If you enjoy working in your yard and garden then you have come to the right place.I share with you tips on growing flowers and herbs, designing specialty gardens, and ideas on ways to improve your curb appeal, Also product reviews and recommendations.
The other day I was
quite pleased with my spring bulb purchase that I had gotten at
Lowe's nursery center. I thought the 40 medium-sized Dutch master
daffodils were a great buy considering I paid under $10. for them. Then
this morning I went to Lowe's to shop for some pet-safe ice melt and
a new snow shovel and saw while I was there that the spring bulbs
were all on sale for 25 % off.
Needless to say, I
felt like I was in a chocolate
candy store and did not waste any time in selecting bags of spring bulbs; daffodils, crocus, paperwhites, tulips, and hyacinths to name a few.
While some people
may think it is too late to plant since much of the US is presently bitter cold with snow in the forecast. This weather will prevent many gardens from planting bulbs in the ground.
I will store these spring
bulbs
in a wood box in my root cellar that is covered with dry peat moss
until early spring and then plant them in container gardens for clients or
my personal garden.
Today was a great
day for shopping at Lowe's home improvement store and I am so glad
that I checked out the spring bulb section in the garden center.
Normally after
a hard frost I will go out and cut back my plants in my garden
however some plants I leave because they will provide interest
through out the winter months.
Fountain grass in winter
The dried ornamental grass
plumes as they add not only interest but also movement in the
garden. I also find that the seed heads from the
autumn joy sedum. Black-eyed Susan’s and the dried
hydrangea flowers look eye appealing during the winter season.
Dried Hydrangea Flowers in in late fall
What I usually
do is leave these garden plants alone throughout the winter months
and then cut them back in early spring.
After a hard frost after I clean up the garden (cut back all other plants) I will
apply a layer of cypress mulch around the stems of the plants that I am leaving for winter interest. This year I am using Scotts
nature scapes mulch
in the color of red for winter because it is a nice contrast.
Here is a YouTube video that will show you how beautiful grasses look in winter.
Looking
out my picture window I can see hardy copper, red and purple coleus, white
inpatients, and purple wandering jew plants that are full, healthy, and
covered with new leaves and blooms. These annual flowers when grown with perennial ornamental grasses and other plants really make my November
garden look nice and
all of my neighbors when they walk
past my house
compliment me on my
late-in-season flower gardens.
Know
that my plants usually are not this healthy, in fact, if the summer
heat did not kill them then the first cold night in
fall would. I am
really thankful that I took a chance with Spray n grow because this
product feeds my garden plants and flowers with micronutrients which
are vitamins for your plants.
Here is a photograph postcard that I created from one of my fall garden photographs. I think you will agree that the November garden plants look amazing. I know it is not due to my green thumb. I am certain it is due to the spray-n-grow garden product that I used to feed my plants.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 autumnclematis. When I get the vines
removed I will use my trimmer to cut back the grass andbrushgrowing 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.
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.
Now
that the peak heat of the summer is here I make a point to get up at dawn so
that I can get whatever yard or garden work completed. During
this time I can weed the gardens, deadhead the flowers, and water the
plants. However, I need to wait a few
hours to use any of my electric or gas-operated garden tools.
Watering lilac shrubs in summer
I
was going to use the electric grass trimmer to manicure around the flower gardens
but decided to hold off on this project until next week when the weather will be 20
degrees cooler. At 9:00 this morning, the temperature was 89 degrees and I thought
it was too hot.
Other
than that maintaining the garden, I find it is a full-time job to keep the container and specialty gardens hydrated. The plants get a good watering in the
am with a soaker hose but come noon the topsoil in containers and garden beds looks
like dust. So I am outdoors again in the
late afternoon to water the hosta, coleus, and fern plants because the heat of the summer is causing them to feel stress.
Cosmo flower-like hot weather
Zinnia flowers grow best in the hot sun
The only plants in my garden
that are flourishing are the zinnias, cosmos, and four o'clock flowers. These heat-seeking plants are producing
multiple flowers and the plants do not bolt when the summer weather gets hot.
A couple
days ago I transplanted my indoor herbs into outdoor containers because they
weren't doing so good indoors and thought the natural sunlight would do them
good. Plus I like the way fragrant herbs
repel mosquitoes, so it seemed like a good idea at the time.
When I transplanted the herbs it was on a cloudy and cool day but today the weather
had changed it is extremely hot. Of
course, this means I need to take extra steps to prevent outdoor herb plants
from stress.
Read the
first post about these herbs here transplanting kitchen herbs to outdoor garden
Anything
planted in a container will dry out quickly and if you water the plant in the
morning by midday when the sun is hot the soil with dry out. Normally when I check with my index finger the soil is dry an inch down after a hot day. To
prevent dry soil I generally water in the morning at the soil level until the
water drains from the holes on the bottom of the container.
Applying
mulch is good also as long as you do not put the mulch close to the herb
stem. Mulch is great because it absorbs the water and then releases moisture back into the soil slowly. A mulch that I use and recommend is nature scapes advanced garden mulch by Scotts I bought this brand mulch at lowes.com, had
watched sales, and got a good buy on 2 cubic feet.
What I like
about this mulch is that it retains the water and slowly releases it back into
the soil which means you will not need to water your flower or herb gardens
daily. On average you will save up to
30% on your water bill. Plus you will
save time and energy because you won’t need to water the garden daily.
When I get
home from work I will need to check on the newly planted herb plants and will mist the leaves and stems with the garden hose because this will prevent them from wilting.
The best way
to care for any newly transplanted herb in the growing season is to make sure
the soil does not dry out. Keeping it evenly moist but not wet will ensure that
the roots will take hold and the plant does not get stressed out.
Also helpful
when transplanting during the growing season is to use a Green Light organic root stimulator. I would not dream of putting
a plant in the ground without a root stimulator. I have bought the green
light product at amazon.com and am pleased with it.
Here is a great way to keep the plant sauce full of water, thus the plant roots will never dry out.