Having a yard without much shade in the grassy areas has lead to a struggle to keep those areas from becoming completely trashed with the dogs. Constant rooting/scratching at the ground has taken a toll.
My mom had a specialty nursery for a few years, and we wound up with some interesting plants, unfortunately most were from different areas, and died, but a few have survived.
One that is kind of funny, a Korean Fir, is supposed to be more of an ornamental variety with a shorter height. The one she had given us just looks more and more like a common Fir tree as it becomes taller and talker…
My mom had a specialty nursery for a few years, and we wound up with some interesting plants, unfortunately most were from different areas, and died, but a few have survived.
One that is kind of funny, a Korean Fir, is supposed to be more of an ornamental variety with a shorter height. The one she had given us just looks more and more like a common Fir tree as it becomes taller and talker…
Hi, no its a clematis called 'Daniel Derondo'. Looks very cool with the roses.
I have to admit that its my wife that's the serious gardener - I just provide a bit of muscle when needed and mow the grass.
The roses do not look good - I just gave then a liquid feed today. Hopefully this will fire them up in the next week or so.
That is a spectacular plant, Fast Eddie D!
First flush of the Gladioli which I planted next door last year! We didn't throw much money at it.
I got loads of them in a garden sale for 10p for 10. Gave them to my neighbours too:
Easy things to grow, but you need to tie them to bamboo poles to stop them blowing over.
Should be loads more colours coming:
I have always liked these things, along with Foxgloves which I have planted out from the greenhouse, where I grew them from seed.
Seems late in the year for foxgloves, but they are growing well. Hope they flower.
First flush of the Gladioli which I planted next door last year! We didn't throw much money at it.
I got loads of them in a garden sale for 10p for 10. Gave them to my neighbours too:
Easy things to grow, but you need to tie them to bamboo poles to stop them blowing over.
Should be loads more colours coming:
I have always liked these things, along with Foxgloves which I have planted out from the greenhouse, where I grew them from seed.
Seems late in the year for foxgloves, but they are growing well. Hope they flower.
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Do you know what that plant of mine is Steve? I've had it for well over 20 years at least. Of all the cacti I've grown, it the most reliable flowering cactus (along with my Christmas and Easter cacti). Windowsill in winter, full sun outside in summer. I repotted it this spring (was in a tiny pot for decades) and it rewarded me with six blooms at once.
Well I'll be damned.
Echinocactus texensis devil's pincushion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echinocactus_texensis
Echinocactus texensis devil's pincushion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echinocactus_texensis
My honest opinion is you should learn to love "Ground Squirrels". We have them here in the UK too. Cheeky Intelligent Rodents that live in Trees. Amazingly quick things that also descend to the ground in search of anything edible.
They do watch out for Cats and Foxes.
The really small birds seemed to have disappeared lately from our Street. I guess they have finished nesting.
But I was slightly gobsmacked by the appearance an unusual small avian Raptor, a Kestrel, that visited our Portsmouth, UK Street yesterday. Kestrels don't always get it all their own way. Crows gang up on them. I have seen this. The Pigeons perched on TV aerials seemed unconcerned by its presence.
It seemed to be interested in a small grille in the opposite House. It was also wagging its tail in way that was trying to impress a female if I know how birds work. I wondered what it was up to. After much investigation it seems it had detected a Swift's nest.
Yon Swift (We call them squealy birds in the UK because they hover over our skies and squeal all afternoon in search of bugs) returned to its nest and was immediately taken down by the Kestrel. I felt this was Cruel, but am assured that Nature works this way.
Oh well, at least it didn't attack the local Blackbird. A tireless destroyer of Garden Pests.
Isn't Nature wonderful.
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What makes me not "love" the ground squirrels is because my neighbors have fruit trees, with ripe fruit (apples and apricots) laying on the ground every morning.
However, a Peregrine Falcon pair have been eye-balling the squirrels, and the squirrels have been making themselves scarce, burrowing under the other neighbors shed.
However, a Peregrine Falcon pair have been eye-balling the squirrels, and the squirrels have been making themselves scarce, burrowing under the other neighbors shed.
I amaze myself sometimes. 
Hot on the heels of the legendary Black Tulip, a plant that is disputed to be the most valuable in the world:
I have grown a Black Gladiolus!
OK, not totally Black. Streak of purple there. But not a bad effort, I hope you will agree.
Thing is, if it were totally black, the pollinating bees would never see it, and thus it would die out.
Hot on the heels of the legendary Black Tulip, a plant that is disputed to be the most valuable in the world:
I have grown a Black Gladiolus!
OK, not totally Black. Streak of purple there. But not a bad effort, I hope you will agree.
Thing is, if it were totally black, the pollinating bees would never see it, and thus it would die out.
My wife is deeply unhappy with me this morning. I deigned to use tomato feed on a plant that apparently can only have ericaceous feed.
I’ve been told in no uncertain terms to stick to amplifiers and soldering and to do nothing in the garden unless under instruction.
Said plant a beautiful lush green just 2 weeks ago.
I’ve been told in no uncertain terms to stick to amplifiers and soldering and to do nothing in the garden unless under instruction.
Said plant a beautiful lush green just 2 weeks ago.
I thought most pollinators see at least partly in UV, so it might not be as big a difference there.
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