Jim, I was so tempted to comment on the zoyasia as all I ever knew was St. Augustine. That is to grass as the Jersey shore is to beach (sorry Ursula). I once had a boyfriend who lived in NY and took me to the beach. I remember freezing my buns off and miles of gray, gritty dirt. I unknowingly said rude things like, "So where's the beach" and "You swim in this?" So, got to give the northerners credit...they grow great grass!
L
What's In Your Garden?
Fred, your place looks lke paradise!! It is gorgeous! I love the pond!
Zoysia grass? I love it. Most of our lawn is Zoysia. It is a beautiful thick carpet during the Summer. It comes in handy during droughts. When everybody's lawn looks dead, ours looks great. And it needs a lot less cutting and no fertilizer. Can't beat that.
The Bletillas are blooming here against the House wall. The ones closest to the wall are almost done, but there is a whole group in front of the patch just starting to flower.
And Clematis Josephine is getting slowly established inside the "cage". ( More of that later...)
Josephine
I suppose I can post a deck picture here too instead of going to the Orchid Cactus forum, since most of my special plants are really in containers.
A doublet -
We use "Empire" zoysia and I've heard of no nematode problem with it. The only 'bugs' so far have been billbugs for which a single application of regular lawn insecticide took care of the problem. It's probably a once a year situation.
'You might not expect turfgrass this soft to be this strong. EMPIRE is as hardy as it is attractive, and has a deep, thick root structure. It is more drought tolerant than most varieties of zoysiagrass, once established. In addition, slower vertical growth, plus natural chinch bug and chemical resistances, mean your lawn will require less maintenance, mowing and water than with other types of warm season grass. In some instances, once naturalized to the local climate, EMPIRE requires minimal irrigation.
These reduced maintenance needs and durability are EMPIRE’s hallmarks. EMPIRE was originally developed in Brazil, and thrives in harsh tropical climates, yet also exhibits excellent cold hardiness. EMPIRE is one of the few grasses rated to perform well in all zones; and it can thrive in varying soils and climatic conditions.'
From the empire sod web page but I don't agree with the less water, little fertilizer characteristics which they claim. It needs both here in the pure sand alkaline ground. My irrigation water is injected with a sulphuric acid to get to a PH the grass can live with. What comes out of our well was slowly killing my grass. Fertilizer makes for thick growth whic is needed to minimize other grasses and weeds.
I do agree that it requires less maintenance and don't quite understand why all the developers and landscapers use floratam instead of real grass. There is hardly any mowing during the winter months. Lawn service companies want annual contracts and I have them do other things like removing Brazilian peppers and trimming and cleaning as needed instead of cutting the grass during those months. Now it's the second week for weekly cutting. From early Spring until mid-May I could do with once every two or three weeks. Yesterday I had irrigation guys here to adjust my sprinklers as bushes and other growth gets in the way or heads get maladjusted somehow. I'll get brown spots where the water doesn't hit. So it needs water in this heat and pure sand.
For the last two batches I used 1) a mixture of sand and humus material (probably mostly woodchips which they call black soil around here) and 2) used horticultural potting mix as an underlayment. The sod responds instantly to this growth material as the fine roots have something to hold onto other then rocks and sand. So there is a difference between just sand and some organic material as is normally the case.
Except for the sod which was just placed out fron in my right-of-way gully (27'x330') I did all the sodding myself. I had a trailer built which would carry two pallets which I then bought directly from the growers a trip at a time. The cost of fuel now negates these savings and I had about 30 pallets trucked in and layed in one day. I then let the irrigation run and after the soaking had the sod rolled flat the next day. I'll go and take a picture as to what it looks like after one week.
I plan to erect a fence to train bougainvilla on the right edge of the grass. Behind that will be various bushes for a privacy screen to the house.
Fred
This message was edited May 30, 2008 10:45 AM
my orchid shed as seen from the back. The bush next to it is a Surinam Cherry which will get cut off as I need another place to grow orchids there.
The other side of my property out front was just changed yesterday to enable better water distribution on a separate zone. First we used a sod cutter from HD and then trenched that area for a new pipe. The same was done on the street side where you can see brown areas which couldn;t be properly watered from the sprinklers near the wall on the left. So now we have overlapping sprinklers from and to the street.
The sun is so hot that I can't walk barefoot on my pavers. The grass gets the same treatment and it never rains until late summer. That's brutal considering the soil is nothing but sand and lime rock.
the sod cutter works like magic
That is quite a project Fred. I hope you are right about the nematodes.
Ursula, the deck picture is great. I'm going to have to research orchid cactus. Very nice.
I want to share my hydranga with you. It is really putting on a show.
Jim
And a little closer.
Jim
My only house plant is this peace lily. I took it outside for this picture but rushed it back in before it yelled at me.
Jim
Fred, we had friends in N GA who sold their horse farm. The new owners also became friends and later relayed the parting words as the former owners left..."Hope you like to cut grass."
Ursula, I tried Bletillas years ago from Burpee. The purple ones. Mine were not nearly as nice as yours.
Jim, you're a few weeks ahead of me with that hydrangea, but I'm on your heels. This viburnum bloomed last month and the oak leaves are peaking now. I have planted a number of kinds, but did not bother to safe the IDs.
L
That's "save", not safe.
Orchids are walkin outside here. Only half are out! Oh dear, anyone want to help? I have to wire them to the shelves so they don't fall off in the wind.
I would love to help. Send a ticket! Ya' know...you play, you pay. Looks like they'll have fun at 'chid camp.
Laurel
Ursula, I had three buds on your gift epiphyllum (orchid cactus). I managed to knock off one bud but I finally saw the first bloom this morning. And there's one to go. Thank so much-I adore it!!
I'm finally getting smart and using my peony cages for anything that flops in the rain-like China Spring.
I replaced my Japanese Maple yesterday with this false cyprus. Nice one.
Historic TB irises Kashmir White.
Boo, why did you replace your JM. That's heretical to some (not that I'm opposed). Also, what is a China Spring?
The JM died!! China Spring is an iris typifolia and siberian cross.
I really enjoyed all the pictures!
This is my sweet companion, Vicki.
We are in the process of building a 3 car detached garage with a guest room. It's going really well and my DH is really excited. If only he knew that I'm more excited about the new landscaping gardening that is going around it! :P
We have a couple of fuyu persimons that has some fruits on it along with other fruit trees on the properties (citrus, apples, peach, plums, figs, banana, asian pears, pomgranate, guava,...).
I think I used to date Vicki.
Jim :>)
Jim!!!
I love Vicki's dewlaps she looks very thoughtful and intense. Must speak to Jim's former GFs.
Fuyus are so tasty, but I think they are a more recent introduction to this country than when I grew up in Florida. They are common at the Asian markets here as are Asian pears. I grow brown Turkey figs, but two out of three trees get eaten while the fruit is young and green (squirrels?) and the third is at a rental property we have. The tree is out at the street, so I think it does not get as raided as the ones close to the woods.
L
Oh Boo, forgot to say, I didn't realize the China Spring was an iris. I thought you were making reference to something like "Indian Summer"...a China Spring being so wet that all the flowers are flopping.
L
HA!
Kathy, your outside orchid setup looks terrific again! And the Iris are gorgeous!
Mimi - reading the fruit tree list - it must be lovely to have these nice fruits growing right there for you. ( Although the taste of Persimmons make me shudder. I guess I tasted too many unripe ones, available around here.)
Figs are yummy!!!
I am almost done carrying everything outside. I feel like I dodged bullets yesterday, the weather report talked all day about a very nasty storm coming through with strong winds and hail. Somehow it missed Fair Lawn, I heard it finally rumble in the distance during the evening hours, we had a downpour, the sun was still shining, so we had a wonderful rainbow. ( instead of plants strewn all over the place....which was my fear)
It was prettier than my picture though -
Ursula, you must retry persimmons. There are two types, astringent and non-astringent. The Japanese Fuju, like Mimi and I grow, are non-astrigent. That means you can eat them when they are still firm and the flavor is wonderful. Astrigent types do not sweeten until they are very soft. Please don't give up on this delicious fruit.
Jim
Jim, you argued so nicely in their favor, I will try them again - will look this time for the Fuju variety :-)
What Jim says, Fuyu persimmons are different from the astringent kind that just sucks the moisture out of your mouth if you're get a hold of one that is not ripe. Fuyu's will not do that to you, I like it better than the other ones (probably because I encountered an unripe one).
Vicki, she's such a stinker. But I love her. And she also love all sorts of veggies and fruits, not much of a guard dog!
Things are really heating up. Ninety five today (again). No rain for a week. No rain expected for a week. The cabbages are heading nicely with the red a bit behind the green. We have nine of each. Here they are interplanted with tall, old fashioned zinnias and dill. The zinnias are about a week from blooming and the dill is just starting to head.
L
We will be eating straightneck squash this week. Poor things look peaked. The zucchini, which is in the background of the last photo is lagging the yellow. There are lots of tomatoes coming in, but new fruit is not setting in this extreme heat.
It's hot here as well. We have had highs in the low 90s and lows in the mid 70s since the 3rd week of May and the afternoon rains have been sparse. My grass is screaming for water even though I have an irrigation system. We have watering restrictions which limit us to once a week watering and that is not cutting it. We are getting some blessed rain right now but it's not near enough. Once the rainy season sets in it will be better. My tomatos are showing signs of stress and I expect they will be done in another couple of weeks.
Jim
This area along the east side of the house was wiped out by the freeze. I now have some caladiums, black elephant ears, crotons, hydrangea, dwarf azaleas, datura, Persian shield and other plants growing in there for a colorful garden.
Jim
Jim, I have elephant ears that are over 6' tall by mid summer. They die back every winter and I never dig them out. Hopefully if you have another freeze your ears will make it through.
I've been eating mulberries for a few weeks :). The trees are wild.
L
Jim, your housewall looks gorgeous!!