Hummingbirds & Birds

I mix 2 parts water to 1 part Sugar.

For example: 2 cups of water, to 1 cup of sugar. 

OOOOhhhhh they love it.  No color needed.

They multiply every year, you may have 1-2 the first year,

5-8 the second year, and woah! watch your head on that

third year.  I change my water out every 4-5 days.

                                                                         Bath Time!

Here Comes the Tropics!

Here Comes the tropical garden.  The one my husband was irritated about me planting.

He will thank me later. :)

Canna Lilies, Mammoth Elephant Ears, Banana Tree.

New Boundries!

The old flower bed. Ready for new boundries!

Here is the plan.

All in a days work.  I found the bike thrown away in the woods!

Yeah for me, I knew exactly what to do with it.

                                 My husband brought home the wheelbarrow from the dump! 
                                                        Woooohooooo! Yeah for hubby!! 
                               I made it into a Hens and Chicks Garden, with a touch of Sedum.

I found these at an antique store.  I thought they were fabulous!

They are dragonflies made with silverware handles.

How Cute!

                                           The Abandoned Bike that found a home in my garden

             I gave some mums to my girlfriend that had a new baby.  I titled it, "Mums for a New Mum."

Who does not love Clematis?

I Love Clematis and want more, more, more!!!

They are very easy to grow.  They like their tops in sun, and their roots in shade.

You can provide root shade with rocks or heavy mulch.

Clematis also bloom differently, some bloom on old wood,

some bloom on new wood, and some bloom on both.

So you have to prune them differently. Every few year, I hack them back to about 2 feet tall,

 and I dont worry about the blooming types.

They always come back strong. 

However, you might miss a year of blooms if you do it my way. 

Ramona! Oh Ramona!

NellyMoser

                                                                           Allanah!!!!

                                                                        Dr Rupple

May Flowers

Wow, My butterfly bush has gotten huge! Ive been trying to keep the bottom pruned,

so that my asiatic lilies can get some sunshine. This dark purple butterfly bush

is known as Dark Knight.

These Asiatic lilies I bought in bulb form off the internet.

They have been wonderfully named, Lollypop!

I have been waiting for them to bloom. This is the first year they have bloomed.

I am sure they will be even more beautiful once they get some age on them. I also have Renoir Asiatic

Lily planted here, but the bunnies ate them. I guess Iwill have to wait another year

to see what they will look like.

Mums, thrown in the ground one halloween. I never really cared for mums,

but I didn't have the heart to kill them.  They have inturn, given me many blooms

and turn out to be easy and undamanding. I will not throw out

my mums ever again.

This is where my Pink Muhly grass (Muhlenbergia Capillaris) ended up.

It still looks dead, but it is not it just needs to bounce back.

                                                                Peppermint Stick Spirea bush.

                    

       This is my bottlebrush bush.

It came from Charleston, SC.  I lived there for a while.  It is my dad's permanent residence.

I love Charleston, such an inspirtional place for plants.  I brought many ideas and plants back

from there.  This is one of them.  The bees love this plant.  It is covered in bumble bees and honey bees during blooming season. I had to pine straw underneath it at night.

Gardenia was my first LOVE!  Although I had always heard it was hard to grow.

I disagree.  I do tend to buy larger, established plants when buying Gardenia.

I try to remember to throw my coffee grinds underneath it. 

(Coffee grounds, tea bags, wood ash, epsom salts for plants that love acidity)

My yard smells heavenly right now.  This particular kind is named August Beauty.

                                  Flopping over from so many blooms! Held up by the bench.
                                                Maybe I need to prune it back this year?

                                                                  Mophead Hydrangea.
                             The color of your hydrangea is based on the acidity or alkalinity of your soil.
                                        My soil is obviously acidic, therefore myhydrangea is blue.
                                              Adding aluminum to your soil will make it acidic.
                                            If you soil is alkalotic, your hydrangea will be pink.

This one here is undecided.

Liriope Grass to line the walkway.

 Daylily bed still not blooming.

Conveniently Inexpensively Mulching

This is how I mulch.  For years I use to shovel up grass around my plants, or

buy the expensive landscaping fabric.  I finally became wise and started using newspaper.

Where do I get it?  I get it at the city dump, when I take the trash off.  Also, My husband

often comes home with an arm full when he takes the trash off.  I layer it thick, spray it with water or

it will blow away and then pile on the mulch and, walla! you've got a mulched in bed. 

 It is slowly coming together!  Thanks Hope for my hastas, they will be happy here.

 I also mulched in the tropical bed (Banana trees, Canna, Elephant Ears)

 My Elephant ears are starting to emerge.  I didn't think they were ever going to break ground.

I thought maybe they had rotted, but atlas here they come!

I also decided I needed a potting bench, of sorts.  I took my bakers rack that has been in

storage for years and I am using it.



There is a first time for everything!

This is my first Vegetable Garden.  Tomatoes, Strawberries (Tarpan & Ozark),

Green Bell Pepper, Red Bell Pepper, Seedless Watermelon, White Cucumber.

  We already pick strawberries everyday.

My little man, Cade, loves strawberries!

I am using rocks as markers for my plants.  What a great idea, right?

Here he is helping me with my herb garden!

I am going to have to study up on the herbs and what I

can use them for and how to dry them.

I have already tasted all of the leaves, interesting flavors.

I am sure I look like a wierdo tasting plants at Lowes and Walmart.

 Here it is all mulched in.

I have sweet basil, chocolate mint, spearmint, lemon balm,

lemon verbena, german thyme, stevia, common sage.

I wanted it right in the middle of my yard. 

Therefore as the herbs spill over into the grass

we can mow over them and smell the wonderful aromas!!

Lemon balm drying in my laundry room, hehe.