Groan!
Winter dreaming of clematis...and chat, of course!
lol
Some pictures while we are waiting for our clems to spring back to life!
How nice to have such beautiful blooms this time of year!
Very nice, DD. Just let me know if you're yearning to see brown winter grass and I'll take photos.
LOL I still have lots of brown hanging around my garden too. But feel free to post some pictures of the white stuff to remind me how thankful I am to be here. ( I do not feel this way in the summer though)
We'll get the snow tomorrow and I will take photos. For a winter that's been great I've certainly supported the economy by buying so much online! When it all arrives I'll have time to panic.
Each area of this great country has weather woes at times so you can enjoy photos of the snow while we enjoy your photos of February blooms.
Pirl - Hummingbird and Joy Creek are out of Arctic Queen. Oh well...that's ok i've spent way too much money on clematis already...plus i was bored and bid on a bunch of daylilys on the Lily Auction.
I love my roses, i just ordered some bayer product for blackspot. The past 2 years i haven't sprayed and my austins are so sickly looking since I stopped. One of my Pat Austins looks like it shrunk after it was huge. It's about 6 yrs old now.
Which roses do you grow? And do you spray for Blackspot? I used to grow 100 roses...but i grew tired of all the spraying....
I just really noticed the pic on the top of this thread....that combo is amazingly beautiful. I love multi blue with belle of woking.... pls tell me about these 2.
DESERTDENIAL5 - I love your pics....I can't wait. I think it's only 38 days till Spring:-)
Sorry to hear they're out of Arctic Queen. Just knowing they had them may be useful when you decide to buy more. Daylilies are always reliable.
I don't spray and if I get blackspot I just rip off the leaves and new ones quickly replace them. Roses want a nursemaid to cater to them daily but here they have to adapt to what I can offer them. Austin roses aren't as easy as people might think. I've ditched many more than I've kept and now have Falstaff and Graham Thomas - neither are spectacular but since I stopped pruning them they have done better.
Multi Blue and Belle of Woking are old plants here, about 18 years old. If they had more sun they'd do better but that's not the exposure they have here. Once again, they have to live with what I can offer them. I'm content with the blooms as they are and they've taught me to be quick with the camera when they're in bloom.
http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb
The 2012 usda plant hardiness zones.
Thanks, John. I remain 7a, which is fine with me.
I found out I am in 8a, if that makes any difference. It will be 20 degrees tonight, hope my wintersowing survives, also my buding clematis. Yesterday I have dug some more grass up to make a bigger garden, pretty soon I can sell my lawnmower. Happy snow day to you Pirl, good time to snuggle. Etelka
a
It's Camelot snow, Etelka. The snow is light and will turn to a light rain soon enough. So far none of it is sticking to the roads or driveways = my kind of snow!
Your clematis will be just fine. They are not bothered with cold temperatures.
I have edgd the new section with cocrete looking bricks, so I will get some spray paint to reduce that gray color, maybe some beige or light brown. also my hycints are blooming, they are some that I got as presents and I have planted them after they bloomed away.
I was trying the new multy picture thing and made a mistake. this is my new garden plot, hope to be ready with my trellis when my Daniel D. comes
Etelka
that is going to be beautiful! I can just picture your newly enlarged garden full of gorgeous flowers and DD climbing up the obelisk.
You'll have such fun watching the progress of the wonderful new garden, Etelka!
this is going to be quite a garden
Well, according to the map I'm now on the line between 6a & 5b, but because of high elevation here, guess I'll stick with the 5b.....That garden will look lovely when planted, Etelka.....
kiseta... you need to come over to the round robin (plant trading), begins in April-aug or septemberish. You get some new plants to fill up that new bed. LOL. Then you can go on and dig out more grass.
Hi Kathy, thank you for invitation, but 1500 ml is a little bit to much for RR. I always dreamd of being a cook in a Dude ranch and I have found some places is Wy. that was very nice. I should put it on my bucket list, but the time is slipping by and by the time I get to go West, I will only be good to keep the rocking chairs warm. Good old Georgia is it for me, me and my little blue house with the giant oak tree above me keeping me cool.I am sending you some pictures before and after of my house. Thanks again. Etelka I have done it Pirl, with two pictures on one page. Progress.
Oh Etelka - you have done a wonderful job! I love it. What a difference - the second photo looks so cheerful!
This year I have changed the front garden. Gave the yellow lantanas away and instead of the zinnias I had, already planted some perennials. Two collors of Yarrow, blue salvia and on the front by the street lots of yellow Coreopsis Crem Brulee. Will plant some zinnias in between, but least it will come back every year, least most of them.
What an amazing difference you've made, Etelka. You have to feel good just looking at the photos!
Enjoyed your line about keeping the rocking chair warm!
Looking good and I'm sure the perennials will fill out and look great.
Wonderful job....
I bet people slow down to look at your garden.
Thank you all, I am very happy when I can work in the garden. I always sence that my dad is sitting in the corner and enjoying it. He was a true gardener, knew how to graft trees and when he found out that he had cancer, he bought 100 bushess of roses and that love for his garden kept him alive for 10 extra years. We had flowers too, but also grew our own vegetables and raised a pig every year. I am the only one out of four kids that took after him. But when I see some of you gardeners flowers, I am very much a student. Pirls garden is like a show place I just don't know how she does all that work. My garden is only about 40 x 30 feet, but it is more like a cottage gardening, mixed in with flowers that I like, lots of blue and orange and yellow collors. People do stop to talk, I tell them I can teach them how to do it, but most of the neighbors said it is to much work.
What a pleasant and comforting thought, Etelka. I'm sure your dad is there with you in spirit. I'm so glad his roses kept him going for another 10 years.
Don't you think we are all students? I do. There is always someone with a thought put into action that we wish we had thought of and posting photos is a huge help with inspiration.
I just added a lot of roses (ordered, not received) and the rose garden is bound to be a lot more colorful this year. I just hope I can tend to all of them as I should.
Our neighbors stop to talk and to admire but none have any real interest and I've come to accept it. Just a few square feet of flowers could make a huge difference.
What gorgeous colors in those roses!! I do botanical watercolors, and roses are my favorite subjects..... My Dad was a gardener also, as was his mother...my son & one of my granddaughters are also continuing the chain......
Thanks, Marilyn. The search for them was longer than I'd have thought. They each had to be colorful, disease resistant and scented floribundas since I don't get along with most hybrid teas.
It's always nice when gardeners inspire others, especially family members, to continue the beauty.
kiseta, I love those orange flowers on the outside edge, What are they?
Marie, they are zinnias that I bought as plants, I think it is called Fire Red zinnias. I collected some seeds, will see if they come back as the same color.. Did great in the hot Summer we had last year. Other thing that survived the hot sun was Angelonia. This Spring I will get a bunch of those. The orange in the back is Agastache Acapulco.
I plant angelonia every year....love it....flowers constantly....
kiseta your before and after pictures are amazing!!
angelonia roots very easily.
How do you root angelonia? I did save some seeds from mine last year....
The biggest problem I have is getting the plants early enough to make cuttings. Like most cutting, I make a slanting cut at a node. Dip cut end in rooting harmone and tap excess off. I use a rooting media of 1/2 sharp sand and 1/2 peat moss. Stick cutting in moistened media . Cover with 1/2 gallon milk jug (bottom cut out) . Best placed in garden where there is dappled shade all day. Plant out after rooted.
John
thanks for the info -
carolyn most welcome