Enjoying the Spring Garden

With the recent rains, and now the bright sunny weather, the back garden is really starting to take off.

In previous years, the island beds were completely taken over by weeds by this date, but I've been more or less able to keep them in check by weeding five minutes here, five minutes there.

Other than the Nutsedge, which I have complained about before on this blog, the most prevalent weed in the garden is this:

I don't know what it is, but it's everywhere -- in the lawn, in the island beds, in the veggie garden. It's fairly easy to tweak out but it does involve bending over and hand picking, as trying to hoe it only ends up with the roots of the River birch, Vitex and peach trees getting disturbed.

I got most of it out now, which is better than I have done in previous years. If anyone knows what it is, please let me know.

The pansies I put in at Thanksgiving are coming in to their own now and really looking lovely. The yellow, purple and white set the tone and pick up those colors elsewhere in the garden - such as the Homestead verbena under the Vitex and the snapdragons in containers by the birdbath.

Along with the purple Homestead verbena under the Vitex, this Achillea is blooming. I planted this a few years ago and it's spread along the back border, enjoying the dappled shade provided by the tree in the summer.  I haven't really seen many blooms on it before, but it looks like it's getting ready to pop now.  I started some seedlings of this in different colors so I will be interested to see how they do in future years.

Isn't it funny how the smallest birds can make the most noise?  I was indoors this morning and heard what at first I thought to be a mockingbird singing outside.  I realized it was something else and took a peek outside to see who it might be.  It didn't take me long to spot this Carolina Wren sitting at the top of the tree behind our back wall, singing his heart out.

That scraggly old tree is quite a favorite with the birds.  The woodpeckers love it,  and I happened to see this flock of Cedar Waxwings land in it yesterday. Funny how I had never seen one of these birds until just before this year's Backyard Bird Count and now I see flocks on a regular basis.

Another garden visitor I was thrilled to see was this squirrel. Squirrels used to be regular visitors until the lots either side of us were cleared and built on.  It's been quite a while since we have had such a furry visitor.  This one was partaking of the buffet I had put on the wall for the birds.

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

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day - July 2015

I'm notorious for forgetting to participate in Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, hosted on the 15th of each month by Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

Here we are in July and I have participated a total of ZERO times this year!  Until today, that is.

I was reminded of GBBD, as it is affectionately know, when another Houston area garden blogger, Dorothy of The Nature of Things, posted a link to her GBBD post on Facebook this morning.

So, before I forget again, here are some blooms from our garden.

 
The Profusion zinnia threatened to take over the entire garden this year.  I had to do some major thinning and there are still more of them than anything else in the garden.  I'm not complaining though, they shrug off the heat and humidity and the butterflies and bees love them.

To offset all the orange, I interspersed some Angelonia.  I should have added some salvia as well, for the bees and hummingbirds, but I've not had much success with it in the past and just didn't get around to planting any this year.

I like this white Angelonia too.

In the back border, this Gomphrena adds another splash of purple amid all the orange.

This Philippine lily caught me by surprise.  It was a passalong from a gardening friend a few years ago and it's tucked in behind the shrubs in the front border.  I had forgotten about it until the beautiful blooms caught my eye as I was heading out the front door yesterday.  I took this photo today, so I didn't cheat! LOL.

Some of the daylilies are still hanging on, such as this little gold one -- Stella D'Oro, perhaps?

And finally, more zinnias, as well as a very exuberant Turk's Cap.  I even saw a hummingbird on this just the other day.

That's it from me today.  Once again, thank you Carol for hosting Garden Blogger's Bloom Day.

 

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

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - April 2014

 On the 15th of each month, Carol of May Dreams Gardens, hosts Garden Bloggers Bloom Day where garden bloggers around the country (and around the world) share what's blooming in their garden on that day.

OK - I'll admit it, I usually miss it completely - either that or I have nothing in bloom to show off!

But today I remember, and today also, I have a pleasant number of blooms in the garden, in spite of the slow start we got this year, with our unusually cold winter for this area.

So, without further ado, let's take a tour of the back garden.

As you enter the back garden along the path at the side of the house, a lovely light pink fuschia hangs in a container, tucked in to the Star Jasmine. I just picked this up last weekend at Wally World. My mum (who lives in England) always has such lovely fuschias in the garden that when I saw this one, I couldn't resist it!

Here's a view of the aforementioned Star Jasmine (taken before I hung up the fuschia) and an invitation to garden visitors to make themselves at home (and useful!)

The Star Jasmine itself is covered in buds, but if you've been reading my blog for a while, you may remember that this is the amazing scentless Star Jasmine.  We have another right next to it which is only a 10th of the size of this one (and only a year younger) but it's scented enough for the two of them, so our garden will soon be filled with the delicious aroma :-)

In the back corner by the birdbath, this dianthus is blooming well. I thought it might not make it through winter, but it shrugged off the cold like it was nothing.

I've been threatening to rip the Lonicera sempevirens, Native honeysuckle "Major Wheeler" out of the ground because it just wasn't doing anything.  It's still very scrawny. but it does have a few blooms on it, much to the delight of our visiting hummingbird(s).  I still don't know if I will let it stay, but I'll see how it does this season.

On the other side of the garden, by the utility boxes, the Homestead verbena is growing and spreading like wildfire.  This is good, I can't get anything else to grow in this spot, so I'll be happy if this takes over this little area for the summer.
 

Next to the Homestead verbena, tucked in under the Vitex tree, this patch of Achillea millefolium was unfazed by the freezing winter.  Amazing really, when you look at how delicate and feathery this is.  

Five years ago when I moved in here, I planted one Achillea plant here - now look at it :-)

In the island bed,  this blanket flower has been blooming for a while.  I forget the name of this particular variety.

 It's got a lot more flowers on the way too.

The pansies I planted in the island bed at Thanksgiving are still blooming.  They probably will be finished in a month or so, but I certainly got my money's worth! I have purple, yellow and white ones and they have filled the garden with virtual sunshine, through even the most bitter cold days.

And finally, in the new island bed, around the new waterfall we installed, I planted some bluebonnets I found at H.E.B grocery store.  They are doing nicely too. I'm looking forward to collecting some seeds. I'd like to have bluebonnets in the front garden somewhere.

So that's about it for this Garden Blogger's Bloom day. All the action is in the back garden at the moment.

Overgrown shrubs in the front border don't leave much room for flowers there - something I will have to tackle.  But there *are* some tropical milkweeds coming up, and one is even blooming!

Don't forget to head over to visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens and see what else is going on for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.


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

July Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

Here we are in July, and here I am posting on my SECOND contribution to Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

Since the last time I managed to post on time was in January, I'll just call this my semi-annual contribution :-)

We have some beautiful rich colors in the summer garden, but they are mostly concentrated in just a couple of areas.  With other areas already past their best, or not blooming yet.

Even while I battle the nutsedge and insidious bermuda grass in the island bed, the blooms, such as the marigold above, are glorious.  They seem to look at the blazing sun with a sort of "back atcha" defiance, and bloom on regardless of the heat and drought.  I've been deadheading them to encourage them to keep blooming and I've also been spreading the seeds in colorless areas of the garden.

 

Also in the island bed, the Profusion zinnias are blooming.. profusely!  I think I mentioned before that these self seeded and are living up to their name.  I really like them and will have to look out for some other colors in the future.

 

This is a "Little Lucky" Lantana I planted in a container a couple of weeks ago.  I believe it's "Lemon Cream" although I have another (out of focus) photo which shows a similar plant with more lemon yellow on it.  I like how compact these are.

This Purple Trailing Lantana shares the half barrel with a sweet potato vine and a Persian Shield (which isn't doing too well in the heat, it may need less sun).  I may need to trim it up a bit, to encourage bushiness instead of just a couple of long trailing bits.  I understand the butterflies love it, so I hope it does well.  I haven't had it in my garden before.

Up until a couple of weeks ago, the tropical Milkweed was looking rather puny, but it seems like, all of a sudden, it's all bursting into bloom.  We have a LOT of it, all along the back of the border at the front of the house, as well as around the borders in the back garden.  I've been reading about the low numbers of Monarch butterflies this year, but if they ever get here, we're ready for them.

The final photo is of a Turk's Cap I have in a container next to the Southern Wax Myrtle. I got it last year and it made it through the winter and seems to be doing quite well.  By the way, I played around with this photo a bit, blending in a photographic texture  to disguise the ugly cinder block wall.  I rather like how it came out :-)

That's it from me today.  It's 10 o'clock Central time, so technically it IS still Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.  Please stop by May Dream Gardens to see what's blooming on this date around the country.
  


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

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - January 2013

I wouldn't go so far as to say this is my New Year's Resolution, but I do plan to try and post a Garden Bloggers Bloom Day post on the 15th of each month this year.

If I manage it, it will be a first for me!  Past experience shows that I have a bad habit of forgetting about it until days later.

So, even though it's fairly late in the evening now - at least it's the right day!  A good start, wouldn't you say?

As for blooms, well if I hadn't have gone out to Lowe's before Christmas to pick up some pansies I wouldn't have any color in the garden at all now.

But as it happens, I have three varieties of rather pretty trailing violas...

Nothing special about them, but they do add a touch of color to the "birdbath corner."

I do love them - such cheerful little blooms.

  
Wonder if I'll have anything to show you next month?


If you'd like to participate in Garden Bloggers Bloom Day or visit other participating sites, pay a visit to Carol at May Dream Gardens to see what it's all about.

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

The Garden in July

While June was an exciting month, with all the Monarch caterpillar, chrysalis and butterfly action going on, I'm rather disappointed with the garden in July.

Looking back through photos from this time last year, it does seem I had more blooming in the garden then, in spite of the drought.

This year, the Vitex already bloomed and is now a mass of seedpods that need trimming off.  Trouble is, since the tree is about 18 feet tall now, I can't get to most of it.  It will have to do it's own thing and hopefully bloom again later in the year.

I've been worrying about the Rose of Sharon, that was star of the garden last summer.  The one that bloomed so prolifically last year has put out about two blooms so far.  However, when I took a peek at it yesterday, I noticed it has a lot of buds on it, so hopefully we'll see some flowers soon and out little hummingbird visitor will have some natural nectar to drink.

There *are* some things blooming in the garden - you just have to look for them.

This Cat's Whiskers plant, Orthosiphon aristatus, is a new addition. I planted it in the island bed this spring and it seems to like it there.

I adore the blooms, which really do look like cat's whiskers (and I should know!) Apparently butterflies and hummingbirds are attracted to it, but I haven't noticed much activity on it yet.

We have three crepe myrtles - two in the back garden and one in the front.  The two in the back are in full bloom with (thankfully) no evidence of that sooty mildew that young crepe myrtles are plagued by.  The one in the front, that the builder put in, looks pathetic and I'm considering ripping it out in the fall and planting another.

The veggie garden is doing okay.  This basil smells wonderful and is covered in blooms.  The tomato plants have given us quite a few cherry tomatoes and we've had a few tiny carrots as well.

We had thought the pepper plant wasn't doing anything, but finally it's getting some buds.  The cucumbers had us puzzled for a while.  They had lots of blooms but no fruit.  We assumed we weren't getting any pollinators for some reason and determined to help them along by pollinating ourselves.  That's when we noticed there are actually very few female flowers on them.  Hmmmm.

Once again this year, the "Midnight Lace" sweet potato vine is blooming. I've never seen blooms on the light green variety though.

Another plant covered in buds is the white Texas Star Hibiscus (no action on the red one yet).

The bud was opening yesterday and when I looked out after this morning's rain storm, I saw it was fully open. It got beaten around a bit by the wind and the rain, but I think it still looks beautiful.

Before I go, I thought I'd share a couple more Monarch photos with you.  The first one, I didn't even realize what I was taking a photo of last week.  It wasn't until I downloaded the pics to my computer today that I realized I had photographed a Monarch butterfly emerging from its chrysalis.

We counted 8 hatched chrysalises around the house.  There's one more still to come, on the fence in the back garden.

Here's one of "our girls", resting on the front window sill before taking off to parts unknown.

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

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, April 2012

Each month I promise myself I'm going to put a post up for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

And most months I remember -- on or about the 17th of the month!

But this month I remembered in time!

While the front border is somewhat over-stuffed with some huge indian hawthorn and african lily (courtesy of the builder 4 years ago), the White Gold Lantana and New Gold Lantana I planted are making a good showing along the front of the border, as are the milkweed along the back. (Notice the Monarch Waystation sign in the center of the photo)

There are daylilies in there somewhere too, but just leaves so far - no blooms yet.  Perhaps I'll be able to show them off next month (if I remember in time).

 Lantana is making a good showing in the back garden too -- this one, in front of the wax myrtle is Dallas Red.  The butterflies and hummingbirds love it!


Here's a closer look.

In the "bird feeder" corner, where I gave up trying to plant things in the ground because of the thick tangle of pine roots just under the surface, I have a collection of containers.  

Below is the newest - I love the "half barrel" look, which reminds me of the real half barrels my dad has in his garden. In it, I have some Superbells Grape Punch (calibrachoa hybrid), Supertunia Vista Bubblegum (petunia hybrid), Verbena Babylon White  and a Persian Shield (the tall plant in the middle with beautiful purple leaves).

If you click on the photo to see the larger version, you can see two things.  First, a very sturdy pine root that's come up to the surface (there's a pine tree right on the other side of the wall) and second, a couple of adventurous milkweed seedlings that have sprouted there.  In fact, the yellow milkweed on the right self-seeded there last year.  How it competes with the pine roots I'll never know, but it's doing beautifully, so I'll leave things as they are.

And finally, for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, something else that reminds me of my dad's garden in England -- fuschias.  These are in a hanging basket (with home made macrame hanger, a la 1970's even) just outside the back door. 

I do love them, they remind me of dancing ballerinas.

 That's it for today.  Happy Garden Bloggers Bloom Day everyone.  I hope your gardens are blooming.


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