Tag: garden

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Annuals Barbie's garden Gardening Home page features Miscellaneous

Meadow in May

I am so excited to see the carpet of Meadow green is now flowering – that is so quick! It seems like yesterday when I scattered a bunch of Winter Mix meadow seeds onto my bleak back garden patch. There are so many different varieties of plants that I will only know what is what when they start blooming. I am not worried about the weeds because Mother Nature doesn’t either. I want to let it look as authentic as possible. If there are some dreaded nasty weeds then I will spot them and pull them.

Christine suggested I plant a few of my bulbs in the Meadow – I like this idea and have put aside some Sparaxis and Ixias bulbs for this. But I can already see the flowering of the Alyssum and the Cosmos. The arrows will help:

Red arrow – Cosmos; Yellow arrow – Alyssum; Blue arrow – Marigold

This Meadow will be a wonder this winter! Happy Gardening xxxxx

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Annuals Barbie's garden Design Gardening Home page features Perenniels

Back garden highlighted

Hi Chris, I have been busy with planting and cleaning and creating and just enjoying the back area of my garden. I know that I have these silent moments where no one knows where I am and what I’m up to – even my hubby looks for me…… I am in my garden. I have become very close to my garden again, now that the time has come to reawaken and refresh all the beds. I take long moments just looking and imagining. I look at funny corners and visualize an old chair or an old ladder with a creeper growing up it, a bucket or a few old pieces of wood and some stones.

Here is what I’ve been creating and planting…….

[one_half]My new area of interest-near the back wall[/one_half]

[one_half_last]The new bed under development[/one_half_last]

Still needs lots of work, but the idea is there and I want a lush area of green in the back garden. It has been stark and barren for too long – cheerless and somber before I got my hands on it. I want to have this organised jungly effect. A place you forage for vegetables and fruit and berries and medicinal flowers…..

There will be grenadilla, yarrow, grasses, peaches and blueberries all growing together.

[one_half]Grenadilla will creep up an old ladder[/one_half]

[one_half_last]With neat little walkways of interest[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Old wood holding bird bath bowls[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Wood and stones always featuring[/one_half_last]

I have tansy and borage bringing scores of bees and butterflies to pollinate the peach and blueberry blossoms, Black Pearl peppers and Irises all enjoying the same bed. I love the idea of adding flowers in amongst herbs and vegetables and fruit.

[one_half]Grasses in between finishes it off[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Each area has a water feature [/one_half_last]

And these beautiful pots on the big table on the back deck just paints this lovely picture of rest and tranquility. Thank you, my friend, for this lovely gift – they work so perfectly in my garden and soon the Freesias will be blooming!

Happy Gardening xxx

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

Cleome attack

Oh No!! Something is chewing on my Cleome and I have lost one bush already! What can this be? Chris, I know that you lost your Impatiens to cutworm – could this be the same thing? I hope it is not that dreaded Stem Borer Beetle that is now attacking other plants in my garden. The Cleome is in a patch near the Fig and Guava tree. I will not spray any pesticide so I will have to tackle this by removing the pest by hand.

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This looks more like something is chewing, not boring – but the adult beetle chews. The leaves are also all chomped up and have turned yellow. This all seemed to have happened recently. The rest of my Cleome patch is looking healthy and happy and I can’t see any damage on the rest of them.

I will keep you posted on what the pesky thing is that is eating my plants.

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Annuals Barbie's garden Gardening Home page features Perenniels

Meadow update

Hi Chris, remember my back garden meadow I want to create? I spread the seeds at the beginning of April and the last two weeks I have taken photos of the progress. I am still not sure what flowers will come out so it will be fun to see how the whole area will develop. I can recognise marigolds and that’s about it! Oh yes – I also see clover and a few weeds, but thats all in the nature of a wild meadow. I really want to see some dandelion and milk thistle. These are great medicinal plants … and it would be nice to have a meadow of useful and beneficial flowers. Right now, I don’t know the difference between the grass, flowers and weeds. The first two weeks they just shot up, but week 2 there was little change.

The Day I Started

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Week 2 – 14 April

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Week 3 – 21 April

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You can see patches of lawn that have always been there, so hopefully this will fill out and become a colourful carpet of flowers and new grass.

It is a kind of “wait and see” experiment that will be fun to watch grow.

Can you identify some of my seedings?

 

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Barbie's garden Design Gardening Home page features Miscellaneous Perenniels

Grasses highlighted – 1st anniversary

I have been asked a few times by many to put together a more detailed post on the Grass Feature in my front garden. It is one of my very special places in my garden and takes pride of place (ok – the veggie patch is still the number one!) This is the month of its 1st Anniversary, so we can really go back and see how it looked 1 year ago.

There are a variety of grasses and they were all chosen to work well together – height, shape and colour. I remember the planning and drawing and the digging and arranging and re-arranging. It was one of my more dramatic and labour intensive projects because of the dry river bed feature in the middle of it all.

As it looks now – with all the grasses labelled.

1. Pennisetum “Red Buttons”

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2. Carex Buchananii

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3. Carex Amazon Mist

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4. Festuca Glauca

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5. & 8. Calamagrostis “Karl Foerster”

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6. Miscanthus Sinensis Gracillimus

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7. Panicum Virgatum “Shenandoah”

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9.  Deschampsia Caespitosa “Tuffed Hair Grass”

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10. & 13. Phorium Rubra nana & 11. Pennisetum Setaceum Rubrum-Red Fountain Grass

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12. Carex Frosted Curls

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14. Aristida & other

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I hope that this has been interesting. It was great to see how this Grass Feature keeps changing through the seasons – Autumn shows a new face.

Happy Gardening xxx

 

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Barbie's garden Gardening Home page features Miscellaneous

Big clean up!

Today was a go go go day! I had my fabulous hubby as keen to get the garden in great shape. It has been looking shabby and dry and all the spent vegetable plants needed to go. I want to make way for my March planting and get the soil ready for this. I am totally exhausted but so happy that we managed to do the whole garden – every inch was checked and fixed!

[one_half]Here we start – bright and early[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Cleaning the protea bush – hard work![/one_half_last]

Ok – enough of the ugly stuff. I didn’t bother to take photos of the before because it is really not a pretty sight! Let’s go straight to after shots! We’ll start with the front, move around the side and then to the back of the house. Then the chicken run!

[one_half]Front grass mowed and beds cleaned[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Grass patch needs little work – just some water[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Fuchsia cut right back so roses have room[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Roses deadheaded and fed with Sudden Impact[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Front garden neat  – awaiting stones for path[/one_half]

[one_half_last]The protea bush cropped just before I mowed[/one_half_last]

Ok, now for the side garden – the veggie patch area.

[one_half]Weeding took forever but worth it[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Front view of veggie patch[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Looking back on the veggie patch[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Oops! Still need to plant these salvias[/one_half_last]

Ok, now we are coming around to the back garden where I have my fruit trees.

[one_half]Area raked and fruit trees mulched[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Fig tree got a real good haircut[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Potato (bush) tree bed all clean[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Looking through Potato bush bed into garden[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Beds cleaned and grass mowed[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Chicken run cleaned up too[/one_half_last]

Whew. Thats it! Gonna hit the sack now. Tomorrow i’m going to order the stones that we want to put around the house. Ok, that’s a whole new post.

Happy gardening xxxx

Categories
Annuals Barbie's garden Gardening Home page features Perenniels

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

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Barbie's garden Gardening Home page features Perenniels

Cleomes in bed

Hi Chris! I have been waiting patiently for a cool day in order to plant my Cleomes and TODAY WAS THE DAY! I had the perfect bed in my back garden where they will get the morning sun and some shade in the afternoon. My Three Sisters bed (which I called the “Pumpkin Patch”) had come to an end and the soil was rich and ready for new planting. They look really happy there and not a moment to soon. They have been waiting patiently on my front deck, so I am glad that they managed to hold on. They do look a little droopy, but I have just watered them and the wind was blowing quite a bit.

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Thanks again, my friend. These are going to grow into a beautiful display of colour when they establish themselves. If they look anything like yours then I would be so happy!

Happy Gardening xxx

 

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

Bug-a-boo Zoo

I have had such weird and wonderful bugs coming into my garden lately that I had to do a special post on all the bugs I have met so far. Every time I step onto my back deck, I have to run and get my camera. It is as if they wait for me and pose. Thanks to a lot of our friends, we were able to identify all of them. Here are a few of them, from the most recent visitors ……

A cheeky grasshopper is sitting in one of my sunflowers and chomping away on the petals – yum!

[one_half]Not a bug, but a common visitor and friend[/one_half]

[one_half_last]This female hopper is hanging by 2 claws[/one_half_last]

Voracious fruit beetles all clambering for a taste of the sticky, yummy figs! The annoying Starlings wake us up in the mornings with their squealing as they tear open the figs. They eat some but they just destroy a whole lot of them. These broken figs are what the fruit beetles are devouring!

[one_half]Remember this little guy? Longicorn beetle[/one_half]

[one_half_last]And this strange beauty? The Devil Horse Mantis[/one_half_last]

[one_half]This Rhinoceros beetle I found in the manure, remember?[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Some kind of horned caterpillar…. forget the name![/one_half_last]

[one_half]Colourful little beetle, isn’t he? A Harlequin bug[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Another Harlequin Bug[/one_half_last]

[one_half]En masse the locust can destroy, but this one is ok on his own[/one_half]

[one_half_last]This Haarskeeder is the ugliest insect of the bunch![/one_half_last]

[one_half]Remember this mommy Praying Mantis who left her basket of children at my front door?[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Ladybugs are always welcome in my garden!![/one_half_last]

Well, I hope you enjoyed visiting my Bug-a-boo Zoo. I will keep you updated with any new additions.

Happy gardening xxxxx

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

Heat of the Summer

The heat of the summer days does take its toll on the garden. It is usually 2-3 degrees higher here than in the city of Cape Town. So if my friend, Christine, says its 30 degrees in her garden, than its usually 33 degrees here. A few of my plants are now dropping leaves and flowers – notably the fuchsia, but my neighbour was very surprised to see it still blooming, so it lasted well.

The crickets are out at night and I hear the lonely high-pitched sound of the mating frog. In the hot afternoon, you hear the cicadas and the grasshoppers stake their claim on large green leaves. The sun is high and the air is dry. The garden waits for its daily watering …

[one_half]This grasshopper lives on the corn-stalk[/one_half]

[one_half_last]An old skin shell of a grasshopper[/one_half_last]

[one_half]My grasses are doing well in the heat[/one_half]

[one_half_last]They are now growing and filling the spaces[/one_half_last]

But they do need watering regularly.

[one_half]My Miscanthus growing tall[/one_half]

[one_half_last]But some are feeling the heat[/one_half_last]

In this early morning shot (8am) – it was already 25 degrees

[one_half]The Leopard Trees are strong and resilient[/one_half]

[one_half_last]But everyone needs a drink of water[/one_half_last]

Summertime is for lazy days in the sun and swimming in the cool pool. I know most of our friends are in winter, but I hope that we can spread some sunshine your way.

Happy gardening xxxx