Garden Photos ....

Tabasco asked me to start a new thread to post photos of what my gardens look like, as well as encourage other folks to post photos of their gardens. I hope some of you will also post photos of your gardens. I love looking at what everyone is doing! And it's inspiring to newbies who are debating whether to try a butterfly/hummer garden. I can't tell you how easy it is once you do your research and just jump on in! Start with a small patch of yard and then expand each year. I have a 5 year plan currently. (Don't know if I will get to the end results.)

Let me just say that I started creating butterfly gardens first (2 years ago) and then this year I added plants that I am hoping will attract hummers too. I favor red and purple flowers. But there is no rational reason to my planting madness! LOL! I like ALL flowers and ALL colors!!! My home is sitting in the middle of a standard size residental lot (80" X 125'). I have a sloping backyard and am recovering from hurricane damage to my yard from 2 years ago. My backyard perimeter is fenced in. It's a vinyl white fence that IS concreted into the ground. So hopefully it will hold up all the vines I planted next to it during this past summer! I think I might have planted a little too many. :-S

Anyway, here is my front yard. I just have the one garden near the front of my house. Next Spring I plan to extend the garden further out into the front yard and include the 3 small trees into the garden and change the paver walkway. My goal - To get rid of as much grass/weed in the yard as possible. My husband fears that I am well on my way to accomplishing this! lol

But my son is quite delighted with my garden goal because he hopes that eventually he won't ever have to mow the yard again or at the very least just mow a small bit of grassy area. lol

In case you are wondering WHAT in the world that crazy plant is ...... it's some large variety of purple porterweed. Normally it is cut way back, but this Fall I decided to just let the garden have it's last hurrah before winter. So yes, it looks WILD! But the porterweed and my lantana are the 2 biggest draws for butterflies, bees, and dragonflies of all the plants in my yard. I love my porterweed, but it scares my husband. He thinks it will attack him some day when he is walking by it and will never be seen again! lol

I really like container gardening, though it can be a little more work. More watering, anyway. And the plants kind of stay small because their roots can't expand in the confined area, so they stay manageable. I buy those plastic container at Walmart for anywhere between $5-10. I stayed with a particular color and style of container to make it all blend with the garden areas.

This is the walkway to the front door.

I don't have any photos of the rest of the front garden. I have plans to add more flowers in the Spring. I worked more on the backyard this summer than the front yard. This is a photo of "ONE" of my milkweed plants in the front garden. Pinch them back and they bush out. They get pretty tall, but I prune them back to about 6 inches above the ground several times a years.

Beautiful Becky! What a grand idea!

I've been trying to get some photos of my own start of a butterfly garden. I don't have the plants planted in the ground yet because I'm hoping to get a place in the front yard cleared of a huge tree trunk that was cut down last March. Once that's gone, I will park a pond form in that spot and put the flowers into the pond.

Such as it is, here is what's growing in my butterfly garden.

In that island there is:
Pink Mexican Petunias
Pink Salvia
Mexican Sage
A variety of Lantana
Milkweed
Blue Mist
Buddleia
Golden Dew Drop in both White and Light Lavender
Dark Night - Blue Mist
Several varieties of Hibiscus
Yellow Shrimp

The Palm will come out and so will all of the Scheffleras. I'm not doing much else until I have to for "winter".

Most of the plants above were purchased on the distressed aisle at Lowe's for 50 cents to a dollar. Yeah, I'm cheap! But I also have a soft heart for plants that need rescueing. :-)

And doggone it, if I find any more butterfly garden plants on the distressed aisle, I'll buy those too!

Janet

WOW Becky! Your milkweed looks much better than mine does. I did take a shot of the blooms this morning. Mine sure are leggy though. I think I will whack mine off too, if they will look like yours next year. :-)

Mine are currently in a different part of the yard. They've been covered in little yellpw aphids most of the summer and fall. {whispering} This morning, I noticed that there were no aphids! YEAH!!!

Janet

Wow, all of your gardens are beautiful.

Janet, it looks like an assassin bug on your mw, he probably ate all your aphids, but he likes to eat cats too :(

Becky, your mw looks so full, I'll try cutting them back more.
That Porterweed is interesting too.

This is a photo of the dwarf poincina ornamental tree in my front yard. I also have a Geiger tree (actually now a bush because it froze back to the ground last winter and came back bushy with tons of blooms - WHERE are the hummers?) and also a purple Queen crepe myrtle. But I only have a photo of the Poincina tree. The Queen appears to be budding again with flowers, so if it does I will take a photo of it. (It's really one of my favorite trees in the yard. The huge blooms stop cars driving by! Strangers will stop me to ask what it is.)

I have noticed that my hubby has been hitting the bottom of all my young trees with the weedwacker and has done some damage to them. Grrrrrrr ..... Just another reason to extend the garden out to include the young trees in it!

My backyard. It's a modge-podge of EVERYTHING it seems. I plant what I think will survive and grow in my gardens. I am so in love with so many plants I find. And seeds! I started a lot of plants from seeds this year. And thanks to many of you, I am adding more new plants to my gardens from the seeds I've received! Again, thanks to ALL of you for sharing. I hope that I will be able to harvest some seeds soon to share as well. For some reason, my garden just took off this month. It seemed like everything doubled in size. My husband is sure of it! LOL! He prefers a bare yard to a jungle. Oh well, he'll have to learn to live with the jungle. ;-) You Tarzan, me Jane!!! LOL!

All these plants in the photo are in pots. I must have 20 pots against my screened porch. My plan this Spring is to add a paver patio coming out from the screened porch. The big tall plant is an African Sunflower. It was a cutting that a co-worker gave me. I just stuck it in a pot! LOL! My kinda plant!

Oops .... no tall plant in the previous photo. Here it is:

More of the back of my house. My hubby bought me the little waterfall for my birthday 2 years ago. When my family wants to know what to get me, I always say garden stuff or garden shop gift certificates. Which is why my garden has grown so quickly in 2 short years! I love to shop for garden items and everyone says I'm the easiest person to buy for! (Forget clothes, shoes, purses, jewelry ..... just give me plants!!! LOL!)

My hummer deco:

More hummer plants! (Those little feathered friends don't know what they are missing by passing by my yard. Just ask all the other birds!)

Along one of the side back fences.

In the corner one of my older backyard plants - Cape Honeysuckle. It was planted 3 years ago and doubled in size this year.

Newly planted milkweed that I grew from seed. I was going to cut them back to get them to bush out, but the Monarchs have been around, so decided I would live with the leggy growth for now.

Passion flower vine that I bought as a small baby plant a mere few months ago. I can NOT believe the growth in just 3 short months! This scares me because I planted 9 more Maypop vines down along the fence just a few feet from it. NINE!!! I have a feeling that they are going to swallow up my fence. What have I done!????? (This may be one of my biggest planting mistakes this year.)

East back corner. If anyone knows how to get African Iris to bloom ..... let me know. These 3 have been in this corner for 2 years and have never, ever bloomed. They look like over-grown grass.

Oh dear, can't count ... there are 5 African Irises in the previous photo. I'm in denial about those plants. They may be history if they don't start blooming next year. If it doesn't bloom or provide shade or have some other butterfly or bird purpose, its days may be numbered!

This is my other major mistake this year. The dreaded, highly invasive Trumpet Creeper vine. (Which will be dug up and transplanted into a large container pot soon.) I wonder if a Moonflower vine would grow nicely on the post? Is Moonflower invasive?

Becky, your garden looks great. I have not had any luck with African Iris either.....others have huge plants full of blooms! I just posted another hummer shot this evening, they are still around. Keep your eyes open.

Notice the bare back of my house in the previous photo. (It may have a garden there too by the end of next year. lol) You can also see that I added a garden around the large Laurel Oak tree. I put purple trailing lantana around the tree.

This photo shows my west back corner. There is a small swamp dogwood tree there and some more milkweed in pots currently sitting behind it. I plan to add a cassia tree just behind the dogwood. Seems the dogwood needs some shade. The sun here scorches it. Would the Cassia grow to be too big for that area? Deb?

Maybe I won't put the cassia there. It is a damp area. Yes, there IS swamp land in Florida and the 2 vacant lots behind and to the west of me are under water part of the year whenever we get rain. I will be planting canna and scarlet hibiscus along that soggy back fence next year. That will conclude the backyard perimeter gardens when that is done. Then I start creating my garden "rooms". That's another story and plan.

I use wood for the garden edging in the backyard. I get it pre-cut at Home Depot or Lowes. My hubby screws or nails them together. And then I get the exhausting chore of filling the new gardens with newspaper, soil, and compost. Letting it sit for several months and then putting the plants in. It's an on-going project for me. Everyone else stays clear because they don't want to get asked to help. Seems I'm the only one in my family who likes to get really dirty! lol

Anyway, I started with just the front garden and over the past 2 years it has grown extensively as you can see. Maybe I'm obessive complusive or maybe I just enjoy gardening. Yet to be determined. I know one thing .... I love the creatures that live there now or come to visit every day! And the blooms just blow me away! I now understand why gardening is the #1 past time in the United States. (And probably the world!) I'm hooked.

Oh, I couldn't be into gardening without trying water gardening. I have to laugh whenever I read that Janet is going to use her pond forms for a dirt container garden. Which is actually an EXCELLENT idea! (Helps cut down on invasive plants!) But I tried water gardening this year with a friend and I am so in awe of the waterlilies. Boy! Would I love more ponds in my yard! Send any extras pre-formed ponds my way, Janet! lol

My little water garden will be put into it's own new garden in the summer. There will be two little ponds - one for tropical waterlilies and one for hardy waterlilies within a wooden edged garden like my herb garden. I'm still trying to figure out how to do that with my sloping backyard. But I just love waterlilies! The photo is of my itty bitty pre-formed pond. It's the best $30 that I have spent this year.

This is a close-up of the waterlilies that convinced me to try water gardening over the summer. I did nothing to them after planting them in the pond except fertilize them every month and ocassionally pull out dead lily leaves from the pond. I had tadpoles (which turned to frogs), dragonfly larve, and all kinds of interesting creatures living in my little pond. Nature provided the show!

Last, but not least is my herb garden. This was an expensive endeavor because of all the bags of soil and compost we had to buy to fill it. It was a real chore to create, let me tell you! But the results have been well worth it. Many of the plants were grown from seed this year. Unbelieveable growth! Must be all that compost! lol

Almost all of the gardens in the backyard were created this year. Using small starter plants or grown from seeds. I still can't believe all the growth in about 6 months. So I say to anyone thinking it would take a really long time to get a good garden started..... think again! Water, fertilizer, and some loving up-keep. And research! Many of the plants in my yard are native plants or plants that are proven to grow well in drought conditions. My yard is sand, clay, and no irrigation system. And scorching heat for 3-4 months of the summer/fall. I am still learning about insect control, disease control, and trial and error with some plants. About 6-8 of the plants I put in the ground this year didn't make it. And then I over-planted the vines. The vines are something I have had no experience with, so I may regret planting so many. Seed harvesting is also something that I am learning about as well as starting plants from cuttings. I still have sooooo much to learn! I can't wait! What a journey! :-)

Does anyone know the 3 year rule of gardening?

I truly hope no one reading this thread thinks that I am showing off or bragging about my gardens. I am not. When I first started gardening, I almost got discouraged and gave up. But something ..... perhaps the voice of God ..... gave me courage to keep trying. I think the first blooms on my first flowering plant was the turning point. It was the miracle of growth that God provided in my garden and in my soul. This is far greater than just sticking some plants in the ground. There is something so "promising and full of hope" in the return of growth through the darkest of winter seasons for the plants and for each of us. It's a pure and genuine spirituality. That's the core of gardening. The circle of life for every living thing on earth.

Janet - Your gardens are going to be beautiful in the pre-formed ponds! I can't wait to see how they turn out for you! Please do show us new photos when you get them all planted and growing! How exciting!

fly_girl - Cut those milkweed back and watch out! They will look like shrubs! Just don't overwater them.

gardenpom - I'm going to check out your hummer photo now. I've got hummer envy! lol I know that eventually the liitle birdies will come. And believe me, I'm watching for them! Though ... this time change is sure cutting into my after-work gardening time. Which is kind of a bummer!

I would really love to see others post their garden photos here. Big, small, and container gardening. ALL are welcome and encouraged to show us what your little piece of heaven looks like! I know many of you have some great gardens! Please share it with all of us! :-) :-) :-)

It looks amazing...you have done a lot of work for just 2 years!
I don't think you are bragging, but it's okay if you were.....I just see someone who is proud of their gardens.
I don't know if anyone could actually give up gardening, once it's in your blood, it's there to stay. I hope you get those hummers next year!

fly_girl - Thanks! I am not so "proud" of my gardens as I am in awe. How does this happen by putting seed or plants in a barren yard? I'm totally in awe! I give the credit to God. How else could this happen? How do all those butterflies, bees, dragonflies, etc. find our yards? It's simply a miracle to me.

Becky,

You have done so much work and it's paid off. Your yard is gorgeous!

I agree that the less we have to mow, the better! I've seen yards in my neighborhood that folks have planted ground cover, just so they don't have to mow.

Your herb garden gives me much inspiration. I mainly planted them for the culinary aspect, but won't mind sharing them with my flying friends.

This past week, I potted up about a dozen different pots of herbs, including a flat of seeds. Wanting to keep a close eye on them, I parked most of them close to the butterfly cage, on the patio. Then came the rains... and more rain... and then even more rain. One town not far fro me had 30 inches this month! It finally dried up a bit and when I went out to check on my caterpillars, there all over the ground was 90% of the dirt that I'd put into those pots! UGGGGGGGHH I repotted everything with about a half an inch room left in the pot. I then put sphagnum moss over the tops of the plants. The dirt I swept off the porch went into a dustpan and then over into those butterfly plants. I had cilantro and lavender seeds in those starter pots. Only one half of them had a smidgen of dirt left in them.

I also moved all of the herbs to the other end of the patio walkway.... away from the dripping that the rain was causing. I put a small pot of portulacca between each type of herb. When it's sunny out, the bursts of color between the herbs makes for a very pretty herb garden. Since this is the first year I've done any herbs, I don't have but single plants of everything I like to cook with. I'll post some photos that I took when I was distracted by the birth of the GF (another thread).

By the way, I agree wholeheartedly about God giving us so much hope and promise as each plant blooms.

Janet

I'll post the photos tomorrow. Time for bath now.

Becky, I am in awe. What a beautiful garden!!! I will post my photos tomorrow sometime. Karen

fly_girl - I think that you are right .... once a gardener always a gardener! :-)

Janet - I am soooo sorry to hear how the rain emptied your newly planted seeds from their pots! How frustrating! I had that problem with some of the areas around my house, but the plants finally got big enough that a downpour doesn't really bother them anymore. Herbs are so much fun! They grow so fast and put out TONS of seeds! Love the smell when I water them with hose. Having no irrigation system, I have to hand water them with the hose. It's time consuming, but I really enjoy it because it gets me out looking at all the plants. Please do post your photos! I'd really love to see them!

Karen - Yes, yes, yes! Please post your garden photos! Thanks for being in awe like I am of what has transpired in my yard this past year. Isn't it cool to have a garden just do miraculous things?!!! I love the saying, "Plant it and they will come!" Bees, butterflies, dragonflies, hummers, etc. - they all eventually show up when your yard becomes a nature habitat. It's such fun to see what happens from day to day in a garden!

This is the first photo of my garden.The center is my water fountain. It is surrounded by driftwood, and has an old coffee pot pouring water into an old metal basin. The birds love to bathe in it.

Back fence with both passionvine and cross vines.

Earth boxes have both fennel and milkweed seedlings.

Ladybug house (used only by anoles) surrounded by firebush, penta. In front is salvia and two Stokes Asters.

Better shot of fountain plus lantana.

Basket has salvia. Better shot of vines.

Earthboxes with milkweed behind. Also shows little wasp house on fence. Tiny wasps took residence instead of ladybugs, and are wonderful pollinators.

Karen - WOW! Looks like you have LOTS of hummer and butterfly nectar and host plants! Your property looks rather large. Is it a typical lot or larger such as acreage? I also like you fence, as it looks much easier for vines to climb and sprawl on. Very, very nice. Your water fountain is really cute and I really like your ladybug house! Sort of like my butterfly house that only ever gets used by the predators of the intended inhabitants of the houses! LOL! Thanks so much for sharing!

BTW - Where exactly is "The Villages" in Florida? I don't know if you ever saw the movie "The Village" but everytime I see where you live, I think of that movie! LOL!