southernmagnolia's Profile

I have been interested in plants since I planted a childhood garden of hot peppers - which I bit into because they looked so delicious and had burnt lips for weeks!

I live in Irmo SC outside Columbia, the state capital.  I own my own small business, which at times is the cause of great anxiety.  Being outside and around gardening helps me to relax.  I took over the grass cutting years ago from my husband.  He looked at it as a chore and I look at it as entertainment!  I pushed a mower around our 1/2 acre lake house lot for years, but now I have a kid cut that yard.  Our other house is on a small lot in a subdivision, and I cut that with a reel mower, after dealing with several push mowers over the years, and I love it!

I am slowly building a garden on the smaller lot, which I wish to be a cottage garden.  I love flowers and bright colors.  I love birds and like putting in plants that provide seeds for them.  I got tired of watching them fight over bird feeders.  I like to see them picking around naturally for food and I provide water in a bird bath.  I have gotten pretty good at attracting hummingbirds with flowers.

Red Mittens in the Trees
I was standing out in our backyard, looking into the woods.  The sassafras trees' leaves are turning red and look like childrens' mittens waving in the breeze.  A few leaves fluttered from oak trees and blew to the ground.  I like the changing of the...

The Beautiful Zinnias
I got home late from work. Our company has moved to a new office and I am working late every night doing extra tasks associated with the move.  Tonight I didn't get home until almost 8:30, but it was still light outside so I went out and sat on the l...

Mid Summer Garden Update
This summer everything is taking a long time to get accomplished.  After the slugs were killed off, I put two large zinnias in and waited.  They both did well, and are continuing to grow and bloom profusely - one pink and the other orange, both with ...

Pentas
On Friday, I found pentas for half price at Seven Oaks Nursery.  I have been looking for some good ones for a couple weeks, not willing to settle for just anything.  Seven Oaks had some nice red ones in 6" pots and I got two of those and one white to...

Dasterdly Slugs!
I was all excited to see my Giant Zinnia seedlings sprouting 2 weeks ago after only planting the seeds about 5 days before.  A couple days later, every single seedling was gone... into the bellies of those nasty snurly slugs. I took to slug slaughter...