The Garden in June

 In an attempt to keep my promise to blog more often than once a month, here's my second post for June!! 

Back in the 80's, I used to love making macrame plant hangers. A few years ago, I made some for our patio when we first moved in, but I have hunted high and low and been unable to find them, so I made a few more. Happily I discovered Hobby Lobby have a decent selection of cords, metal rings and beads!

We have three Crepe Myrtles in the garden, but this is the best of them.  Last year a hummingbird could be seen daily perched in the branches, keeping an eye on the feeders.

I know I planted several of this Liatris, but this is the only one that came up (or possibly the others got "weeded" before I realized what they were. It's surrounded by Salvia Greggi and Pineapple Sage.

Here's the Turk's Cap I showed in my last post, happily settling in to its new home. I noticed some volunteer Turk's Cap seedlings under the Southern Wax Myrtle that will need to come out.

Another plant that I think suffered from my early spring "weeding" was Zinnia.  Last year the flower beds were overrun with zinnia, but my vigorous hoeing this spring meant that I ended up having to buy more!

Some of the daylilies are still hanging on and shrugging off the heat now summer is here.

Lots of little joys in this island bed this year.  First, the Hamelia Patens that I thought had died actually came back and is flowering.  Plus the Cosmos and Cleome that I started from seed are doing well (no photos).  Finally, the native milkweed I planted earlier in the year are coming along nicely.  No blooms yet, and they are still small, but I hope the Monarch butterflies will be able to enjoy them for a long time to come.

Here's a long shot of the island bed -- earlier in the week I planted some Dallas Red and Pot of Gold Lantana across the front side.  They will spread and fill in the bare patches as summer draws on and the butterflies will love them in July and August.

I'm so happy I managed to bring the Rose of Sharon (via cuttings) from my previous house.  I just love it's happy blooms, and the bees and hummingbirds love it too :-)

 This next photo is rather deceptive.  Unfortunately our Sam Houston peach tree just isn't living up to its name.  First of all, the tree never properly rooted -- if it weren't for be staked up, it would fall over.  All it's roots are in the top couple of inches and none have ventured down far enough to anchor it.  Too much clay down there I guess, even though we dug a pretty big hole when we planted it.

While this looks like a nice big healthy juicy peach, it's rather small and there's a bruise/hole on the other side.  Update:  I decided to go and check on it today and there was another one near it that wasn't too beaten up so I picked it and ate it.  It was the most delicious peach I have ever eaten!  Sweet, juicy, warm from the sun.  We have to try and save this tree!

That's it for today's post - I hope my dad enjoys it after his comment on my last post!

Today I'm linking up with  the following memes:

Friday Flower Photos hosted by Nick V.
Flower Friday hosted by Aquariann
Today's Flowers hosted by Denise at An English Girl Rambles

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

The April Garden - and a new garden journal tool

I've been meaning to write another blog post for well over a week, but can never seem to get round to it.

So tonight's post is a bit of a hodge podge of thoughts and observations from the last couple of weeks.

First of all, let me tell you about a great tool I have just re-purposed for keeping a garden journal - Evernote.



It's an app that allows you to take notes, keep lists, jot down reminders and a lot more.  I have it on my iPad, my iMac and also my Android phone.

A couple of years ago I used it to keep a diary/journal when my husband and I went on a road trip across the American West, taking in Carlsbad Caverns, the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, Lake Tahoe and San Fransicso.

I'm a great one for taking photos in the garden, but I'm bad about keeping notes of what happens when.  Every year I start a garden journal, only to have it sit untouched after a month or so.  This year, I didn't even start one.

But with Evernote I was able, for example, to take a photo with my phone of the island bed when I planted some native mikweed and then post it as a note in my Garden Journal notebook on Evernote.

I did the same a week later when I noticed the milkweed was sprouting, and also when we laid new stepping stones in the garden.

I can also hand write notes using a stylus on my phone or iPad, and I can clip articles from garden websites and add to Evernote.

Once something is posted to one of your Evernote notebooks, you can view it on any device that has Evernote on it.

Evernote is free in the Apple store and on Google Play.  You can also upgrade if you wish to the Pro or Business versions.

Anyway that's enough of that, back to my garden blog :-)

I mentioned above that I had bought some Asclepias Tuberosa (native milkweed) and that it was sprouting already.  I'm thrilled they are taking off so quickly and hope to have a good supply of milkweed in time for the arrival of the Monarchs.

I've also got quite a few Tropical milkweeds coming back up, both in the back and front gardens.  The Monarch Waystation is on it's way to being stocked and ready!

I was amazed at how the Achillea (yarrow) was unfazed by the freezes we had this winter.  It stayed fluffy and green all winter and is now putting out lots of clusters of tiny white flowers.  I had thought the Homestead purple verbena next it it had died over the winter, but it was just dormant and is now covered in beautiful purple blooms. 

I've already seen a Swallowtail butterfly on it, but wasn't able to grab my camera in time to snap a photo.

I never had any luck growing anything in front of this trellis which hides the utility boxes because the soil is like concrete and I can't dig there because of the utility lines.  But at some point I planted the verbena nearby (I have long since forgotten when I did that) and for at least the past couple of years, it has happily crept across and bloomed in this unlikely area.

A couple of weeks ago we were thrilled to notice new candles of growth on "Junior", our Loblolly pine. This photo was taken March 28th and the candles are at least twice as big as this now. "Junior" obviously appreciates the spring fertilization he got at the beginning of March.

In my last blog post I showed you the Sam Houston peach tree covered in blossoms.  Well now look at all these tiny little peaches! I hope they actually grow big enough to eat this year!

I bought this nesting shelf from Duncraft at least three years ago, but although we always have pairs of cardinals around, they've never used it.  We're trying a new location this spring, tucked in behind the Savannah Holly bushes/trees.  Hopefully, in a year or two, a cardinal family will decide it gives them the cover and shelter they need and nest there.

The hanger came off this little birdhouse and I was wondering what to do with it.  I had an idea and now it's lodged in among the scentless Star Jasmine.  There's nesting material in there now but I haven't seen which bird is using it.  

Of course, it could be the mouse that Eric got a photo of, helping itself to birdseed on the patio the other night.

And finally, look who is making a home underneath the Wax Myrtle...  a cute gnome couple.  I found the tree stump fairy house in Hobby Lobby first and had to get it.  But then decided it needed occupants and that's when I found the gnomes.  I would have got fairies, but they didn't have any in the right size ratio to the fairy house.

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

Signs of Spring, Part Two

A couple of weeks ago I showed you that we had a few signs of spring in our garden. Well I think the garden was holding back, waiting for the official "First Day of Spring" to really let loose. 

The daffodils, encouraged perhaps by the metal yard art, burst into happy bloom.

The Sam Houston peach, which did nothing last year (I think perhaps we had one blossom on it), is covered in blossoms and now starting to leaf out.

Time will tell whether or not we actually get a peach or two this year as well. (I can hope, right?)

In the raised bed by the trellis, several asiatic lilies are coming up.  I forget which they are, so it will be a surprise when they bloom :-)

On the trellis itself, the Major Wheeler honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens, has been a huge disappointment since I planted it two years ago, with little growth and no blooms. But it looks like it may finally redeem itself this year.

For the first time ever, it has some of the red tubular blooms for which I purchased and planted it.  I'm also seeing other signs of new growth, so it may fill out this year. 

At the moment it consists of one single stalk twisting up the trellis and I was so close to digging it up.  These few blooms and signs of growth have earned it a reprieve! 

I do wonder if I'm wishing for too much though.  Everything I have read on it talks about how wonderful it is etc. etc., but it's supposedly hardy in zones 4 to 8 and as far as I know, I'm in zone 9B. Our summers may just be too much for it.  I'd be interested to hear from other Texas gardeners who have had success with it.

Elsewhere in the garden, I'm seeing new growth on the three Rose of Sharon bushes, and the milkweed in the front border is sprouting new growth at ground level. The grapevine is leafing out, as are the crepe myrtles and by the utility corner, the homestead verbena has started blooming (no photos of that yet).

Spring seems to be springing out all over - I love this time of year!

Finally, here's a little hint of what's to come in my next blog post....

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

Planting in the Island Bed, and a Welcome Visitor

I was having so much fun outdoors this weekend, either with the horses or in the garden, that I didn't get around to blogging at all!

I've been on the lookout for hummingbirds, as other Houston garden bloggers have reported. I haven't seen any yet, but I was thrilled to notice this little visitor in the garden.

I had a hard time getting a clear photo as it was flitting about and it was breezy too, so it seemed to be getting buffeted by the wind.  I remember verbally chastising it at the moment I snapped this photo. 

"You silly thing, there's all that milkweed blooming there, what are you doing on the Indian Hawthorn?"

It wasn't until I looked closely at this photo that I realized that it *was* on a milkweed, that was poking up through the shrubbery in the front border.  Perhaps I'll see some caterpillars this spring?

Most of my work this weekend was in the back garden.  I spent a few pleasant hours planting an array of flowering plants in the island bed.

 Of course, it still looks pretty sparse, but I hope when it fills in the butterflies, bees and hummingbirds will enjoy it.  

A quick list of ingredients:  Senecio cineraria (Dusty Miller), "Early Bird Frosty" Dianthus,  Salvia splendens, "May Night" Meadow sage, and Artemisia "Powis Castle".  So there's a sort of red, white and blue theme going on (if you don't count the daylilies I already put in there.)

Also in the island bed is the tiny Sam Houston peach tree we planted last year. We've been watching it closely because while other things in the garden have been leafing out, there wasn't anything happening with the peach.  This past weekend, we were excited to notice a couple of blossom buds and some leaves on it.

Around the corner in the veggie garden, things are starting to pop. This is our first experience with a veggie garden, so I'm sure it will be an adventure - hopefully not one of the nightmare variety.

Eric says he doesn't remember planting as many peas as have sprouted, (ditto the cucumbers) and he certainly doesn't remember dropping any on the lawn -- but there are two growing there next to the garden, so they must have jumped out! 

A couple of years ago, a friend was re-doing some of her garden beds and was moving some Brunfelsia - Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow - and asked if I wanted some rooted cuttings.  Naturally I said yes!

However, of the two she gave me, one promptly died and the other just sort of sat there with no ambition. 

It didn't bloom last year, but at least it didn't die. 


As I looked around the garden on Saturday, I noticed it was blooming for the first time, a beautiful purple color.

I had heard about this plant's blooms changing color, but since it had never bloomed for me before I had never witnessed. But this evening, when I got home from work, I checked on them and they were definitely lighter in color.

 They should be white, or almost white, by tomorrow evening.  I'll have to remember to snap a photo.

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