Spiderwort and Spider Webs

Tradescontia ohiensis spiderwort, Native to Florida

A gardener never knows what unexpected beauties await as we take a stroll around our beloved plots of earth.

Every time of day offers its own unique ambience and surprises. It would seem the delicate spider webs are bracing the spiderwort. First streams of light radiate here and there through the tree limbs to disclose fresh scenery only morning's sun can provide. In the native garden it is the white blooms of Oakleaf Hydrangea that are highlighted for these few moments. Clear and crisp. Brilliant brightness illuminates dew drops, petals, and foliage, and showcases characteristics of the garden that must be discovered during this short window of time. This is the view that drew me out this morning. In the distance this is what I see directly through my kitchen window. All that shimmering and glimmering from the soft rays of morning streaming into the tropical pathway and the circle garden. Can you see the spider's web on the Cordyline 'Red Star' in its small orbed pattern?

There we go... now it's visible. Elsewhere in the garden I'm drawn from place to place and met with unexpected garden gifts. Keeping an eye on the bud for the amaryllis just outside the pool cage... Today it has burst open in red flames of color. For some unknown reason (to me anyway) only this plant sends up buds and blooms each year. There are several more in the garden that don't bloom. Ever. Trachelospermum jasminoides Confederate jasmine is sending out its sweet fragrance to greet my senses. This care free vine covers the entire fencing surrounding the edible garden. It doubles as a wind break and privacy screen. The fresh earthy smell of edibles mixed with the lemony-clean aroma of jasmine all at once carries with it the power to cause a girl to swoon. Confederate jasmine wraps its strong roots and twines its foliage over the arbor that connects the perennial garden and the wildflower garden. A pretty moth I've not noticed in the past is nectaring from the sweet flowers. Juxtaposed to the arbor is the more than 20' single trunk Ligustrum japonicum tree. It is loaded with white buds and blooms for spring... and the pollinators. A quick peek in the edible garden and the Black Swallowtails are seen laying eggs on the parsley. There should be plenty for the instars to eat. This year flat leaf parsley sprouted all over the garden from seeds dropped by last year's parsley. Just one more unexpected but welcomed surprise on this bright and beautiful spring morning.
Happy gardening,
Meems

Did I Mention My Visitors From The North?

After two damaging hard freezes in the past three weeks we're back to Florida winter as usual around here. Blue skies and lots of sunshine with cool nights and warm, pleasant days. This is my favorite time of the year! ... Especially exhilerating to be in the garden.

Yes, it is a good time to visit. Florida's tourist income spikes in the winter from so many folks up north hankering for some sunshine.

This week Hoe and Shovel will have some special visitors from the north.

Today, Kylee, from Our Little Acre is stopping by with her aunt and daughter. They are here from Ohio and staying for a week in Bradenton, just 1.5 hours south of here. Kylee and I talked on the phone for a long time today. I am excited about meeting her in person and giving her a tour of the garden.

Then on Wednesday, Marmee, from Things I Love, who happens to be my one and only sister will be here to stay with me for a week.

I'm remembering Gail's recent post --- "I'm looking at the garden with your eyes." They are kinder, gentler than mine, right? It's going to help me give the garden tour to my visitors without complaining about what poor winter-shape it is in.

You see, all I can see when I look at my garden right now are the many plants that usually look great this time of year but were burned by the unusual frosts we've had. I promised I wouldn't lament over it too much since most of it will come back. It's just that, well, my garden really would have looked good for visitors at any other time than right now.

So today I tried to find the bright spots because truthfully there is still a fair amount of green to be seen if one can try really hard to look past all the brown drooping freezer burn.
Parsley must like this weather. It is just beautiful and full in spite of the cold. Maybe my visitors will notice the parsley and not the wilty Amaryllis leaves or the black and drooping firespike in the background.

The Louisiana Iris and Agapanthus plants in the second photo stood right up to old man winter. I'm proud of them. Since I'm paying close attention to the leaders in the garden ... those that don't cower or fold under pressure... I'm going to be giving them more and more reign in the future.

It's a time to be thankful for good bones. The oak trees came in handy for sheltering the holly fern, most of the bromeliads and the variegated gingers (in the first photo). Holly fern has turned out to be surprisingly hardy and yet not as invasive as most ferns. It's going to be rewarded this spring. I'll be digging it up and dividing it since it performed so well in the toughest of times.
Then there are the potted plants. If they were small enough to move they were carted inside on the nights it got down to freezing. They kind of stick out now, simply because they're still alive, rather than blending in to the landscape as they normally do.

The only flowers blooming are the few in the container plants that were moved and the new ones purchased recently for the vegetable garden companions.

We'll just have to put on our kinder, gentler eyes and spend our time looking at "what did survive" and we'll be grateful for family and friends who come to visit.

I'm looking forward to it, Kylee and Marmee. Welcome to the Sunshine State!

That Was Then; This Is Now

What a Difference a Few Months Can Make!
Well, here we are in the middle of summer and boy is it a scorcher. While the plant life at Hoe & Shovel is growing like a jungle I thought this might be a good time to highlight some updates to plantings/projects featured in previous posts. So if you like that sort of thing, hang around for a few minutes to see how long hours of sunshine, some rain (finally), and lots of summer humidity are the elements that make a zone 10 garden thrive.

That Was Then (April 2008)

The above photo first appeared in an April post (here for the back story) explaining how this north side of the garden was all grass until it was decided the veggie garden would work well over here. Once the veggie garden was started (not visible in the photo) ... well, let's just say I couldn't be spending so much time over there without having some pretty plants to keep me company too. Digging the curvy bed out around the fencing to join the front bed seemed to be the best way to take care of that dilemma.

This Is Now.

Bush daisy found next to the fire bush in this planting.

I can tell you that without a doubt these curves will be wider in the fall. As soon as it cools down the shovel will be at work again to enlarge this area. There just isn't enough room here ... for the fire spike(forefront) and bush daisies are overpowering the border of amaryllis and day lilies. The fire spike is supposed to let loose with its red blooms late summer/early fall. It is a first here so I can only hope it will not disappoint. The big green leafy plant is sufficient enough for now. I discovered it's easily propogated with cuttings too. If it does bloom I'll be planting more of it in the fall using the plants I've started from cuttings .A view of the same bed from another angle.

A closer look (above) at how the side bed blends with the front bed around the fencing. The impatiens in the center of the white caladiums is a volunteer. Impatiens tend to behave like weeds around here popping up everywhere. Many times I actually pluck them and throw them in the compost (gasp) because they show up in unwanted places. I left this one because it turned out to be purplish pink but seeing it front and center in a photo makes it seem a little out of place.

Can I just give a shout out to the Illustris & Midnight Taro... also a first at Hoe & Shovel and planted back in April? It is just so fun to see it towering above the white June Bride and Jackie Suthers caladiums. Also in this bed ... an hibiscus (behind the midnight taro), lantana (not blooming now) crawling out either side, a Brunfelsia pauciflora in the corner(also not blooming now), all bordered by variegated liriope.

That Was Then (March 2008)

Around we go to the back garden (above). This is the closest planting bed to the back pool patio. The above photo was first featured in a post referencing the mexican petunia (behind the iron gates in background) and the variegated schefflera. It was time for a severe trimming of both back in March. The original post can be read in full here.

This planting bed is about 35' in length and 20' at its widest point over to the archway that connects it to another bed. The entire bed is anchored by a single-trunk Ligustrum japonicum (or japanese privet) on the far end (not visible due to height of it) and a drake elm on the closer end (in the foreground but not visible in this photo). Picture the long side of the bed running parallel to the pool .

This Is Now.







You can see the mexican petunia;Ruellia brittoniana towering at 5-6 feet tall again. I like to pretend the black iron gates are containing it. But alas... it is not to be contained in anyone's imagination or reality. An invasive species in this zone it is beginning to make me weary trying to keep it from taking over. It's been trimmed (not its heighth but its breadth) and shooters continually pulled up everywhere since the growing season started. The butterflies do love it so that is its one huge redeeming quality.


I would not recommend planting Mexican Petunia to anyone in this area and south of me. Except under one condition and that is if nothing else is growing nearby and you do not mind it turning into a rather large hedge. It starts out so purple and lovely but now after 6 (years) flourishing seasons, it seems as if it is out to get me... chasing me down at every turn... and all the trimming I'm doing to tame it is making it want to grow even better. HA! It is a good thing I keep my pruners in hand at all times.But the typical gardener would not be able to manage its unruly habits and THIS A-typical gardener is weary of doing it.












This Is Now ( a little bit tighter shot)

By the way... there are four container plants visible in the above photo. Can you figure out where they are? Stay tuned for a future post featuring the containers placed in and around Hoe & Shovel.

And Finally...

That Was Then (March 2008)
Staying in the back garden there are several more planted beds. This one (above--in the background) is situated at an angle in the S E corner of the garden. There is a grassy pathway behind this bed and then about 20 more feet of property planted out beyond it but SE corner suffices for this description. The original explanation of this expansion project that was done over the period of a couple of years (read: continuous digging) can be read here.


This Is Now.


I hope you've enjoyed the partial tour and update of Hoe & Shovel. It really does seem like everything is billowing over its borders this time of year. The heat is turned up to extreme as it is all over the country it seems. Only here you have to imagine the nights don't cool down much... never cooler than about 75 degrees but more like 80. I think the plants are growing by moonlight, too.

Hope you are all enjoying your gardens, too. Meems

Size Does Matter

I'm very excited about my new Taro plants. One is Midnight and I split the Illustris (above) to make two --planting them among the existing purple queen and lavender lantana. White caladiums should be popping up to surround these deep purple lovelies any day now.



It's definitely one of my least favorite things on the "chores" list. But sometimes it has to be done before you can get to the fun part of gardening. Seems I've done it a lot lately and thought I was doing my best to avoid anymore of it for this season.

It was not to be. I just couldn't get away from making one more bed just a little wider and just a little longer.

While there is much being written in the blogosphere by northern gardeners elated to finally have some spring weather and rightly so, I am trying to beat the clock that is quickly moving toward the soon-to-come heat and humidity. There was a 'front' that moved through here last week which produced for us some divinely dry (no humidity) and cooler weather. At least the days start out that way in the mornings... up to 80's in the afternoons but very manageable gardening weather especially in the shade.

SO... these last couple of weeks I have spent oodles of hours (read: days) in the garden. And it's a good thing because I'm still not completely finished with my 'project list'.

There were several sort of random plants I needed to get in the ground. Random... because I bought a few of this 'n that when I was in Tallahassee last weekend. Then on Tuesday of last week I received a shipment of bare root day lilies and irises (ordered in February), a box of 50 hurricane lily bulbs from another source and some seedlings I had gotten at a gardening-talk at the local library. Random... because none of them necessarily went together. So I ended up with lots to get into the ground and lots to figure out... as far as where it was all going to end up. Keeping in mind, I had convinced myself I was finished with new projects and plant purchasing for this spring... I've been doing this since February... I'm supposed to be winding down...

Let the Designing Begin

Most of my new purchases needed a sunny home and there aren't that many options for full-sun around Hoe & Shovel.

So here I go one more time ... finding it necessary to expand another bed which means digging out sod! Ugggghhh! This time the removal was only about 3 feet wide (@ the widest point) and about 12 feet long. Here's the rub... I had just a few weeks ago dug out part of this same area and planted what you see in the above photo. It just wasn't large enough .... already.

One of the beds I enlarged last November was the intended home for the awaiting day lilies. The more I thought about it though I wasn't confident that particular location, offering dappled sunlight in the afternoon, was going to give them the amount of sun they need. Instead I put the largest majority of them in another existing bed (in the back garden- shown below)

which will give them morning sun-- then later in the day ---filtered sun. It was necessary to remove a border row of variegated liriope to make room for them. Don't worry I made a new border in my new expanded bed with what I dug up.

All this bare root ordering/planting is completely new to me. When the on-line seller says bare root --- they mean bare root... root with barely any green growth. It's sort of a learning thing so what I've decided to do is divide up each variety and plant them in completely different spots in the garden. Then I can determine where they do best. I figure surely some will survive and then I'll know under what conditions which plants succeed. (Look closely at the photo to see the slug that already found this brand new growth on one of the day lilies- I was actually taking the picture to show how quickly the greenery is shooting up-- in just 4 days) I'm happy to report some of the lilies and irises already have new growth sprouting out (above photo) after only a few days in the ground.I think enlarging this bed was worth the trouble. It has a much nicer flow giving the overall side-yard area a more complete look. Also as you can see from the opposite-angle-photo below it lends itself to blending/continuing better with the front side-yard plantings.

So here's the run down for making this bed happen:

Moved yellow Bush Daisies to group three together next to Fire Spike.

Moved Butterfly plant next to bush daisies.

Planted Louisiana Iris (bare root)

Planted Day Lilies (Bare root)

Planted Midnight Taro in place of Butterfly plant removed

Planted Illustris Taro ( split it to make two and planted on either side of Midnight)

Planted border row alternating variegated Liriope and Amaryllis

Planted seedlings of Blue Porterweed (given to me by a master gardener at the library talk on day lilies)

Sowed Rudbekia seeds

Sowed Echinacea seeds

Sowed Coleus seeds

Planted 1 white yarrow (also given to me at the library talk)Much of what I've planted is new to me. Isn't that exciting ? I've definitely stepped out of my comfort zone. There's lots of potential for color bursting forth with maturity and growth here in the next months of the growing season. I'm certain to give updates as the blooming begins!

When I bought two of the hydrangea it was my intention to put them together in the very back side of the garden. They will get quite bushy and tall. Instead I put one in the front under the oaks and among the azaleas and palmettos and one in the back. I just had to have one that I could see as I come and go out of the driveway.

Not in this bed:

Planted the two Oakleaf Hydrangea I found in Tallahassee. (I am so thrilled over finding these and the thought of having them in my garden. It was necessary to amend my soil with lime to reduce the acidity around them .... hoping with all my gardening fervor these do well here.)

Planted some Bella Donna Lilies

and the Hurricane Lilies

planted coleus and

sowed some coleus seeds

I moved several other plants around in the back gardens and made a new bromeliad bed I'll include in a post sometime in the future.

After digging the sod it's all fun stuff from there.

Weekend Debuts

Just yesterday I noticed buds on a couple of the day lilies. Today as I was mowing, I literally gasped when I spotted this lily that had burst open to greet me. I hurried to get my camera- then I slowed down while chuckling to (at) myself- why was I hurrying?...as if it was going to get away from me. Do you ever do that with a bird or another critter? Well there's a good chance they might get away. But the cheery yellow blossom isn't going anywhere at least not for a day or two. Usually my day lilies bloom around Easter which typically falls in April. By all my accounts this bloom is making its appearance earlier than normal.

Anyone know the name of this one (above)? Until I started blogging all day lilies fell under the same name... day lily. I'm sorry, it just never has been a priority to me to know the botanical names of flowers. The priority was knowing if it would grow for me. Now I'm more curious than ever and most often research to find out names. Could this be the Stella d'Oro?

And then there is the red Amaryllis that made its presentation yesterday. I snapped these photos today while working in the garden. I am beginning to see them everywhere in our area. Always a signal that spring is well underway in Florida.

I separated and transplanted dozens of bulbs over the last few weeks. I don't know the rules about when to do this - I was not too concerned but I do hope I didn't hinder the blooming time for the ones I moved. If so, there's always next year.