A whole new look

Sunday I finished placing the plants in the pots I painted a few days ago.

First pot has Flowering Kale 'Coral Queen, Viola 'Antique Shades', Superbells and a Mexican Feather Grass.

The second pot has all the same plants, except instead of the Feather Grass, it has a Variegated Moor Grass. The pots should look very attractive when the Kale reaches 12 inches high, the Violas fill out, and the Superbells trail over the edge of the pots.

BTW I have a slide show on Keewee's Corner of the progress made on my new Shade Garden.

Sunshiny Sunday

Gladiola

Snapdragon

Nasturtium

Marigolds

Coreopsis 'tickseed'

Fridays Fun

While wandering the nursery yesterday, I came across flowering Kale, a plant I have never bothered with before.

Winter is always such a long time for a gardener, and having something of interest to blog about is sometimes difficult. I am on the lookout for winter plants, Kale being the first I have found. Next season I plan on planting grasses for winter interest in the garden, and great photo opportunities as they are bedecked with raindrops or snow.

There were several different shades and leaf texture of Kale, but the one which I knew would look great in the newly painted pots was one named 'Coral Queen' The one Kale would have looked kinda' lonely all by itself in the pot, so of course, I had to find something to fill in around the Kale. I settled on Viola "Sorbet' and I think the colors of the two kinds of plants will compliment each other.

Buddies.

Crocosmia and a double snapdragon are sharing the same plant support.
Crocosmia are a popular and attractive flowering bulb. Native to South Africa, Crocosmia are members of the Iris family and are easy to grow.
This is the first year I have grown the double snapdragons which are a delight, so I am taking cuttings just in case I don't find any in the nursery next spring.

Changes to front garden

Front view of the garden before I started in on the clean up.

The balancing pots are very sad looking and need to go. There is a thistle reaching for the sun which also needs to 'take a hike' and the poor Penstemon on the right of the pots, needs some support. Sheesh! how did I get so far behind? oh yes! I have been to California, I have been working, and also most of my energy has gone into the vegetable garden. However, shame on me for letting this garden get into such a state.

After a few hours work
The balancing pots have been pulled, and a pot holding a hosta is temporarily filling in this spot, and the penstemon has a support of bamboo. I keep all the old dead pieces off the bamboo plants especially to use as plant supports. I have also spread about a four inch layer of compost over the whole garden ohhh! my aching back. There I go whining again, but what gardener doesn't whine now and again?

One of the reasons the balancing pots failed, is that the water from the sprinkler head had been covered by the leaves of a nearby plant which had grown taller over the summer. I took care of this problem by pushing a plant stake firmly into the ground, and wedging the sprinkler head into the top curve of the plant stake. 'Works like a charm' I also did the same with a couple of the other sprinkler heads, so they would be above the plants, and now the whole garden gets a good soaking.

---

Before and after, from the rear of the garden.

Before I pulled the balancing pots.
Nothing grows in the space between the concrete blocks supporting the edge of the garden and the wall of the house, as it is under the eaves. I really don't want to have a garden right up to the house, as I like to have this small path to use as an access to the back of the garden.

Ta Da! all done except for raking up all the mess from the path. The large yellow pot is now a summer home for my potted hibiscus which will go indoors for the winter. There are still a couple of plants I am thinking of moving, and consideration given to new places to grow some of the annuals next year, as I realize this garden is a little shaded by the low fence, and it gets just morning sun. I will have plenty of planning and research to keep me busy during the cold winter months ahead.
Next on the list is the vegetable garden. I have the urge to get in there and start pulling out the sweet peas which are so scruffy looking, yank some the veggies which did not produce and toss them to the rabbits who will be happy and just do a general clean up, but that is for another day.
It is a bitter/sweet time in a gardener's life, when it comes time to pull spent plants, but we know, and look forward another growing season in the future.

Before and after

May 10th What to do with this ugly stump?

May 10th Plant it with sedums.

August 19th Isn't it looking grand?

By golly I have gourds

One is about the size of a baseball, and the other a little bit smaller. There are some which are about the size of a golf ball. I hope there is still enough warm weather, so at least the two larger gourds will mature.

First time for everything

I have never entered a photo contest before and thought I would with this photo.

The contest, August's Picture this is being hosted by 'Gardening Gone Wild' and the Photo Contest subject is “Down on Your Knees” and is a call for garden pictures taken from knee level or lower.
The judge is David Perry who is extraordinarily talented when it come to taking stunning photographs on all subjects. Go on over to his site and take a look at his very creative work.

Beautiful flowers and the bonus of tasty vegetables

In many parts of the world the Scarlet Runner Bean is cultivated both for it's flowers and the vegetable. My grandmother had a trellis which must have been about ten feet long and at least seven foot high especially for scarlet runner beans. When the beans were in flower the whole trellis was a mass of gorgeous red blooms, and the flavor of the beans I have never forgotten. This is why I decided to plant some this year, and even though they did not do as well as my grandmother's did, I still have had enough beans to satisfy my yearning for a taste of them.
The beans are easy to grow but do prefer a rich soil, and I am thinking I could have added more compost to the spot where I planted the beans. There is always next year to improve.

Fragrant Thursday

Working in the garden where my Oriental lilies are planted, is a delight. The fragrance which wafts on the breeze, tickles the senses, and leaves one with a feeling of "life is good"

A great way to fill in some time

I happened to have my camera with me when I paid a visit to my favorite garden center, Bayview Farm & Garden. To see more of the garden center, click on the video when you visit their site.

I love the little rustic building, and if I could afford it, I would have a larger version built for my garden.

The main entrance into the nursery.

I would also like to have a dozen or so of these ceramic pots.

Just love the shape of this tree as it leans gracefully over.

A gorgeous selection of plants in a large planter.

I hope you enjoyed seeing a small part of my favorite garden center.

What are these?

Last week MrC and I were in Valencia CA for a few days, and planted around the entrance of the Hotel we stayed at, were these lovely flowers.

I have not come across these before and am wondering what they are.

Monday is harvest day in Keewee's Garden

Sweet corn -Jubilee Hybrid 'Cornucopia' Cucumbers -'Green Dragon Burpless' and the round one is 'lemon' Tomatoes- 'Black Russian', which are not as dark colored as pictured on the label, and Cherry ' sunsugar' , Pole beans- 'Scarlet runner' and Blue lake' Swiss Chard, Sweet basil,to go with the tomatoes on a chicken and basil Pannini Strawberries, and a few Blueberries for dessert.

The hummingbirds are leaving

I haven't seen very many Hummingbirds the last couple of weeks. They are moving on, and I will be sad to see them go.

Guess what's for dinner tonight?

The first of the 'Mini baseball sized' cabbages, although it isn't exactly 'baseball shaped, and a whole heap of delightfully sweet 'Sunsugar cherry tomatoes'

My favorite way to prepare fresh cabbage, is to coarsely shred it, and saute it in a little olive oil, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and enjoy. These cabbages are just the right size for one person, and as my honey does not care for cabbage, I grew this variety just for myself.

Each week Daphne's Dandelions hosts Monday Harvest. Be sure to visit her blog to see who is harvesting what this week!

I am lucky to have these

These are three of the surviving Geraniums I overwintered in the basement last year and almost forgot.

Ivy Geranium 'Black Magic'

Exotic Geranium 'Graffiti Double red'

Exotic Geranium 'Happy Violet'

There are four more, but they are not worthy of a photograph. Perhaps next year if I give them some TLC over the winter, they will reward me with some lovely blooms I can brag about. *grin*

Sunflower Sunday

Perfectly Pretty Pansies

The pansy is such a humble little flower, but oh so pretty.

I am proud of myself

This morning I drove the six or so miles to one of my clients home, rang the door bell and waited, rang it again and waited some more. It appeared no one was home, what's up with that? I do not have a cell phone so I drove a few blocks to find a phone to call the office. It turned out the folks were out of town and someone forgot to notify me. Sooooo now I was peeved, having driven all that way for nothing, so decided to go back home. As I was leaving the tiny township, I saw the nursery which sells hydrangeas was open. Yes, you guessed it, I pulled in and looked around and consoled myself with two beautiful hydrangeas. A lot less fattening than chocolate. *chuckle*

In my last post I showed you the new shade garden I am working on and I thought a great place for the hydrangeas would be to the left of it.

The first lace cap hydrangea is in place. I had to saw through a root, probably from the willow, to get the hole dug deep enough for planting. The hydrangea still to be planted, is another lace cap. The flowers will be blue in the center with white surrounding it. I am looking forward to seeing the blooms.

Eventually I will have a natural looking path, perhaps with some granite steps surrounded with ground covers, between the shade garden and the hydrangeas.

This is the first lace cap I have purchased and think it is quite beautiful.

The owner of the nursery tells me there will be both blue and pink blooms on this plant.

I love the old willow in the background, as it not only shades the area, it adds a lot of character too.

I have a lot of work ahead of me before I will be satisfied with this new garden area. My imagination is running overtime, especially when I am trying to get some sleep at night. I know I am not the only gardener who finds it difficult to quiet our minds when there is something we want to accomplish.
I am tickled that I bought and planted hydrangeas instead of buying a bar, and it would have been a large one, of chocolate, and consumed it all, then felt guilty and mad at myself for being such a piggy, not to mention the few pounds I would have gained.