My sister! hahahaha. She's a beautiful person and will give you the shirt off her back should you need it but she's always said " plants come to my house to die!"
And boy was she ever right! A cousin of ours gave her a plant that sat in just water. seriously, just keep the water level at the black mark and it will be fine. Nope, it died! Then the same cousin ( who loves to garden) gave her an air plant...bwhahah yep, it died!
So now years later, Husband has now passed away from cancer and she has moved up here closer to us and now with this new guy, there's actually plants on her patio! Actually saw her get excited because I gave her some hummingbird vine and cantaloupe from my greenhouse! she was walking in there and asking what this and that was. They planted a tomato and it's doing well. should have some red juicy tomatoes soon.
She actually sent me pics of her patio ( townhouse) and it was full of blooms and plants. Was good to see her excited about it gardening and having something beautiful to take care of. All those years of kids and house and them running her to the ground even after they married and left home. Dropping their children on her at a moments notice and going off for days while she took care of him. Made my heart feel good to see her do something that pleased her instead of pleasing everyone else. Nothing wrong with helping out but there's a limit, ya know.
So she's now sporting hummingbird vine, cantaloupe, tomato and impatients. Has some marigolds ( newbies first flowers) and some petunias. A mosquito plant of citronella. Charles, her new guy was telling me he's not seeing any bees on the plants so my suggestion was to add a hummingbird feeder. the sugar will not only draw in the hummer but will draw in bees as well. We have two of them and they are all over them. So that's their next purchase.
it's been an exciting year so far. Momma gets all of use closer and she's growing plants. Perfect!
well we had more storms and my garden took a beating. Not to mention the two trees that came down. Thought for sure I had lost the hostas but no, they were just fine. It was the nasturtiums that took the hit and they were blooming so well! oh well. there is always next year right? there was a few orange blooms on there and was starting to enjoy their quirky way of growing. They have lots of turns and twists on them. Course it would have helped had I read up on them "before" I planted them. Had I done that, would have placed them where they could have hung down with a curtain of blooms. But there's always next year lol.
I have learned quite a bit this year with my gardening. It's not an exact science. There's just no way for every plant to grow the exact same way in every region. What works in one place may not work in another. It's only in the getting out there, planting and seeing it for myself that I have learned so much this year. Right now, the storms have come to an end and now it's killer heat! my goodness. from one extreme to the other. Heat index of 110 in Ohio!? seriously, El Nino needs to go back south again. I'm missing our normal 82 degrees with a cool breeze in the summer time. But the tomatoes are loving it! still amazes me. One plant almost wilts to powder and another one thrives.
I did, however, lose my clematis. it was so wonderful last summer. climbed the lattice and full of pink and purple blooms. This year, with all the rain and then the heat, the blooms formed but they molded before they even got a chance to bloom. The soil isn't the greatest where they are so hubby and I will be building soil boxes at the base of the posts so they can be planted there with lots of compost and goodness for them to grow in. But, once again... there's next year.
The Blue enchantment morning glories? seriously, I was so hoping they would be big bold and blooming.. nope. barely over a foot tall and it's july already! The year is flying by so fast I'm not sure the flowers even know to get moving. So my post arbor of blooms will have to wait..lol.. for next year.
Sounds funny, but already getting things ready for fall. The greenhouse will be prepped for winters use. I've been wanting to grow during the winters months and so with wrapping the inside with bubble paper, hay bails on the west wall ( winter's winds come from that direction for us) and the small heater we use.. should be able to grow the basics most of the winter. Course they are calling for a mild winter here but hehehe they said that last year too. Minus25 wasn't mild in my opinion. But we will do what we can.
So, we have most of the trees that came down cleaned up. In a few days, brother in law is bringing his 5 ton winch. One portion of tree is caught in the fork and wrapped in vines. it's not dangerous as the base is jammed in the earth and it's locked up like a thief in the neighbor tree but we still need it down. been cleaning up the first tree all day. cutting, hauling logs and still have a few large pieces of it yet to cut up. But it added to our wood pile. We've been working to have what we need should we lose power over the winter. We don't use the fireplace much cause I really don't want to burn up the supple should something happen.
In a few weeks, we also have 2 bushel of half runner beans coming our way. Yep, ya'll know what I'll be doing. Our beans grew really well but we cooked them up for dinner that night so there was none left to put away. I must say, I do like the Cherokee Trail of Tear beans. look like half runners but the beans have purple on them. Makes for a great conversation at the table.
So, I'm wiped out from tree clean up and trying to get the wood shop cleaned up. not to mention I really need to get out there and pull some weeds. And I still wonder, does any place actually still carry the dinnerplate Blue Moon roses!? ya know, those huge pale blue ones? had one years ago and would like to find one. Speaking of roses, I need to check on that new one we just put in. It was almost gone at Lowes on the clearance rack but I got it anyway. it's a knockout but they do so well and getting starts from them is easy too!
goodnight gardening fans... tomorrow is yet another day!
why? rain.. hard to get pics in the rain. but the garden is thriving. beans are already at the top of the tripod, cabbage leaves have flagged out everywhere and the tomatoes are putting a strain on the new cages from their weight. been getting shots at getting out there to look. the yard however is thriving. if it doesn't stop for a spell, we will need a bush hog to get it cut but the bees are loving it. it's full of white clover blossoms and it's buzzing away with bees. my neighbors don't like it but I'm not really concerned about what they think. they took down beautiful mature trees in their back yard because leaves were getting into the pool. yeah, those kinda neighbors. Kind that hand scrub a fence because there's bird poo on it. Our trees are packed in, providing shade on the house and the canopy is so pretty. early evenings you can sit out there ( when its not raining!) and look up.. beautiful. birds chirping from branch to branch, squirrels hopping around until the hawks, falcons fly over then it goes amazingly quiet.
We did watch an eagle this summer in our back yard! Now for where we are in Ohio, that was amazing! Sat on top of the pole and then floated around in the sky. Have seem him more often by the Miami River so the fishing is good in the river. Beautiful display it was.
but on a good note my flowers are coming up great and doing well. the petunia seeds I gathered last year got planted. Mother in law gave me white ones for Mothers Day. so I saved as many seeds as I could. planted them this year.. were they white? of course not! pollinators did their job and now I have colored ones!
Simply love these flowers. These are 9 years old and have parted them out several times. Now i have them in 3 places plus sent about 17 roots to friends who wanted some. they are doing well also. course my phone is new and wont load the driver so no pic at the moment. but i'll load some pics soon. Bob bought me a wisteria plant today too. has blooms all over it. I can't wait to get it going.
seed exchange is moving along fine. 139 people now and getting harder to keep up with seeds. so many are coming in it's crazy.Do what I can and hope no one gets upset
End of April and it's finally warm enough overnight to get some plants out. Got all the beans in and the tomatoes. Still watching overnight temps like a hawk. Potatoes are poking out of the soil and the onions are moving along.
Also got the sunflowers planted. My goodness they didn't take no time to consume the soil in their cup. We bought dairy queen cups and lids cause a few seeds were in the house but i still wanted them to get the benefit of having heat and moisture and they worked perfect. They make great seed starting vessels. deep enough, sturdy in the greenhouse too. But the sunflowers, the roots were at the bottom and there were gaps in the soil. was very impressed with those seeds. Planted Solar eclipse and Moonwalker. Teddy bear seeds are still tiny tho as they got a late start.
these are moonwalker sunflowers. Can't wait till they get grown
Cannas are out. red ones have been my fave but do have some yellow ones started in the greenhouse. Milkweed is rising slowly and those will make their way to the back end of the yard where butterflies and monarchs can use them. Still waiting on Helenium but i think i'm gonna have to replant those. been 2 weeks and there's no sign of them.
