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.

It's a Bloomin' Party!

 A couple of weeks ago, I showed you many of the plants I had getting ready to bloom in the garden.  

Well, the party has started!

 There are lots of buds on the daylilies, but this diminutive yellow one was the first to show its face.

Catching the late afternoon sun, this red one wasn't far behind.

The "New Gold" Lantanas are filling in spots all around the front border, much to the delight of the bees and butterflies. 

My Easter lilies didn't quite get opened up in time for Easter this year.  But they are lovely anyway, if a little late.

Side note: I'm seriously considering digging up the African lily plants that the builder put in (seen here behind that Easter lilies and also in the photo of the entry, above).  

They are huge and one is planted so close to the sprinkler head that it completely blocks the spray from reaching any of that corner of the bed.  Of course, that closeness to the sprinklers is the very thing that has stopped me from digging -- I don't want to rip out the sprinklers by accident.


In the back garden, the Buddleia has started to bloom behind the utility boxes. I didn't see any butterflies on it tonight, but I know from experience they love this bush.

 And the Vitex, another butterfly and bee magnet, is now covered in blooms.

I bought these garden mums for a little seasonal color -- last Halloween!!  They're in bloom already and I'm sure, with a couple of haircuts, they will be blooming all the way to next Halloween!

A little slow getting to the bloomin' party, the Rose of Sharon has opened her first bloom, with the promise of hundreds more to follow.

What's blooming in your garden this week?




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

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - March 2011

It seems like it's been a while since I did a post for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, hosted on the 15th of each month by Carol of May Dreams Gardens.  

When I don't post it's for one of two reasons.  Either there is nothing -- zip, zilch and nada -- blooming in my garden that particular month on the 15th, or I just plain forget.

And here I am at 9:50 pm on the 15th and I just remembered about it!  So here are my offerings, humble though they may be compared to some. 

To see what else is blooming around the world, visit Carol's blog at the top of this post.

First, the fuschia I showed you a couple of weeks ago in my Dancing Ballerinas post is still blooming, although it's winding down now. I'm glad I spotted this at the store. Even if it only lasts a few weeks, I think it has been worth it.

In the front garden, the daffodils have finished blooming but I won't cut them back just yet -- I'll wait until the leaves are yellow and then tidy them up.  Around them, the pansies are still going strong.

These are Matrix Purple and Yellow Splotch (love that name).  They are so reliable, nothing fazes them.  Even the deer/rabbit or whatever it was that nibbled them back to nubs a couple of months ago couldn't kill them.

And waiting in the wings, the little Texas Bluebonnet is growing nicely.  I don't see any flower buds on it yet, which is rather disheartening, considering I'm seeing them in bloom along the side of the freeway already.  I'll keep hopeful though, and perhaps it will reseed some more for next year.

In the back garden, it's just the same old stuff I've had blooming for the past couple of weeks.

The Homestead verbena (seen above with a companion weed) is surfacing from under the pile of nijer thistle seed the birds dumped on it and has lots of blooms coming out.

I suppose it's just as well it made it through the winter safely because the cuttings I took last fall didn't make it :-(

 Anyway, that's what I have blooming in my garden this Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. 
 



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