Yellow???

I don't like yellow flowers, but I am drawn to them, buy them and plant them in my garden.  They are cheerful, yet clash with the overall look I am going for. 

Here are some of my Yellers.. and WHY they deserve a place in my garden.

Daffodils...It wouldn't be spring without them.  Cheerful sunny faces smiling at you promising warmer temperatures and SPRING.  Every morning in early spring I rush out in the garden to see if any new ones opened.  They bring happiness and warmth, and WHO doesn't like them.

This year I also got yellow pansies and violas, as well as some short yellow snapdragons.  These are not necessary.  Actually in retrospect, I wish I had gotten different colors.....

DAYLILIES...they have the same cheerfulness as Daffs.  At least I do a daily morning walk to see if I have any new blooms.  I have regular daylilies as well as Butterfly Iris Dietes bicolor....Also pale yellow, and their flowers also last only one day.  Until I learned the correct name, I called them Funky daylilies.  I love the texture of the foliage..flowers are just a bonus.

Canna...First plants I ever planted in the garden.  Right after we moved in I bought one of every bag of summer bulbs at Home Depot...The only one surviving were these yellow cannas...  Now, they can be found all over the country as I have shared plenty...and all around the garden.  The bright green tropical leaves provides nice texture...and they just have sentimental value

Esperanza/Tecoma stans -Small deciduous tree, blooms NON STOP all summer long.  Regardless of how high the temperatures get and how little rain.  I don't think I ever watered it all summer long in 09, and it was the star attraction of the front yard. 

Bulbine...  I mostly grow it for the foliage.  Great year round structural plant  Spiky medium dark green, about a foot tall.  Get spiky flowers.

Clean Up...

There is a saying... what goes up, must come down....that is very true with natural wood structures in the garden, very true. It all started a few years ago when I built a natural arbor using branches from the yard. At the time I thought it was a genius idea. Not to mention easy on the pocketbook.
I planted two Passion Flowers "Lavender Lady", one on each side. They grew and covered the structure beautifully. Critters adopted the arbor as refuge. Amongst the foliage, were bird nest and hiding spots for lizards. Since my stunningly beautiful passion vines preferred to bloom in the cooler parts of the year, and my fear of pruning it, I have let it ramble on for years.
This past summer half of the arbor fell, and this afternoon I pushed the rest down. Cut the vines off and added them to the compost pile, and removed all the deck screws from the rotted wood.
The vines look dead...strange, but a result of an extreme cold front that came through last week. Usually, it's in full bloom during the winter months, and it was this year as well. All the buds and blossoms fell when the temperatures dropped into the teens. The foliage died and dropped. Might actually be a blessing in disguise. It had been growing a bit too much. covered a Loquat and climbing away into the Mesquite tree above. There were blossoms 25ft in the air. Stunning. Though I did know this would be the year I had to cut it back. I really hope it's root hardy...I guess I'll find out in spring. Also time to figure out what kind of arbor to replace it with. If it DOES come back...It will need some support. My thought is to use rebar.

In retrospect. I might build another natural arbor, but Will definitely only use annual vines on it.

January Blues.....

2010 has not been great so far. COLD very cold. We even dropped into the teens. My rain barrel froze solid. That's something I've never seen before.
Had bought some Fig trees....and while doing some research on them...discovered they do not like the cold either. I am going to try to espalier them.  Was thinking a fan shape.  Well that is if they survived... If not ...well gotta love the 1year plant guarantee from Lowes and Home Depot.

Speaking of big box stores....their seeds and summer bulbs are in. Got some Dahlias, Amaryllis, seed potatoes, and grapes.  Got some bright pink amaryllis.  Can't wait til they bloom...I am not sure they'll actually turn out to be pink.  Not the first time that has happened. 

The one day with sunny barely tolerable to be outside temperature, I dug the new homes for the grapes. Unfortunately, the winds started, and the cold front moved in.
I also picked the last 50gal of lemons from the trees...figured freezing temps were not going to extend their lives. Currently squeezing and freezing the juice. We've given away sooo many lemons, thrown away probably 50gal of some that went bad. Mayer Lemons are great... the baby fruits all dropped from the trees, as did most of the foliage. Tried to wrap the trees with X-mas lights and cover with tarp. Time will tell if they survived or not.
Same goes for my potatoes, the tops froze off.  I think this is the year I definately have to set up my red-neck hoop house.  Did look good Illuminated with multi color christmas lights.  It's just too cold to attempt to go outside. 

August....

August......still watered the trees using soaker hoses, and the dog using a pool.  We lost a LOT of residents. 

Even dying evergreens look nice at sunset.  HOT, HOT HOT, with no end in sight.  Thanks to my gardening buddies Sue and Petunia on BHG garden talk forum I got back on the boards, looked at gorgeous plant pictures, and sitting next to the ac, started dreaming about the garden again.   Sue's Garden is amazing and a slide show of it is featured on the gardening channel at Better Homes and Gardens website, click on the link to take you there.    At least the Cool season (Oct-March) should be good...

July

July....the point of no return.  I gave up watering annuals, and the vegetable garden.  Only took 2 days for all the tomato plants to die.  The peppers hung in there a few more days.  Stopped watering the lawn, and using my gardening time inside in the ac checking out different agaves, cacti and other succulents. 

You know it's hot when the dogs don't want to go for a walk.  You woke up it was 90+  and at midnight it was still 90+... By now, my interest in gardening had gone to despair.  Didn't want to go outside or look outside.   Mostly took pics of birds....and lizzie... (all the TX Spiny lizards are named lizzie, anoles are annies)

June

It's time for JUNE...  a month when I was still hopeful this would be a great summer. Started out Great.   When our Temps rose to the 100+ I kept telling myself, we'll get some rain next week...  we never got any, and towards the end the heat, and lack of water started taking its toll.  In early June, the banana peppers were happy.  I picked and picked, and they were delicious...but there was no break from the heat...and no water...

June claimed some victims.  Most notably, Gaura, Salvia Greggii, and NZ Flax

Towards the end, the previously green grass turned to brown...and more residents were lost 

May...

Next is MAY....at the time I didn't know doomsday(also known as 68, 100+ days were ahead with no rain) was near.  Dahlias were blooming, and at the end of the month I got my IMPROVED camera with ZOOOM.  I became mostly focused with trying to capture birds and butterflies.  Still not very good at it, just as I focus on them, get ready to shoot, they move.  Gardenias were blooming, they like warm days and kinda cool nights, and the smell is heavenly. 

Daylilies started their annual show.  Couldn't wait to get out of bed and check out what was blooming that morning.  Birds chirping, lizzards tanning themselves, and the joys of discovering a new bloom.  One more beautiful than the next.

Peruvian daffodils, with the white S.greggii in thebackground.  I just love that picture.  I need more of those, absolutely fantastic bulb for my south/southwestern garden.  They multiply, just not as fast as I want   Plumbago....Love them White or blue...who doesn't?

April

I guess APRIL is next.  Last April was amazing in the yard,  Clematis blooming....not just this purple one, also my Nelly Moser,Lantanas, Prickly pears, Amaryllis, Nastrium, Snaps,everything so fresh and Green..... Spring really is the best time of year. Salvia Greggii under a peach tree. 

Every fall I walk around and randomly plant about 100 daffodils.  They are sooo cute and Cheerful, LOVE them...April is probably the nicest month of the year.  Most everything is bloomin, leaves are out, green and fresh as far as the eye can see

A year in Review... Jan -March

 The year Started out GREAT, then came the summer from Hell, and now things are starting to get better in Fall.

 January started off with Paperwhites, 4o'clocks, Stock, Dianthus, Gaura (sadly passed away in July 09) and Cheerful Pink Gerbera Daisy

February was blooming up a storm the Amaryllis started, as well as Petunias, Calendula, Barbados Cherry, Salvia Greggii, Geranium, Daffodils, Paperwhites, Stock, Dienthus, Gerbera Daisy.  The only part I don't like about winter gardening is that the rest of the yard looks bare.  none of the deciduous trees have gotten their foliage yet.

March... March and April are some of my Favorite months, with May being the probably best.  March is great, Fruit trees are blooming, bees are humming, sun is shining....aaaahhh  you get the picture.  March is great.  The Lavender Lady Passion even is blooming, it always blooms.  Year round.  Perfect beautiful vine.

March  and spring is great... So much possibilities, new plants sprouting every day...definately a rush...

Rain Rain Rain GO AWAY!!!!

6 months ago I was praying for rain, now I am praying it'll STOP. Enough already. The ground is saturated and has been for a while, and I can hear the painful screams of my plants as they slowly rot away. The worst part is the false hope the weather men always gives me.... There's always sun and mid to high 60's in their forecast. Just doesn't happen. AAAARGH!!!!!!! I want to be able to go outside and start my seeds. Calendulas, Snaps, Stock, poppies, I really want to attempt once again to Lakespur. Tomatoes and other veggies should be started soon....All I want for Christmas is SUN, SUN, SUN, and NORMAL temperatures.





In two weeks 2009 comes to an end. A whole new decade is approaching. Hopefully one that will provide great gardening seasons for me and everyone else.

Mid December Blues

Yeppers, I've got the blues.  Can you blame me???  This has so far been a VERY unusual December.  Temperatures WAY below average, Cloudy, Rainy, Cold and Foggy.  Nobody likes that, my garden included.We've in 2009 had an exeptional drought, our lake levels are still way lower than normal, but this drizzle doesn't help at all.  Many plants have surcombed to the elements.  Surprisingly, most of the casualties, and oldies.  Not new garden aquisitions, but plants that's even lived through the Icestorms of '05 and '07.
I don't think it was caused by our brief dip below freezing, no.  I think 2 weeks worth of 40's no sun and constant drizzle has caused these to die.  My fairly large Blue agave, no longer have firm branches, they are sluggish, as if filled with liquid. 
There's always next year, and until we get normal weather and sun, there's not much I can do except take my daily walk out to the orange trees, and pick me some yummys.

December Shock!

December has brought this seasons first frost.  Just barely, and hopefully things will recover.  A lot of plants turned to mush, surprisingly since my lows ended up beeing 31.6 degrees.  Did get colder than that last winter, but not with the same devestating effect. 

The beautiful pink Pentas are goners.  The Duranta, Canna, South African Honeysuckle, Tropical Sage, Plumbago, Nastriums, Geraneums, 4o'clocks, Peppers, Tomatoes.....Some are really surprising.  I have 3 Agaves that turned into MUSH.  I don't understand WHY?????  Foliage on the Lemon trees look sad as well....

Last winter we had lows down to 28, with all of the plants above (except tomatoes and 4 o'clocks) not missing a beat.  Could this be residual damage caused by severelyt stressed plants after the horrid summer???  Who knows.  Winter blooms are not missing a beat.  Calendula, Violas, Pansies, Snapdragons, Dianthus, Alyssum are all going strong.  Once the drizzle stops, and the temperatures warm up to tolerable, I will make a survey of the plants.