Saturday, November 8, 2014

Getting Ready to Plant Daffodils

Today while shopping at Loews garden center I picked up 40 daffodils Dutch master bulbs for $9.99 and I intend on planting them in my garden this afternoon.  

My husband was surprised that I bought the bulbs because I usually only buy from the nursery where I can pick the bulbs up, feel them for soft spots, inspect for mold, or shop online at respectable landscape nurseries.  But today I took a chance at buying prepackaged daffodils.



Granted it took some time for me to find a package of bulbs that I liked.But after I checked several packages I did find a package of 40 daffodils bulbs.  

So after this post I will be heading outdoors to plant daffodils today in the back garden the is located next to the garden path.  This garden is viewed from my picture window; a perfect location for the mid spring blooms. 

I will also be adding a few mid spring blooming daffodils bulbs to my kitchen window-box.  The flowers will look so pretty when they bloom and I can gaze out at them while doing the dishes. 

Transplant Sweet Autumn Clematis

I transplanted some sweet autumn clematis vines so they would grow my privacy fence the runs down my driveway. I thought the vines would look pretty in the fall when the white flowers bloomed. I also liked the idea of looking out the kitchen window at the pretty star shaped white flowers and thought it would be fun to watch the hummingbirds, honey bees and butterflies that enjoy sipping nectar from this flower.

The green leafy vine grew up the wood privacy fence quickly and this week the flowers bloomed. Now this part of the yard smells sweet like vanilla and when I open the kitchen the scent fills the room.

If your fall is mild the clematis will continue to bloom until a frost.  Today is November 8th and my clematis still has pretty white blooms.  

In the late fall the seed heads will appear. That is when I remove the seeds and put them in a trash bag to throw out. This particular clematis can become invasive if you do not remove the seeds and prune after the flowers bloom. 

Tips for growing: Clematis is drought tolerant and grows well in full sun to part shade. I add a layer of mulch around the stems and feed with miracle grow bloom booster in mid August and always get prolific blooms throughout the fall season.

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Flowers Blooming in My Garden: Photo Gallery

Even though the weather has changed and the evenings have been dipping into the low thirties there are still flowers blooming in my gardens. These white, yellow, and pink flowers add interest and are also eye appealing.

Sweet Autumn clematis 
 
Today I awoke to find that the change in temperature has caused the autumn leaves to fall from the trees onto the garden beds.  These golden and red leaves make a nice background for the burgundy and yellow Chrysanthemums and magenta and salmon-colored Four O clock flowers.

Yellow daisy-like Chrysanthemums 

Other autumn wildflowers are blooming in the woods that is adjacent to my home; delicate white flowers of the sweet autumn clematis, and goldenrod, and then a compact weed has delicate white flower clusters that look so pretty. I noted a few lavender phlox-type flowers blooming along the trail and thought this flower would be lovely if grown in masses.

Flowers blooming in the woods along the nature path


I suspect that these flowers will continue to bloom until there is a hard frost, hoping that does not occur any time soon.  I hope you enjoyed the photographs of the autumn flowers that are blooming in my yard and gardens. 



What flowers are blooming in your yard?

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Early Fall Yard Work: Trimming Grass / Brush

For the last three days my husband and I have been working together to clean up the yard and gardens.  The weather is cooler and we find is agreeable when working long hours in the yard. 
Trim grasses around pavestone and stepping stones


Husband has been using our greenworks chainsaw and pole to trim the tree branches and I have been using the 10 amp string trimmer to clean up the tall grass growing next to the garden edgestones, and along the rock wall.  

This trimmer is light weight so I could use it easily to get close to the base of the rock wall and cut down the tall grass. Cleaning up the wall will discourage snakes from wanting to winter in the crevices.

When the overgrowth by rock wall was cut back I moved to the side yard to trim the tall grass growing up against the dog pen.  In order to get this grass I needed to stand on a large limestone rock and lean up hill.  If I had used the gas trimmer I would be really sore right now, but the greenworks is light and I could get the trimming done without feeling discomfort.

Next on my list was to work on the evasive vines that were choking out the blackberry and raspberry bushes, so I got busy in removing the wild sweet autumn clematis.   When I get the vines removed I will use my trimmer to cut back the grass and brush growing around the berry bushes and then remove clippings with rake. 

There is a lot of work that needs to be done during early falls and I am thinking that I will need two more days to get every section manicured.  Then I can relax on the patio and enjoy looking out at a well maintained yard and garden.

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Gardening to Relieve Stress: Great Therapy

In my desire to rid my body of stress, I put on my gardening gloves and went outdoors to do some hand-pulling of weeds in the flower garden.  Being outdoors and being productive is a good way to cleanse your body of any negative energy and anxiousness.

While I was gardening I could watch the birds at the ground feeder and in the distance I saw a groundhog posing on the river rock.   The garden was alive with wildlife and biting bugs which I found took away from the good feelings I was getting from the garden.

My garden after a day of removing weeds

Whenever I perspire it seems the gnats go for my eyes and they are aggravating.  I sprayed myself with deep woods off before going outdoors but I do not spray my face.  So I went and got the protective glasses that I wear when I am painting or doing other home improvement projects.  The glasses worked but then my ankle felt itchy and sure enough there was a tick crawling on me.

The bugs in the garden were going against my stress-free therapy so I went to the shed to look for the natural pest control that I got at amazon.com and found that the mosquito and other biting insects barrier was empty so I went inside and put some diatomaceous earth food grade in a powder sugar shaker and then went back to the garden to dust the gardens with the natural pest control.
Diatomaceous earth food grade safely rids garden of biting bugs
 
Normally it takes 20 minutes for the DE food grade to kill any ticks, fleas, chiggers, mites, and ants that may be lurking in the garden.   By tomorrow morning the garden pest will be gone and I can resume my gardening therapy to get rid of stress.


I really love gardening especially when I need to overcome stress or feeling of anxiousness but hate when the bugs bite me and make me feel itchy.