Saturday, March 9, 2013

Mystery Plant Game




My mother and I are starting a new tradition.  It's called the mystery plant game.  She gives me a plant and has no idea what it is....  It has never dawned on me to ask.   I plant it.  It either turns out spectacular and it doesn't do anything because I have planted it in the wrong place.  Above is my latest mock up of the backyard garden I am designing...hitting 75 rose bushes in this bed..believe it or not this mock up is conservative because I am not mentioning all the other flowering plants in them.  It almost will be overwhelming.  I like doing the mock up....it revitalizes me..but this is the latest..  I miss the sound of the water so I am turning the pool itself into a fountain.

.Now on to the newest mystery plants.


Mom had some camellias that were doing poorly. They were planted in deep shade and were not doing well.  She brought them over.  The leaves were deep brown.  It turns out it was sunscald because they were in sunlight.  In examining the leaves, it has sooty mold on it.  She doesn't know what type of camellia other than they are deep red.


No idea


No idea


This is the backyard this morning.  I have more roses going in but my muscles are screaming...please stop.  Everyone has commented in the last few weeks that I have really lost weight.  My scale doesn't show it, at all.  I think all the digging is just putting muscle on me.


Clearing out this back section.  This going to take forever.  The other side of this path took me 10 hours.  This will probably take me three days.  I am leaving the magnolias and the bamboo but it's too much shade at the moment.


My seahorse got replaced with Aurora.  You can see  her if you are in the main rooms of the house.  She fits in better than the seahorse.  My husband cemented her into the plinth yesterday...my husband is so awesome.  He has been working out too and look so handsome...(although, I don't consider myself working out...I don't concertedly exercise and I eat what I want....  an added bonus to gardening..okay, ADHD kicking in)


Any guess?


Looks like two plants


I took the camellias out of the original pots...cleaned new pots, fresh soil, a touch of rose care 2 -in-1  and azalea fertilizer.  Segregated from other plants, clipped off all the leaves....will this kill them?  Maybe but if not, it should bring them back to life.  Also, kept them in a shaddy spot


I think Mom said cashmere bouquet.


Mexican petunias?


This the Biggest mystery of them all.  She brought me four roses that are growing on tree...no I don't mean grafted I mean the leaves look like roses and the flower but it is growing out of a tree?????????????






Last year this was the mystery plant..turns out it was a cassia


Plumeria


Gerber daisies


Zinnia


Bougainvilleas got a bath


I think I know what all these are


Man I am going to be skinny as a rail when all these go into the ground


Purple tiger soaking...will let soak another day...my muscles are soooooo sore


Tulips coming up...wonder what color?


Utility companies came out.  We are laying pipe for the irrigation systems...that will be so nice...


7 comments:

Jean Campbell said...

About the Cashmere Bouquet, you can ID it from the skunky smell of the leaves, which some people think smell like peanut butter.

It will be interesting to see what comes of your creative rehab of your mother's camellias.

Cerberus German shepherds said...

No idea if it will work but we'll see. They looked very sick..but it was worth a shot

Jean Campbell said...

To answer your questions, A staghorn fern will eventually engulf whatever it grows on/in. They don't need a pot full of soil underneath to thrive, they are often mounted on a piece of board.

'Fertilizer Friday' is a meme on Tootsie Time where she reminds everybody to fertilize their flowers and add their posts to her link. I don't have a regular pattern for fertilizing. My mother always fertilized her houseplants on the first and the fifteenth.

There are numbers of Azaleas, hard to identify from photos. The big Indicas frequently seen are Pride of Mobile, Judge Solomon, and Formosa. Formosa is the purplest of the three. I identify my pinks as 'not Formosa' because I really don't know. Formosa is the strongest grower and the darkest green foliage.



HolleyGarden said...

I'm getting caught up on my blog reading. Absolutely LOVE Aurora! She is just beautiful, and fits the space nicely. The only plant I could tell for sure in your photos is the one pictured above the caption "Any guess?" - it's a nandina (heavenly bamboo).

Cerberus German shepherds said...

Thanks Holley, despite being a beginner, I do attempt to plant to fit the requirements. I am certain that I have planted too close together but all that being said, if I have the luxury of planted where it is required, I try to do that

Jean Campbell said...

I think the one you said, 'looks like two plants' and there's another of the same plant where your shadow is over it, is boxwood. In bloom. The blooms are insignificant but at the height of bloom they smell like grape Koolaid.

Cerberus German shepherds said...

Nell, you seem to know the smell to everything! I have a deviated septum that I had fixed in my 20s but because I used to kickbox, I think I had broken my nose again. The other day I smelled the daffodil and it smelled wonderful! But I had to be up on it to smell it. But it could be the allergies