Well......... they're actually under a tree, but the leaves aren't in yet. When I bought them, the instructions said "full sun", and it was obvious before I put them in the ground that they were a shade plant. So I put them in the part of my yard that had the most shade. Unfortunately, my yard doesn't have much shaded areas.
I dunno, maybe I can try moving them closer to the tree where they'd have more shade. They are trying to live.
APRIL 2015 - SHOWERS & FLOWERS
Hi everyone, everything looks good here, we finally got some rain.
I had the best weekend ever, saw Bonnie, saw KayJones, drove home slowly and took a lot of pictures of the wild flowers and things, off to bed now, also, Will, are you still in the area or in a totally different state?
dyanisme your gardens look great. KayJones took me to a nursery and we went on a wilderness drive , she lives in Lees Summitt. Bonnie is moving to Independence. Found a neat park, lake, with shelters and a nice bathroom. In the middle of no where..
my Tropicals and new seedlings were out on that 38 night and they are fine.
Amanda, you better not hurt your back!
I haven't been loading by hand much this year. I'm usually running the machines or answering the phone. lol
I haven't heard of that lake. I'll have to look it up for future events of some kind. lol
Glad Bonnie is moving closer to me!! Now we just need you to move up here. lol. I know you won't because of family though. :~)
Coral Bells are pretty hardy so maybe where it's at will work. But if you are willing to move it closer it might be happier for the time being.
Hi all. Finished tax filing. Was a big deal filing for my hubby's business, but I got it done & came out good $ wise. Now to catch up on sleep, etc... Just got off train & typing this while walking into work. Later.
Will!
I am still in shock. You moved.
Bernie,
Your green house plants look great! So does your Wife and Kirsten.
Cyber,
The rains have passed us by since March. Now we finally have had over 2'' of rain in the week we had rain. The top of the garden is wet, but I am getting out today and hoeing!
HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY DEBRA!!!
Lovely pictures!
Dyan,
We love pictures :o) I love Heucheras too! My yarrows are just showing. I have the spreading rose pinks and some I self sowed in pastel colors.
I have the marmalade and they too are under a tree, but still get sun. They don't like too much sun. I also have the purple leaved and I think they take more sun. If you move them I'd do it now.
Yesterday we went to look at the concrete storm shelters and only realized after we got home how much it would ruin our alley. We can't afford to fix the mess.
It was windy and chilly, but I cleaned up the peony bed in the cat 's fenced in yard and put down new mulch. I could mow the back yard and may do that today.
Sunday, it was cold and windy. I caught up on housework so I could play outside this week :o)
Saturday we took our two hour drive to DH's Uncle's memorial. They gave him a three gun salute for the military and the Buckskinners shot once with their muzzle loaders.
Pepole brought the guns and canes he made for them, plus a couple of powder horns. He was truly talented.
We have a cold week ahead and I hope the last freeze if we are going to get one. The weather has been so odd we just might miss it.
Have a wonderful day and I hope it's greening up everywhere!
I don't know if I'm brave enough to move plants. Gotta remember that I'm new at this gardening thing, so I figure that I'm doing good just to have plants survive at all. :) Moving them seems frought with potential problems. Like I'll cut into an important root or something.
Yes Sally, I'm afraid it's true, we took our doings elsewhere. I'm still in the same city, Debra, Sugarcreek, Mo., tell that Kayjones I said hi. Wow, Auntb Bonnie is moving close, Sugarcreek is like a small growth on Independence.
Dyan,
Just cut a big chunk of dirt out with them and have a large hole ready to just plop them into. They'll be fine. If you lose one, they still sell them. Or, just dig holes nearer the shade and buy a few more of them. That way you can see how those in the sunnier spot do.
Will.
Do you have a yard you can work in?
We tore out the arborvitaes this morning. It wasn't too bad. Charlie had to stop and rest after chopping roots. We ran the boughs down to the grain bins south of town.
For some reason they were all brown on the opposite side and this year the needles just weren't coming back. It was time to let them go. I'll miss the privacy, but change is good.
You can see the alley isn't very wide for the storm shelter delivery truck to come down, so it was kind of a bust before we even got started. There is very little rock in the alley either.
Sally, you can replace them with Sky Pencil Holly. They still grow narrow and are evergreen also. Good replacement I think. :~)
http://www.fast-growing-trees.com/SkyPencil.htm
They can usually be found at box stores but in limited quanities. I've heard nothing but good things about them so far.
This message was edited Apr 14, 2015 8:10 PM
Morning everyone. Gosh i did not know i was missing in action. Have been so busy. We are having to work 13 hr days cause we are 5 employeesshort and having trouble finding applicants. Strange so many peeps needing jobs but do not want to work in food service or a hospital. My manager is so frustrated.
Any way it my day off and just want to do some yard work. Lol. Never just get a day off. But i have missed you all. Sweet to know i was missed.
The weather has been so wonderful here. We got some nice rain yesterday and today all sunny. So happy and my winter depression is gone for sure. Feeling so much better.
My ligualiara are emerging. They usually are the first perennials open for me here. Hostas are usually last. But am excited about seeing how much they all have grown over the winter. Strange how they dothat huh.
Have a great day i will.
Hi all, Waiting on my train heading to work. Not wearing a jacket today & it's daylight. Such is a
sign that winter is over. Lily of the valleys & peonies are up. Finally able to get outdoors now that taxes are over, & now grass needs cut. Dandelions blooming everywhere. Little pollinators working overtime like GL.
These places wouldn't have so much trouble getting employees if they got their act together. Pay them decent wages with decent hours.
Beautiful weather here of late. Planted all sorts of things the last few days. Waiting for my peas to pop up.
Strawberry plants should be here today. Eating a bowl of corn flakes with some of last years berries on them, Yummy!
Yes iagree with tnewhole wage thing. They want the work done but not pay for it. Such is life. Enjoying my mornkng so far. I have several daffys open am so excited. They are some of my favorite spring posies... have a great day all. Thanks gb. Dont work to hard.
Some guy was on Good Morning America today. He is CEO of his company.
He cut his salary from $1million to $70,000 a year. In turn he gave all employees a raise to $70,000.
He figures that is a living wage & everyone should get that. No problem there with people that want to work at his company. I think it was 170 employees.
CG. I know how good it is to still be eating last year's harvest. I just used my last winter squash. It amazes me how well it kept on the kitchen counter since last fall.
afternoon all, so glad to see you and read your posts. isn't it fun to see things popping up and opening and stuff. we are still working on last years greenbeans, we had so many.. my snow peas are up and vining, so happy bout that, and the yukon golds are sprouted now.
so glad to see everyone here..
I need to get my potatoes planted but they should be ok for awhile yet. It's been raining quite a bit here and will be all week so I'm stuck for now. lol
I knew there was a shade plant I wanted in my new shade bed!! Ligualiara!! Luckily I have room alongside the house there for them.
oh great, another plant I just had to look up LOL
they kinda look like the cut leaf coneflower from Ju. but those things grow 12 ft tall and need sun.
Walking into work. Typed a nice post on the train and lost it. I try again on lunch break.
I've been thinking (that can be dangerous for me LOL). I don't like mulch. Never have. But I liked seeing bare ground between my plants even less. But now I'm faced with buying more of what I didn't like in the first place and laying a new layer of mulch simply to "pretty" up everything. (It still looks so dead and ugly from winter.)
Okay, so I don't like bare ground and I don't like mulch. Is there an alternative? I keep toying with the thought of putting in some plants to serve as ground cover. Does anyone do that? Won't they chock out the plants that I do want??
i use wild violets, houtunia and creeping sedum to cover bare spots, Joe hates mulch because it hops out of the area and he steps on it.
So......... you literally have the ground cover right up against your other plants? And they don't kill off the other plants?
That's what I'd like.
yes, that is what I do anyways..
Bp, yes, a yard I can work in.
Hi garden buddies! In the backyard swinging with Nicole, Jojo, & Millie. Here's some new pics.
Dyan, sedum, salvias and catmint are good choices.
Here is a good site to check out for groundcovers. http://www.stepables.com/
Betty, everyone is growing sideways! LOL!!
Everyone -- Thank you! This is what I've always envisioned.......
Well, I can't copy the picture from stepables.com. But it's the plants with the groundcover. All green and flower-y with sort of an un-kept, slightly wild look to it. English gardens do it so well.
Now, to figure out how to do it in my garden. That will be the trick. :)
And lawn replacements! My brother was talking about those the other night.
You can also plant veggies with your flowers. In a way it helps the veggies because the bugs who pollenate the plants won't have to travel as far. So strawberries would also make a good groundcover. lol
I agree with Pepper, I grow tomatoes, peppers, cukes and squash in my flower beds, and this year I lined some border with various lettuces.
I know. Still trying to figure out this new phone. Lol
I only grow edibles in the fenced in area, so the dogs can't pee on them.
I seem to remember a song about not eating the yellow snow. Wonder if that applies to yellow veggies, too. *wink*
HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY PEPPER!!!!
I'm on the run so I'll read later.
We have been on the run. Menard's has an 11% sale that ends today. I got mulch and topsoil to fill in more low spots in the garden. They discontinued the laminated wood floor we put down so we ran to Lowes the next day and found something almost the same.
I have been weeding and mulching. It seems to take all afternoon to just weed a small bed. I had to stop on the hosta bed because a hundred ladybugs were stirring and leaving. I didn't want to bury them. I did get it done the next day.
My neighbor brought me plants they've been digging and dividing so I planted those. I am behind on my fdlower journal already. I need to add the plants she's given me this week.
DH covered the hoops with Re-may and I planted the cabbage and broccoli.
I refilled the pots and now need to sow eggplant and flowers.
We might have a light rain today. I hopee it rains harder tomorrow. I need to be inside for a day, LOL!
It's sure been a beautiful week weather wise! Next week we hopefully have the last frost or hard freeze. I'm so hoping no freeze. Things are coming up early this year. Especially the lilies.
Have a glorious day!
Billy u been a busy bee..
Amanda, I hope your birthday was grand.
We got an inch and a half of rain.
Lawn raked & grass cut. Resting. Housework next. Storms tomorrow. Sunny & cool rest of the week, so the planting begins. Lily of the valley is spreading for the 1st time in over 25 years. Same with the periwinkle. I'll start compiling a list of plants to share. Pepper was it you who asked for lily of the valley?
Planting strawberries here today. A little over half done. Helper had a baby shower to go to, so will finish Monday. I was busy repairing the watering system. One spot, the pipe is broke from frost. Need to get parts.
I hope to find someone to care for & pick the berries all summer. Doesn't work well to try & do it along with everything else.
Done transplanting tomatoes, nearly 2600 plants. Hope to sell 2000 at market.
Working on my market trailer. Gutted the inside & making it better, I hope.
you guys are way too busy. I am at work today. I noticed my paperwhites, bleeding hearts, and lily of the valleys are opening everywhere this am. We had good rain yesterday. I hope to play outside tomorrow, still have leaves to lift.
It wasn't me that I remember. I have several that I keep contained. lol
The average for rainfall totals in the area today was just under an inch. Good soaking rains. While it makes it harder to catch up on the dratted weeds we need it so can't complain too much. lol. Just need a weeding helper. Wish I could train my nephew to help but he gets distracted too easily. lol
Pretties! I was going to wait until next week, but for some reason when I woke up today...... I HAD to go plant shopping. :) (Betty, I'm still up for our trip when you are.) I went to shop for ground cover and maybe a couple of yarrows, but there were so many pretties and the lady was so nice and so patient with me that I kept getting off track. Ah well. I can be "responsible" and get ground cover plants later.
Ever see the movie "Up"? I swear, I was like that dog. The nice lady would start talking about a plant, when another would catch my eye and I'd be like "squirrel!". (that reference makes no sense if you haven't seen the movie; sorry.)
Anyway, I bought Ice Plant Delosperma. They are actual ground cover plants, so I did manage to keep my focus to some degree. Something called "fuzzy wuzzy lamb's ears" (stachys byantina); LOVE THEM! A catmint; been meaning to get one or two of those. Something called Perfecta Verbena; pretty purple flowers that go so nicely with the lamb's ears. And 'Coral Canyon' (diascia integerrima); I'm in love with the wild look with this plant!
Oh, and my kitties were looking cute.
57°/70°/45°
Day: Cloudy with chance of showers. East wind to 7 MPH. Chance of precipitation 70 percent. New precipitation amounts up to one quarter inch possible.
Night: Mostly cloudy with showers. Wind chill values as low as 39°F. West northwest wind 6 to 16 MPH, gusting to 23 MPH. Chance of precipitation 80 percent. New precipitation amounts from one quarter to one half of an inch possible.
Debra,
It feels good to be busy, especially when I accomplish something good!
Betty,
You've been a good busy too!
Bernie,
You are amazing. The oldest of us and you do more than all of us combined.
Your ''new'' trailer will be efficient and comfortable :o)
Pepper,
I find when we have just that much rain, it soaks in pretty good and I can pull the small trees. I'm seeing many small elms I need to nip in the bud!
Dyan,
I hear ya! There are days when you just want flowers NOW! I'm glad you got your pretties and yep, they'll still sell ground covers next week.
LOVE the movie ''Up!''
Awwah! We have a charcoal grey kitty too! They are cute!
I love your plants!
We worked all day yesterday, laying the laminate wood floor and have the smallest kitchen almost done. We'll continue into the next room today. Then he has some broken trim to paint and replace. These two floors are taking longer than the other, first floor we did. More cutting this time and closets to do.
Have a beautiful blessed day.