Late May In The Garden

Welcome to the garden update! Also, this is my first post and pictures from my iPad. Seems you can't take pictures and blog directly from the iPad. You need a blog tool. So I got Blog Press and it seems to be doing the job nicely. It was $4.99 in the App Store and seems well worth it. It found the pictures I took of the garden and created this post in a jiffy.

Back to the garden. As a gardener, it is so gratifying to see your work from last year blossom and grow. I have lots more to do but things are coming together. Not everything blooms at once, thank goodness. From month to month there are highlights to look forward to.

Around here, May is hydrangea time. Last year I put and/or moved several. Here is the one in the corner by the porch. That's Chi Chi exploring the catmint in the foreground. The pot contains some annual lavender. I love the smell of lavender. It blooms after the jasmine, so there is always a great aroma outside the screened porch.

The conferderate jasmine is still blooming some. It's a heavenly smell and the hummingbirds love it too. It is on the chain link fence between my neighbors carport and my yard. Makes a nice privacy screen. In the foreground, that's Charger, one of my Collies, and Pee Wee the kitten.

The chicken wire, above and below, is around some Zinnias I have coming up from seed. I didn't want the dogs stomping them when they were seedlings so LSH put up a temporary fence around them. Another long-overdue project is to change the landscape logs out for some stone. The logs just don't last!

More hydrangea. When I bought this one it was on sale and the nurseryman did not know what color it was. Surprise! It's a pretty pink one. See the creeping jenny? My new favorite ground cover. It seems to really like the beds outside my porch.

Hydrangea next to the chimney. This one is three years in this spot and doing well. It's a Nikko blue. All of my hydrangea are mop head, I think! Next to it in the containers are a parsley pot (which overwintered this year) and a succulent garden. There is some more creeping jenny and some purple asters that will bloom later in the summer. I am trying to keep this end of the bed to purple and yellow hues.

Below are the Shasta daisies I tried last year. Think I'll get some more this year. Next to it but not blooming yet is balloon flower. It's very reliable and will bloom blue this summer. I also got some white balloon flower last year. We will see if they do well.

I also wanted to show you the new hammock location. This isn't a great photo. I'll do a better one later. As you can see, it is now on a pole vs. the old rotten apple tree. Four kids were playing on it last year and the tree came down right at the ground level. Just broke right off! The kids laughed it off and no one was hurt. We missed the hammock for the rest of the season though. So LSH dug a hole and cemented in a sturdy pole plus plant hanger.

Another project for this summer will be re-painting the garden shed. It's a bit of a mess now. I have lots of inspiration but no perspiration yet! The trim, windows and window shelves need a coat of white. You have permission to remind me to get busy on this!

That's the late May garden here, warts and all. Let me see your garden soon.

Joining Etsy Cottage Style garden party.

Stingy Gardening

I just hate to pay too much for perennials, or any plants, really. Sometimes I feel like I'm paying for dirt! You've seen it, haven't you? A big container and an itty bitty plant with a root system that takes of one-tenth of the volume? It just kills me.

A hosta I found on sale that can be divided into at least
two more hosta. Love this lime color. It will add
light to the shady border I have in mind.

One way I make the most of my plant purchases is to look for a split-able plant. What's split-able?

- already has one or more plants in the pot
- has a root system that can be divided
- is basically healthy

Not all plants can be split or divided. Certainly not most annuals like petunias, impatiens, geranium or the like. Roses and other ornamental bushes cannot be divided either. Luckily lots of other gorgeous perennials can be divided with great results.

After the hosta is split. I used a sharp shovel. Turn the plant  out of the
container. Then turn it on its side. Use the shovel to split in between
the individual plants to split the root system. Then plant it normally,
tamping down around it to be sure the roots make contact with the new soil.

Patience is the key here. Divided plants are initially smaller and may need a little extra nurturing for the first year. If you wait until next year - - you will be rewarded!

How do you know if a plant can be divided? If you don't know, Google the plant. This may take another trip back to the nursery or big box store but the information is worthwhile. Check to see how it is propagated. If the propagation technique includes root division - - that's the clue. Also check on the method of division.  Is it simply pulling apart roots, like creeping jenny? Or does it need to be cut (like iris or hosta)?

Here are some of the perennials I have had success with dividing:

- hosta
- iris
- creeping jenny (aura)
- bugleweed (ajuga)
- creeping thyme
- jacobin flower (an old fashioned flower my dad gave me)
- balloon flower
- black eyed susan
- monkey grass

Hosta in their new home. They don't show up very well in this
picture, but see the big one? It was a split from last year.
Patience pays.

What plants have you divided successfully?

Obviously I have more work to do.

What I'm Doing vs What I'm Supposed To Be Doing

Yes, I was doing stuff in the garden yesterday while there is laundry and other work to be done. Imagine that!

Headed out yesterday to Growers Outlet in Pineville, NC. Very nice deals on bedding plants, bushes and trees. I got my Japanese Maple there last year and it is looking great this spring.

Entrance to Growers Outlet in Pineville, NC.
Nothing fancy about the place. Just good prices.

I found some really healthy creeping pink verbena for one of my sun pots and another bargain hosta. I am going to split the hosta into two or three plants. I'll post more about that process in the next couple of days.

I also got some pink splash and pink torenia (aka clown rose) for a shady pot out back. I'm going mostly pink this year in the pots.  I also picked up some sale candy tuft to fill in the sun flower border.

If you want petunias this year, Growers Outlet is the place, sans cat of course!

So far I've done a couple of pots. Here are the re-done two pots on either side of the carport.  I focused on herbs and perenials that don't need a lot of attention. So the pots have rosemary in the center for height. Then all around there is varigated thyme, dianthus, aguja (aka bugleweed) a small ornamental grass, creeping jenny and creeping veronica. They will take all the sun and none of the care. Not much water and no food.

   


Pot on one side of the carport.
Dianthus smells ~heavenly~ when it's blooming.


I've also refreshed the pot with the cocoa liner that hangs from the gate across from the confederate jasmine. We can't allow the jasmine to grow all the way across the gate - - we wouldn't be able to get in! So it needed a little something.  I kept the varigated thyme and the heuchera. Just replaced the viola I had there all winter with a supertunia called "Lipstick."

I have more Lipstick supertunias going in a sun pot in the back. Supertunia's need less care and deadheading than regular petunias, but you still have to feed them.  I'll just take care to feed only the supertunia because the thyme and heuchera don't want food as they are very care-free plants. In fact you can kill herbs and herbaceous plants like heuchera by feeding them. Hands off is what I have learned after killing my share.

The Three Musketeers want to be in the picture.

Laundry - it will wait! There's more gardening to be done. See you later.