Share your Garden.

[corgimom]

here is a picture of a late blooming shrub called

Summersweet Ruby spice Cleathra - only gets about 2 1/2 feet to 3 feet tall
and the flowers smell so good - not a long lasting bloomer, but adds color to
the fall season - mine has just started blooming.

[corgimom]

And here is an ANNUAL "Cleome" or a/k/a Spider plant. It is sturdy in the wind and comes in white also, Gets lots of prickers like a rose bush so when cutting down in the fall, you will have to protect your hands, but the flowers are pretty and it flowers heavily and way into fall. Gets about 3' high and quite bushy

However, I have way too much pink in my yard and my goal for next year is more orange and red.

Good thing is, the rabbits don't eat it!

Linda

[ChloeLouise]

Chloe LOVES fresh green beans and is very attentive when I am picking them from my garden!! She has even figured out that she can help herself to some! Here are photos of my veggie garden - with Chloe, of course!

[CorgiMum]

deleted.....

[milles2]

OMG! What a gorgeous yard! I feel totally inadequate and it kills me especially since I spent the entire weekend cutting grass, whacking weeds, pulling weeds, dead heading flowers, and planting (greenhouse sales!)!

I bought the home if my dreams (water front property!) on a small lake in rural upstate NY 2 years ago. The house is 150+ years old and had just been rennovated. But the yard is a blank slate. And I love the challenge.

My life has changed so much. I used to spend summers racing sailboats 3 days a week, now I garden and train 2 Corgis. And I love it. My sailing friends would never understand!

When I lived in Cleveland sometime in July the grass would stop growing. I swear I could go the entire month of August and never have to cut the greass. I cut the grass Friday night and Tuesday morning Lulu's tummy was getting wet in the morning from the grass getting high again! Ughhh![IMG]C:\Documents and Settings\milles2\My Documents\My Pictures\Summer Pics[/IMG]

[milles2]

What a beautiful yard! I am truly humbled. I have all I can do to keep up with cutting greass and pulling weeds. BUT! My Sedum is turning color, I have new blossoms on my Fox Glove just planted this year, and my Forget me Nots in my shade garden are still flowering!

[corgimom]

Great pictures and it looks so peaceful!

linda

[milles2]

I can't wait to rake leaves with both Tuck and Lulu! They race around the yard like crazy, I'll never get anything done! Unfortunately the hoodlums have trampled my day lilies along the creek bed. But legend has it that nothing kills them. I planted rows of them in the srping never expecting them to flower this year. They did but since then the Corgis 2 have just done a number on them.

Planting Yarrow tonight (greendhouse sale again!)

Susan

[tandemgal]

Susan, your LuLu looks like she could be Chloe's sister!

Cleome!!!!! Linda you are a wonder - for several years I have seen this plant in flowerbeds and loved it but had no idea what it was... I want it! also love your other flowers tooooo - summerset Ruby.

We just bought property in Tenn and I am going to have to consult with you and Barbara and all the other master gardeners to help me when the time comes to landscape!

[corgimom]

T-Gal

Just let me know when you need a bit of info on the flowers. I am by no means an expert, but can help you out somewhat and let you know what does well and what doesn't. Remember, Cleome is also called Spider Plant.
Glad I could help with that.

linda

[corgimom]

Here are more of those Pink Turtlehead flowers that I had posted a bit ago when they first started to open up. They are in full bloom now - a good flower for this time of the year.

[tandemgal]

WOW
Tenn. is zone 6 - do you think that turtleheads would do well there?

[corgimom]

They should do fine. We are Zone 4.

I would plant them where they get sun mostly in the morning and then afternoon shade- they do tend to like extra moisture, so a little more water helps, but they are hardy and sturdy and I have never had to stake them.

They are around 3' tall

I will mention that they probably will bloom earlier for you due to your more mild climate.

[tandemgal]

thanks, I am thinking up ideas for the retirement home... we will live on the point. I want to put a split-rail marker there with a wildflower look growing around it - nothing formal.

maybe some daffy-dills for spring, black-eyed susans, daisys, lillys, turtleheads and thoese spider plants. do you think that will keep something in bloom spring thru fall? what do you suggest?

[corgimom]

T-Gal,

You have a good start; in what you are thinking of

One plant I recommend for SPRING blooming is "Candy Tuft", they are pure white and get around maybe 15 - 20" high - and a nice compact bushy flower. They are a beautiful white and look especially nice on an overcast day, these along with daffodils and tulips would be beautiful. Also, Irises would be good, but they are not long bloomers.

Of course, Black eyed Susans are great and bloom long; and also the "White coneflowers" - have you tried these?? These are nice also and tend to bloom a bit later(depending on how hot the summers have been) - and I love the Shasta Daisies also. They have one called "Crazy Daisies", have you seen this one? Same order of the Shasta Daisy, but a bit more of a ruffled look. These bloom quite long.

I also have planted the Dahlias from Bulbs this spring. First time I ever did this. I was leary at first, but was pleasantly surprised. I only planted bulbs (which you HAVE TO DIG UP IN THE FALL) but They grew into these huge 4' sturdy plants with flowers about 6" in diameter. Something you may want to try; and a very long blooming time.

Another thing you may want to try is the "Balloon Flower" They are purple and look like balloons before they open up - you can get them in a 15" height or up to 30" - the taller ones may need staking depending if you have them in a windy area.

Also another good one is called Phlox(King David) - they get around 2' to 3' tall - pretty white plant with a large flower head(a perennial) and they do not tend to get the Mildew on their leafs like some Phlox do.

Russian Sage(purple) is very pretty also, about 3' tall and sturdy and a long bloomer. I wll try and take a picture today and post it for you.

Also, remember the Cleoma/aka Spider Plant is an annual, not a perennial. I planted mine in April and they grew quickly and are still blooming, but they also have prickers, so you need to be careful when digging them out in the fall .But they are beautiful and get huge and I think with your warm climate, they should get close to 4' tall.

Don't know if you have Lupines around there, but the miniature ones are great - about 24" tall with a flower length of about 12" long, interesting and beautiful; stay away from the tall ones, as you will need to stake them especially after a heavy rain.

Anyway, those are some of my suggestions.All these plants I mentioned really do not need any special care, just water and some fertlizer maybe every 2 weeks. We have clay soil here which I hate. I have added some good soil in with it, but the clay seems to keep migrating upward; but the plants have done well in it; so if you have good soil to start with; with good drainage; they will do even better. I am sure I can come up with others; it's just early a.m.