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May 7, 2011

Here's my front door -- and the garden under the kitchen window





and here's my first rose! It smells so good!


I'm happy with my plantings -- 3 gladiolas are starting to come up -- all the roses are full of green leaves - even the Josephs Coat climber I planted in the back -- I thought it wasn't going to make it, and the bed I'd planted it in filled with weeds with purple flowers .... the other day I noticed the rose was coming alive, pulled all the weeds, except for a few I think are flowers, and was happy to know that within a few months the climber will be up the wall and blooming in variegated yellows and oranges.

The bed on the other side of the back porch looks like it has an easter lily coming up -- a bit late, but maybe it's a day lily!! I love surprises!! Like the peony that is coming up in the front.

I'm leaving for 2 weeks next Saturday, and it will be so nice to see what's happened in the garden beds when I get home.

A warm day - YAY!

Finally, a warm day ...

I planted mixed Gladiolus in back of the roses in from of my kitchen window ..




and some starflower bulbs under the magnolia tree.




























Also planted a "Mint Julep" rose on the other side of the front door, with star flowers along the bed border.


I am really looking forward to being blessed by Nature's beauty in my front yard!

March 27, 2011

The weatherman said snow this morning -- I am so grateful it didn't!!
I was worried about the bareroot roses I've been planting!

I planted the Joseph's Coat climbing rose today in the back yard -- my plan to have one on each side is thwarted. The planter on the right when I'm looking out the window has plumbing pipes buried in it. That planter will have to have top soil and shallow rooted plants.

Coming home from church this morning I discovered one of the pansies had been dug up... I quickly checked the hosta bulbs and - whew - there are still in the ground. I bought peanuts for the squirrels hoping they wouldn't dig up anything.

I'm trying to figure out how to build a veggie bed and put a screen over it so the deer won't feast. I want to do it without spending a lot of money. Back to the internet for more research!

I just LOVE Spring!

Planting

March 25

Today I planted 3 roses in front of my town home - (and my kitchen window) -- a Floribunda - Angel Face (on the right)
with a hybrid tea - Perfume Delight - on either side of it (picture below)

.... in a few months, visitors are going to have delightful scents wafting past their nose as they wait for me to answer the door!

In front of the roses I planted 3 hostas ... and around the trees I planted 12 purple pansies.

The manicure I got last week is a mess -- so I'm definitely going to have to invest in some gloves ... but I'm a happy girl!

Is it Spring Yet?

I'd forgotten about this blog ... from my last post in 2008 until now, I moved out of the house (a boyfriend issue) back to my town home, and then clear across the continent and back to the United States in January 2010. I lived in an apartment for the first year - I'd forgotten how bad apartment living is -- I could hear EVERYTHING from the upstairs neighbor, including the squeaking floorboards. And no yard, no balcony, no way to plant things at all except indoors, which was great until I got a kitten.... knocked over pots, dirt on the floor, chewed plants.

At the end of January 2011, I moved into another town home - a nice quiet neighborhood - and a YARD!! Unfortunately it was covered by snow until a few weeks ago, and now I'm itching to get my hands dirty.

I went to Lowes and purchased two roses -- ahhh, to have roses again ... I got two fragrant pink ones - they are from a company I haven't heard of called "Bloomers" and called Fragrant Delight.

Unfortunately I forgot to buy top soil to make the pre-existing beds healthier - so planned to go back to Lowes the next day -- only it's been raining or hailing or raining ever since. My poor pansies ... and my poor roses ... However, the weather channel calls for sun tomorrow - so first thing in the morning I pick up topsoil and some bone meal for the 'girls' (what else would pink roses be) and in the ground they go!!

I'm looking forward to creating a long bed for veggies - but have to figure out how to keep the bunnies and deer out. This will be an interesting adventure!

Eulogy for Roses

Yesterday I had to unpot two new roses.  I had ordered Louise Hay plants from a place in California ... but my dirt must have been too dense, and we had torrential rains ... I think I drowned them.

I moved them under the patio roof, and left them in the pots hoping that I'd see a tiny bud appear, but weeks have gone by and nothing.

Finally I decided enough was enough, and yanked them out -- to my dismay there were tiny white roots!!  I consoled myself by thinking they were roots from the root stock the Louise Hay rose was grown on.   I hope so.

With all roses I've purchased this season, I've realized that the ones bred and grown here are the hardiest.  I purchased a climber called "Aloha" in honour of my Hawaiian roots from Select Roses here in the Fraser Valley .... and it is much slower growing than my "on-sale-at- Home-Depot" ones, but so much stronger looking!!   I can hardly wait until the summer and flowers!

I also unpotted and planted alot of house plants in a rather shady and empty section of the back yard near the house.  I am happily anticipating a great looking area in a few months.

There is something so satisfying about gardening!!

Ahhhh .. dirt!

I have recently moved from a townhouse to a house. For the first time in 7 years I am able to move from container gardening to a YARD! And this yard has dirt! Dirt is like gold to me .. you see I come from the Big Island of Hawai'i. You might have pictures in your mind of the lush forests, and miles of tropical plants .. but let me share my experience.

When I moved from Honolulu to the Big Island, I was so excited because the house I rented was surrounded by weeds at least 2 feet tall . I could see myself creating my own lush tropical paradise, with a few roses thrown in.

Unpacking finally finished, garden tools purchased, I headed outside. The mental picture I had of my garden had grown. Now there was a veggie garden area, a meditation garden with a water feature, a rose garden and of course the tropical lushness. First I had to clear those weeds. Taking shovel in hand I started to dig. Foot on the shovel, I was met with a clang that jarred my arms. Darn rocks I muttered. I tried a foot over. Again that jarring clang. After a few more attempts, I realized that those tall weeds were growing in a few inches of soil. Underneath was hard lava rock. I moved to another area of the yard and found the same thing. As disappointment flooded me, I heard a truck coming down the road, and for a moment it looked like it was filled with gold -- it was dirt, dark rich, black dirt.

Yes, dirt is like gold on the east side of the Big Island, and after mowing the weeds, I bought 3 truckloads of it and it still wasn't enough to create what I wanted! My vision changed, and my roses were in containers, and most of the yard became lawn.