Category: Perenniels

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Barbie's garden Gardening Home page features Perenniels Trees

Guavas and all

New Guavas

I think the garden is all about growth and life and new beginnings and nourishment for the body and soul. There should always be time to take a walk in the garden. To look at it through the eyes of a fellow garden plant. To see how all plants work together to give each other shade or nutrients or help ward off pesky pests or bring the welcomed insects. I look at my new lemons on my tree and I think of the pleasure and pain to see these ripened beauties. I look at the lemons on the grocery store shelf and I can see and feel the energy that went into making one simple lemon. I delight in my new guavas – even though I was not a great fan of them, I have learnt to enjoy them fresh off the tree.  So I appreciate all my trees and plants that bring me joy and sweet treats!!

Here are some new photos of my garden walk about!

Enjoy! x

[one_half]New LemonsNew Lemons[/one_half]

[one_half_last]New GuavasNew Guavas[/one_half_last]

[one_half]End of my FigsThe end of my Fig season[/one_half]

[one_half_last]OnionOnion forrest[/one_half_last]

[one_half]New tomato plantNew tomato plant[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Rosemary blossomRosemary blossom[/one_half_last]

 

 

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Autumn showers

Wet rose

I took myself into the garden this morning to bring cheer and colour into the day. It is gloomy when it rains and I guess my spirit tends to drop on cloudy days – so I’m definitely not  a winter person. But, I somehow love the rain and how the garden looks when its wet and drippy! Even the little bugs in the garden are somehow enjoying the autumn showers. I wanted to share my wet garden with you!

[one_half]Sprinkled rosesWet rose[/one_half]

[one_half_last]A thirsty flyFly on the rose[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Droopy wormwoodWet wormwood[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Aphids finding shelterAphids on roses[/one_half_last]

 

Enjoy your wet wonderland!

 

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Barbie's garden Gardening Home page features Perenniels

My Fuchsia is budding

Fuchsia

FuchsiaHi Chris and all our readers! It feels like an eternity since I last sent you word from Philly!! Life has been focused on many other things, and I sadly had to put my blogging fingers and gardening gloves to one side! I guess you all know what it feels like! It has been raining alot and the garden is soaked and muddy too! But, even though it seems like the same old flowers and trees blooming and budding, I did look at them with a new eye and there…..I found something new and I’m excited…..yea!! It is my Fuchsia bush. I love this beautiful bush that hugs my roses. There are currently almost 110 recognized species of Fuchsia, so I do not have a clue which one I have. I will send a photo of the flowers as soon as they bloom!

Enjoy your garden today! I know that the rain will bring new life and that something will make you smile!

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I Heart Liliums ♥

Perfect Bloom

Liliums are on at the top of my favourite cut-flower list! Liliums and Dutch Irises to be exact, but St Josephs Lilies are easier to purchase here. Every two weeks throughout winter I hotfoot it to Woolies and buy two bunches of St Josephs Lilies for the very large vase which lives on the table as you enter my home (via the back entrance). The flower filled vase is also in my direct line of sight whenever I glance up from the computer screen in my office. So now you understand just how much I love these Lilies. I want to see them all day long, and I do. And I smell them. They fill the entrance of my home with their lovely scent which can be a bit overpowering in winter if doors and windows are kept closed for too long.

Lilium - St Josephs Lilies

I love the huge vases filled with these beautiful flowers I regularly see in Home Decor magazines. Huge vases filled with these long stemmed white lilies – I love the green colour of the foliage, the way the flowers stand upright, the beautiful glossy petals … to me they are the perfect “architectural” blooms. One lily on its own in a long slender glass vase, 20 or more in a massive ceramic vase … always perfect. Always beautiful. And the cut Liliums I buy for my vase always last at least two weeks, sometimes more.

If I love them so much, why don’t I have them in my garden was the question I asked myself when I saw Hadeco were selling Lilium bulbs online. Because I didn’t know that they are easy to grow. I didn’t know you could just buy the bulbs, plant them in the right place and then sit back and enjoy their lovely blooms in a few months time. I thought anything this beautiful must be massively difficult to grow. Which is why I keep buying them as cut flowers. But having seen them for sale and reading that they are easy to grow – well it seems like a no-brainer that I should at least try.

So after much online research and finally convincing myself that I can do this and have a few “perfect places” for them, I took the plunge and ordered. Two days later they arrived in a box, 3 bulbs per pack of the varieties I bought and the kind people at Hadeco included 30 extra bulbs of Mixed Asiatic Lilies for free! I have no idea why I got the extras, but thank you Hadeco – I will plant and love them!

[one_half]Today’s Liliums in the vaseLilies in the vase[/one_half]

[one_half_last]A perfect bloom up closePerfect Bloom[/one_half_last]

[one_half]It doesn’t get much prettier than thisPerfect Bloom[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Two are pretty togetherTwo pretty faces[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Beautiful leavesBeautiful Leaves[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Yes! I bought my ownLilium Bulbs[/one_half_last]

The Lilium bulbs I bought are:

  • Lilium Longiflorum – Snow Queen (I believe these are the type I always buy as cut flowers like the ones in the photographs above)
  • Lilium Asiatic – Soft Pink
  • Lilium Asiatic – Salmon
  • Lilium Asiatic – White
  • Lilium Asiatic – Mixed (the free ones)

I’ve spent the whole afternoon cleaning up and preparing the bed where I plan to plant my Lilium bulbs! Then it got dark and I had to stop for today. Wish me luck with these – I’m really excited about having them in the garden.

I’d love to hear from anyone that has Liliums growing in their garden – How do they grow for you?

Happy Gardening
xxx

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What to do when you don’t like something anymore?

Lavender Dentata

I am wondering what the general consensus amongst gardeners is about this topic. As I consider plants to be living things, simply pulling them out and turfing them on the trash heap seems wrong to me. But I’ve noticed that landscapers do this without any hesitation, so I am wondering whether its considered PC to do this? I have a few “areas” and plants in my garden that I’ve lived with for some time now and I just don’t like them. What to do? I feel almost as if I was given a puppy for Christmas that gets on my nerves and now I want to ship him off to the nearest shelter … Please tell me its not the same thing? What is the correct way of dealing with unwanted plants that are thriving in one’s garden?

Here are the things I’m not loving in my garden:

[one_half]Higgeldy Piggedy Lavender DentataLavender Dentata[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Plectranthus “Mona Lavender”Plectranthus Mona Lavender[/one_half_last]

1). Lavender dentata that was planted in a row in the flower bed beside our pool. Each plant seems to do its own thing, grows in a different way and direction, the result is a border of lavender plants that I don’t think look at all attractive. Its a bit of a higgeldy piggledy mess.There are ten of these I’m thinking of pulling out.

2). Plectranthus “Mona Lavender” has soft stems that just break off all the time – just walking past it seems to damage them. They look very bare and uninteresting now that the season is changing and even when they are bloomimg and full in summer … well, lets just say I am not a fan. I don’t mind having a few of them mixed in with the other plants in the back, shade garden (I have a lot there too), but I don’t like them at all in the front garden where there are eight of them in two rows, all in varying sizes, shapes and in varying stages of growth (or decline). I think I could make this look much better with something else.

If any locals happen to read this blog and would like to have these plants, provided you come and fetch them from me you are welcome to have these plants. I’d feel much better if they went to a “loving home” rather than ending up at “the shelter”, aka the compost heap.

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On my Wish List – Crocosmia

Crocosmia Lucifer

Hi Barbie – The plant I was telling you about today that I couldn’t remember the name of is Crocosmia. If  you do a Google search for “Crocosmia” and then click on images you will see how gorgeous these flowers looks when planted in large groupings. They come in orange (Crocosmia “Aurea”) and red (Crocosmia “Lucifer”). I really love this indigenous flowering plant. It likes a shaded position so would really brighten up the shaded area at the back of my garden that is currently still a mess and crying for some attention …

[one_half]CrocosmiaCrocosmia[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Crocosmia “Lucifer”Crocosmia Lucifer[/one_half_last]

Notes: Crocosmia is a genus in the Iridaceae family from tropical and eastern South Africa. It is well known because of its frequently cultivated hybrid between Crocosmia pottsii and Crocosmia aurea, Crocosmia × crosmiiflora. Plants have erect sword shaped leaved and spikes of tubular or funnel shaped orange to red flowers.

Crocosmias produce dense clumps of upright iris-like foliage. In midsummer this makes a good background for the small, profuse flowers. ‘Lucifer’ is an aptly-named variety because its flowers are the hottest coloured of all – a searing paprika red. The individual blooms are not as big as other crocosmias’, but small-flowered varieties such as this are the hardiest which makes them a wise choice in cold districts. Grown in a flower border, they provide structure and colour. The Royal Horticultural Society has given it the Award of Garden Merit (AGM).

I have to wait until after the 6th June when they come to sort out the trees at the back that are causing such dense deep shade that nothing is growing well there. After that, I will have to get cracking on doing something. At the moment I have a few Clivias there and the rest is all junk … left overs from the “Ivy garden” I inherited. I can’t wait …

[one_half]I love the strappy leavesCrocosmia[/one_half]

[one_half_last]More CrocosmiaCrocosmia[/one_half_last]

What do you think?

Happy Gardening
xxx

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Annuals Christine's garden Gardening Home page features Perenniels

Another bag of potting soil

A Bag of Potting Soil

I had to get a bag of potting soil today for a planter that is being used for the tulip bulbs (no, I still haven’t planted them, but i have a good reason! I needed to get potting soil …)

As always, I seem to be incapable of walking into the nursery and leaving with only what I came for. This time a few seedlings found their way into my car as well as four white Dipladenias. I have a plan for the Dipladenias (or are they Mandevillas – can the plant-naming-people make up their minds? My previous Dipladenias were labelled Mandevilla and these are exactly the same but labelled Dipladenia).

But, I going off point … The plan for the Dipladenias; the two I have are doing so well here that I decided to get more for the front bed trellisses. Its too hot there for the existing Star Jasmine which are getting scorched so I need to  move them (or over-plant with the Dipladenias – is that a thing one can do?)

Then the little six-pack seedling trays were calling me and I came home with Delphiniums, Digitalis and Cinerarias. Now to find homes for them …

[one_half]New acquisitionsA Bag of Potting Soil[/one_half]

[one_half_last]SeedlingsSeedlings[/one_half_last]

It looks like rain this weekend. Hopefully it will clear long enough for me to spend some time in the garden.

Happy Gardening
xxx

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Barbie's garden Gardening Home page features Miscellaneous Perenniels

What flower is this!

Lemon Blossom

Yea!! Thank you all for having fun with me – in my garden! The answers to the post – “Guess What Flower” – thanks for playing!

Here are the answers to the “Guess What Flower”

 

[one_half]LavenderLavender[/one_half]

[one_half_last]RoseRose[/one_half_last]

[one_half]ProteaProtea[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Potato PlantPotato Plant[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Tomato Plant blossomTomato Plant[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Lemon Tree BlossomLemon Blossom[/one_half_last]

I will post the winners on Monday!

Have a happy gardening weekend!

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Annuals Barbie's garden Christine's garden Gardening Home page features Miscellaneous Perenniels

Autumn in two Gardens for Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day in May

Our third combined post for the monthly Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day, here’s whats happening in our Gardens in May. We hope you enjoy our “May blooms” and then join Carol and friends over at May Dreams Gardens to see what other gardeners around the world have blooming in May and then pop over to ‘Garten Blogger Blüten im Mei‘ over at Seepferds Garten for the German version of Garden Bloggers Bloom Day! Enjoy!

What’s Blooming in Barbie’s Garden in May 2011

With the weather changing and the days bringing unusually warm temperatures and then turing icy cold the next, brings the most interesting flowers. I had little hope of anything exciting. With a busy work schedule, I had little time in the garden this past week so when I stepped out with my camera I found flowers in the smallest of places. Hidden in the tomato patch and high up in the protea bush… enjoy my garden selection!

[one_half][/one_half]

[one_half_last][/one_half_last]

[one_half][/one_half]

[one_half_last][/one_half_last]

[one_half][/one_half]

[one_half_last][/one_half_last]

[one_half][/one_half]

[one_half_last][/one_half_last]

Lets check out whats happening in Chrisine’s Garden in May…

What’s Blooming in Christine’s Garden in May 2011

With cooler temperatures and a fair amount of rain, growth in my garden has been great resulting in lots of lush green growth, but very few “spectacular” type blooms. The Camellias are flowering, some Azaleas are putting on an early show and the Murraya Exotica (Orange Jasmine) are blooming. Looking around for blooms to give you a good show, here is what’s blooming in my garden in May; lots of pink and white, but the overwhelming theme in my “May Garden” is Green!

[one_half]Pansies[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Murraya Exotica[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Iceberg Roses[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Miniature Roses[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Azaleas[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Camellias[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Flowers[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Chameleon Plant[/one_half_last]

The last photograph is not a “bloom” as such, but I wanted to show the beautiful variegated leaves of my Chameleon Plants – Pretty, no?

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Chameleon plant update

Chameleon plants

Chameleon plantsA couple of people have asked me recently how my new “Chameleon” plants that I wrote about here are getting on. So I’ve taken a few photographs and here is an update.

Firstly, they weren’t kidding when they said these grow slowly. They have hardly grown at all but appear to have adjusted very happily to their new home.  I’m assuming this of course, only because they haven’t died on me! Actually, they are looking very pretty and have started to sprout some new growth in the last three weeks. As you can see from the photographs – they have lovely white and pink leaves in and amongst the green. It looks very pretty and provides a lovely contrast against all the green ground cover foliage in that bed.

I really love these plants and am expecting them to be really beautiful as they “grow up”. (Their “sister” plants, the standard Trachelospermum Jasminoides, i.e. Star Jasmine, also took a while to settle down after they were first planted, before they started to show any new growth, so it seems these are behaving much as I expected them to).

[one_half]Chameleon plants[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Chameleon plants[/one_half_last]

Happy Gardening
xxx

Notes on Trachelospermum Jasminoides “Chameleon” (from RHS): Rare Pink and White Variegation; Unique new evergreen Trachelospermum with bright green, white and pink leaves. Makes an unusual ground cover, or stunning, compact climber. Produces masses of fragrant white flowers in the summer, doing best in semi-shade to shade.