Cottage Flora Thursday - Fertilizer Friday

Hope all of you buddies out there in blogland are having a good day.

I'll be joining Tracie at Fishtail Cottage for Cottage Flora Thursday and Tootsie at Tootsie Time for Fertilizer. Ya'll go check out these blogs and see their pretties and check out the other partiers.

You can find them here http://fishtailcottage.blogspot.com/2011/05/cottage-flora-thursdays-20.html

http://www.tootsietime.com/

I have a few things to share today.

I was dancing the happy dance this morning when I found this Rose of Sharon blooming. I've been watching these buds form but I really didn't expect this. The plant is still a baby and is only about 15" tall but let me tell ya this plant is loaded with buds. Last year when I planted this tiny thing it was only about 3" tall. I didn't hold out much hope but boy was I wrong.

And also this morning I found this one spreading its wings. I'm so glad to see that it opened up more than the last little thing that bloomed. I would love to start a garden with just bulbs and have a lot of iris in it. That is a dream right now though.

Love that the shasta are really yielding me lovely blooms. They last a long time and the plants are loaded with buds and every day I see more buds forming. I'm pleased with the Shasta Daisy but I didn't realize how big these plants would be.

The pentas are awesome after shooting them with MG Bloom Burst.

I need to know why my Sarah Bernhardt peony still has no buds. This is the third year for it. I feel like ripping it right out of the garden. But I won't. Maybe it isn't happy where it is. It receives more than 8 hours of sun. The soil is good. I enhance the soil every year with fresh MG Garden Soil and I fertilize regularly. Any ideas?

Last weekend I worked my hiney off weeding this big garden. As you can see I have a lot of vacant spaces. The plants that occupied this space last year are no shows this year. I have given them ample time and now I'm needing to fill this space in. This garden is part shade. The front side gets more sun than the back. I live in Zone 8. Do yo have any ideas on what would look good in the back? It was a beautiful space with the dahlias and milkweed and okra hibuscus and a few others last year. I suppose these probably weren't the right plants for this space either since I didn't realize the amount of sun this part of the garden receives.

Inside I'm a furniture mover. I'm thinking I need to do the same thing in the gardens sometimes. I don't usually move plants around but I'm thinking maybe I need to move things around. Do ya'll do that? I'm afraid I will lose plants.

I'm wishing for rain. Rain come... I'm watering the gardens regularly now. Our grounds are so dry. Way too dry for one of the rainest cities in the US. I'll take thunderstorms - anything.

Prayers for the flood victims. And for the economy. Fuel prices.....trickle down effect... everything cost more.

Have a good weekend whatever you find yourself doing.

Some Blooms

Today I'm linking up with Tracie at Fishtail Cottage for Cottage Flora Thursday's  http://fishtailcottage.blogspot.com/2011/03/cottage-flora-thursdays-13.html  and with Tootsie at Tootsie Time for Fertilizer Fridays   http://www.tootsietime.com/. Ya'll go by and visit and then check out the other bloggers participating in these memes.

Can't believe that this is the last day of March. The saying goes - March winds bring April showers and April Showers bring May flowers. It is certainly windy here today and much cooler. Woke up to 50 degrees this morning. Nippy for me. Seems that winter just doesn't want to turn loose of you guys up north. I'm sending warmer thoughts your way and hope that ole man winter is saying its good byes.

This is the view from my front porch. A beautiful pink hedge of azaleas.

 Four O'Clock returning from winter.

Help me ID this plant. I put it down from seed last year and they didn't do anything but it is coming back. Perhaps a coneflower or balloon flower? I don't know.

And this one too. I'm thinking this is a balloon flower?

This penta looks sad as it droops everyday except right after watering but check out the guy sitting right next to it in the next photo... One Unhappy Penta next to

One Happy Penta. This one is all perky and doesn't droop at all. Bought at the same time and planted at the same time.

 

Sarah Bernhardt Peony... still hoping... it is growing much faster and looks so much better than it did last year.

ID anyone? From seeds I put out 3 or so weeks ago but I don't know what these are. 

New pink flowers just opened up on the newest verbena.

Animal damage right into the center of a beautiful batch of snapdragons. It really ticks me off when I walk out and see something like this. It happens to us all I know but we hate to see our plants get damaged.

That's all I've got for this week.

Hope you all have a good weekend and some prettier weather.

Today I'm thankful for the rain we had yesterday. (Drown out some of the yellow and green floating in the air - pollen - sneeze - runny nose)

In My Gardens This Week

Today I am linking up with Fishtail Cottage for Cottage Flora Thursdays and with Tootsie at Tootsie Time. You can go to their links here http://fishtailcottage.blogspot.com/2011/03/cottage-flora-thursdays-12.html

and http://www.tootsietime.com/.

Things are popping here on the Gulf Coast as spring has arrived. The bridal wreath (spirea) is still putting on a show. I love their delicate blooms.

This is my twice a year blooming azalea. Soon they will be open all over the area.

Daffodils are slow to bloom and only giving a bloom at a time. Don't know why they aren't busting out like last year. But I'm loving the double bloom on this one. As you can see it is small.

 Nemesia.

Snaps are in their prime right now but they will be blooming all summer long and into the fall. They love it here.

Dianthus are putting on blooms but they are leggy. I didn't do the fertilizer yet so it is my fault. I'm lazy sometime - what can I say. But the Miracle Gro is on my counter in the kitchen.

Azaleas are so hard to photograph.

Purchased a few new additions to the gardens this past weekend. Loving this fire red here. So hard to photograph.

I fotgot the names of some of the plants I bought since I stupidly removed the ID tags. Shame on me.

This is a new dianthus. It will be different than the other I have. I'm looking forward to what these will look like.

This a very different verbena. Loving the soft colors. 

My Sarah Bernhardt peony is coming back and looking good. I'm so hoping for a bloom this year. I planted this two years ago and it hasn't bloomed yet. 

These shasta plants stayed green all winter long. I planted these last year from seeds I had done early in the year. They didn't bloom last year so I'm hoping for some blooms. If it doesn't do this year I'm pulling them out. 

My one and only hosta. Didn't do much last year so this year should be better. I would so love to have a hosta garden. Maybe soon.

Bought another Butterfly Bush. I'm looking forward to lots of butterflies this year and these awesome blooms.



I've got a lot to do today so I'm gonna keep this short.

Hoping you all have a wonderful day and a great weekend.

Bloomin' Tuesday

Good morning blogging buddies. Today is Tuesday and it's time for Bloomin' Tuesday over at Jean's. Ya'll go check it out and see who else has something blooming.


I have another new daffodil blooming here. This one has a small flower but they are a double coming off the same stalk.

Another one with slightly different coloring.

This orange and white baby is face up. She is kissing the sun.

And a few things that are coming along in the garden. Zinnias are popping everywhere. Zinnia's have to be the best and easiest to grow of just about any other plant other than begonia's. They are not fussy at all.

Two of my bulbs/rhizomes I planted 4 weeks ago has not come up yet. Phlox and Clematis H.F.Young are running behind. After 4 weeks they may not do anything.

My Sarah Bernhardt Peony has just come up and is taking off now. It took this one about 3 weeks to spring up and look at it now.

Hollyhocks I put down as seeds are doing well. Not many of the seeds I direct sowed are doing anything at all. I have learned that I should always put out little seedlings because I tend to pull what I think are weeds and probably were not weeds at all. Unfortunately yesterday I pulled up some Johnny Jump Ups before I realized what I had done. Oh well - gardens are always a work in progress and learning experience.

Dahlia's are really coming alive. These have been out of the ground only about 10-14 days and look at them now.

Hope you all have a great day and some beautiful weather.