Friday, May 29, 2009

Flower Gardening - Fertilizer Friday!

Well, thanks to a very rainy Memorial weekend, followed by an on and off rainy week, I had to postpone my Fertilizer Friday to today! I just finished my round of fertilizing all of my flowering plants, shrubs, and bushes, but if you have a garden you tend to and would like to Flaunt Your Blooms or you're wondering what the heck I'm talking about, pop on over to Tootsie's place, check out everybody's gardens and join the fun.

Not many new bloomers to show this week, but a few things are popping up for summer.

The butterflies have been working the Butterfly Bush. Isn't he just gorgeous? I posted this in my veggie gardening update recently, but had to give him another shout out. I believe that this is a Tiger Swallowtail and there's actually been an identical pair of them fluttering around in my yard for weeks now. Wonder if they are a couple?

Some of the Stargazer oriental lilies are blooming - these are in the backyard center garden - the little garden I call my butterfly garden. I am such a fan of lilies of all kinds and I really need to have much more than I do.

In that same garden, the day lilies are still busy.

In the front bed where all of the ferns, vines, caladiums and impatiens are...



... the bleeding heart is finally coming back!! Every year I think it's dead but it hasn't failed yet, even though the area it is in is really too deeply shaded now. It used to get some sun, but the oak tree has grown over the yard and now it's mostly shade and not much sun. I probably should move it.

And of course, Petunias just love Fertilizer Friday. {please ignore the fact that I need to trim, edge & sweep}

This is one of possibly the only surviving Verbascum in my front yard corner bed - the one at the edge of the street with the retaining wall that I put up so my neighbors would quit cutting ruts into my yard with their cars. I originally planted 2 varieties, 9 plants total, in this corner, but it needs full sun and that same oak tree has pretty much shaded this garden over also. It's the only one that I have seen pop up so far this year, so I'm thinking of trying to move it. This one is called Southern Charm. Behind it and all over in this bed are a boatload of gladiolus bulbs that I put in this bed a couple years ago - another flower that I've tried in several spots around my yard without success. It's either too much, or too little sun, some of them have buds, some aren't doing so well. We'll see how they do!

I cut these to bring in before I thought to get a picture. These flowers remind me of my Grandma because she always had a vase of these on her dining room table in the summer. I need to get a bunch more for my backyard fence line. That's about the only place I think won't be too hot or too shaded for them.

The Helene Althea hibiscus in this same bed is beginning to bloom.

The dianthus are doing well.

And despite the shade in that bed, the Stella de Oros are waking up too!

Roses in the front yard bed are finally starting to bloom. I wish I could show you how sickly these were when we started Fertilizer Friday! They are loving the weekly attention.






In the backyard, this is the Lantana volunteer I just transplanted from the bed in the middle of the yard to the bed up against the southern side of the house. Since they really love the heat, this plant does great in this bed so when I saw a stray pop up in the middle bed I knew right where it belonged!

This is one of the rose bushes in that same bed against the house. I believe that I bought these at Lowe's and they were just marked as J & P Patented Rose bushes. I have two of them in this bed, but the other one isn't budding up like this quite yet. They both seem to be very happy since I started doing the Fertilizer Friday thing though. Right behind the rose bush {to the right in the picture} is one of the Lantana plants I put in this bed last year. This wall is so hot that that Lantana lived through 3 freezes and didn't die back!



And {I think} these are dahlias that I moved... again. I am notorious for moving plants around and then forgetting what they are! I have bought so many dahlias I've lost count but the heat down here is too much for them, and they all have died. This is a part sun bed so I want to see how they do here this year before I invest in any more of them. Every time I see one popping up now I'm moving it here. See this itty bitty one to the right? That's one I just found and moved 2 days ago. Maybe I'll manage to salvage a few!

The new caladiums that I planted by the shed in the backyard are popping up.

And beginning to unfurl and multiply.

And I thought that the new Tennessee Ostrich ferns started coming up too. I was beginning to wonder if these roots were any good, but at least some of them started coming up finally.

But then ... I saw this was what was popping up! I don't remember planting these back in that bed, but I could have done that last year. Well, I wanted some of these to put with my roses when I cut them to bring inside, so I was excited to see this one, but it's not an ostrich fern!

And then I noticed a bunch of these were also popping up in the spaces where I planted the ostrich fern! I don't know if it's just the others I planted there last year starting to expand across the bed, or if the roots in the bags I bought were mixed up! Oh well.... I'll take them all.

The hydrangeas are blooming away, though they seem to be undecided on colors. This one is a mixture of pink and blue.

This one blue and lavender.

These however seem to want to be pink! All of these hydrangea are in the same bed in the backyard on my southernmost fence line, in between pampas grass plants.

The gardenia volunteer that I pulled off at the root of the main plant in the front a couple of years ago and planted by my back door is just loaded with blooms that are just beginning to open. Isn't it cool how they are sort of twisted? I love to observe the process of them unfurling.

They are so pretty, but when I brush past this bush, it smells so darned good!

I have a bunch of these Canna Lilies along the east and west sides of my fence line that were given to me by a friend who was thinning her's out. This plant loves the heat and humidity down here and while they do die back with the first winter freeze, they come back pretty strong and can even get a bit wild and invasive. I have a different kind planted in the front yard. Neither is blooming just yet...

... but it shouldn't be long!

And finally, while it's not a flower, the Celeste fig tree is loaded with fruit and so far seems to be pretty healthy, so if I can keep the blue jays off of it, I might have a harvest. It doesn't usually work out since the blue jays are a persistent bird, and even with a net over the tree, they manage to tear through, and peck at a multitude of the figs instead of just eating all of one or two! Darned birds. I generally get just enough figs to eat a few, make up some freezer jam, and maybe make a cake!

Well, hope you enjoyed the tour. I wish I had some of those gorgeous, neat & pretty filled flower beds but I've only been at it for 3 years now, so I mostly just have flowers here and there to show. Maybe I'll get there some day. Thanks for visitin' and I hope to see you over at Tootsie's place where you can show off what you are cookin' in the garden!!!

14 comments:

  1. Wow Mary, your garden is just gorgeous, you must have been working your butt off. Just beautiful!!!!!

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  2. Wow...everything is beautiful! Looks wonderful! We have lots of the same plants. Glad you wondered over from Tootsies, now I can follow your garden :). Have a good weekend

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  3. Thanks y'all! I just wish it wasn't so piecemeal and that I had those beautiful wavy-edged garden beds full of flowers like some folks have! I pretty much just have a few things here and there... haven't been at it long enough I guess.

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  4. I wish I had the money and time to plant some of the beauties you have. You garden is magnificent Mary!

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  5. Beautiful flowers... love the glads and I can almost smell the gardenias from here :) Lots of work... but beautiful!

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  6. Everything seems to be blooming wonderfully in your garden. The colors are so beautiful. You really do a fantastic job!

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  7. Mary, I am now following your blog. I hope it's ok with you. I am in awe of your flowers. I can't believe you actually sweep the sidewalk. I use a blower. It's so much easier. You have a green thumb. I love lilies, too! I also need more of them. Stop by sometime. I am adding you to my favorites.

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  8. Such a lovely variety of flowers. Thank you for sharing them with us.

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  9. Hi Mary, thanks so much for visiting my place yesterday. I came by here then but my computer was acting up so I turned it off and went to a nursery to buy some Petunias.
    First, I love your title - that is so neat! Second, you said you didn't have much to show - huh? I'm blown away at all you have for only 3 years and the pictures of them are beautiful. I think everything looks great. Love the color of your Verbascum. I have 3 but they all seem to be the same color this year.
    Your butterfly picture sure is gorgeous. I don't know when our Butterfly Bushes will be blooming - think they're later in the season cause no sign yet!
    Anyway I'm so glad ya came by so I could come and see your place!

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  10. oh mary!!! they all look so pretty!!!
    thanks for joining in! see you next week?

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  11. Terrie - Thanks for the follow! Oh and that walk isn't too long, so I don't mind the sweeping at all! I don't know what it is about those blowers but they drive me nuts, so I don't even own one.

    Thanks Mary!

    RainGardener - I have things here and there, and trust me ... I've killed as much as I have, maybe more! It's a learning process down here with the heat, which is why I move things around so much. I guess what I mean is that if you took a picture of my whole yard, the flowers don't really stand out because I don't have those big beautiful magazine beds, like some folks do.

    Tootsie, planning on it!

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  12. Your garden is amazing and I'm so glad I'm not the only who moves things around....lol. :) Your roses are beautiful!! I'm so glad you came by and I hope to hear from you again soon!

    ~ J ~

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  13. Thanks Jessica! I'll definitely be visiting your beautiful garden again on FF!! I think you should really go for that whole bed of roses. It looks like you have the perfect sunny spot for them! Go for it, you'll be glad.

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