Going Green

As I was taking photos today, I noticed that all the blooms are in the front garden right now.  I'm not posting photos of them because they'd be repeats -- the pansies, allysum and gazania that I have shared with you before are still the only things in bloom.  Well that's not quite true -- the African lilies are blooming, but I have the hardest time getting a photo of those pretty little yellow flowers.

But in the back, it's all going green.

The Rose of Sharon is growing like wildfire.  It's about 4 feet tall now and getting nice and bushy.  And at its feet....

...tons of little seedlings.  At first, I kept thinking they must be something else (while all the time knowing they could only be Rose of Sharon). The cotyledons they put out were nothing like the leaves of the parent, which is nothing unusual, but they were also nothing like the little weeds, sorry, seedlings that I spent hours pulling out from between the paving stones of the patio at my previous house. It's only now they're getting their true leaves that they actually look like the parent.

The Vitex is leafing out beautifully. I love this plant, and the butterflies, bees and hummingbirds love it too.


My only concern is....

...Now it's getting to be taller than the wall, do we need to be worried about getting a visit from the local sheriff?  It does seem to bear a striking resemblance to a certain plant of the Cannabaceae family. Perhaps we need to be more concerned about Cheech and Chong ripping it out of ground and smoking it?


Ok - now I've aged myself...


Here's a closer look at the little lattice fence I picked up at Lowe's recently.

Even this close, you really can't see the utilities behind it.  (Can't see the flowers I have back there either, but that's beside the point)  

In front of it the Tropical Milkweed I planted last year is coming back and there's also a Lantana White Gold, which is a small, mounding Lantana which really attracts butterflies.  And there's an Achillea Debutante, which hopefully will only grown to the 18 inches promised - there's not a lot of room there, as you can see. One more thing I want to get is a vine of some type to grow on the lattice, but I'm not sure what to get.  Suggestions will be appreciated :-)

And finally, this little passalong from my new gardening friend, Ursula, is settling in to his new home.


We've had a couple of gentle rains here in the Houston area this week, and the garden is really showing its appreciation. Supposed to be getting more rain this weekend, but hopefully it won't stop me from getting a bit of gardening in.


Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.