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cats4ever
02-25-2018, 01:38 PM
Spring is trying to move in, and the garden is starting to show some color.

Hellebores (lentenrose)
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Starmagnolia
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phesina
02-25-2018, 04:27 PM
Oh, how pretty! Thank you, Heidi.

:love::love::love::love::love::love::love::love:

Felicia's Mom
02-25-2018, 05:02 PM
Very nice, thank you!

mon
02-25-2018, 05:16 PM
So pretty, thanks! We had tulips sneaking up but just had a snowstorm and it was freezing 😾

cats4ever
03-06-2018, 11:23 AM
It is a rainy, damp day today, about 38 degrees F, but I still enjoyed walking through the garden to look at everything that's in bloom right now.

Bleeding heart
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Wild cherry tree
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Rhododendron
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Magnolia
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Pieris
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Freckles
03-06-2018, 12:01 PM
So nice to see the early bloomers. I didn't recognize the name Pieris but with a google search, discovered some of us know it as the lovely Andromeda.

cats4ever
04-03-2018, 12:21 PM
Spring has sprung. Wait a minute, there's possible snow in the forecast for Saturday.:eek:
I'm over it, I want it to warm up, and plant as many flowers as possible, and get my hibernating plants out of the basement!

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Crabapple tree
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cats4ever
05-01-2018, 01:46 PM
The gardening year is finally in full swing, and everything looks so beautiful after all the rain. Today we made it to 80F.

Foam flower
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Clematis
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Walking Egyptian onion (when the tops get too heavy, they bend over, touch the ground and start growing from there
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phesina
05-01-2018, 02:10 PM
Lovely!!!

:love::love::love::love::love::love::love::love:

sleepgrazed
05-16-2018, 09:38 PM
I grow some vegetables in my garden and some orchids too.

Karen
05-16-2018, 11:39 PM
I grow some vegetables in my garden and some orchids too.

Wow, where do you live that you can grow orchids in your garden?

cats4ever
05-17-2018, 12:38 PM
In our area, North Carolina, quite a few hardy orchids are growing.

https://www.plantdelights.com/blogs/articles/hardy-orchids-in-the-garden

Karen
05-17-2018, 01:28 PM
Lilacs in full bloom
Scent the air with perfumed spice
Memories, portent

The heavy clusters
Bend time, it’s forever May;
We are young once more

Gathering armfuls
From abandoned places, white
And purple, fragrant

Silent beauty like
Love notes from ghost gardeners
Tinged with wistful tones

cats4ever
05-29-2018, 11:23 AM
Karen, I just saw your picture of that beautiful lilac, and the haiku. I love the fragrance.
The month of May has been a washout. And now, with tropical storm Alberto, there's even more rain coming.
The garden, though, is growing well. But our deck can't handle all the water.
Amazingly, the honey bees are finding their way between the downpours. The first tomatoes are appearing right outside the kitchen window.

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mon
05-29-2018, 10:13 PM
Beautiful Haiku Karen. Brings so many lovely memories for me 💕

Karen
05-30-2018, 10:39 AM
Aww, thank you.

mon
05-30-2018, 03:03 PM
We transplanted a fig tree that is loaded this year. My husband snuck into the bush and liberated a small gooseberry tree which appears to be thriving. We also have Lillies, midnight fuschias, salvia and night sky, and red blue petunias. Guess I may need to make chutney one day. Wish I could send some to Pet talkers, not a lot of demand for fig chutney in my family 😐

mon
05-30-2018, 03:11 PM
Oops, not a gooseberry tree, it is a huckleberry tree!

Karen
05-30-2018, 07:34 PM
Wish I could send some to Pet talkers, not a lot of demand for fig chutney in my family 

Umm, you certainly could send some to us! :) Bet it's yummy!

mon
06-03-2018, 07:34 PM
Flowers are doing great, sure miss a vegetable garden. Not much room for one here, although,last time we had one a whole gang of raccoons used one corner of it for their community toilet. Eeeeeeew! Like who wants to eat the vegetables knowing that 🤢 🙊 One could hurl just thinking about it 😂

cats4ever
06-05-2018, 12:31 PM
Most of my plants were on clearance. This saves a lot of money, especially if someone is as obsessed with plants as I am.:D It's especially rewarding with perennials, since they come back year after year.
Today I found this pot with all those beautiful Gerbera daisies, marked down from $ 13 to $ 5.

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Karen
06-05-2018, 12:42 PM
Wow - yes, Perennials are the best - make 'em happy and they come back year after year!

phesina
06-05-2018, 01:59 PM
Beautiful! Well done, Heidi and plants and family!

:love::love::love::love::love::love::love::love:

mon
06-05-2018, 05:05 PM
So pretty and fresh!

cats4ever
06-06-2018, 06:01 PM
Flowers are doing great, sure miss a vegetable garden. Not much room for one here, although,last time we had one a whole gang of raccoons used one corner of it for their community toilet. Eeeeeeew! Like who wants to eat the vegetables knowing that 濫  One could hurl just thinking about it 

Have you tried veggies in pots? I had to give up my vegetable beds a few years ago, because the surrounding trees grew and it became too shady.
Beans, tomatoes and cucumbers do well with about 6 hours of sun on my deck. Another bonus: No critters to destroy them!
April:
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Now:
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mon
06-06-2018, 06:40 PM
Excellent idea! Should try that next year as we have flowers in every pot now. Thank goodness for farmers markets!!

Amberly
06-07-2018, 05:05 AM
trees obscured a lot of space, even their sweep did not really help. found a way out, built wooden boxes in the sunny space and filled them with fertile soil. ready to disembark.

cats4ever
06-07-2018, 01:04 PM
That's a great alternative! Please post some pictures.

Karen
06-07-2018, 05:03 PM
From my friend Laura's Garden:

Garden's early gifts
Sage blossoms, chive, strawberries
Brighten a grey day

phesina
06-07-2018, 06:11 PM
Very nice!

:love::love::love::love::love::love::love::love:

cats4ever
06-12-2018, 01:13 PM
I got some edamame plants just to try. They are growing well, but the harvest won't be enough for a whole meal, so I have been eating them right out of the pod. They taste a little like sugar snaps.

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Purvis
06-21-2018, 08:05 AM
I got some Quick Extender Pro (https://www.villagevoice.com/2022/06/16/quick-extender-pro-review/) just to try. They are growing well, but the harvest won't be enough for a whole meal, so I have been eating them right out of the pod. They taste a little like sugar snaps.


They look nice and healthy, cats4ever. Why are you growing only a few of them? Lack of space or are you just trying it out this time?

cats4ever
06-26-2018, 12:52 PM
They look nice and healthy, cats4ever. Why are you growing only a few of them? Lack of space or are you just trying it out this time?

A little of both! I was curious, and I had a tiny free spot. It used to be my large vegetable garden, but over the years it has become too shady.
All my veggies are grown in pots on my deck now.


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cats4ever
06-29-2018, 06:05 PM
I never had really luck with mail order plants. The only one that's ever worked out is an Egyptian walking onion.
It will grow a small bunch of onions on top of the stem, then, the stem will kink, so that the little onions will touch the ground and then grow a new plant, hence the name.
The onions have a pretty harsh flavor, but it's a neat plant, and I had it for about 10 years now.

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Karen
06-30-2018, 09:55 AM
We are cleaning up and renewing the gardens at my church. Someone donated three bag full of nice astilbe plants yesterday afternoon, but is handicapped and could not plant them herself. I had such a busy day, I ended up plating them after dark - even on one of the longest days of the year!

cats4ever
06-30-2018, 01:05 PM
I love astilbes with their beautiful feathery blooms. Do you have some pictures? They are probably not in bloom right now.

cats4ever
07-08-2018, 01:37 PM
Today, we found a shed snake skin. It's a about 3 feet long, so the snake should be a bit bigger.
I'm glad to have snakes in the garden. They are safe with me, and help with vermin in the garden.
Everybody at work will kill snakes as soon as they see them, and brag about it..:( Peoples' ignorance makes me incredibly sad!

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Karen
07-08-2018, 02:29 PM
They are not blossoming yet - one of them died in the heat wave, but the others looks like they will live. When they blossom I will take pictures.

cats4ever
08-11-2018, 01:05 PM
I found this tomato variety, called "Indigo Rose". The little tomatoes look as beautiful as they did in the picture.
But...they have NO flavor. I'm very disappointed.

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mon
08-11-2018, 03:27 PM
Thanks, good to know! I believe I should put a few in every salad with a nice dressing anyway. They are just too pretty to leave out, maybe a little sea salt....

cats4ever
08-12-2018, 12:54 PM
I don't throw them out, either. They go on toasted sandwiches with onions, cheese and garlic powder.

cats4ever
08-24-2018, 06:02 PM
Fall is almost here, and the mums and sedums are starting to bloom.
Last night, the temperature went down to 55 F.

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phesina
08-24-2018, 07:43 PM
Lovely! How nice!

:love::love::love::love::love::love::love::love:

cats4ever
09-01-2018, 02:11 PM
This morning, I caught the flowers of my night-blooming cactus just in time before they faded. They were the first ones this year.

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phesina
09-01-2018, 06:48 PM
Ooohh, how pretty! Thank you for sharing that great shot, Heidi!

:love::love::love::love::love::love::love::love:

cats4ever
09-06-2018, 02:03 PM
One last hooray for the summer plants, before pansies are moving in!

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Garlic chives
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Succulent collection
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phesina
09-06-2018, 02:22 PM
Very pretty! Thank you!

:love::love::love::love::love::love::love::love:

cats4ever
09-29-2018, 12:43 PM
I think I will stick with my container vegetables. A few weeks ago, I tried broccoli and cale in the garden, and the rabbits and cabbage worms got it all.
The Swiss chard in the pot, on the other hand, is beautiful, along with some thyme.

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cats4ever
10-20-2018, 01:02 PM
This is a dainty little perennial that readily spreads as a groundcover, a white wood aster.
It is still blooming.

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phesina
10-20-2018, 05:16 PM
Oh, those are gorgeous little flowers there!

:love::love::love::love::love::love::love::love:

mon
10-21-2018, 05:01 AM
We have slugs. Look, my husband has the greenest thumb but slugfest city her. Eeew, I love all critters but slugs are hard to warm up too. They eat the begins sprouts of our sunflowers regularly. Grew them in containers this yr. and did well. Grew a giant fig tree from a wee cutting, we sure have that still. Maybe ten yrs. old and everyone enjoys it. Between the slugs, moles, and smaller space we have given up on veggies. I am having flashbacks of our hundred lb. plus pumpkin and the eighty pounder ten years back when we lived on lotsa land. Such a grand pumpkins that man can grow, I freekin love pumpkins.

cats4ever
10-21-2018, 12:17 PM
We have slugs. Look, my husband has the greenest thumb but slugfest city her. Eeew, I love all critters but slugs are hard to warm up too. They eat the begins sprouts of our sunflowers regularly. Grew them in containers this yr. and did well. Grew a giant fig tree from a wee cutting, we sure have that still. Maybe ten yrs. old and everyone enjoys it. Between the slugs, moles, and smaller space we have given up on veggies. I am having flashbacks of our hundred lb. plus pumpkin and the eighty pounder ten years back when we lived on lotsa land. Such a grand pumpkins that man can grow, I freekin love pumpkins.


I love pumpkins, too. A few weeks ago, at the fair, there was a display of price-winning pumpkins, up to a 1000lbs.

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cats4ever
11-04-2018, 01:12 PM
My garden is exploding with fall color right now. One last hooray before winter!


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This is a wonderful plant, extremely fragrant, a sweet olive (osmanthus fragrans):
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Randi
11-04-2018, 01:16 PM
What beautiful plants you have! The tree looks a lot like some we have here, but more leaves have fallen off.

Do you think it's time I cut down the hydrangeas?

cats4ever
11-04-2018, 01:23 PM
What beautiful plants you have! The tree looks a lot like some we have here, but more leaves have fallen off.

Do you think it's time I cut down the hydrangeas?

If you have the old-fashioned hydrangeas, they need to be pruned during summer, otherwise you might not get blooms the next year.

Randi
11-04-2018, 01:33 PM
Uh, I don't know whether it is the old fashioned one, but I suppose it is. So it may too late now? Never mind.. I intend to plant Spanish Marguerites there.

phesina
11-04-2018, 03:51 PM
Those are absolutely stunning, Heidi. You have such beautiful plants!

Thank you!
:love::love::love::love::love::love::love::love:

mbsmum
11-04-2018, 10:14 PM
Stunning !!!