How does your garden grow '07!

[Rhiamon]

Here are a few pics of my garden, at present. We pulled a lot of things out, this past fall, and new things went in this late spring. It will be fun to see what takes well, what doesn't and how full it will look. My ultimate goal is to see what grows well and have it chuck full of stuff so you don't really see mulch, but rather the feeling of an English cottage garden. And if this works, we will have more sections done up in the front and side of the house!

HC, your house is simply gorgeous! I love your landscaping
Being from the north, I have always loved Magnolias, so the one gift of living in Georgia now is I could finally have my own...here is a pic of my little Charlie Brown Magnolia...but she is growing up to be a Magestic Beauty, I assure you

 

[sharpchick]

Anyone having a bigger than usual problem with whieflies this year? I hate to use chemicals any more than I have to and usually just take care of them with a blast of water from the hose.

It may just be peculiar to my region of the US. . .

 

[celticnoodle]

Rhiamon, I too, love magnolias, and miss having them around. they are gorgeous trees!

and, no, i don't think we have whiteflies here, sharpchick. we have enough problems with the deer, groundhog and rabbits eating our things! but, I guess they have to eat too! just hope this year, when they start on one tomato, they finish it rather then go on to the next one beside it! and, i hope they remember to leave some of the herbs for us as well. we don't mind sharing, but last year they ate our cilantro right to ground before we had a chance to grab any of it!

we have tomatoes, and tons of herbs. i still have a lot of dried sage from last year hanging in my house. i LOVE sage, and rosemary, and the lemon thyme and lavender. we plant all of those and more. my husband is more of the gardner then I am. In addition to being a plant killer, (not on purpose!), I just cannot take the heat and because of certain meds I'm on, I have to seriously limit my time out in the sun. we'd love to plant a larger garden, and maybe next year---nothing like your own fresh grown veggies!

we also have lots of beautiful flowers all around too. i have a sedum that came from a plant my grandmother had from the 1920's! that, of course is a very very special plant, as it is a 'granddaughter' plant from her plant!

 

[Indigo Rose]

I love all the pictures and stories of your gardens.
I'm so excited. This year our Cherry Tree is loaded with cherries. There are so many we can't gather enough of them. That's ok because we have some big Blue birds that are having a feast off of them.

Beyond that our Plum Tree is finally bearing fruit, my blueberries are taking off too...and we got our Concord grape vine in the ground. Last year it was still in the pot and gave us a small batch of grapes. However, I am really excited it's in the ground finally.

I have a Maple Tree that is now about 12 feet high. I started it from a seedling. It's the coolest thing. We have a lot of trees here and the wind blows so that seedling sprout up in our rocks. Right now I have about 20 seedlings sprouted in my rocks. If I plant all of them I could have a forest before too long.

One more thing that makes me really joyful...my Jasmine vines.
I planted them 2 seasons ago and placed an arched trellis in front of our gateway. They have taken off and are in full bloom!!!

I don't have my own digital camera, but might borrow my son's and take some pictures. Gardens are a true blessing and can teach us the value of persistence and patience. There is no way to describe the joy that comes with seeing the fruit of your labor.

Thanks for the thread and for all the sharing.

indigo rose

 

[Mi-Shell]

Oh BUMMER!!!!!
While we were away for a few days the moose ate all my Sweetgras and trampled my Sage plants and our Bear ripped open 2 logs of a retaining wall next to our "garden door"......
What a mess!!!

 

[Little Hare]

hello

I'm wondering is someone can give me some advice, i've done a google search but am getting confused. I'm interested in Growing sage that i can use for making Smudging sticks.

Would someone be able to tell me the type of sage that would be used for this? as there seems to be some different types (the googling i have come up with talks about European sage)

any help or pointing in the right direction would be great!

 

[sharpchick]

White sage (Salvia apiana) is what is commonly used to make smudge sticks. A couple of years ago, I thought I'd like to grow some.

I'm out of luck. I can get white sage plants through the mail, but not at my local nurseries. . . there we can get only common sage. That's becaue white sage cannot take the high humidity and summer temps we get in my Zone 7 southern US garden.

So my homemade smudge sticks will just have to be made of common sage.

 

[HearthCricket]

My garden doth grow and looks old fashioned, but a few changes will be made next year. The catmint and lavender is in flower. The bee balm, globe thistle, coneflower and day lilies have buds, the buds on the bee balm are actualy starting to open just a bit, and the lupine is going for a second flowering....isn't that nice of them for a first year planting? Must get some foxglove for next year, up against the wall....

 

[Little Hare]

White sage (Salvia apiana) is what is commonly used to make smudge sticks. A couple of years ago, I thought I'd like to grow some.

I'm out of luck. I can get white sage plants through the mail, but not at my local nurseries. . . there we can get only common sage. That's becaue white sage cannot take the high humidity and summer temps we get in my Zone 7 southern US garden.

So my homemade smudge sticks will just have to be made of common sage.

Thank you Sharpchick for replying. I am now off and hunting in the Australian nursery's to see if they stock any
xoxo

 

[ravenest]

I've been venturing up (hacking) into the wilds of my back yard. I attacked a big lantana bush yesterday and discoverd 7 different species of rainforest trees coming up underneath it. Also there are about 15 native tamarind trees as well (about 3 feet high). (I also found a black snake's nest - he was sunning himself next to it). I've decided to clear another 20 meters and plant out where it's a bit bare. It should be a great little spot ... in about 10 years.