some volunteers from the birdfeeder.  The deep pink rose bush bloomed vividly in early spring, but is somewhat stalled, now.  It needs to go in the ground, too.

Heading toward the other vegetable garden is my "old timey" pink rose bush that blooms almost all summer, and gets almost no care.  The cannas along the fence,  Yellow, RED, red/yellow, and orange are also starting to bloom, and of course, are full of those durn worms.  Need to spray after the rain.  The 2 eggplants in pots are doing wonderfully, and the tomatoes are almost 6 ft. tall. I have pulled most of the potatoes in this plot, and have planted 2 squash here.  They are slow getting started, also.  I have marigolds and one petunia in this bed, too.  On the outside of this bed is my one MAMMOTH sunflower in its gorgeous, perfect full bloom right now.  I just love sunflowers! Looking to the patio now is a bed full of gladiolas next to the patio, but you'll have to wait!

Since this is rather lengthy, I'll save the walk around the patio for tomorrow!

Later Gators!

I don't know what happened.  Early morning it was GORGEOUS, by noon it was wilted and looks to be a goner.  I bought 2 trees yesterday and asked the nursery guy what he knew about Dahlias.  Not much-but he has this BIG, wonderful book we looked in.  SOUTH Louisiana is considered too hot for Dahlias, so it probably fried.  Morning sun only, and shaded the rest of the day.  So, I moved it's little wilted body close to the shed where it will get only morning sun and see if it comes back.  I did cut that beautiful bloom off and put in a vase, and it perked up some.  Puzzling.

So, on my 2 days off-The Big tree came down.  These guys were good!  Started at 8:30 and were done before noon.  NOT  a branch, pine cone or trash of any kind left!  I bought a Mountain Ash to replace it.  supposed to grow quickly and make a beautiful shade tree.  I sure hope so!  They left me a pile of fresh cut pine mulch=smells like someone spilled the pine sol bottle!  I'm using it in places I have low spots and against my back fence -Will it hurt plants?  I started putting some in my Canna bog, but now I'm wondering if the "turpentine" from the wood is good for the plant? I'll have to look that up, unles some of you know???

I pulled ONE tomato off my bushes yesterday with a bad case of blossom end rot.  This is the bed that ruined my cucumbers last year-I had problems with the blooms falling off.  I sure hope the rest are ok-I have a LOT of tomatoes!  And a lot of EGGPLANT blooms!  My cukes are vining and look sooo much better than they did last year! I have picked 2 good messes of beans-I still have some in the freezer from last year to eat, so I didn't plant much.  I'm having a nice bell pepper crop, too.  I have 3 LARGE white gladiolas blooming and one red, and 2 with the color undetermined yet coming on.

My Asiatic Lily that I bought last year when Pretty Boy got run over is in full bloom!!! It is gorgeous-I think there are 4-5 stalks with 4 or 5 Lillies per stalk-When the computer situation gets fixed I'll post it's pics.  Those Pretty Boys are unbelieveably beautiful. 

I have more going on-but I really need to work!

Later Gators.!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!! And also for all those DADS, who replace or act more like Moms!  I know a few of those, and they deserve acknowledgement too! 

TODAY!!  I had fresh green beans with my fresh potatoes, picked 2 GOOD sized bell peppers, and my glads are starting to bloom...and My SIL has the "card" for my camera(she didn't have her camera for Caleb's graduation supper @ church) so I can't take a pic!!!!!! Tomorrow 'The Tree' comes out.  I really hate that-it will take so long to replace the shade of a 130 Ft. tall  pine tree!

My devil animals forever in search of "all lizards", broke a LARGE branch off my angel trumpet and I had to throw a glass of water on Motley as she was fixing to launch into the middle of my Alamanda tree!! Peanut sits on the ground and "whoofs" at wherever the lizards may have disappeared to.(his legs are only 4 inches high!)  He will watch the wall for an hour waiting for the lizard to peek his head out behind a wall hanging! Yesterday during the garage sale, Motley showed up with a 10" or so  garden snake in her mouth, and the race was on!!  Motley won-she got on the side of the fence that Peanut couldn't get to.  But there was a lot of barking!

Someone asked if that for my garage sale I had started my plants from seeds or divisions.  MOST of what I sold was house plants, so they were either cuttings or divisions.I also sold Amaryllis and daylillies.  Nothing actually from seed.  During the late winter, the local AG center sells small (really small!)native trees for $1-2 dollars.  I started a Mulberry last year that was only about 10" high and was today about 5 Ft. high for $8:00.  Nice profit.  I'm already planning the next one!  IF YOU SAY PLANTS, THEY WILL COME!  First customer bought $30.00 worth!

I WISH I HAD MY CAMERA! The Dahlia I planted BLOOMED today-it is sooo gorgeous!!  Deep purple with white "tips".  It has 2 more buds.  The other 2 I planted have not emerged, so I'm guessing they're not gonna make it! They were planted in the ground-this one is in a pot. I have different types of daylillies blooming now, and the garden is fixing to be real productive!  I have scoped out a new computer and it is on it's way!! Yay!

Later Gators-the tree man will be here early!~!!!

I had a "small" yard & PLANT sale today.  Didn't put out much misc. stuff and the ad said "Mostly Plants"-All said and done at 2:00, I figured about $30.00 in the misc. stuff and the rest was plant sales.  And I still have a lot left!!  Of course, saying it was mostly plants, I got a lot of plant people!  That was fun!  And some said they would come back to visit to go through the back yard when I had more time!  Tomorrow, I will buy topsoil and peat to re-furbish the veg. garden in areas, and what else---Start new Plants!  No new computer yet-I'm lazy-The lightning struck tree is coming out Monday-I need a 'BIG' tree to replace it. 

Me & the pets are tired-later gators.

I have not been happy with the way I'm growing my potatoes-I pulled back some of that piled up hay and YUK!! Slimy, mildewed, fungus looking mess! Just like I thought.  This does not work well in humid Louisiana!  Potatoes had never bloomed and are dying.  So, I pulled back the hay from 2 plants and dug the potato hoe into the ground and POTATOES!!  From 2 plants I have about 4 lbs of nice potatoes!  And if I had left them alone, I would have had more-several tiny, tiny potatoes on the stem!! However,  I will not be doing this again!! I only pulled the two-will pull the others as I need potatoes!

This morning I mixed up some Miracle Grow and gave all the plants around the patio a taste.  Expecting storms this afternoon,  I fertilized the beans and the cucumbers that are FINALLY starting to vine, the green beans, the tomatoes and the Eggplant. I should have bell peppers to pick in a few days.  Yay!

In the next few days the Asiatic Lilys (I named them "Pretty Boys"after my cat that got killed, cause that's when I bought them) will be blooming.  I put the ONE plant in a larger pot in the fall, thought it had died, and this spring the pot is unbelievably full of stalks!!  I can't wait to see those blooms!   Daylillies are blooming.  So far I have 2 that are not that same ole boring red!  They all got fertilized good when I cleaned out the daylilly bed, and are really just starting.  I am afraid the "red" gene is taking over all my daylillies.  I'm going to mark the ones that are not red and move to another location.   

I planted some old gladiola bulbs I found-most were soft or 'non-existent', but I put em in the ground anyway.  Ya never know!  The glads around the patio have new flower stalks, too, so they''ll be blooming soon.  I have one VERY HAPPY sunflower- a short one- blooming-and one GIANT one that should bloom in the next few days.  I have planted more in various spots around the yard.  My favorite summer flower!

I received my check from the insurance co-enough to cut my tree down-if we can go 10 days in a row without rain!  I will be replacing my computer next week, so THEN, I will have pictures to show of all going on in the yard, here! I have been taking them all along.  That will be a whole BLOG of pictures!!

Peanut is sick this morning.  He threw up and had a bought of diarreha (??the squirts!).  I was using liquid fertilizer except for the vegetables-and he didn't come in the garden with me. I wonder if he got into something he shouldn't have?   He's laying at my feet asleep, so maybe it was just his allergy pill that I gave him-FORGOT he's supposed to eat first.  When I'm home on the weekends, he hardly eats-he's with me every step.  Hopefully that's all it is.  His allergies are "kind of" under control, but I have to put a shirt on him when he's outside-and he doesn't like to play "dress up"  too much.  He'll finigle his way out of it, and then he's running around naked again!

Pictures to come next week!  Later Gators!!