Rose problems

So I've been hovering around my rose Zephirine Drouhin
ever since I found out from reading zanthan: http://www.zanthan.com/gardens/gardenlog/archives/002127.html
that I probably have rose dieback
and she doesn't have much more to live...
even though I didn't get to see her flower yet :(
I guess I didn't plant her right or something.

Anyways, I saw these little things hanging off one of the leaves.
I didn't know what they were...but looking around
it seems they might be lacewing eggs.

 

New Garden Bed

This is what I worked on at lunch today.
It looks like a small area in this picturebut at the rate I'm going
I should have this finished by Christmas.
First layer is newspaper.
Second are composted leaves.
Third is composted cow manure.(Bought by the bag)
Last is shredded bark.

I've never done anything like this before.
I don't know how it’s going to turn out.
The hostas and Japanese maple were planted before I started this.

 

Basil on a Hot Tin Roof

As mentioned before, our yard has a lot of shade.
Everything seems to be growing...it just grows a lot slower than if it had more sun.
I think our tomatoes actually did better this year with a little bit of shade.
Although Gary attributes this to the fact that we got them started earlier.

Anyways, I thought our basil was doing great
until I saw that Gary's mother's basil was about two foot tall with plenty of girth.
She tried to make me feel better by saying it was because
ours was started from seed
but we have a pickle bucket with a store bought plant
that doesn't look much better.

I figured it has to be the sun.
Right now it looks like most of the day's sun is
directed right at the roof of the carport.
So up went the basil plants.

We'll see if that helps any...
or if I just end up breaking my neck
falling off the ladder.

 

Its Banana Spider season

Little baby banana spiders are everywhere.
This one is hanging out over by the trash cans.
They are really scary looking
but I'm told they aren't dangerous
and they eat lots of bugs.
Yay spiders!

My mom told me she thought they were called
banana spiders because they hung out
in the banana trees.
These spiders are also called Golden Silk Spiders or
golden orb-weavers.

Wikipedia says they got their name from the fact that
"the yellow threads of their web shine like gold in sunlight."
I've never noticed their webs to be yellow in any way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_silk_orb-weaver

 

Crape Myrtle

With all the crape myrtles in bloom I've been dying to get one.
I did all the research about what size I wanted (not to big), what color (white),
the shape (of a small tree)
and decided on one that should be fairly easy to get in the fall when
I would plant it.
Acoma it was.
Now I would just wait.

My father has some in his yard.
They have been there for quite some time
and they are still pretty small.
They are a pretty puple and babies seem to be
springing up all over the yard.
So I asked him for one.
I figured it would be easy just to plant
one next to the mail box
since the front of the yard gets some of the most sun.

He comes over with this.
From Walmart.
I don't know what it is.
How big it gets.
It IS very pretty though.

All my planning for nothing.
Ah well, this seems to be the anti-plan garden anyways.
Isn't that life?

Vacation

Gary, Alex and I went on a vacation to visit my mother in Atlanta.
There we took a trip to the Aquarium and the Botanical Gardens.
At lot of my pictures from the gardens look like this.
(If I could have just had a keyboard on my camera to take notes.)

The best part?
It rained while I was gone!
hallelujah!

With the rain it seem like there are even more mosquitoes.
Is it possible?!?
I am determined to get rid of these things...
or at least cut down on them.
I'm going to rake up all the leaves.
Cut everything back.
What am I going to do about the rain gutters?
Maybe they are breeding up there.
I don't know what else to do.

I know there is a swimming pool across the street,
The house that no one lives in,
that must be swarming with them.
And then there is the swamp area down the street at the park.
I have a feeling there is no winning.

Pineapple Mint

The first mint I haven't killed.
Everyone is always freaking out about mint.
INVASIVE!!!
OH NO...YOU HAVE TO KEEP THIS IN A POT!
Not me. I can kill some mint.
I've killed it in Oregon.
I've killed it in South Carolina.
I've killed it in a container.
I've killed it in the ground.
But look!
This glorious mint is still growing!
The leaves seem a lot tougher than the other mints.
I don't need any wimpy plants anyways.
:)

The sky is falling

Yesterday a huge limb from an oak in the back yard fell
on our house... and I saw it come down.
It wasn't dead. Nothing was wrong with it as far as I could tell.
Pretty strange. It smashed the cast iron plants I moved underneath it.
(and dad smashed the mums trying to move the limb).
Maybe its mad about the plants.
Or maybe its mad that my neighbors trimmed two branches off of it.
(I certainly am)

 

3-bin Sink

I saw two large worms in the beets this morning.
I didn't pick them off.
1) because I didn't have time to get a new bucket of soapy water.
2) Because I keep saying that they aren't going to grow any more.
I should just till the whole bin up and put a black plastic bag over it to bake it until this fall.
Its no good watching over them
when they are done for.

I caught myself thinking
"...but that beet looks like it grew a little"

Garden Mayhem

The out-of-control compost pile.

We have 10 oak trees and 2 pines in our yard.
This is the result of spring cleanup...and because it was before mom gave
us the lawnmower absolutely none of it is chopped/shredded.
We really should just invest in a shredder.

Leaf-Footed Demons (ahem..bugs)
Oh well, our tomatoes are pretty much coming to a close anyways.
Gary was sucking the babies up with the vacumn.
I think he missed a few...like a couple hundred.
Plus the horn worms are here.
(see below)
Ugh..I am really grossed out by tomato bugs.

We put the worms in a bucket of soapy water.
Now they are all bloated.
yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck!

Hydrangeas Turning Green

With a slight pink tint.

 

Side Garden

This is a view of the side garden out of Alex's bedroom window.
Its nice to sit at the piano and look at the flowers.
It really should be called the "weekend garden" because
the only time I can get over there is during the hottest part of the day.
Before work and after work the mosquitoes are so bad I have to quickly water things
and then scidaddle.
No time to enjoy it except through the window.

Crocosmia 'Lucifer'

Wow what a beautiful flower! It really looks nice next to the purplish-black of the elephant ear and the light purple of the Mexican Bush Sage flower. I hope this plant is really as tough as I've read it is.
This is the 'Full Sun/Part Shade' corner. At first, this is where most of the plants I bought went...then I started to see all the possibilities for the shade. All these plants get really big it seems. I'm worried that I might have planted them too close together. Its hard for me to imagine that far in the future.

Hydrangea

I just wanted to put a picture of my Hydrangea up. They were here when I got here of course. I assume they are Endless Summer. When we first moved here in October they had powdery mildew and I was worried that something was seriously wrong. But they turned out to be really stunning. Last month was their peak. Now they are starting to turn a little green. They have ivy growing underneath them and I've added purple/pink periwinkles on the other side. 

ButterFly Ginger

The ButterFly Ginger was so root bound that I had to cut the pot off.

New Plants

I thought I wasn't going to get any more plants during the summer but dad brought over this pretty daylilly today and then we went to the botanical gardens for the seminar he attended. They have a plant sale there every Saturday until the end of June. I proabably wouldn't have bought anything if it didn't take two hours for him to get out for a break. Anyways it's done. I bought three plants: a 'Luna Moth' Ginger, a Crocosmia 'Lucifer', and a Lysimachia Procumbens 'Golden Globe', which is seen flowering here
in the picture below.

Beets!

First post, first beets. Yes its the totally wrong time for beets. Way too hot. Probably could have planted any other time of the year and they would have done ok. But now, every bug in Mobile has had a taste of them. And I don't know long they have been in there ... the three bin sink ... but they have been in there way too long and are way too small. I think they have stopped growing. I haven't tasted it yet, but if I were to guess, I bet its pretty tough for such a small beet. Next time, plant them for the cooler season. Also keep track of when and what exactly we are planting! UGH!