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I drastically pruned a few of my clematis to get another bloom sometime next month. I wonder what happened to my Ruby Glow. It was the first one to bloom last year but this year, it is weak and no bloom yet. I lost about 15 now of the 72 plants I havebut not too worry, I said, they may come back some other time as I heard they do.
Happy gardening to all.
Hello Everyone!
Yesterday (Tuesday), I spent a long time in the garden. I concentrated
mostly on the continued amendments of the veggie patch, but also
planted some of the morning glory starts. I had started them in a
cottage cheese container between damp paper towels, they ended up
growing through the paper towel and up the container). I planted them
under some of my bushier plants in hopes that they will get shelter if
it does get overly chilly.
I fiddled and faddled adding more
horse manure, 2.5 bags of top soil, peat moss, sand and ash. Working
back and forth, turning the soil in over and over, and back and forth
some more. My blisters returned! I hadn't been digging to that extreme
in at least 3 weeks! I will have to purchase a nice rototiller when I
get a larger garden area, it would be well worth it! Just think, I will
have so much pride when I get to harvest my veggies though! It's all
done by hand, every bit of it!
After working in the garden for
most the mid-morning to afternoon, we went for a walk to visit my
Mother-In-Law and see what she was up too. She had to head out to town
so we didn't stay long, instead we wandered around looking at some of
the flowers blooming in her yard. She has a really pretty area with red
tulips, grape hyacinths, the prettiest daffodiles (they must be called
a "double" or something, I will look it up tomorrow) and oregano. Below
are some pictures, I really recommend this time clicking on the images to make them larger to see the lovely details (especially the daffodil):
Above:
Grape Hyacinths, Red Tulips, Daffodils and Oregano (I think it is since
I smash it between my fingers and I smell oregano) and my daughter
stopping to smell the flowers.
Above:
What I think is oregano (not sure) because when I squish it between my
fingers it smells like oregano and my Mother-In-Law thinks that is what
it is (she's the one who planted it). It's a pretty little plant and I
transplanted some more into my garden (from my Mother-In-Law's garden).
While my daughter napped, I did some more fiddle-faddling in the
veggie patch amending like crazy. When I felt I had done my best I
decided it was time to build a natural trellises. My trellis has 3 pine
branches and Jute natural string. It turned out really neat! I am going
to make some more only slightly modified for my cucumbers to climb in
the few days. Below are a few pictures:
After
I finished the trellis I planted a row of peas (only half the length of
trellis) with some older pea seeds I had from 2 years ago. I watered
them in and by then it was dark out (above pictures show how dark it
was, my daughter was using a flashlight...lol) I figure it was natures
way of saying to go inside and take a break, the day is done.
Today
we spent most of the day inside because it was sunny but overly chilly
outside. I found it hard to "want" to go out there and work, PLUS I was
so sore all over! My left calf is extremely sore (is that the way you
spell the body part...hum???). I am currently applying heat to it since
it's been sore the entire day.
After deciding we needed some
fresh air despite the fact that the day hadn't improved (it was
supposed to be an amazingly beautiful day, but to our disappointment it
was not nice!), we headed out to the garden. I still have lots of
flower seeds to plant and I have been wanting to get my veggie patch
planted. I have been so cautious not to plant until I am totally
convinced that my soil amended to the best of my abilities, but I
really needed to get my veggies in.
I
have a few more spots to add veggies, but I am not sure what I want to
plant in those spaces. I have quite a few more to plant. I have more
cucumber seeds (which I will be building a modified natural trellis
soon), more carrots, lettuce (I have two kinds and would really love
fresh lettuce), and tomato (I doubt I will get fruit off of them, but I
still want to try, I will probably plant them in pots instead of in my
veggie patch that way I save space, can move them to sunny spots, and
can bring them to a safe space when it gets frosty...oh-how I do not
want to think about frost....).
Above is a picture of my clematis (Nelly Moser). First year having it grow in my garden and I can't wait to see how it does!My dear mother sent me some pics tonight. I wanted her to start a blog and share them with you all, but she has left that up to me. I wish I had before pics so that you can see all the Love and Work she has put into her gardens.
First pic is of her purple Clematis vine. It greets you as you walk up.
This second pic's are a garden she put in last year. It is just beautiful now!
She send a couple of close up's of our state flower the Iris. I love the Orange one and she has promised me a cutting when it spreads....
Her yard is full of a variety of pretty blooming flowers. Way to many for me to name, but I am learning from her.
Happy Mother's day to all, but most of all to my mom!! I Love you!!
Last week I had what seems to be the largest pile of mulch in the history of gardening delivered to my yard! We are so lucky that we can get this free from the city:
Of course, my girl had a great time climbing the "mountain" as I set out to spread it on the side yard.
I did get a good bit done. This is where my hubby parks his truck and every winter, I spread a fresh layer. I have also been working on the usual winter clean up in preparation for spring. I had a lovely clematis armandii and wisteria growing on the side of the house. Well, the clematis had turned all crispy, which its not supposed to do since it is an evergreen. Well, it looked terrible, so Hubby helped me cut it way back to the base. Will be interesting to see if it comes back...I have my doubts.
Here is what it looked like in its glory, before turning brown:
And now, after the BIG prune :
Bummer! At least the fig tree will leaf out in spring to cover the ugly gas line.
Also, a few weeks back my trusty weedeater died! UGH! So, while hubby and I were at Home Depot pricing a new one (quite expensive actually), A stranger walked by and said he had a used one that we could buy for $10. So, we took him up on it and after a bit of tinkering, hubby got it working and cut back the grasses for me!
He did say it is a bit finicky, but it should hold us over for the time being :)
My little one had fun using her new camera to take pictures of daddy too:
Today the goal is to clean up the grasses from their hair cut and move more mulch.
Happy gardening!
We have been busy over the past month with all sorts of things! I have managed to carve out some time here and there to do the usual garden clean up that needs to be done this time of year. Our final moments of fall have passed:
And we are well into winter. We saw a couple of dear the other morning out by the creek which was so magical and my little girl was so excited to get to meet Rudolph :)
See them back there?
Most of the garden clean up is done now except for a few odds and ends and we have moved on to decorating for Christmas:
I always do a bit of a garden theme with my christmas decorating: using a lot of greens from the garden along with fresh herbs and grapevine. Here is a nice closeup of an area of the tree with a small grape vine wreath. I have these spaced all over the tree this year:
I love the look of the rustic grapevine against the shimmer of the lights and the ornaments :)
I did a bit more clean out in the garden this afternoon. Shook some dead leaves off the hardy clematis, cut back some mint blooms, and cut down some spent cannas. Once the holidays are over, I will set out to get pinestraw over all the beds and start all my spring planning. Unfortunatley I didn't get the compost in the veggie beds soon enough to get out a fall crop :( so, I will have to enjoy planning for the spring.
Time for some holiday baking...
I thought this clemais will never survive when the blooms wilted in May due to the intense heat we were having that month. There was no remaining green wood on this plant cutting the stems inch by inch until I got down to the soil. That really panicked me and I got distressed. But sometime in July, I saw a small green sprout and I was estatic that maybe there is still life in there so I babied this plant almost everyday watching it grow like a baby. Lo and behold, the flowers are now blooming, still not as big as I would have wanted and as they should be but hey, I am not complaining. Maybe next year they will really blossom to their fullest grandeur. These pictures were taken today, one in the early morning with not much light and one this noon.
I forgot to take pictures of these when they first started blooming. Both have now faded somewhat from the heat of the sun but this is the first year Star of India (puple) had these many blooms while this is only the second year for Ville de Lyon (pink) planted near f. Sieboldii so not much blooms yet.
We had verry strong howling winds the last two days here which wreck havoc on my container planters. Worst damage was on my clematis Rhapsody which dried up and wilted most of the blooms. The wind survivors are those in-ground planted against the back wall fence. Before I lose all the blooms with another strong winds predicted in the next few days, I took their pictures.
Victoria
Minuet planted with Victoria
The one surviving Rhapsody bloom.
My only joy when I am blue is my garden and taking photos of my clematis. Today, I took pictures of Blue Light and Cassis although some Cassis blooms are fading now from too much sun. The colors are somewhat altered because I took them in intense sunlight. At least the blooms are still there. The first picture is Cassis. Can anyone recommend a good digital mini-camera for outdoor pictures?
I bought some new plants while at Wal-Mart today. I know, I know, Wally World plants are so unhappy and mistreated. BUT my timing was great, they had JUST recieved a plant shipment so all were happy healthy little guys.
I bought 9 Green Bell Peppers for $2.97, and 9 Mild Jalapenos for $2.97. A really pretty clematis for $4.88, 2 6-packs of vinca for $1 each, and a Sweet Basil.
Since I don't need all those different peppers, and I don't have the room for them, I'm going to give some to my neighbors.
The clematis was actually the only one of a whole bunch that wasn't brown, so I just had to save it. I'm going to plant it on the trellis on the shed.
The vincas I plan on putting in a hanging basket with pieces of the verbena that's growing in the garden. That plant is starting to get WAY too big and needs to be brought back into control. I plan on using a bird feeder cage for the "basket". It has lots of squares to stick the plants into, and I don't use it on the feeder anymore so I figured it might be fun to try as a planter..
To celebrate our wedding anniversary (and to keep our minds off of the fact that I am overdue to have our 2nd child), My wonderful hubby took me plant shopping and said that when we got home, he would plant what we bought :) So sweet!
The first thing we got was a Clematis "Liberation" Evifive. "A free- flowering variety with 9" deep - pink flowers, blooming in Spring and again in late summer." We planted a Clematis Jackmani when we had our first daughter...in her honor. So, we wanted to do the same for this daughter. It will grow up the new sculpture:
Ter
rible pict, I know...hard to get a good shot in all those shadows...but, you get the idea.
Then, we got a fatsia japonica. I just love these plants. I want to put them under the crepe myrtles to add more evergreen screen against the chain link fence. They tend to be a bit pricey for some reason, so we got one and hubby said "just get one each time you go to the nursery, that way it won't seem to cost so much" Ahhh...he is getting the idea now! :)
And, finally...we got a Juncus effusus Spiralis or "Corkscrew Rush". Fun, hardy water plant that we put in the creek. Said to take full sun and get to 2 feet tall. Plus, its very fun to say that for my wedding anniversary, my husband got me "Juncus" HAH!
I had been moping, grieving, and sulking for a few days now but today, I ventured out because the weather is nicer and lo and behold, my clematis Grandiflora decided to put on a show. This is its first year of blooming although it is already 3 years old. Ville de Lyon and Serenata are so dependable, they keep coming trying to outdo each other. The corn I planted two weeks ago seems to be going nowhere so I will try again on 4/5 which according to the Farmers Almanac should be a good day for planting above ground crops and corn in particular. I will try the 3 sisters planting guide which will include corn, then beans two weeks later then squash. I just bought the seeds from Parkseeds and this is a try-out so I will see if it works. Here are some pictures of Grandiflora (white), Ville de Lyon (pink) and Serenata (purple).
I was planning to prune the Apple Blossom clematis today as it has finished its flowering. But then, I noticed that there were two blooming clematis on AB's arbor. I thought that I trailed a Jackmanii to that arbor. As it turned out, it was not Jack, a purple clematis, but Guernsey Cream. Whew! was I glad that it was GC. GC is a type 2 and Jack is a type 3. I would have such a headache come pruning time for Jack. When I first started planting clematis 4 years ago, I did not know hoot about them. It was a learning process but of course, as I was so eager to start my garden, I combined a purple clematis, Jackmanii, and a white clematis, GC. I thought it would look marvelous to see the two colors blooming in one trellis but they are of different pruning type. Well, lessons learned by mistakes. I just have to be overly careful come pruning time. This year, I just pruned them both the same to a height of 1 ft except for the long long stem of GC trailing on the arbor.
First one ahead of them all except Apple Blossom is clematis Ruby Glow to open up today. One taken in the shade is sharper than the one taken in full sun. Clematis on the Web says that its color can range from ruby red to purple pink. I don't know what color to call this, lavender? lilac? light purple? It shows no pink at all. First one was taken in full sun, kind of fuzzy but second was taken in the shade.
This was taken today. This Clematis is already 3 years old. This is the first time it blooms like this. In previous years, I get at the most a dozen blooms. Happy gardening to all.
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