Annual Satisfaction

Over the past few years I’ve gotten out of the habit of running to the garden center with each change of season to stock up on annuals.
Oh, they are pretty. And they are fun. And they are reasonably priced as well as easily purchased with all year-round availability in Florida.

Walter's Viburnum Dwarf Variety, Viburnum obovatum 'Mrs. Schiller's Delight'
A showy native winter/early spring flowering shrub.

Instead, I’ve deliberately made efforts to concentrate my resources on garden items like perennials, grasses, Florida natives and pottery. Those things along with good potting mix, soil amendments, stone pathways, a veggie garden, and mulch impress me with longer-lasting benefits and move me closer to my long-term garden goals.

This year exceptions were made.

Soon after the cold winter weather left us with backdrops of mostly greens and browns I admit I found myself lusting for blooms... for color... for flowers.

***Note to self: plant more Louis Phillipe roses.***

In analyzing my impatience (and justifying my downfall) it is certain there was just too much destruction happening all at once.

So, in January, while the temperatures were still very cold and no end to them in the forecast, there I was in the garden center loading my cart with all the usual suspects.

The ordinary cool season annuals that won't grown here in summertime were cheerily flagging me down and all reasononing faded away.

Petunias of white and 'glow double pinks', lobelia of deep purple and trailing white tiny blooms, violas of yellows, oranges & purples, alyssum of both white and purple, tiny bacopa flowers of lavender, lavendula, Bidens ferulifolia 'bidi compact', were all brought home and popped into every sad-looking container garden that was crying for help as loudly as me.



Instant Gratification!

There's definitely something to be said for it! Especially in a winter-bedraggled Florida garden.

Now that Easter is here I've decided the satisfaction of planting common annuals had some merit after all. At least it worked for this spring.

Happy Smiling Zinnias

It turns out that I had uploaded some photos for a future post just before the surprise attack on my hard drive which is why I am able to publish this post without the use of my own computer.

Pitiful whimpering going on here.

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There's been some talk about some of the "firsts" here at Hoe & Shovel this spring. One of them being our very first veggie garden thoroughly challenging our abilities to grow from seed and to nurture to maturity the veggies we chose to plant. Another 'first' being the online purchase of bare root day lilies and cardinal flower. More on these in future posts.


Today, the 'first' we are featuring is the seed sown zinnias we put in the ground this spring. Hard to believe I realize... but I just hadn't thought too much about zinnias in years. They just gave me that oh so, common feeling. Although last fall I planted a few dwarf zinnias purchased from the garden store and remembered how cheery the colorful flowers turn out.

So what's wrong with common? Absolutely nothing if it is a great performer.

How Easy Can It Be?

Certainly not because of anything special this gardener has done... the zinnias have been blooming their pretty little heads off for weeks. And truth be told, I just can't get enough of them... common and all!

The seeds for zinnia are not buried in the medium but instead placed on top of the soil and patted into the ground. Watering lightly follows. Within a few days there are a jillion little green leaves poking out of the soil. Watering continues while the plants are developing.

Before you know it... there are tall leafy stems with buds forming. In a series of unfurling gladness, from this wildflower mix, there appears a sunny array of petals in many forms displaying every color of the rainbow that would make any gardener feel successful. Once they are mature, they cheerfully enjoy the heat and drought we are having here in Florida. Who could ask for more? (Well, I could ask that the IT guru can retrieve my photos from my crashed hard drive... but that's another story... yes, still whimpering).

I put zinnia seeds in three separate locations in the back garden. My only regret now is that I wish I had sown them in more places or at the very least I wish I would have sown more of them in the spots I DID choose. Back in March when I direct-sowed the seeds (because I was too lazy to start them in containers) I had no idea how well or not-so-well they would grow. It was experimental at the time... which does kind of add to the fun of it all... don't you agree?

There are so many varieties to enjoy with each one seeming to smile happily in the bright Florida sunshine. With a little bit of dead heading each day and now that I've staked the tallest ones up, they have readily moved to my list of favorite additions and turned into one of the bright spots in the back garden.

Shown above, they blend in nicely with the fountain grass, plumbago, indigo spires, lime green potato vine and purple queen as well as several more perennials behind them (not shown in this photo).

As a side note: if all goes well the Crocosmia bulbs (another first) I planted in front of them will actually decide to bloom on the greenery that is just recently popping out of the ground.
Admittedly, I didn't realize there were so many varieties and colors of zinnia. It has been fun to cut the individual blooms and make bouquets to bring inside.
It's a pretty certain fact zinnia will be an annually seed sown flower at Hoe and Shovel going forward. I'm even thinking I'll sow them again in September for our fall/winter growing season. Any flower that can withstand our heat and humidity for months on end is a sure winner. Common yes, but happy in my garden with little maintenance and it gets added to the list of must haves.
So it makes me wonder.... Do you grow zinnia? Are you thinking they are common, too? Does common matter to you?

It does seem most gardeners are on the lookout for the unusual... with new challenges to thrill our gardening curiosities. Have you successful "firsts" this spring? ... I'd love to hear what flowers you've determined make you happy as they smile back at you each day...

I'm counting on your happy spring comments to help me forget about my computer woes. :-)

playing in the dirt

Red Zinnia- i picked up a few of these vibrantly colored blooms to add to the border.



Purple Coneflower- this is labeled a florida native plant and to imagine i've never planted the first one in all these years ... until now.
after much digging, lots of dividing, hauling & transplanting, some shopping, and more digging... progress has been made on my new planting area. there wasn't a master plan when this idea originated. not unusual. i like to design as i go along... an element of the exuberance I have for gardening. creating and mastering the space is the most satisfying aspect of my toil.



first things first: i lay out the flagstone pathway threading through the space. once all my plants are sufficiently filled in having a walkway will allow me easy access to the dense plantings. what's even more fun is the grandkids love to wind around through the maze.


i read recently to plant what you know grows well. this is a philosophy i have long adhered to. by digging up and multiplying what I already have growing in other areas i not only save money but this method of grouping like-plants with separations by swaths of grass or plants of varied texture visually creates a natural consistent flow while offering breaks of color, form and height.

Here's what we have so far:

1) over 75 variegated liriope divided from existing plants borders the entire perimeter. in key places i layered them to create a denser patch to break up the single edging.

2) red zinnias- purchased in 6" pots

3) purple coneflower - purchased in 6" pots

4) marble leaf- i dug this one out from a 'too-shady spot' in the front yard and transplanted - with more sunlight here the leaves should "marble" better and it should bloom its teeny purple flower more profusely.

5) white impatiens - purchased in 4" pots

6) variegated schefflera- these i had growing in pots from cuttings off other plants - i simply transplanted them here.

7) ferns - divided from the bed this expansion now leads into creating one ginormous bed.

8) xanadu- from 3 mature plants dug up and divided-- i was able to make 14 new plants. it will take a few weeks for them to get established and longer to fill out with new growth, but patience is a key virtue for a gardener, right?

9) i'm not certain what will go in this last piece of available soil. my first thoughts... divide/transplant my agapanthus and center something climbing on a trellis...

any further progress will have to wait until after thanksgiving. for now, i'm relegated to the kitchen for dinner & hostess preparations. i'll be 'thankful' for some rain soon as the drought we are in is making for lots of time spent hand watering all my freshly planted perennials and annuals.

the dirt on expansion projects

finally, this weekend i finished this expansion project- located at the back corner of my yard. previously this bed was half this size. the lime green potato vine was overrunning its bounds -- it now has plenty of room to continue sprawling and spilling over into the new bed. the new plants include a combination of zinnias, indigo spires, lantana, purple butterfly bush and variegated liriope to border. i left space for the trailing lantana which will eventually attempt to crowd out its neighbors.

on to the next project.

for a while i have wanted to do something about this area. over the years this section in the grass has sunken - yes, sunken. dropped --to form a shallow valley. added to that... the abundance of shade poorly affects the growing of grass. i have made several attempts at recovery to no avail. it's time for rearranging the landscape.

the solution:

a dump truck from a local nursery unloaded 5 yards of soil onto my driveway this morning. wow. my wheelbarrow made way more trips to the backyard than i bargained for. but i want to say this about dirt. there is just something wonderful & exciting about good dirt to a gardener... to handle it, to feel it, to smell it, to dig it ... just the sight of it... rich, dark and healthy. it's oh so inspiring.

the results:

another expansion project... a clean slate ... a blank canvas. oh my little designing mind has so many ideas. i also purchased more flagstone at another nursery today to extend the pathway that runs through the existing bed. stay tuned ... as this area develops i'll bring you updates.

over the weekend i put some red new guinea impatiens in the ground for fall where caladiums dotted the landscape in summer. i also put these in containers coupled with variegated ivy and lime green potato vine. i'm expecting these will transfer easily into the winter season in a few short weeks.

week in review

this has been one of those weeks when every spare hour it has been my treat to work in my garden. i realize i have been so busy gardening that i haven't taken the time to post anything about my fun this week.

the weather at the beginning of the week was less than perfect with gloomy, grey skies and abnormally higher winds for three days due to TS (now hurricane) Noel hanging around off the coast of miami. but as it turned out - the weather was quite manageable for working outdoors.

today is another story. it is picture perfect here in this beautiful state. crystal clear blue skies, no humidity (which is so rare) with slight movement in the air. truly heavenly all morning. tomorrow is predicted to be the kind of day that brings the tourists here by the droves this time of year.

so... you might be wondering 'what in the world have i managed to do in so many hours'? way too much to explain- and besides much of it was the fall clean-up kind of stuff that isn't real exciting for the onlooker. but i will share some highlights of some of my progress.



i pulled this photo out of my 'june folder' just so you could see the pile of debris in the back left corner. that pile is one of those 'uglies' we gardeners don't like to include in our photos. it is a pile i have wanted to move all summer but made much more out of the task in my mind than it actually turned out to be. you know the kind where you have figured out how difficult it will be and how long it will take and how hot you will be while doing it. so my excuse to myself was that i was waiting for cooler weather. truthfully what motivated me even more to go ahead and get it done this week was purchasing the two fire bush plants that needed that very corner to be their new home.


with pitchfork in hand and my trusty wheelbarrow it took me about 6 loads to remove the pile. one of my other excuses for procrastinating was that i was sure there had to be some snakes living in that perfect habitat. sure enough as i was heaving one of the last loads i caught the underside of a snake out of the corner of my eye.


turns out there were two - both about this size and both some sort of rat snake i think. i guess they are happily under some brush near my compost pile now but they gave me a startle because they blended so well with sticks and leaves. while we are discussing snakes, the very next day there was a small (water?) snake in the pool skimmer. another two inches and i would have been face to face with that one. i let out a scream when i realized i was poking my head in the skimmer hole looking right past the snake that was curled up along the edge of the hole. i don't think it could hurt me, but i don't really ever want my face to be that close to any snake.


on to the pretty stuff. it is a daunting task to imagine replacing the hundreds of caladiums that grace my garden with so many colors and forms in the summer time. so each fall i do things a little differently. everything i plant at this time of year is taking the risk of frost and freeze damage. it doesn't happen often but still... it is a risk. with that in mind, i decided to put annuals in focal places and wait for spring to plant more of an abundance of annuals and perennials.


i chose these coleus for their vibrant garnet and green (goldish) variation. there were 30 of these i planted in two of the front beds. my hope is they will bush out for a bright display of color mixed in with the foundational plants of xanadu, variegated liriope, marble leaf and some volunteer impatiens.

pink impatiens were not my first choice for the largest curving front bed. but after ten days of shopping around and not being able to find my preference of white impatiens and red salvia ... i re-designed my ideas and put a combination of 48 plants including these and variegated pink new guinea impatiens right behind a row of variegated liriope along the front border.

what drew me to these new guinea impatiens is the deep, rich magenta tones of the foliage. the foliage is as striking to me as the two-toned flowers. turns out they make a very nice contrast and blend all at the same time with the lighter impatiens.

i still haven't gotten around to removing that dead grass i killed a while back... not looking forward to it but i am looking forward to the plants i've already purchased to put there. hopefully tomorrow morning...

weekend ramblings

woo-hoo! that's my excitement over the great rain we are finally getting this evening. just one nice steady rain like we're having is better than a week of irrigation for sufficiently watering in the lawn fertilizer i put down a few days ago. not to mention we just need the rain to help the
drought conditions we are enduring.

i broke in another pair of new gloves this weekend made by the rumford gardener. i had purchased them back in September in a little gardening store in north carolina. they are goat suede and spandex and washable. they protected my hands quite well and i like the way they fit. several pairs of workable gloves are helpful to have on hand (no pun:-) depending on the type of gardening necessary.

over grown ginger plants --before

severely trimmed back ginger plants --after

saturday was my third consecutive day of diligent fall clean-up (and more to go--yes, it's true). the weather was nearly 10 degrees cooler (80) than the days prior and the humidity was down enough to make the day very manageable. so i worked right through the afternoon hours with no trouble. the section of my front yard shown in the photos above is quite expansive (not fully visible here) and consists of several layers and variety of plants. along with trimming the ginger and all the palmettos, the droopy caladiums in the front of this area had to go. it is ready now for new fall annuals. not sure what i will plant there yet... still designing in my head.

my sweet elderly neighbor, helen, i have spoken of in previous posts came out to chit-chat as we were both doing some gardening. i always like to take a few minutes to walk around her garden with her because she loves to talk about her latest gardening triumphs and woes. before long she insists i dig up seedlings of some sort to transplant to my garden. when i'm in her garden it is as if around each corner and at every turn there is another unusual flowering plant. she rarely knows the names of many of them, like me, she just knows what works and doesn't work.

this blue ginger plant is now happy in my garden and i am happier to add it to the many wonderful plants she has shared with me over the years.

this is an example of a plant helen gave me a few years ago that she doesn't know the name of still and i can't find it out either. it drops its own seeds and sprouts up new plants quite easily.


i planted a butterfly bush and some daisies in one of the smaller areas i cleaned out. I still have a couple of firebush plants and the rest of my petunias to go in the ground. much more left to do in the next few weeks.

to everything there is a season

the uglies have taken over

it's not like i didn't know it was going to happen. but i feel the need to bemoan the situation anyway. my beloved & adored caladiums are as ugly and wilty right now as they are colorful, spunky and beautiful in the spring and summer. every year it is the same. but this year they lasted so well... i mean it is october and until now they have performed outstandingly. i guess it makes it doubly hard to see them go because they are everywhere and right now that makes me feel like everything is ugly.

this week in the garden has been one of those weeks. do you ever feel like every where you look there is work to do? honestly, it is as if all of a sudden what was left of the annuals are spent ... the perennials are droopy... the ginger is overgrown... the confederate jasmine is climbing into my neighbor's yard... my lawn is desperate for some rain... the asian jasmine is creeping into the flower beds... even the palmettos need to be de-frond (is that a word?)


today's bounty

all i want to do is plant some fall annuals and enlarge some flower beds (so i can plant more plants). BUT for the past two days i have had to muster all my discipline to stay focused on the fall clean-up. AND it is still so hot!!!! i know i speak of this in every post lately but REALLY... i need to get more work done that what the morning hours allow.

here's a quick run-down of fall maintenance checked off my list the last two days:

• fertilized the lawn with Scott's Bonus S weed and feed
• spruced up with new plants and moved to new locations some potted plants
• dug up some overgrown bromeliads to reveal some landscaping stones i couldn't see anymore.
• transplanted some clerodendrum seedlings
• marked off a grassy area on the backside of a flower bed with spray paint then sprayed the grass with round-up. next week i will remove the grass and my bed will be larger for more plants.
• cleaned out two large flower beds of caladiums; trimmed back all the impatiens and palmettos and ferns.
• cut back the mexican petunia (which is on the invasive plants list) because it can go everywhere in a hurry.
• pulled up and re-laid a pathway made of stones that had gotten out of alignment

i leave you today with some photos i took yesterday because it just wouldn't be nice to show you only the ugly ones...

amazingly, these caladiums are still providing a pleasant display... but... i am preparing myself for their certain demise in the next couple of weeks.

i happen to be a big fan of white flowers. i have a tray of white petunias to plant - probably tomorrow.

yesterday i discovered this plant flowering. i can't remember the name of it but it only blooms in October/ November. i actually pull up seedlings of this everywhere- it re-seeds so easily.

note added 10.23.07: i found this plant online it is a Phillipine Violet-Barleria cristata. Also comes in violet, mauve and a violet and white variegated.

surprises

top view of the deep purple volunteer impatiens that
spill over this container






all volunteer impatiens

one of the wonderful joys of having an abudance of plant life is the fact that there are some species of plants that flourish without me making any effort. impatiens are just that sort of easy to grow annual. i have planted a few over the years. but for the most part they reproduce all on their own. these shade & water loving plants find their way into existing potted plants and into my flower beds-- literally in mass. sometimes I actually (gasp) pull them up because they shoot up in random unwanted places. impatiens are most prolific in the spring and fall because they really prefer the cooler nights and milder days.

they do tend to get too tall and leggy in the summertime. i have already pruned almost all the impatiens back that came up this spring. not to worry, they will come back and they will ‘make babies’ in an array of unplanned variety of colors.