New flowers added!

I just got myself a NEW brugmansia! To those who don't know what a brugmansia is, it's an Angels Trumpet, Devils Tree, also known as a datura tree.

I have a peach colored one, a yellow one, and I just acquired a purple one, that the blooms poke UP instead of the usual hanging down. There is a house on Avenue H that has one, and I loved it the minute I saw it, and I had been looking for a source for them for quite a while, locally..and I have since found one, one town over - they grow their own from seeds! And they're not expensive.

When I was up in Medford, Oregon, in an 8b zone, I was calling around nurseries attempting to find a brugmansia for the yard.. found one, yet the nursery owner was *very* suspicious as to why I was wanting one - they are evidently hallucinogenic. Also TOXIC. I just think they're drop-dead gorgeous!

On another note, I purchased an Althea (rose of sharon) tree - in the hibiscus family - a double white - when I get my film developed, I will have pictures. I have not decided where I will plant this one - I have read that it seeds freely, and those little seedlings grow like crazy, so I think I will plant it along the driveway, and make a hedge of them ! keep those cars straight on the driveway, so we don't back into the ditch like hubby and I *both* did one year! The first time our neighbor had to pull us out, the second time, the truck backed in, and I used my V8 station wagon (with the tail-gunner seats) to pull out the truck.

Summer is on its way!

Wow it's nice outside today! I went out to plant, and it was like being bathed in a nice warm airstream. Not too hot, not too cold. Just right. Why am I inside telling you this? Because I have to figure out what to fix for dinner *grin*

I planted ranunculus today, and my caladiums are starting to come up finally. I guess I planted the bulbs too early. The dirt wasnt warm enough, so I will plant some more later on today after I peer into the freezer to see what is available.

Nasturtiums and others..

My nasturtiums are coming up gangbusters! I'm so jazzed! and the flowers that I've planted at the church are coming up so well! I planted a 61 foot by 3 foot area, in one spot and a 25 foot by 3 foot area in another spot and they are just taking off! This is the type of gardening that I've been dreaming of. This is the type of gardening that I'd like to do at my house, but never have had the materials/space to do in raised beds. Maybe this fall I will do one under the oak tree in the front, a shade garden. The leach field from the washing machine is sinking, and the pipe from that is showing in the yard. So I will get some rock from Second Nature, and build up a garden area, and put in a nice garden, and make my front yard look nice! And maybe hubby won't complain about mowing around it for a change :D

Garden fever

Okay so I have it BAD! I'm planning on two new garden areas for my yard - a shade garden for under my oak tree - and this: an 'herb spiral'. I had seen a website on this a couple of years back, but never had really seriously thought about putting one in, but after looking at the prices of fresh herbs in the grocery store for a little piece of herb ($2.50), I have decided that it is economically sound for me to grow my own herbs that I normally use. So.. here I am, fixing to put in another garden area that my husband will have to mow around. I am rather stuck on trying to figure out how many bags of dirt I should pick up at The Walmart to make this herb spiral, and bricks - how many will be required? The nursery that I go to in town, is getting in their spring plants this coming Friday (woohoo!) and she showed me the list - its quite extensive- and I will be doing quite a bit of shopping there for herbs and the like.

On another note - for once! Walmart has RHUBARB! the plant - I am not exactly sure how it will do in zone 8, but I am going to buy a plant and see how well it does in our summer heat. If I can avoid buying rhubarb at the grocery store, and get it fresh for pie and crumbles, that is the best.

Time to get started on your gardens

January checklist for southeast:

You can prune dormant rosebushes after the first of the year. Take out damaged, crossing, crowded and long canes. Shorten the remaining branches conservatively, by no more than a third of their length.

Now's the ideal time to inventory your supplies. Stores are stocking up, and you can replenish before the rush. Shop for soil amendments, pesticides, stakes, plant labels and even a new tool or two.

Some perennials and ornamental grasses start to look pretty disreputable about now. Chop them low with sharp clippers. They'll look much better, and it'll be easier for new growth to emerge.

But my rosebushes are putting out flowers right now, its been so warm here lately. We had on the air conditioner yesterday, it got up to 75, and is supposed to get up to 74 again today. However, a cold front is supposed to come through and be only in the 50s tomorrow. So much for south Texas winter! Its time in February to start planting fruit bushes, so I will get a couple of orange trees, and maybe a satsuma tree or two if they require a pollenator. Almost time to go to the nursery in town and pick up some victims.. I mean plants.. for this coming year. I only had a couple die on me this past year - my hibiscus are doing quite well since I started on a regular feeding schedule. They had not been doing well and growing like they should be, but now are blooming quite often, despite Mr Fatty doing his business around the base of it. And time to figure out how to keep the outdoor cats from figuring the mulch I lay down is their new litterbox. Maybe if I try that new rubber mulch? that is made from shredded tires. Maybe it will last longer than the red bark mulch. We shall see. It doesn't cost that much more, and is supposed to be more weather-proof.