The Garden in June

We've seen some extremes of weather so far this June.  We've had plenty of blisteringly hot and humid days -- those days I neglect my garden chores and take refuge in the air conditioned comfort of my office/studio -- and we've seen plenty of torrential rain. 

Take yesterday, for example.  The sprinklers had run in the morning as they always do, so naturally we had a downpour in the afternoon.  Not a long downpour, but heavy enough that water couldn't get down the downspout fast enough and was overflowing the gutters.

 But it didn't last long and before we knew it, it was hot and steamy outside again.

I'm not saying I haven't done any work in the garden recently.  I have, but I've had to be choosy about when I do it. Evenings would seem to be ideal, as the garden cools off as the sun goes down.  But for some reason, (could be all that aforementioned rain) the mosquitoes have been BRUTAL this year.  I made the mistake of staying out last week and was covered in itchy mosquito bites.

So I've been getting up early on the weekends to get my gardening in.

One of my recent tasks was to replant a volunteer Rose of Sharon. The original shrub was one that I brought cuttings of from my previous house. It's doing great here up against the wall, but the Southern Wax Myrtle is crowding it out a bit.

Just in front of it (see the black arrow in the center of the photo) is a seedling about a foot tall.  I realized it couldn't stay there so I looked around to find somewhere for it to go.

Further along the garden wall is the perfect spot.  It will have room to grow and as an added bonus, it will hide the ugly cinder block wall (see below)

I also planted some summer color in the new island bed, in the form of pink Pentas, white vinca and purple Angelonia augustifolia "Serena" series. The bed still looks bare, compared to the happy chaos of blooms in the other one, but I hope it does well this summer. 

For next year, I'm planning to divide the daylilies I have in the other island bed and move them to this one, so I'll have a happy chaos of blooms in both of them next year :-)

I've never planted sunflower seeds - not because I don't like them, but because it appears I don't have to!  I feed the birds by putting seed along the supporting rail at the top of the fence.  That allows more birds access, and also keeps the seed out of the range of the sprinklers (I noticed when I moved in that hanging feeders always seemed to get soaked by the sprinklers). 

 One unexpected bonus is that I get volunteer sunflowers where I don't expect them.  Isn't this a beauty?

That's all from me today, but keep a lookout for an update later in the week.  I'm on a nest watch at the moment. It appears we have a pair of Carolina wrens building a nest in a decorative watering can on the shelf on the patio.  I'll try and get some photos to share in my next blog post




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

Wildlife Update

Earlier this week I turned my Wordless Wednesday post into a "Wildlife Wednesday" post and included this photo of a corner of the garden.

A couple of people spotted the little visitor at the bottom of the photo -- a field mouse!

Here's a closer shot of him/her.  I seem to have at least two in the garden. One has dug a little burrow in the whiskey barrel container down by the wall.  Another one has burrowed into a hanging basket of fuschias.

I had been a little worried about them because we had such torrential rain last week I feared they might have been drowned.  But this photo was taken since the storm, so at least some of them are okay.

Now I have a dilemma -- This whiskey barrel needs to be replanted for the summer - the pansies I had in there have long since passed their prime and need to come out.  I'm reluctant to do any digging in case there are any babies down in the burrow.

I suppose I could get a few pots with annuals in and sit them on top of the whiskey barrel for a bit of color without disturbing the mouse family. Or is that taking "gardening for wildlife" a tad too far?

What do you think?



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

Wildlife Wednesday

I was going to make this a Wordless Wednesday post, but decided to make it a Wildlife Wednesday post instead.

There's something in this photo other than the volunteer sunflower just coming in to bloom, the tropical milkweed, the rampant spearmint and the last few blooms of the Star Jasmine.

If you can see it, post in the comments below. (you can click on the photo to see a larger version if necessary)


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

For the Birds

As the garden has started coming back to life this spring, it has pained me to see that the weeds have been coming back much quicker than the actual lawn.  

A few years ago, I would have been quick to treat the whole yard with a good dose of some sort of weed and feed, but since I'm attempting to be a chemical free gardener, I have resisted the urge.

It pleases me then, to look out in to the backyard and see birds pecking around and eating the seeds off the myriad weeds out there in the lawn. It reminds me of why I'm doing what I'm doing :-)

Interestingly, the front lawn is more or less weed free, apart from some patches of clover (which the bees LOVE), which makes me wonder if most of the weeds I'm seeing in the lawn in the back are actually sprouting from birdseed which has fallen from the fence and wall where I put it out for the birds. 

Still, I suppose as long as the weeds are green, and we keep them mowed, I can live with them.  And the Home Owner's Association will be happy because the front yard is mostly St. Augustine turfgrass. 


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

Homemade Tomato Cage by Jayne

Last year Eric and I were disappointed that the tomato cage we purchased disintegrated half way through the season.

We thought we had got a sturdier variety of cage this year, but it's already starting to come apart.

Looking around at the various designs available, we didn't really see anything that we felt would hold up under the weight of a healthy harvest of tomatoes.

I started getting an idea of how we could build our own cage, using half in PVC pipe and various connectors.

I have no idea where the idea came from, it just seemed to me that it would be a) inexpensive and b) sturdy, so I started playing around on paper and came up with some plans.  Perhaps I was an engineer in a former life?

It was easy enough to build -- I made it myself with just a measuring tape, a hacksaw and a rubber mallet.  I built it "in situ" around the tomato plant in the corner of the garden bed.  The original cage we bought is still there too - we'll have to cut the parts of it that haven't already come apart to get it out without damaging the plant.

The final design was a little bit different from the original plan, but that's usually what happens when I make something - it's gets "finessed" along the way :-)

The finished cage is 12" x 16" and about 3 feet tall.  It's legs are securely sunk into the ground under the raised garden bed.  It's not going anywhere!


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.

First Hummingbird of the Year

Some other garden bloggers and Facebook friends in the Houston area reported having over-wintering Rufous hummingbirds in their gardens this past winter.

I wasn't that lucky, but my husband reported that he had seen a hummer in the garden last week when he was working on our new island bed. It was enjoying the blossoms on the new orange trees he had just planted.

I made up a batch of hummingbird nectar last night and put up two feeders and - lo and behold - we have a hummingbird!

The first one of the year appears to be a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird. 

I don't recall seeing them this early in the year before - in fact, as I look through my iPhoto catalog for last year, the first hummingbird photos weren't taken until May.




The red dome over the feeder is designed to protect the feeder from damaging UV rays as well as rain, and also protects the nectar so it stays fresh longer.  I'm thinking that a flying hummingbird could probably spot it from a mile off, so hopefully we will see lots of hummingbird action this year.

Now the garden just has to catch up and be ready for them!












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