I've 'discovered' this [url=http://www.meadowsfarms.com/]small local nursery [/url] over the past few weeks. I shouldn't say discovered because it's been there awhile. But the smaller places are more expensive so I've always passed them up in favor of the regular commercial =http://www.lowescomLowes and [url=http://www.homedepot.com]Home Depot[/url] selections.
The selection of plants at this nursery is just incredible and everything looked so tempting. Last weekend I picked up things to fill the outdoor planters, and by that I mean a handful of small pots and four larger pots out on the deck. I also needed to repot some especially sad looking houseplants that my mother gae to me. I mentioned I'm like soe houseplants and she just handed me the gnarliest stuff she had--- overgrown, overcrowded... ugh. They needed TLC.
So I picked up a bunch of 4 inch sized plants which they had on special for $2.60 if you bought ten. 4 inchers range $.99-$1.99 at the commercial stores so this is no special in my book, except that they had so many different kinds and everything looked so beautiful and healthy--- worth the extra money in my book. So I planted a couple of fushia's and begonia's with some accent flowers mixed in the pots by the front door. I like spots of color, rather than a rainbow of colors in one area, so this area is red with yellow accent. :roll: I'm anal about nothing else in this world, but blending a bunch of colors when planting is one of the few things that bothers me.
The repotted house plants look so much happier already. I didn't even really put them in bigger pots, just deeper pots with better soil and they instantly perked up. Mom had them in plastic lined baskets with NO drainage. I'm no expert but that does not sound good.
I have to get out and weed the veggies today, and unfortunately, I have too much to do and I don't think I'll get to it. The tomato plants are 3 feet tall and a nice healthy dark green. I heard on the news that now is the time to plant the peppers. Well, I've had them in the ground for awhile, but apparently they won't grow unless its warm in the evenings. I've been wondering why they weren't doing anything... you live you learn. :wink:
We've had several days of rain and severe afternoon storms that have left the ground impossibly wet. I managed to get out to the veggie bed and hoe up some of the rouge grass that continuously invades the fertile soil. There are flowers on the tomato plants. Surprisingly the plants that are looking the best are the ones I grew myself from seed. Go figure. :D The peppers don't seem to have grown at all, which I don't understand because I Miracle Grow-ed everything on one of the drier days.
Cicada's still aren't out in force. I don't know if the rain is holding them back or if they just aren't going to come out as bad as I assumed they would.
There is a pair of evil looking snakes that have made a home in a bamboo tree by my front door for the last two days. Hubby won't touch them. I'm sure as hell not touching them. If I knew for a fact that they were not of a poisonous variety I would knock them out and kill them. Yes, you heard me, I would kill them even if they weren't poisonous. But they look suspiciously like copperheads. I'll post a picture of them later if they are still there and you can tell me what to do. ;)
=http://img28.photobucket.com/... align=left width=175It's been so long that I don't know where to really begin. So I'll begin with my current joy. My roses. The first year I moved in I saw all the beautiful roses all over the yard and thought, dear God, those will be the first things I kill. I had heard they were hard to manage and keep, required lots of maintanance and upkeep, etc. And kill some I did. I also damaged some beyond repair. I pruned them in the fall instead of the late winter. I pruned them too much. Many failed. *sigh* You live, you learn.
I have since discovered the joys of rose fertilizer and did a smidge of research online to find out the proper way to care for them. I just cut one beautiful perfect bloom and placed it in a small vase on my kitchen counter and the fragrance fills the whole room.
=http://img28.photobucket.com/... align=right width=175Last year I had a passion for peonies after watching and enjoying the blooms of several small ones near my back door. This year I think I may be switching the passion to roses. :)
The red rose is a climbing variety that is making it's way up the side of my deck. It's currently almost 2 stories tall. The pink rose is a miniature rose from one of my flower beds. Both are in full bloom.
I can't believe it's been two weeks since I last wrote here. If you read [url=http://dumblondegirl.tblog.co...]the other blog [/url] you'd know it was because I was having techinical problems with my computer. And sorry, but when I could get online, that blog takes presidence.
So in the last two weeks what have I done? I planted some impatiens in the front. Our whole front yard is pretty much trees and not much else grows there. I'm sure that one morning I'll go out there and start crying because the deer have eaten them all. The former owners of this house put these big wooden barrel plants throughout the woods and I put a bunch of impatiens in them too.
Husband got a 'wild hair' and decided to pull out all the overgrown rhododendrons (I know that isn't spelled right) from in front of the house. They were really beyond controllable. Then I took a trip with my mom and step father to [url=http://www.southernstates.com...]Southern States [/url] where I picked out (and stepfather paid for) some holly bushes and begonias to plant there instead. Hubby just got the stumps of the rhodies out yesterday right before it rained. I may get the hollys in this morning if he gets the tiller through there. I'll take a picture of that :)
Right after hubby pulled the bushes out, my mom had hers pulled out (she's a big copycat!). She lives two houses down the street and has already got her replacement plants in. She also picked out holly (a shorter variety) and she put in a climbing rose and some other random perrenials of various colors.
My mom's gardens are beautiful, without a doubt. She has a dark, deep, forest green thumb that I can only be in awe of. BUT one of my pet peeves with her gardens is that there is a mis-mash of color and plants everywhere. For me the plants need to be unified some how. Like either the same colors or same type but different colors... I'm sure I'm not explaining this right.
I've done a bunch of weeding. Tons of weeding. I've been ho-ing the veggie garden every other day. I sprayed all around the perimeter of it with weed/grass killer. I also started tackling my huge project... the septic tank flower bed.
The previous owners put a flower bed on top of the septic tank. I'm figuring because it's hard to get grass to grow there. When we first moved in the big problem was wild (or not, maybe they put it there?) mint, which I still find random clumps of, but not so much. Now the problem there is perenial sunflowers and some other white stalky flower that is out of control. Plus the usual wild strawberries and violets, which I have been pulling out by the wheelbarrel load. So anyway,I started hacking away at the weeds in that bed.
I have written enough, so I'll be going now. :lol:
Pics from my Garden!
Above: Daffodils, Forsythia and Virginia Blue Bells from my gardens blooming now :)
About Me:
Name: Cindy (aka Dumblondegirl)
Location: Northern Virginia
Zone: 6 or 7
Soil: Acidic, clay
