Friday, April 29, 2011

~ Gardening ... I'm Done.... Really ....


Semi-shade. Morning sun only.

The heat is setting in and keeping everything watered enough is takes time. The mister irrigation is up and running in the front yard, but needs a good amount of tweaking. Rain was predicted, but seeing what has happened in the states hit by tornadoes certainly makes it silly to complain that the rain didn't come further south. My heart and prayers go out to those who are suffering from the after effects of such terrible weather.

I was thinking that I could resist making another trip to any place where plants and flowers know my name and call out to me with enticements of how well they promise to flower for me. With very little work on my part they always say. But I was being strong. Three days without buying a single flower!

Then I found this picture while looking at my past color combinations to refresh my mind of what I might like. I had already bought the purple Persian shield during the last trip, so I only needed just a few others to go with it. Actually I did very well, only about 6 one gallon size lovelies jumped in the truck. That's no bad at all. ;)

So done for today. And I'll try some will power the next time I have the urge for more flowers.

Happy Weekend
Donna

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

~ Walking Iris - No Leash Required! Neomarica Caerulea Regina


Isn't this beautiful!? The colors are amazing.

I planted these several months ago with only a little hope that they would do well here. So many conflicting sources of information. And unlike my usual times of falling in love with the flower and then worrying later about if the plant will even grow in my area, this time I just saw that it was an iris and grabbed it even without seeing it bloom, except for the tag picture.

It came in a good size pot and was about $16 so I started with just one to see how it would do. Other than African iris, other irises did not seem to like the heat. We divided it in two and put them in a semi shady area which gets strong indirect western afternoon sun. And I guess it likes its new home.

Since it may not be all that cold hardy, we covered it during the 2 or 3 hard freezes over the winter. The plants have more than doubled in size.

According to what I found online, they are called a "walking iris" because the flowers make the leaves so heavy that they descend to the ground and then sprout new little plants where the touch! Oh I hope so. We will see. Nothing is touching the ground yet.

There were a couple of pictures online of this iris in big pots and it makes a wonderful single specimen that way. Really stunning in bloom.

See Y'All Soon~
Donna

Friday, April 8, 2011

~ Happy Friday, Happy Weekend


Instead of buying cut flowers, I usually look for a nice orchid to bring a bit of Spring and color inside. Usually I go right for the white ones, and I did this time as well, but this other color or pinkish violet often makes me change my mind and chose a bit more color. They need so little care and will last for weeks and weeks.

All week we have been outside .. still digging, and now finally mulching. There is a large berm off the side yard that gets monster afternoon sun, so instead of planting more plants that need water, the berm just got a really good dressing of pine bark. Looks nice and fresh again.
The coupons in the last post came in very handy for all the plants and mulch we needed.

Sweet hubby constructed two nice size cedar planter boxes for growing some veggies, greens and herbs. They look so big right now empty, but they will fill up quickly. He has been wanting to do this for so long, but I had to wait until a long list of things was done out back first. He waited patiently. Now I can't wait to put claims on a box for herbs!

Hope you weekend is full of good things!
See Y'All Soon~ Donna