Wow! January 31 was my last post?? (And a kinda lame one at that.) Time flies. I can't say I didn't post because I haven't been in the garden. Due to being laid-off, I've had the chance to spend a LOT of time in the garden, although the budget is a bit more restricted. Since I've been able give it more attention, the garden is flourishing. It is also the third year I've gardened organically, and it seems like the system has finally caught up with itself. Thought I'd do a quick post on some of the blooms and a quick teaser for some upcoming posts I'm working on.
The irises in the front garden have gone gang-busters this year. One day my daughter counted 27 blooms. This may well be my favorite. (If you are interested in how I "acquired" these irises, click
here and
here.)
I've been loving the daylilies this year, and a few days ago my favorite purple one came out. I think it might be called Purple Grape but I don't know for sure, and, ( forgive me, Hemerocallis Society) I don't really care. It is pretty.
My rainlily would not be out done.
As I've mentioned, money is tight, and since propogation is probably my favorite part of gardening, I've bought nothing that I couldn't make twenty more of in a week a or two. The coleous above is included. Yummm, those colors make me drool a little.
I have an abundance of some plants that for whatever reason I've not been able to reproduce, and this year I cracked the code on two, including the
Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue' above. I tried everything on this one. I rooted some in water, some in soil with root hormone, and some I dug up. Turns out this plant spreads via an underground tuber, and I dug up and planted some of them tuber and all. I had about a 50% success rate, which was much better than previous years. There's a ton of small plants in pots now and have been giving them away. Digging the tuber up and potting it worked best of all (go figure.)
The other plant I've tried to propagate without success is the confederate jasmine. It grows wildly on my daughter's playhouse, but up until now, I haven't been able to get it to to grow any where else. The cuttings even have tiny dry roots at the base when I cut them, making it all the more frusterating. In early January I trimmed the plant back and tried to get some of the cuttings to take in soil, which didn't work. I left the rest in a bucket that I forgot about until just a few weeks ago. Rain had filled the bucket and new green leaves were coming out of it. Duh! Why hadn't I thought of rooting them in water? Maybe the woody stems through me off. Now that I know, I'll be doing more!
Finally, a peek at one of the projects I 've been working on:
You: Oh my! Is that the Corner Garden? With a stone border?
Me: Why, yes it is!
You: But what happened to the tacky plastic border?
Me: I adiosed it. See-ya!
You: Wait a minute, didn't you say you were on a budget??
Me: Well, that is another post, my friend.
Happy gardening!!
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