Florida Chit-Chat #9 March is going out like a Lion!

Better late than never. Here are 2 pictures of part of my yard

The first is of my Black Swallowtail and Hummingbird bed. It is full of Fennel, Parsley and salvia

The second is my the beds in front of the door. The raised beds where done last year, was our attempt and we did not do a great job. In front of the low bed is my Africa Basil bed 4 plants that survived the winter and will feed a lot of bees this summer. the lower raised bed is mostly Frog fruit with some hummingbird plant but the where knocked back by the freeze. The upper bed is more hummingbird plants. The flowers beside it are my winter patch.
on the other side is the newly planted nectar bed and no those are not tiny weeds but seedlings from a plant I grow a few years ago, now they come up everywhere The native bees love them so I let some of them grow. Need to transplant some.
You can also see the first row of my water pools. Hoping to replace them with a large brick pond next winter.

Sandy

Its really nice seeing your gardens Sandy!

I'm not at all surprised that you also love the cottage style with your plantings and it looks great. I'm betting that Andre likes a lick or two on occasion from those water gardens,... like the Bebeschnix and Spank do from mine! (Not to mention all the assorted other critters like the Opossums, Bats, Owls and whatever other critters at night!)

It is fun seeing your gardens and I am happy to meet them. I already feel like I know you better. Thanks for the early pic's, and it is going to be fun watching your gardens develop this year!

David

Thank you. The reason I use those plastic pools is to keep the brat out of them. And yes they are his favorite water bowls. I am hoping we can start building the new raised beds on the side yard this coming month. It will have to be in stages .

Sandy

How nice to see your garden Sandy. I'm really surprised so much green with all the cold you've had...good to see. I love my African Basil plants. they both survived the winter, the one got knocked back a bit, but coming around, a real bee magnet.

I only lost the one that was in the large flower pot. Most of the green in the lower raised bed is the Frog Fruit. I have already seen a Painted Lady Butterfly flying around it.
We stay warmer than most in this area because I am on a very small hill, east of the St Johns River, West of the Ocean and Inter Coastal Waterway and have creeks all around us.

Would some of you chat more again if I did not share as much? Show your gardens! It won't hurt me if they are much grander then my average home and neighborhood gardens,... Truly!

I expected more,...and am loosing interest. Maybe thats a good thing.

David, why would you think such a thing?! Most of us don't have gardens that could be considered 'grand'. Many of us just read posts. I, for one, have posted all my boring stuff many times, but enjoy seeing what others have - it gives us something to drool over. Post away - everyone who wants to - the rest of us will read and enjoy! If you're interested in how many times others have posted their pictures and comments, click on their user name and there is a link to all the posts that person has made.

Sorry t hear your loosing interest. Im afraid I dont have much more in the way of pictures that i havent posted. As far as a grand garden, I think thats in they eye of the beholder. You saw my yard, far from grand, but its mine. Some think that a grand garden is like the picture I showed of my neighbors azeala tree with the totally prunned bushes. I find that boring, and done by a yard man, not the homeowner. I know he is probably far from amused at my yard, I do my best.
Alot more time is spent outside these days, than at the computer. Im a big daylily fan, and I know I will be spending alot more time on another site during peak bloom time....end of april thru about the middle of june. Heck, Id be outside now, but having to juggle laudry and dinner, that kind of thing...just life. As far as talking more, if you talked less, hardly, you give us new things to think about and look at.

A few pictures in anticipation of daylily season. The last picture is some blocks I put together for the Sandy relief project. Jean (Qwilter), was one of the great people who gave of their time to put the blocks together to make the quilts that people sent in, and did the quilting. Once it gets too hot in the summer to be outside, Ill get back to the quilting. Just only so much time in the day.

OK, so maybe we should not have started down the daylily road ;-)

Last one is one of my seedling. I was so excited to have gotten teeth on a double, but its to mungy. Crossed it with some things that will hopefully clarify the color.
Im so in love with green throats!

I understand that Kay,


I want folk to be more interactive here,.... This is a new gardening season. If you look a lot, then talk is my thought,... and I still think D-mail is a overly used, controlling and not so good of a thing for some. ( Thats what twitter is for as I've said before ) Few are sharing here it seems and looking more... and then there is always D-mail?

If we're looking lets talk about it together! I will show you mine if you show me yours, large or small doesn't matter! LOL!...(beginning or grand!) whatever any garden situation is I promise to respond! Please feel free to critique and tell me good ideas about how to make my own gardens better too! I haven't decided yet,... whether or not that mosaic pond I just sat in my rustic pond is tacky or beautiful! That is the fun of it though! Tell me?!!! Ha!



Respectfully,

David

This message was edited Apr 2, 2013 6:25 PM

My post to Kay went out before before your beautiful Daylilly pics came in to us GG. I just got them. Thank you.

I never knew you were hybridizing Daylillies,.... Thats really cool! Never tried it.....

Those Lilies are gorgeous!!!

I dont know why daves mixes up the pictures sometimes, but the last picture is not mine, its a Salter, named for Elizabeth Salters mother. Its the second one thats mine. OK, back to trying to get dinner finished.

A lot of those fabrics in your quilt panels look like vintage material GG?

I have 3 quilts that my Grandmother made from the 40's and till the 60's that have similar materials. She told me that some of the fabrics came from flour bags ( when I was a child.) I will have to spread them out and photograph them for you and Q soon...She did incredible all hand stitched work. Her name was Carrie Louise.

It sounds like you fond of your Grandmother any way, and never would, but dont ever let that quilt get away from you. Its a real treasure for sure.

Im good at piecing blocks, but not at quilting them. Jean ( Qwilter) on this thread, has a real talent, and does lots of charity quilting.

After speaking the words about Grandma's quilts,...I instantly thought to myself,..."go spread one out and take some pictures David!"

I think you and Q might like this one GG... The last picture is of the underside.

Wonderful, I cant wait for Jean to see it. Just love it. Thanks for taking a picture.

That's amazing, David!

David - those are lovely quilts. Hop over to the quilting thread & post the pics: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1305205/

Pam - found out yesterday there is to be a Day Lilly show/sale here in mid-May. I immediately thought of you. I had a lot of "old fashioned" DL in MD but have none here. I think I NEED some.

Anyone realize it is "National Gardening Month"?!?!?!?!?!!? Guess I better get out there & get my hands dirty!!!!!

David - I like reading all your posts & your pics do inspire me. I'm just not good at taking pics. I PROMISE I'll take some after my bright colored tomato cages go up today & I get the pots on top of the urns. I only have a couple hours in the garden since I'm teaching quilting lessons this afternoon.

I took some better pictures of Grandma's Quilt and will post them there Q... Thank you...I thing She would like that...

I am here just tired and hurting, so not typing much.
Hoping Jeremy gets back over here. He is working on a project.

Sandy

Hey GG, your Day Lilies are beautiful!! Do you grow them in full sun or give them a little bit of shade? I have a full sun flower bed that I used to keep roses in. Last year a bad infection of something came through and pretty much wiped them all out. I went away for a weekend, when I left..everything was fine...when I cam back, almost every leaf was yellow and the canes were dying and it went downhill from there. I decided then, that although I loved them...roses were not for me. I didn't have the time for the high maintenance plants that roses were (at least not with the amount of roses that I had).

So, this year...I decided to go a different route and try to turn the flower bed into a garden with perennial re-seeders and other plants that will grow and spread with little maintenance. The flower bed borders a fence and I have planted 9 different types of hollyhock seeds/seedlings+ along that border, with 2 types of salvia in the middle and a couple of hibiscus thrown in for variety. I thought the day lily flowers were gorgeous and purchased my first one, "Always Afternoon" . From the info I have found on them, they say full sun...but I know that full sun doesn't always mean full sun down here.

I was thinking of planting that day lily somewhere in that flower bed and getting a couple of other cultivars, with the thought (hope) that they will spread and help fill in the bed.

Have you found they grow well down here in full sun or should I find a home that has a little more shade?

GG those day lillies are just beautiful. Someone gave me some plain white ones and they are in full sun and get very little attention but keep coming up ea. year.

Bonnie

Shauna, have been trying to grow Hollyhocks for several years. Start out great...then the rust and mildew begins. If you or anyone can give me some suggestions to control both I will be eternally grateful.

Christi

Christi, have you tried mulching around the plants, once they are big enough? Ventilation is very important, too. Wear gloves when working with hollyhocks, to prevent the spread of the fungus. Find a fungicide that lists hollyhock rust as one disease it kills. You might still have a bit of the disease, as weeds have it, too, and the spores blow everywhere, but at least you will have a shot as growing them and seeing their beauty.

Have 100 garden timbers coming Sat. May need to get some more but this should get us started

Sandy

O wow, thats quite a start. One day I would love to do the same.

I actually got a' bee in my bonnet' today, and decided I was taking all the pots out of the bed on the patio. Its a mess, they are a mess when things are not in full bloom, and it just too much work to get it back up and running every spring. Im tired of bringing all this stuff in when it freezes. Im gunna plant a few things right in the bed and use hanging baskets on shepards hooks for blooming eye candy. I just cant keep up with having to practically do over every thing every spring. There is a very small pond with 4 concrete leaves making a waterfall. That and some baskets will have to do around the pool. I already moved the banana trees out and planted them out back, they were just getting to big, and they too have to be 'cleaned up' in the spring.
Pot mess and leaves.
I will admit, when I have all the plants placed on and in the pots, you cant see them, and it looks great, Im just tired of it. I need it a little neater by the pool year round.

Hopefully I will have some 'after' pictures in the near future.

This message was edited Apr 4, 2013 8:22 PM

Hi GG,
I take it the concrete leaves water ends up in your pond. I love the look and bet it makes a lovely quiet trickle while going down. Makes an area so relaxing.

I too have to try and get a more efficient system for caring for the gardens. Weeds are my worst problem so I mulch the heck out of everywhere. 350 feet across front yard. The ponds are easier to keep than the flower beds. That reminds me large pond has been in almost a year so soon will be time to clean it all out and refil. I hate to do it right now fish are all living and happy. Water is getting al ittle too brown for my liking. Good thing I have a sump pump. Makes it much easier to drain. Possibly will just take it down very low and just leave fish in and refil. With new good bacteria.

Been working my head off trying to tidy everything up before roundup. Today got 4 pieces of yard chairs and tables painted and some pots I plan to give as door prizes. Thats one thing I know gardners can always use.

Time to hit the sack and read gardening mag.
Happy gardening all.
Bonnie

I've been trying to use more plants that take the Seasons too, so I don't have to redo as much each Spring. It looks like you have some really nice Shrimp plants that made it through the freezes well outside!

The screened patio (which I wish I had,... and if I did would be little by little turning it into a greenhouse,... Ha! I have always thought I would try that if I had a pool with an inclosure...) Thats a cool pond fountain too. Its going to be fun seeing how you develop the area this year!
****************
I don't talk a lot about it but have been a ponder of all types and sizes most of my life, and 50 to 75 percent water changes and netting or siphoning the trash off the bottom every 6 months usually keeps my water quality excellent. I also used to do salt water reef tanks and grow corals and this same technique was by far the best.

I hope you have a fun successful RU Bonnie and don't overstress yourself!

David

POURING here - thunder in the distance. Most of yesterday's weather went around us.
Of course this rain is all tied to the opening of the AA Co Fair yesterday. I had planned on going but was not int he mood to get wet. And today is the kids day so it needs to rain more to make it nice & soggy out there. Make the parents miserable!!!!

morning,, we are putting in new raised beds as the roots from the oak tree next door are to thick to dig over there.
raining here today so the yard guys will not get started cleaning that area-have lots of pots sitting over there

sandy

Well I managed to get a few filler plants into some of my big pots out back before it started to rain again.

I hear what you're all saying about trying to make the spring clean up task a bit easier each year. I myself have working on replacing the non-hardy plants with much hardier plants each year. I've adopted a new theory, that is if you can't hack it, you're outta here and a new baby will take your place. But as much as I say I don't want to haul in more plants when we get a freeze, I still end up with some new tropical each year. Ugh!

GG I like the way you have the wood with hooks to hang your plants up, really great idea. Also all your lily photos are beautiful. And David very nice quilts.

Bonnie don't wear yourself out, we all understand that it is way too much work to get done before the round-up. Hard to believe it is next weekend. I was invited to a food round up also with my cooking friends, but had to turn that one down, no way am I missing this year.

Sandy, is there is any way you could truly "raise" the beds and leave a bit of air beneath them? I have found that the live oak roots are adventitious and they love finding fresh, soft, rich soil, they have invaded raised beds, that are flush with the ground, in less than a season here. Kind of defeats the purpose.

I use a walking stick to get around the more wooded part of my yard, The roots are just all up on top of the ground.

While reading everyones post here, I looked outside and a squirrel is up in a pot with my pose bush. It just pulled a branch down and off went a bud, he just enjoyed the heck out of that. I did not. Out to put some pepper spray on the bush. Ive got a 40 lb bag of sunflower seeds not 25 ft from the bush, they can eat at will out of it, I guess that plan was a bust. ERRRR

can not raise the beds but am working on ideas to keep the roots out.

Sandy

FYI, I have tried hardware cloth (1/4" mesh), copper, plastic and aluminum screening and weedblock cloth which will not even slow the roots down. Let me know if you find something that works. I am thinking of trying a solid base like a sheet of plexiglass and drilling drain holes along the sides of the beds.

We also got some wonderful rain. What a difference it makes to the plants and also keeps ponds filled up. Very thankful for it.

Really looking forward to next Sat. RU. Got tents borrowed just in case we have a lot of sun.

Bonnie

I so wish I could come but no way with this knee.

Wren,
You have no idea how many people have been asking if you were coming. I tell them we are going to pray you well for one in the fall and if no one else will have one I'll do it again. You will be sorely missed.

Sidney,
Finally got to talk to Molly this AM. She has job going at Shands but will try to turn it over to her son so she can come down.

We will have to take plenty of pics for Wren.

Weather today was simply beautiful. Hope next Sat. is the same.
Bonnie

Bonnie thanks and tell everyone thank you. I will be having the gel injections in a couple of weeks and we are hoping that this will help as it did help the right one.

I am starting seeds so hopefully I will have things this fall.

Sandy