What's Blooming Outside Your Door, Part 2

Look for some climbing milkweed. The name alone will make evreyone laugh when you tell them its Wettakaka sinensis! My son loves the name, might be the only one he knows! So if I could find a 20" pole? lol ;-)


My fil is the cheapest person! He was determined to scare them away. His neighbor spent bucks on some laser detractor. I said get a German Shepard! Murmur, what kind of rose is it? Some are fast climbers but others are pretty slow. Mine has been pretty slow, abot four feet up in two years, so maybe this will be its year. One more year of black spot and out they go!!

I forget the name of the rose at the moment, but I do have it marked . . . I suspect it's not a very fast one! Last year I also grew Sweet Peas on the back side of it - that worked nicely. I got some from Annie's Annuals - I saved some seed, but don't know if I've waited too long . . . should have started them indoors.

I didn't get it at first either Kathy. Had to go back and look at the pic again. You start them straight on the rebar them tilt them towards the bottom of the rebar and then the next pot sits askew on that one, etc........
Anjl, you got to get a bowling ball for the top!

I planted my sweet peas like every other year, so none came up! Stupid spring! But I have lots others I started inside. I even saw some sweeet peas for $12 at Flower world in a gallon pot about three feet high.They look nice, but $12 for sweet peas? Is it just me that thinks thats stupid?

One of the front shade gardens.

lol, no bowling ball... I'm sure the neighbors would protest that! But DH is building me a bird house to sit on the top. I'll paint it and then just drill a hole in the bottom and plop it on there like a anjl on a xmas tree! LOL!

yes, you just put the pot on the rebar like a shishkabob, and then you tilt the pot so that one side rests against the rebar, then you put the next pot on and lean it the other way. really, really simple project. the only snag I ran into is that on one of the pots the drain hole was too small to make it lean all the way over. DH had a wood file and I ued that to file away at the clay to make the hole bigger. had to be careful cause these $8 pots crack easily! LOL!
also you should paint the inside of the clay pot with a water deterant... we used polyurethane (sp?) to keep the clay from absorbing all the water. and you need to keep the soil at least an inch below the rim, so all the plants will get water.

Huh - I guess I just couldn't get my head around the fact that they would tilt so far. Thanks for the explanation. Fun!!

Clearly we all need some Wettekaka sinensis. I'm impressed that your son's impressed. LOL

Carole - did you say that you made your trellis from a kit? I absolutely love the shape - could probably piece one together if I was patient and took the time, but maybe a kit would be a better place for me to start.

Here's my Northern Lights azalea. It's going to take off this year. Deciduous, but very cold tolerate. And it's fragrant.

But I just absolutely ADORE the color. It looks great next to my berberis thunbergii 'aurea'.

I got mine from pixy. You should ask her. It was just a wee thing way back in Feb. Just a seedling with a few true leaves. Now its ready to pot up. I have a mini hoya that I might plant with it. Both being tropical, ain't going to spend a heck of a lot of time outside.

Kathy, I got my kit for my obelisk at Ace Hardware - I think lots of garden centers carry that type. I don't think it was one of their own products.

Gordon, the $12 for Sweet Peas wouldn't be too bad if you collected a gazillion seeds for next year! And the ones I bought from Annie's Annuals were probably more than that, but were absolutely exquisite and the fragrance was indescribable!! They made me happy enough to be well worth it.

Carole, thanks. Hmm - clearly, I just need to keep my eyes open. I have just the lonicera, er, hydrangea, er, clematis, er, jasmine for it. It really need to start building some climbing devices, LOL.

Thanks, Gordon. I'll keep an eye out for some Wittekaka. Anything for the butterflies.

Love that Northern Lights azalea. It just glows.

Annmarie, your stacked clay pots are so cute. You gave me insperation and I made two today. (1 each back yard/front yard) I did run a drip line up the center to make watering easier I hope! I filled mine with flowers , but now I think I should make another for my vegetable garden and plant herbs in it maybe or better more strawberries. I am running out of plantable space on the ground..so maybe I should start planting up. Thanks for sharing this project!

oh what a great idea! I didnt think of the drip line! I have that set up for all my other pots, dont know what I was thinking! LOL! I guess I could still thread one thru the bottoms... oh well, another weekend project! LOL!

You HAVE to post pictures!

I too am thinking of transplanting my herbs to one of these....will free up more ground space for more plants! LOL!

Here is the one by the front door. I was lucky that I already had tons of wave petunia's growing in pots for later this summer. Just transfered them into the stacked pots and add a few trailing plants
here and there. Fun day!

This message was edited May 19, 2008 5:49 PM

nice job!

This one is in the back yard by my pink chair by the pond. The wave petunia's planted in this one are pink and purple so it will be very colorful spot to say the least.

Bearded Iris's started blooming today. Those pesky garden faries
have taken all my name markers,so I have no clue their given name.

A yellow one

Bea that is absolutely beautiful! Now ya just need a birdhouse to perch on top!

I LOVE that pink chair!

Another yellow NOID, but so pretty.

The window box planters on my shed are looking great today.Won't be long until they are filled out and trailing all over the place.

:o( all my irises have bloomed and gone....
Yours are absolutely beautiful! I sure wish they would last til summer!

A delphinium and if you look to the back of the trellis , there is a short Clematis (Corona) from Silver Star Vinery that is doing nicely..short right now but sweet!

Annmarie, I have a bird house that I plan to put on the one by the front door as I was not able to get the rebar into the ground as far as the one in the back. Rocks and hard clay! I added small stones to the large bottom pot for extra stabilty! I would hate to see these come crashing down!

Bea, I just love what you've done with color (the bright pink chair!) and the bird houses on the trellis - fabulous!!!!

I'm still waiting for DH to build my birdhouse... then I'll need to paint it :o)
I still have a butterfly box that I need to paint to :o)
Until then I have about 6" of rebar sticking out of the top of my pot! LOL!

Bea you have made yourself a wonderful place! I wish I could wander around your whole place. Seams like theres a suprise around every corner.I can tell you have been at this for some time now.

I NEEDS me a pink chair. You have a faery princess throne there, Bea. A wonderful place from which to rule your garden.

me too! but I dont think DH will let me! LOL!

Let schmet. What can he do if it's already painted? Paint him a blue one and then how can he argue - give him his pick of the two. Hee hee.

Cooler today and it's raining! My plants will love the good soak after the heat wave we have had! Debated for a while on the color of my chair. It came natural wood and it looked kinda boring.After many paint swatches, pink it was! The yard at that point had very little color,so I picked something crazy. My daughters like pink, but thought it was a bit much! Since it is my chair and they do not like gardening.. I won! I am thinking now that I should put an arbor of some sort to give some shade. It is full sun all day in that area. I could retrain the climbing roses on the trellis behind the chair up onto the arbor.
NWGordon & WA folks. If you are ever down this way you are welcome to come by.Just give me a heads up! Only 2 miles from the Oregon Gardens..so that gives you a great excuse to travel to Silverton. Come on down!
Been gardening since I was very small. My french grandmother had
a passion for gardening and had beautiful gardens. I would follow her around and "help". I learned so much from her but am still learning everyday. Moving from Ca to OR has been a gardening challenge..but I am learning what works and what does not.
It's amazing the transformation this yard has seen in only 1-1/2 years. It was pretty much mud, rocks, weeds when I moved in. Lots of back breaking work..but I love it.
Found this little lemon trillium hiding under a Hosta yester when on slug patrol. Forgot I planted it last year. Mark those plants!! Will keep checking for the bloom. :)

Bea, I am blown away!!! That glorious yard is only 1 1/2 years old???!!! It is incredible (I phrased that incorrectly - YOU are incredible!).

I learned from my grandmother as well - she lived with us so I, like you, followed her around learning by osmosis I think! I can still picture her - she was younger than I am now, but of course I remember her as being "old!" Her father was a landscape gardener in Ireland and after they moved here, had lovely gardens as well (I've only seen pictures as he died before I was born). Sigh. Such nice memories of my precious grandma.

analog....... hi! way up on your post from the 5th. ( i havent been around here for a bit!) you didnt know if that was an azalea or rhodie. i think its a rhodie called impeditum. i have one and it looks jsut like it. so good chance that might be it. everyone pics are SOOOOO pretty! gotta love 'em!
this is a pic of some of my irises with my huge hollandia broom in the back and my colonel cohen rhodie

Breathtaking colors!

this is one of my fav. lilacs called sensation. the scent is incredible!

a few of the many white iris that are blooming. stuff is popping up so fast now its hard to keep up! love it! :)

Very pretty pics, Shokami. I really like the darker purple lilacs and your irises are lovely.

thanks susy....... i keep taking pics and forget to post them on my blog. have LOTS of pretty pics there of my rhodies and such. i love spring but we have another weird day today... raining. i guess thats good but have some landscaping to do today for a friend so i hope it stays away for a bit.

Yeah, the weather's strange here, too. I looked at a nearby weather underground page and saw the temperature declining continuously from midnight to 8am-it's still showing that it's cooler now than it was at 6am-weird!!. Plus, it rained from 5am to about 10:30.


Bea, I forgot to mention that I liked your chair too. I showed it to DH-somehow he just wasn't as enthused, though, lol!

We had a huge down pour around 11AM. It only lasted about ten minutes, but it took me by surprise. Noisy and it dropped a lot of water in that short time. Temp 54. Hard to image in was 95 only a few days ago. Must say I prefer it cool!