Tag: flowers

Summer Heat getting to me

Post author By Barbara
Post date February 8, 2012
21 Comments on Summer Heat getting to me

Summer is getting intense! We have had days of nonstop high temperatures and I can’t protect my garden from it. It has been close to 40 degrees here with no letting up. In the early mornings I take this time to water as much as I can as well as early evening – I’m watering twice a day! But the damage is done…. I am devastated by the damage to my huge conifer tree (I don’t know what this type of tree is called). It looks like it has been burnt! And the protea bush next to it looks like it has some kind of disease. All my delicate plants have withered and died and I’m trying to rescue what I can, but watering is not always helping.

[one_half]I am overwhelmed by this heat – so destructive[/one_half]

[one_half_last]It started with this one branch – is it the heat?[/one_half_last]

This was once a beautiful, lush green conifer tree – now it is destroyed beyond repair. It happened instantly – within a week it just seemed to have died! I’m shattered.

The rest of the garden is looking untended, overgrown and debris that needs to be cleared and weeds that have popped up overnight! It is just too hot to do anything in the garden. I am grabbing all the edibles and storing them – well, what I can anyway! I am sad to show you all the ruined plants… some might bounce back, but I think some won’t!

[one_half]The Fuchsia needs cutting back[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Some of the grasses are patchy[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Sunflowers are spent – need to harvest the seeds[/one_half]

[one_half_last]My stevia wilted but might just bounce back[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Totally upset with my barrel flowers – all dead![/one_half]

[one_half_last]Even the waterwise plants can’t take the heat[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Fruit trees are struggling – my poor apple trees[/one_half]

[one_half_last]My strawberries are holding up, but just barely[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Roses need deadheading and cleaning up[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Even in the shade there is no escape! My evening primrose struggling[/one_half_last]

This is the toughest thing I have had to experience as a gardener. It is soul destroying, but everything has a season and we have no control of the elements. I take my hat off to you all in the northern hemisphere during the harsh winter days. Now I know what it feels like.

Oh well, I should be looking forward to the autumn and cooler weather and the ability to start afresh.

Happy gardening xxxxx

Tags blooms, flowers, garden, gardening, organic vegetables, trees, vegetables

Barbie's garden Gardening Home page features Perenniels

Birthday surprise

I was so delighted beyond words when Christine came to visit me for my birthday and presented me with these beautiful Cleomes! I have always admired her Cleomes and when we go out nursery shopping together, that is one of the elusive plants on our shopping list. I have just the place for them – a new bed at the back near the vibracrete wall. I can’t wait to tackle this area, but it is too hot and windy at the moment, so I need it to be a cooler day and preferably cloudy. They need full sun to semi-shade and grows to 45cm. This will be a fab project to do. More planning and styling this time.

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Cleome – Senorita Rosalita

These have a great range of pink shades within the flower colour which adds softness to this delicate flower which blows you away when seen en masse.

In every way Cleome Senorita Rosalita ia a winner! They can be planted in containers or en masse in the landscape. It is heat and drought tolerant with masses of flowers in summer. Low maintenance.

It is a PBR (Plant Breeders Rights) plant, so this means it is patented. I am not a fan of this – but it is a flower and not a vegetable, so I am going to let this one in! I love it so much!

Thank you Christine! It is going to be a highlight in my garden!

Happy Gardening xxxxx

Tags cleome, cleome senorita rosalita, flowers

Christine's garden Gardening Home page features

Morning light and holiday delights

Post author By Christine
Post date December 27, 2011
6 Comments on Morning light and holiday delights

What a pleasure it is to get up early (when you don’t have to!), to explore the garden at first light. A few delights from my summer garden taken at first light this morning – aren’t the “chameleon” plants (Trachelospermum jasminoides “Chameleon”) looking gorgeous? The new growth is pink and white on these lovely plants. Finally after a long dormancy, they appear to be waking up for summer to thrill us with their pretty new leaves, so gorgeous!

Also seen at first light as if waiting to delight us with their prettiness …

[one_half]Calibrachoa peeping through Lamium[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Gardenia so sweetly fragrant[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Pandorea Jasminoides “Charisma”[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Gaura lindheimeri floating in the breeze[/one_half_last]

[one_half]A deep blue Petunia[/one_half]

[one_half_last]I’m starting to love Begonias[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Penstemon ‘Alice Hendley’[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Gerbera daisies[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Scaevola pretty in violet[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Cleome flowers non-stop for me![/one_half_last]

Wherever in the world you are and what ever you are doing today, enjoy the holiday!

Tags blooming plants, blooms, flowers

Barbie's garden Gardening Home page features Perenniels

Strawberries for Elma

This is a special post for a dear friend of mine, Elma Cheeseman, whom I met through my publishing business. She is 93 years old and published a fabulous recipe book called “Gran’s Cookery Chat”. Well, needless to say, I have tried many of her tried and tested recipes and always a delight for the whole family! I told her about the Gardening Blog and she has been following my every move ever since. She wrote to me one day and suggested I try strawberries!

Well, Elma – I hope you are reading this! LOOK! I have planted strawberries!

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I have a special area where I’ve planted my peach tree and blueberry bush and now my strawberries! This is my Sugar Patch! I have borage blooming here too and this is a bee magnet! So all my fruits are well pollenated! I have seen some flowers on my strawberries already, so I will keep you up to date on when the lovely fruit appears! Strawberry and Cream anyone?

Thanks, Elma, for your advice and your support and your friendship!

Happy Gardening xxx

Tags flowers, garden, gardening, organic garden, plants, strawberry

Christine's garden Gardening Home page features Perenniels

And the award for Miss Photogenic goes to …

Post author By Christine
Post date November 26, 2011
8 Comments on And the award for Miss Photogenic goes to …

Just a short while ago I was bemoaning the fact that everything in my garden seems so “white”, with white blooms everywhere and not much colour left, after the crazy flower-flush of spring bulbs had passed. Reviewing all the suggestions I was given of making my garden “pop” with colour once again, I decided I liked the idea of black petunias in and amongst all the white to create a “sophisticated” garden.

As it usually happens when I am out looking for something specific, I won’t find it, but get sucked into all sorts of other options. And so it was that I finally planted two small fuchsias in the Camellia bed which I think will work quite well along the shaded wall area. In the front of the Camellia bed which gets a bit more light and a sniff of sun, I repeated last years exercise of planting a few Petunias. I’m not a great lover of Petunias, but have to concede that they create an almost instant colour spectacle which I feel my summer garden needs.

I’ve never had fuchsias before and only noticed just how lovely they are when I pointed my camera at them, and now I can’t stop photographing them. How gorgeous are these little flowers? And what an absolute delight they are to photograph. I can’t decide which of my new “colour pops” is the most photogenic, but I think…

The award goes to …

And the Runners up are …

[one_half]Little white and pink Fuchsia[/one_half]

[one_half_last]The blue Petunias[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Bright pink Gerbera daisy[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Bright pink Petunias[/one_half_last]

See … instant colour!

Those Gerbera daisies are SO SO cute I feel a post dedicated to them coming up! I was lured by their cuteness at the nursery today. All these little pots with Gerberas winking at me and I only bought 2! Think I better go back and get more … if I can decide where to put them 🙂

Whats your favourite flower to photograph?

Happy Gardening
xxx

Tags blooms, daisy, flowers, Fuchsia, fuchsias, gerbera, new blooms, photogenic, photographs

Christine's garden Gardening Home page features Perenniels

Abutilon cutting and buds

A few months ago a friend of mine (the one with this wonderful garden) gave me a cutting of his Abutilon (Chinese lantern, flowering maple) which I had admired. I kept the cutting in the pot he gave it to me in for a couple of weeks / months and finally at the beginning of spring I planted it out into the garden as a tiny little plant. I’ve been watching it grow in anticipation of it looking as gorgeous as his does. On a walk-about of the garden this morning guess what I found? Not only has it grown significantly, but it has BUDS!! (Is it normal to get this excited about buds on plants, or is it just me?)

So here we have the plant as it is now …

[one_half]Lots of buds, Yay[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Gorgeous Abutilon buds[/one_half_last]

[one_half]New shoots on the broken part[/one_half]

[one_half_last]I see the aphids like it too[/one_half_last]

When I planted the cutting I accidentally broke a piece off the plant which I stuck in a pot and has now also taken root and is sprouting new leaves. Soon I will be able to add another of these lovely shrubs to my growing garden.

And I see I’m not the only one excited about the Abutilon … aphids are busy moving in and making themselves at home. Going to have to hose them off a bit later when the sun goes down …

Happy Gardening
xxx

Tags Abutilon, aphids, flowers, shrubs

Annuals Christine's garden Gardening Home page features Perenniels

White

‘Gardening is the art that uses flowers and plants as paint, and the soil and sky as canvas’ ~ Elizabeth Murray

I’ve been a bit disappointed in my late Spring garden because I couldn’t really see anything flowering. After the cacophony of colour in September, everything looks very green at the moment and then I realised what the problem is. I have way too much “white”! Why do I do that? Every time I go flowering-plant shopping I come back with white flowering plants. I wasn’t consciously aware that I was doing this, until I went shopping this week and again came home with a white flowering plant (a lovely white Fuschia). Not that there is anything wrong with white – I love white – but in the garden it seems to be a bit flat when there is no other colour mixed in with it (at least that’s my impression). So that’s another “Gardening Lesson Learned” for me.

So what are all the “whites” flowering in October my garden? We have … white Gardenias, Roses, Dianthus, Ornithogalum, Freesias, Gaura, two different Jasmine types, Murraya Exotica, Alyssum, Makhaya Bella, Asiatic Lilies and Lilium Longifolium, Impatiens, Petunias, Cuphea, Brugmansia, Delphiniums, Ranunculus … and on and on.

Here are all my current white blooms …

[one_half]White Murraya Exotica[/one_half]

[one_half_last]White Iceberg Roses[/one_half_last]

[one_half]White Ornithogalum[/one_half]

[one_half_last]White Jasminum Multipartum[/one_half_last]

[one_half]White Star Jasmine[/one_half]

[one_half_last]White Gaura[/one_half_last]

[one_half]White Alyssum[/one_half]

[one_half_last]White Dianthus (Sweet William)[/one_half_last]

[one_half]White Mandevilla splenens[/one_half]

[one_half_last]White Makhaya bella[/one_half_last]

[one_half]White Lilium Longifolium[/one_half]

[one_half_last]White Impatiens[/one_half_last]

[one_half]White Cuphea[/one_half]

[one_half_last]White Brugmansia[/one_half_last]

[one_half]White Delphiniums[/one_half]

[one_half_last]White Freesias[/one_half_last]

[one_half]White Ranunculus[/one_half]

[one_half_last]White blossoms on the Lime tree[/one_half_last]

[one_half]White Cherry blossom[/one_half]

[one_half_last]White blossoms on the Lemon tree[/one_half_last]

[one_half]White crabapple (isn’t it beautiful?)[/one_half]

[one_half_last]White Petunias[/one_half_last]

As it is my first real year as a “gardener”, I’ve been observing (and critiquing) my garden on a monthly basis to see what I can do better – What have I learnt about October? Plant some COLOUR that will flower in October to lift all the white blooms!

Happy Gardening
xxx

Tags flowers, white

Barbie's garden Design Do it yourself Gardening Home page features Miscellaneous Perenniels

Before and After

I have been watching the growth of my garden and, with the gentle prodding from our friends, I had to do this post to showcase the tremendous change that happened in my small part of the world in the short 6 months since I started my whirlwind, one-woman landscaping exploit. I will do each part separate: I have divided the garden into front, veggie patch (along the side), the fruit tree area (back east section) and the back garden (the entertainment area).

The Front Garden

BEFORE:

Remember the front area with the huge lavender bushes that took over the whole bed? They also hid the dry river bed that I so lovingly created…for no one to see! The grass was dry and patchy. I loved my garden like this….. funny how we grow as gardeners! These pictures were taken right in the beginning of our blog in January.

[one_half]Remember my huge lavender bushes?[/one_half]

[one_half_last]My pride and joy, but outgrew their place[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Already starting to look tatty and woody[/one_half]

[one_half_last]The protea bush and the patchy lawn[/one_half_last]

THE ACTION:

The action starts in earnest round about April – it all began with the Leopard Trees then the redesigning begins……

[one_half]The hard work starts ….[/one_half]

[one_half_last]The lavenders are a memory now[/one_half_last]

[one_half]My rose patch at the end of June[/one_half]

[one_half_last]The new grass patch in June this year[/one_half_last]

AFTER:

These photos were taken this week, so this is how my garden is looking like NOW!

[one_half]Its all looking so green and healthy[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Tall corn flowers are temporary as gap filler[/one_half_last]

[one_half]My rose patch is thick and bursting with health![/one_half]

[one_half_last]Can’t wait for the roses to bloom[/one_half_last]

[one_half]I love how lush and full it all is![/one_half]

[one_half_last]The fuchsia is also happy and well mulched![/one_half_last]

I am really pleased that all the love and care you give to your garden, it gives it right back! The mulching and feeding and watering. It is all so rewarding.

Wait until you see the before and after photos of the back garden – you will not believe it is the same garden! Well, I’ll leave that for tomorrow’s post!

Unfortunately, my roses are still shy, so I will have to wait some more before I do a rose post!

Happy gardening to you all xxx

Let’s all send our love to Christine who misses her home and animals and her garden and her gardening buddies!! Send her home safe on angels wings xxx

Tags Design, flowers, garden, gardening, grasses, mulch, plants, roses, trees

Barbie's garden Gardening Home page features Perenniels

How are my roses?

Thank you to Diana from Elephants Eye for reminding me to take lots of photos of my roses!!! I am waiting for them to give me a splendid display! I should be able to post it tomorrow too! I have been nipping some the new shoots to encourage growth and using my home-made bug spray on the aphids who think they can stay …..!

Just read a really nice article on Roses in one of my favourite gardening mags:

Rose grooming and growing

Roses are queen of the October garden
They need at least 6 hours of sunshine a day
Roses can flower up to 10 months in a year
They need 10 litres of water a week
Fertilize monthly during summer
August to April use organic pesticides for thrips, red spider mite, aphids and beetles
Dead head regularly to encourage new floweing
Winter prune at the end of July (this is only for our Southern Hemisphere gardening friends)
Groom in January!

Happy Gardening xxxx

PS: I miss Christine too xx

Tags aphids, blooms, flowers, garden, gardening, roses

Barbie's garden Bugs & Pests Gardening Home page features Miscellaneous

Bug-eyed

Its been a while since I have had a chance to write and blog about my garden. Work has been taking up all of my time and before the sun sets, I dash out and take some photos or just play with the chickens in the garden (they always need supervision nowadays – no free run of the place!) This is the time I can really look closely at whats happening in my garden. I can really see the difference and September brought some strange growths – remember the fungus? – and the bugs have started to come out in full force. It is midge season – argh!!! They are small gnat-like flies that bite like the dickens! They come out as the sun is setting and jump all over you. Once they crawl under your sleeve they are more than likely looking for a bite! The chickens’ feather are full of them…I have to give the girls a real rub down to dislodge these critters…. they are worse than mosquitos!

But lets rather look at the interesting bugs in my garden, shall we?…….

[one_half]Shiny armour – not sure if friend or foe[/one_half]