I haven’t posted much about what is going on in the garden since back in May, when the Cherry Parfait Roses began to bloom. You saw the beginning of the Fuschia plant cycle, and they have really become something remarkable. They now attract hummingbirds regularly to the house, and it’s wonderful having them around all the time. For some reason, we’re also getting large, beautiful dragonflies out of nowhere, and they seem partial to sitting on the big, black wrought-iron posts that hold baskets of petunias and geraniums. They aren’t the ordinary dragonflies I saw growing up, though. Those had green and blue hues. These look brown, smokey, and dark with clear wings that are shaded a deep, rich chocolate at the edges.
[mainbodyad]To the fellow gardeners out there, all of the pictures enlarge so you should be able to click on them for a better view. Thank you for all of the help, suggestions, recommendations, and feedback you’ve given me (you know who you are – I appreciate all of it from those of you who take the time to share your knowledge). We’ve been successful with a plan that involved starting with fertilized soil and covering it with mulch, then regularly applying a nutrient mix from Miracle-Gro in the water, as well as using specialty rose food once every three months. We tend to water every day shortly after sunrise or approaching dusk to avoid scorching the plants in the heat of the day. The whole thing has been really rewarding, and far easier than I would have thought. For our first year attempting to really grow things on a bigger scale, this isn’t nearly as challenging as I had worried. For some reason, people talk about growing plants as if it is hard. It’s mostly just patience, attention, and math.
The only plants that we’re questioning whether to keep for next year are the canary roses. I showed you how beautiful they look, but they only flush once a season and with everything else constantly coming back, providing rewards for month after month, they seem so sad once they’ve passed their prime. I’d rather find a really good, climbing rose that can work between May and September. Like my stocks with their constant dividends, I want constant flowers if I’m going to bother planting something. I like annuity streams.
The Fuschia hanging flowers have really been thriving and now attract hummingbirds regularly, just as people said they would.
The best thing about the Fuscia flowers are they grow in partial shade, so we can keep them in areas the roses don’t thrive.
The Hummingbirds zip in from the forest, take a sip, then fly away …
The Hydrangea bush is growing faster than I ever imagined possible. When you get near it, it has this high, sweet, faint scent that’s really pleasant.
The purple pansies are doing well, but I can tell the heat is getting to be unbearable for them, despite a lot of attention and care. I think in another few weeks, they will start to fade for the season, but they were great while they lasted.
The Dick Clark rose bush has grown better, and faster, than almost all of the other types we’ve been testing. It is about to begin another flush.
I couldn’t be happier with how the rose bushes up the path are growing … within another year or two, they will be enormous, and we’ll able to trim them into a hedge-like barrier on either side as you walk.
The roses on the pathway rose bushes are so vibrant they look almost neon.
The Mandevilla vines seem to love this climate, which was surprising since they should’t really work here. They did better than some of the recommended plants … they are now many times the size they were at the start of the season.
There are others that I didn’t get new pictures of today, including one of my favorite roses bushes. I do know that if I ever end up getting a large plot of land somewhere, I’m going to take cuttings from it and make an entire garden of it because it smells like this subtle, sweet perfume. It’s wonderful when the wind picks up and you get a sudden burst of it from across the yard (it’s since been relocated from the back, though is still being grown in a pot for this year until I can find a permanent place for it).
This whole thing makes me want to sell my existing house and upgrade to a house in the middle of a very large piece of land. I need more space. I want winding trails, and fountains, and lanterns at night. It’s so much nicer being outside now.
I’ve got a full weekend planned on a project at the house so I need to get some more things done before I call it a day.
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