Gardening

It's been a while since I've posted to LivingWise, but there is a time to every season. A time to get up and make things happen; a time to sit back and reflect on what's happening; and a time to plan for what's going to happen. Today is a day of reflection on my 2012 gardening efforts. You know my daddy always said, "You can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl." The older I get the more I can truly appreciate that. Country living is my roots, and what is a country girl without a garden! Come...stroll with me through my garden.

First stop - marigolds by the front of the house. A success! Planted from seeds in August; blooming now. Lovely!

Marigolds

Butterfly bushes. Bought these at Lowe's back in the spring. They have quadrupled in size, and much to my surprise really do attact butterflies. Don't know why I'm surprised; they are, after all, BUTTERFLY bushes.

Up close and personal...where the butterflies at?
 

Got my daisy plants at the State Farmers Market (love that place). They have already flowered but some of the plants scorched in the summer sun. This one is the only one that is still green with new growth underneath. I'm curious to see if the scorched plants took root and will come back next year.

Daisies ... he loves me, he loves me not.

My black eye susans? Another find at the State Farmers Market, but they didn't make it. I planted them too late, and they too scorched. :(

My potato garden - another success! Produced the sweetest new red potatoes. Apparently, when I dug up the plants in June, I left a few potatoes in the ground. I now have potato plants sprouting throughout; new potatoes in the fall...so exciting!

Potato Plants spring 2012
 

Dug these babies from one plant for supper!
 

New potatoes randomly coming back, fall 2012.
 

Zucchini and cucumbers - a total fail. Well, not totally. They did, after all, sprout into beautiful green plants and produce flowers. I was so excited because I knew that the fruit was a'comin. But the bees weren't busy, and the seed flowers didn't get pollinated. Barren! So I cursed the plants and uprooted them this week.

Something else that was a fail - I tried to root clippings from one of my camelia bushes. Not a go...no roots! But I do have 3 crepe myrtles sprouting from the roots of a mature tree. Guess I'll dig them up and plant them where I was going to plant the camelias.

Hard to see, but it's there - a crepe myrtle about 12" tall.

My gardenia bush...new for 2012. Almost didn't make it. Woke up one day to discover it hidden under a bicycle - yes, my daughter's bicycle had fallen on the bush! Damaged it a little, but not enough to cause harm. Moved the bike; popped off the broken branches; talked to it - you know that works - and now it has new growth.

Gardenia
 

Speaking of talking to plants - Here's Stacy's family. Yep, named after a good friend who gave me these plants some umpteen years ago, and they have done nothing but multiply and produce beautiful flowers year after year. Time to divide and multiply again. I'm gonna transplant some of them to my new bird sanctuary.

Stacy i.e. daylillies
 

Yep, my bird sanctuary. I love looking out my kitchen window and seeing all kinds of birds - red birds, blue birds, song birds, hummingbirds...well, you get the picture. I'm going to gift these little creatures with some bird houses, sunflower seeds, and daylillies - all in in plain view of my window! Can't wait!

Well, hope you enjoyed the brief tour. Make some time to add a litle garden to your life! Don't fear failure...next year, by the grace of God, the bees will get busy and I WILL have zucchini!