What's in Your Garden?

[Vermin_King]

I often see references to birds in the garden (or garden birds) and photos are taken of models in the garden, but I don't see a thread for gardens.

Around here the strawberries are dwindling, but the raspberries are just coming on. Bush cherries have been going for a while and it looks like it will be a great year for blueberries.

It was a great year for hyacinths and old-fashioned roses. Irises not so much. Last night was the first blooms of the common primrose (one of the types of moon flowers) and hollihocks started blooming last weekend. It was a great year for tulips. And the mimosa is getting ready to bloom.

What types of things do you grow in your gardens?

[SCEtoAUX]

I have tomatoes, bell peppers, shallots, rosemary, thyme, parsley, beans, and two year old blueberry bushes. All eatin' stuff.

There are some flowers of some kind around like daffodils and irises but they bloom for a short while then all you see is the leaves.

There is a constant battle against invasive vines.

[Kevin WS]

All sorts of weird stuff, but I am not certain what it is (apart from the banana tree).

Quite a lot of pots with stuff outside too.

I will try and find out what - will have to ask my other half.

Mimosa is not indigenous here, but I love this tree. The smell is great, especially if you pick off flowering twigds for the house inside. Wish I had one.

[Tapcho]

Whoah Vermin! About 650 different things/species. Perennials, periodicals, veggies, herbs etc. Wife is a pro gardener and we have it all. I'm the SMM (Soil Modification Manager) of this business - like I manage anything just do what I'm told to. Having said that I confess that I so much enjoy this hobby and the outcome of it - food to the table, wonderful blooming garden throughout the summer, mutual hobby with my wife and all the appraisals of the visitors.

Tappi

[Vermin_King]

As of this morning, I now have six common primrose blooming and two hollihocks blooming. I have been a fan of the primrose for probably 20 years. Bloom at night and the blooms are gone by noon the next day. Last year was the ultimate year for them. I'll have to post photos later on.

I understand about being the one who is told what to do. Dad has a large vegetable garden and orchard. When he bought the old school next to my grandfather's farm in 1965, the hillside was mostly barren, so we planted 30 pecan trees on it which are adult trees now, providing shade and about 700 pounds of nuts a year. I just do what Dad tells me to do down there. Besides scrounging around the strawberry plants to find a whole half gallon (big deal when you have to go through that many plants to get them. We had been getting 5.5 gallons a picking), we got the gooseberries picked. They will need to be picked the next two weekends.

[Tapcho]

Current division of labor suites me fine. And it's a good thing to have a common hobby with one's better half. I'll post some pictures from our garden later so should others. It's a fine hobby and a great fountain for daily peace of mind.

Tappi

[Kevin WS]

Would like to see some pics.

Will post some of ours - it looks terrible now as it is winter and we don't really have much.

We don't know we are doing really either and just try to plant indiginous plants for the birds and insects.

Other issue is not much water, very dry, and extreme temperatures. At the moment daily around 26C to -2C daily, without wind chill.

The water resistant plants get killed by frost, the plants that survive the frost get killed by the heat! Never a happy medium!

[Miles Linnabery]

Dear Kevin:
Don't have much however I do have a patch of Greek Oragino and Chives to use in making Soulovickie and I planted a Horse apple tree Osage Orange 10 years ago.
Enjoy,
Miles

[rickstef]

Here are some pictures from my parents' house and front yard

this was about 2009

usually each year the front of the house looks like this

Dad spends a couple of days during the fall planting all the bulbs
I tend to be the weak mind/strong back helper for him

Rick

[Vermin_King]

I don't get called on for bulb digging duty too much since a few years ago when I was helping Dad dig up Canna bulbs and got stung by a centipede and almost died. All those tulips could be a real bear.

The only tulips I have are leftovers from when my folks owned the house. Like the cannas here, I bed them down for the winter and clean the plots off in the first part of March (keeping the bedding material close until frost/freeze chances go down).

I have a tendency to lean towards low-maintenance plants. Hyacinths haven't been touched in twenty years. I don't do anything with the iris bulbs. My common primrose requires chopping up the stems and seed pods at the end of the year to keep things going each year.

The photos are of my cannas, the hollihocks, the primrose. I also have a picture of my primrose from last year which was an amazing year for them. Last photo is of my folks place last year, taken from the orchard. You can see some of the trees, one of the blackberry patches and one of the raised flower beds. All the shade trees you see are the pecans we planted in the 60's