Crazy about flowers

Like many of you, my hobby, my therapy is gardening. Living in Phoenix, AZ, growing flowers can be a bit more challenging. Our growing season is Oct through May-ish. (Then we stop as it is too hot). March/April being the best. So these pictures are for those who live where it snows. I know some are starting to see “green” poking out. I will be stalking you pages in May, June, etc. For now, here is something to look forward too.

1) Petunias, 2) English Daisies, 3) a Gerber Daisy that made it through the winter and Lambs Ear that has been spreading, 4) anything purple.. Stock and more Petunias and Dusty Miller 5) Blue Bonnets that grow on my "beach" and come back every year.

This message was edited Mar 12, 2013 8:10 PM

The first of many Iris to bloom. Daffodils too (they actually come back every year here, which being in zone 9 is not a given) , Pansies, hmmm cant remember the correct name but they are bright and really taking off, and last but not least, a shot across the southwest and northwest garden to show some of the garden as a whole.

Hope you enjoy.

Hi Val,

Your flowers are beautiful! I just love the photo of your garden as a whole. Here in South Africa everything is looking tired as we are entering Autumn. Please post some more...

Elsa

Valsflowers
I love your flowers. Great job !

Good morning, Val ~~ what a lovely way to start the day......your flowers and garden are lovely. It's a bit chilly this morning but I'm heading out to work in my gardens --- major cleanup from fall/winter. I have lots of plants beginning to poke their little heads through the soil here in NC.....but it's still a while before anything blooms. Your pictures give me hope and encouragement. Thanks for sharing.

Val, more GARDEN shots!! Your flowers are beautiful but I enjoy the "whole landscape" shots best!!! Your humble snapdragons are so bright and cheery!

Thanks everyone. Here are a few more of the whole garden.The first picture is my front yard. We had some frost damage in Jan/Feb so there are a few blank spots. The next 2 pictures are my flower gardens. All 4 sections used to be flowers but I made the mistake of planting an invasive flower in the back corner so after trying to get rid of it, I decided to turn it into a patio. That was actually a stroke of luck as I can now sit out there (and see all the weeds) :-). The last picture is my nod to the fact that I live in AZ. Not really a big Cactus fan, but it works for that area of the yard.

You have a beutiful garden and house. Keep posting pictures please.

Thanks drthor. You I love watching your post too. I will be moving to Texas this year, so looking forward to growing some new stuff.

I REALLY enjoyed your pictures of the garden, beautiful!!! thanks for sharing

Very beautiful! I know what you mean about gardening from oct to may. Here in Louisiana that is what any sane person does. Though you get all of May & oct here. So many of those lovelies you are growing will be killed outright by our humidity. As i weeded outside today admiring my 1st rose bloom among blooming almond, dafs and spirea I've determined to add a lot more very early spring bloomers. Oh, yeah I am crazy. I'll drag myself out to weed and spray my many roses at dawn and slather on mosquito repellent late evenings and work outside by spotlight.

THAT's dedication Ginger! lol

The laest to bloom Scilla peruviana, lady banks rose and the first delphinium.

Very interested rose.... with all those blooms hanging down it looks like a "weeping or fountain" something.. rather than a rose!!! Very pretty. I am in zone envy. My daffodils are blooming but it will be a while before anything else is brave enough!

psychw2 we can trade zone envy places soon. The weather is getting warm here, almost 90. I have two more months and then it is "summer (or what most people experience in winter - No gardening)" and I'll be looking at your flowers.

VERY true Val.

Our season is March to Mid-September or for dahlias possibly Mid-October (till the first frost). By the first of July, all of the early spring flowers have come and gone, the peonies are all gone as well as most of the asiatic lilies, irises, clematis and allium. Pretty much of what is left are the oriental lilies, some callas, sedum, caladium, coleus, dahlias and vegetables. The echinacea, monarda and platycodon are old standbys. Luckily none require too much attention because once it becomes really hot, maintenance is impossible other than watering. It becomes so hard to keep up with weeding and spraying.

If we get a hot spell (we got several in 2012) lasting 3-4 days, we pray for a little rain to take care of the watering. You'll probably laugh, but a hot spell for us is over 90 degrees. When we get a lot of heat early, the oriental lilies are spent by the third week in July instead of August. About the only maintenance we do is to cover the "crops" with bird netting to ward off the deer. We grow absolutely the best tomatoes and cucumbers. Unfortunately they all ripen around the same time.

Spring is the nicest time because the spring flowers are out, and the gardens are full of swollen buds with so much promise.

Yep, LOL, hot spell "over 90"!!! But, you're not prepared for or used to that kind of weather so I should not laugh at you.

It hit 100 here last weekend. Unfotunately I haven't got my garden ready for the summer yet. Hopefully this weekend.

Pat, how hot does it get in Othello? We're by Long Island Sound. A hot spell is not that the temps go over 90, but that they stay there for several days and don't go down at night. Couple that with a lack of rain, and it throws gardening out the window. Last July we were invited to a wedding in Alexandria, Virginia, right outside of Washington. It was over 100 the entire weekend. Almost everything we did was in an air conditioned car or otherwise indoors. I only want to live where it is warm in the winter.

The older I get, the less tolerant of high and low temperatures I become. Even in the high temps, I never fail to do a walk-around of our small yard, checking on the little ones. I try to containerize in large pots that hold a lot of moisture through tough times and good drainage through rains.

AWWwwwwww... well this is the desert portion of the state of Washington and it gets over 100 degrees several days a year and can get below zero in the winter but usually more mild than that. I grew up about 50 miles and 2,000 feet lower than here so there have been some adjustments. If I used pots I would KILL everything! I can not be counted on to be a good plant mommy and water my "plant children" often enough! I do not have in-ground sprinklers which is really necessary if you want a nice lawn here. I just drag a hose around, and I do not do a good job of it. I am going to try and do the mowing myself this year (I have not the last 2 years). We'll see...

I guess it's not size, Pat. Altitude makes all the difference, and we're pretty close to sea level, but not at all flat. I figure I can control a bunch of things when they're in containers. Mostly caladium, callas, lilies, heuchera and coleus. Whenever we have a storm of significance brewing, I run around and gather up the pots, urns, window boxes, etc., and they live in the house the car and the front porch till the winds die down. Last year's storm was hurricane sandy, so last week I got around to pulling all the pots from the deck where they had been stored during the winter.

I always like to bring something in a container as a gift.
Marcia

I mowed and watered, weeded etc and it was beautiful this year! I put the house up for sale but ended up renting it out. Here's some of the pictures from when it listed.
http://www.trulia.com/homes/Washington/Othello/sold/20001425-338-S-10th-Ave-Othello-WA-99344

Looks lovely. Feng shui'd and everything. Front, back and side gardens all show your efforts.

I hope it goes like hotcakes!
Marcia

No Cathy, I pulled it from the market because it was quicker and easier and met my needs better to go ahead and use it as a rental. I have renters in there that are paying $500 above the mortgage payment so I'm not in a hurry to re-list, and won't even consider that until next summer.