Saturday....I broke down and got some help. I went to the museum and asked if someone knew someone who could help me get the plants in the ground because I needed to make better progress. They recommended a young man by the name of Cody.
Cody helped me for eight hours between Saturday and Sunday...or rather...I helped Cody. He was exhausting to just watch. We accomplished in two days what have taken me three weeks. Smart move on my part to get help. My mother did suggest it...before she protests.
Behind a section of the rose bed...the weeds had all grown up again even though I cleared it in the spring. Cody simply ran a mower through it.
The section behind the roses I would gather is about 500 sq feet but I am not good with dimensions.
Planted the big plants. I put a pittosporum here. It is my understanding that they do not like frost...so I put it it in a sunny spot that gets sheltered by a large magnolia. I, also, put cassias down.
I put the remaining hydrangeas I had behind the roses first. And an Alethea.
The corner bed of this bed has mexican heather, wild bamboo, heavenly bamboo, oleander and a tree stump that keeps growing.
The bougainvilleas an Mexican Heather stayed in the greenhouse all winter. Now I have Mexican Heather under my bougainvillea. I opted to plant them in the corner bed I started screening.
Sunday
My other dog Pearl. Believe it or not, she has lost weight. I love this dog.
We got out the auger an started doing more holes. The forecast calls for rain. Looking at the radar it's very frustrating to see rain EVERYWHERE around you but not on you. I schedule my posts. I keep waiting for the rain and it keeps threatening but if it doesn't I will have to go water. Rain, already.
We planted mostly camellias and azaleas here.
I will not screen this section. A little further away, the ground has some type of red rocks that are large. I will not plant further than here. I suppose I'll need to put a structure instead ...A Gazebo!!! (that would be cool.) but not this year.
I hate to admit that we just started digging holes. I did use top soil to amend.
I will need to use something more economical in this section but I have learned that if I don't keep the weeds at bay, they will come back..the weeds are typically tiny trees.
The idea is to have winter interest. The camellias and the azaleas will bloom when nothing else is.
95% of the plants are the greenhouse are in the ground! YEAH!!!
They are just in the back drop of the rose garden immediately behind the pool.
So what's left. MIL tounge...will go in a pot. Mexican petunia...will go in the hydra bed.
Here I have a bunch of lorapetelum cuttings. If I put them in the ground without irrigation they'll die. I am considering repotting them and waiting till fall or spring. Other things are baby azaleas, rose cutting that aren't greening up but don't look dead. A poinsettia. and a baby loquat.
This is the vine that I mentioned that was growing in the butterfly garden. This one is growing wild by the greenhouse. They look like petunias.
This is the vinca I was mentioning to Nell.
Iceberg. I gets pink specs if I spray them.
The junipers and camellia got a badly needed mowing. I bet they are much happier.
Cashmere bouquet starting to bloom. They look like hydrangeas.
Loquats were planted as a screen to the cemetery. This spot is very sandy and hot...but we did amend very heavily...screened and mulched. Most importantly, it has a spigot near.
Wild flowers that are growing.
Last year I planted tons of wildflowers using the Pennington Cottage Mix. They were beautiful. Below is a picture of last year.
This year, the wildflowers are coming back on their own.
Zinnia
Some type of very pretty tiny blue flowers.
Sulphur cosmos. Last year they didn't bloom until fall.
I am not taking care of it. I just am not mowing it. I will try to weed it though. The size made it hard to do.
cosmos?
Not sure what this tiny white flower is.
Moral of the story...overwhelmed...get help...good help...worth every dime and the light at the end of the tunnel is a spot on the horizon.
13 comments:
Good for you for getting some help! And it sounds like he was some good help, too. I wish I could borrow Cody for a day! ;) I love that you're also planting camellias. They are such wonderful flowers to have when everything else is sleeping.
that vine is morning glory its a climber but it will come back every year I like them when they are in the right place
yes I hope you use coty again
@Anonymous, morning glories have different leaves. Nell, named this vine..I remember it distinctly because of the shape of the leaves (which shall we say is freudian on my part). I have one growing in the butterfly garden. Morning glories have tear drop leaves. I wish Cody could travel. He worked hard, unsupervised, well spoken and extremely polite. I couldn't believe he was only 22. He is quite but when he did talk...he spoke of fishing, and cooking rabbit. Great guy.
@Holley...behind the rose garden we had to have planted a good 30 camellia/azaleas in total. You know when you are in a different part of the year, it's hard to appreciate bloomers for winter. But I had already planted at least 15 others so it should be very colorful in early spring. Between the camellias and the roses are hydras. I have 5 weeks to finish this project. I can't believe it took this long...I hope it will be beautiful. It has to! It took too much work not to.
I thought I commented yesterday, I guess not. You should listen to your Mother. (She needs to start a blog.) Glad you got garden help.
The tiny blue wildflowers look like Forget-me-nots.
You mention Cassia. The one in the previous post is different than the Candlestick one I plant. There are several Cassias, all pretty. In warmer climates they make small trees.
The cassia made beautiful yellow flowers in the fall...and had a specific kind of caterpillar. I am glad you brought up cassia. I put mine in the greenhouse last year..but my greenhouse despite being 10 X 18 filled up a lot. This year, I would rather put things in the ground. I put them in a sunny spot under magnolias...Can they survive winter?
My mom I think is the Anonymous poster...need to show her how to put her name on the post..or get her an ID.
Here is the post that shows the cassia. She gave me another one..they are planted in the same area in the back of the rose garden under tall trees. Still gets sun but winter protection...I think
http://alabamaroses.blogspot.com/2012/12/october-2012the-prettiest-month-i-have.html
Cassias are not winter-hardy here. I just start over with seeds every spring (late winter in the greenhouse). Ours are different but I think they all make plenty of seeds.
So either I greenhouse them, or replant...I wonder if there is a compromise..(if you are thinking I'm slow or hard headed....try being my mother)...can you cut them down and take out the roots and greenhouse it? It was just too big and took a lot of space last year. I like the seeds method too....stupid question..the seeds are on the flowers? I think I'll do the seed method....if that is the case
I never tried cutting a Cassia back and putting it in the greenhouse. The seeds are easy, a big pod follows the blooms. When it dries, it is full of good-sized seeds. I start mine indoors in the spring.
In a mild winter, they might survive in your garden. They do survive in Orlando and Tampa. Mulch the roots well, you never know.
You know what? Our school vegetable plot is doing marvellously well. Warmed by the June sun and weeded to within an inch of their lives, Trees For Sale
Saturday....I broke down and got some help. I went to the museum and asked if someone knew someone who could helpforsythia for sale
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