Thursday, February 4, 2010

Sloshing Around

By Skeeter

I ventured out into my Georgia Gardens to see what I could find after so much rain and freezing night temps. I do believe it is time I invest in a pair of rubber boots! Click the video to see if you agree...An ice cube growing in the Garden? This cube of ice fell out of my rain gauge when dumping it in preparation for the next rain fall. With all the rain, we have moss growing everywhere! Here you see it amongst the red lava rock. So much rain that the front porch is starting to turn green! Yikes, where is the bleach spray bottle? I did not venture out into a soggy yard to find negative things so lets dwell on the positive I found on this sunny day...

Liriope is still hanging around while staying warm under a bed of Willow Oak Leaves.The Variegated Vinca also seems happy in this cold stuff with a blanket of leaves to keep her warm.The ivy has turned a pretty color of red and is trucking along the ground and all over the stump we planted it inside. Do you see what I see? Grrrrr... The deer must be happy also as they seem to have found the ivy and had a snack. Bad deer but I know you must be cold so that's okay, take a nibble but please leave me some, okay... Notice how the Ivy is greener on the stump then the Reddish color trailing onto the ground. All from the same plant. Hummmmm... Confederate Jasmine is looking healthy while its feet are saturated with water. Resurrection Fern is really happy about all the recent rain. Royal Princess Nandina is looking good with wet feet as well.Armada Rose Sea Thrift is hanging tough but I am concerned with her wet feet. Ice Plant is looking okay by the Sea Thrift but I am worried as she is so soaked in water also. Ligustrum with its glossy leaves enjoying her wet feet.

Walking to the center of the side yard, I find the Butterfly Bushes doing well. I am most surprised they have not lost all their leaves due to the extreme cold temps that are not normal. As you can see here, I spot new growth. Moving to the Semi-Formal Garden, I find Lavender is doing well.I was happy to see the Lambs Ear is doing fine. This is her first winter with us. Loquat is well established with us after 5 years. Leann Cleyera is showing some spots but doing well otherwise. At the back of this Garden on the chain link fence, I see Jessamine. Back into the Semi-formal, I see the Phlox planted last spring has survived. Verbena is so tough in my garden.Leaving the Semi-formal Garden and now to the Driveway Island planter, I see baby snowballs trying to hang onto the Snowball Bush with these cold nights. The Azaleas are a bit spotted but I think they will be fine by spring. The Nandina in this planter are bright red as they love the sun shining on them throughout the year.

Moving to the front yard, I find a healthy Cedar Tree.

The Holly trees look good as well with all this rain.This Azalea is recovering after some blight death to her a few years ago. She seems to have liked the pruning she received. Spirea is doing well in the front yard.

The shaded side of the front finds the Ebbing's Silver Berry's doing wonderful but no berry's again this year. Maybe they are too young just yet. I will prune them again this spring per Tina's suggestion for a bushier growth. These 4 bushes were planted to hide the ugly yard next door.

I know I complain about this long hedge during the summer months when clipping but she does make me happy with her full green color during the dreary winter months. She how she shines for me today? The Nandina in the front planter is not so red as it faces north and is shaded from the house thus no sun for that pretty red foliage as the other Nandina. The many pine trees on our land are always full of green to enjoy. Just look how it pops against that blue sky background! Such a beautiful day that I think I will sit in the swing with my buddy OJ who has been helping me snap pictures this morning. Such a good Garden Buddy to have living next door. No OJ, we are not going to look at those ugly weeds today. We are here to enjoy the growth in the garden. So stop looking at them okay?Here are some surprises I found while on our stroll today. Wave Petunia in the Semi-Formal Garden! I cannot believe it has survived the cold winter and freezing temps. If she hangs on, this will be her third year with us. Yes, A petunia that returns each year!Lillie's are still with me. I was so hoping they would make it through the winter as this is their first winter with us. Spike Plant is still with us! The Geranium does not look like it survived but I expected that. Spike will get a new friend this spring. Spider Plant in the ground never died on me this winter! I reckon it likes those leaves as does the weed beside it. Oh, that's right, we are not going to look at weeds today. Green Wandering Jew Plant is happily growing along the brick wall of our front porch. This fell and took root from some hanging plants from several years ago. This spring, I will pot it for the front porch for a free plant!

And lookie here what I found in the side yard Chimney Planter! Yippee, Tulips, Hyacinths, and Daffodils are coming back for me! I am so happy as I never have luck with those in my Georgia soil.

Sitting in the swing and feeling the warmth of the sun hitting my cool body, I am reminded that the sun is getting closer. The Birds were singing thier mating songs. Soon spring will be here. I look up to see the most beautiful blue sky ever with not one cloud in sight! Now that is a Winter Blue, I will take any day. I am glad I decided to go SLOSHING AROUND, In the Garden...

Update: The Saint and I are now proud owners of Rubbers Boots!

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

34 comments:

  1. Wow! Now I'm longing for spring and the ability to sloosh around too! Thanks for sharing the walk you and OJ took.

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  2. Yea, I think we all need a pair of boots right now in Georgia :D. We are supposed to get 3 more inches of rain between tomorrow and today to... Where its all gonna go I have no clue, because my yard is saturated as is yours. If this continues for the rest of the year we may have to all invest in bog plants and not drought tolerant anymore ;).

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  3. I enjoyed the tour this morning Skeeter! (as I sit reading it listening to the rain pour down!)
    And, where did you get those boots? :)

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  4. A great winter tour!

    Don't worry about ivy - deer may nibble, but they can't kill it! I'm surprised that they haven't eaten the nandina tops and ligustrum tips in winter. Those can handle deer dining in winter, too.

    It is so muddy, after the snow melt and rain, that I think I could ski on mud by standing still at the top of the meadow!

    Cameron

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  5. Boy Skeeter, I need a pair of those boots. I can slosh around too. More rain tomorrow, stormy actually.
    Sure will be glad to see the warm Spring weather. Sure hope it drys out soon.

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  6. You can't garden in the south without good rubber boots~congrats on them...Soon they will be covered in Georgia clay! Lovely greenery! I need more. gail

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  7. You definitely need boots to get around the yard now! We still have a bit of snow in the back. I'll need to do a big front porch cleaning this spring too, otherwise we might be living in a "greenhouse!"

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  8. cool! The sun is out and helping your plants recover. Hope some of them get over the soggy feet and pull through... Good luck with the cleanup and plantings!

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  9. Yes, you definitely need those rubber boots, Skeeter! I'm sorry you've had so much rain, but I am envious of all the green in your garden--wow! If I made a video of my walking in the garden, it would go "crunch, crunch":) O.J. looks a lot like my Tarzan, who is my garden buddy, too.

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  10. We're sloshing around here too, and will be sloshing even more -- more rain tomorrow!!

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  11. Looks like rubber boots are needed for sure. No worry on sloshing with those nice watertight boots! Your garden looks pretty good. I love that louquat. Such a nice tree! You won't get berries with the silverberry. Not sure why it is called that but mine have never produced berries. Just those small insignificant flowers in the fall that smell ever so good. Yippee on the bulbs! Won't be long now....

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  12. More rain in Georgia today! Arggggggg…

    Dawn, I was pleasantly surprised with how much has survived our not normal freezing temps and all this messy rain. I need to get some rubber booties for OJ…

    Ben, Welcome to “In the Garden” I always look for drought tolerant plants in my garden but as you say, I may have to focus on water bog plants this year! It was not that long ago that our Lake Thurmond (Clarks Hill) and your Lanier were in terrible drought conditions. Now I am ready for flood stage!

    Meadowview, Yep, more rain for us today as well. Arggggg… The larger pair (the Saints) came from Tractor Supply Center (TSC) for a mere $10. They were out of womens sizes. I found mine smaller pair with green bottoms at Wal-Mart for $20. Why are the same things for women more expensive then for men? I think we need to make a stand!!!

    Cameron, Mud Skiing! I will be looking for that one during the Olympics this year lol… The deer have yet to touch this Ligustrum or any of the Nandina thus far. But they have nibbled on two of the 8 Ligustrum we have up the driveway. We planted them about 3 years ago. Maybe they like the young stuff better…

    Lola, they are calling for rain for the next 3 days for us. We so do not need it right now. This summer I will probably be begging for rain but we have enough for now…

    Gail, we are lucky as we don’t have much GA Clay in our yard. Where we do have it, we try to avoid gardening. I did not realize how much greenery I had until this little stroll. Any color is welcome this time of year by me…

    Dave, it amazes me how quickly mold, mildew and moss can grow around here! I think that living in the middle of woods keep it going strong for us. Can you believe that is the East side of the porch that receives sun? Well, we have not had much sun this winter so I reckon, the green is to be expected. I love spring but not the spring clean up…

    Chandramouli, Would you like to join us for spring clean up? It is going to be a tough clean up this year for sure! Living I the Deep South is nice during the winter as we do get wonderful spring break type days. Of course, I would like more then we have…

    Rose, I will take a bit of soggy over crunch crunch I guess :-) I was just telling I was not aware I had so much evergreens in the yard. With this stroll, I was not so depressed with the soggy yard. Yep, we should have invested in rubber boots years ago!

    Sweet Bay, Calling for the next 3 days of rain here. Oh, gee where will I put it? We are thinking of turning our pontoon boat into an Arc…

    Tina, I am so glad you encouraged me to give the bulbs another go! I so hope they all pop up for me in spring! If they do pop up, I will know what I was doing wrong with them. Not planting them deep enough. Thanks for the tip last spring. It was such a pretty day on the making of this post and now we are once again back to rain. Gee, I don’t see an end to it at all…

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  13. Wow Skeeter that is a lot of water. In most spots up here we do not have standing water like that. Even with the record breaking rain last summer I only had a small amount of standing water. The south does not have the great soil for drainage that we have up here. However, that must help in a dry summer down there. Can't have it all I guess.

    You sure do have a lot of green....with only a couple of spots not being the good green so not too bad I guess with all that rain.

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  14. Nice boots! Your nandina is sure pretty. Wish I could grow it up here.
    Marnie

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  15. At least "someone" is enjoying wet feet. That was a fun tour of a wet garden.

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  16. Great post! Love your garden helper and how nice to have new boots. It looks like you have lots happening in your gardens in spite of so much rain and cold. Enjoy.

    FlowerLady

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  17. Jean, Yes, so much water and so little place for it to go right now....

    Marnie, I just looked up Nandina on the Internet and they only like it to 10 degrees so that does pretty much leave you out. Sigh...

    Barbara, we are getting a bit too much of a good thing with this rain. I so miss the winter snows of Germany!

    Flowerlady, I was so surprised to see just how much I had going on it the garden at present time! I knew I had a few things but once taking inventory, I found lots to be happy about....

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  18. Your garden has weathered winter so well. Do you think the ivy on the ground is a darker color because it is cooler on the ground then in the tree? Love the boots by the way....

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  19. Nice looking boots;-) All of your green, despite 'sloshiness', looks lovely, in comparison to the white stuff covering mine! And more is on the way tomorrow, the most snow we've had here in northern VA in YEARS! I don't know which is better (or worse?!) slosh, or slush?!! haha.

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  20. In your wet video it sounded like Spring with all the birds in the background. Your pictures all look sunny too. I guess the plants didn't mind the rain, they look happy. Living here I've had always had rain boots, sometimes that's the only way I can garden when it's so wet.

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  21. Hi,
    I am astonished at all that greenery...All I have is brownery. I look forward to seeing those bulbs of yours a 'bloomin. Those boots look perfect for a soggy day in the garden. No excuses now. :)
    Rosey

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  22. What a fun tour around your garden. New spring growth, or just plants that thrive in the face of diversity, are so uplifting to the spirits.

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  23. Hi Skeeter,

    You asked about my white horse -- her name is Endeavor. Sometimes we call her Devor, but we usually call her Pony. Her registered name (and the name she came with when we got her as a yearling) is Endeavor -- I've never been that crazy about it, she needed a more girlie name. :)

    Prince needs a blanket or he'd be a skinny minnie! He wouldn't be able to maintain his weight. His mother was the same way.

    Say hi to OJ for me! He looks like he's enjoying the sunshine.

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  24. AZplantlady, Thanks! Either warmer or wetter with the ivy, I am not sure which. Kind of a mystery...

    Jan, I know you guys are breaking all kinds of records with this snow this year. The storm in Dec was a doozie but now they say this next one may be bigger! Pretty as long as it stays off the roads. Hang tight...

    Catherine, The birds were singing like crazy that day. They started up a few days ago so I know spring is near for us. They are scoping out the bird houses as well...

    Rosey, I could not wait to play in my boots so I took off to the yard for a bit today. I Splish Splash away and never got one wet toe!

    Christine, I am glad to have lifted your spirits a bit today! I could not believe all the green I had in the yard. We planted most of it but with it all spread out over the yard, I never knew how much green we had until now...

    Sweet Bay, Endeavor is not such a bad name. We have many nicknames for our cats and they rarely get called by their real names. lol, Pony is a pretty gal and reminds me of Silver next door, rest her soul. We horse sit for them often and enjoy our time with them. I always wanted a horse but never had the chance so now I get to enjoy our neighbors without the cost and time. I never knew how much time went into tending a horse until we moved next door to them. OJ says meow....

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  25. Tis the soggy season isn't it? Good news on all the new growth.

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  26. Just stumbled upon your blog! Love it...will be a faithful follower! Enjoyed my walk with you in your yard...glad you showcased things large and small (nothing's too small this time of year!)

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  27. Actually I'm a little envious of your mossy front porch, living as I do where it's a lot dryer! But even with our different climates, I see that you have camellias, loquats, and a few others that do well here even without your boot-sloshing rainfall. I guess the new boots mean you'll be spending even more time outside?

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  28. Great, that is a long inventory, and maybe even if i haven't seen most of these plants yet, i will recognize them at sight. I hope i will remember you made me recall them. I am excited to see the flowers of the daffodills, hyacinths and lilies as well as the bushes when they bloom. You are a very diligent gardener and salute to you. I specifically love the photo of the hedge with your shadow on it. lol. enjoy the weekend.

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  29. Skeeter,
    So much going on in your garden! I too must invest in a pair of rubber boots, as here we must endure a couple weeks of "Mud Season" before we can get on with the business of spring. :)

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  30. Skeeter girl ! See how long it takes me to get around ? LOL
    I won't be able to slosh around for some time to come but I will be doing the SAME thing when I can .. you have so many plants coming alive ! I appreciate the ID on the Nandina for son's girlfriend .. she is going to swap out the old shrubs and replace them with those ones .. they are so pretty ! I wish they could grow here darn it !
    I love OJ helping you and what a handsome boy to have his picture taken like that !
    Blue blue blue SKY !!! ahhh !
    That was refreshing girl .. thanks !!
    Joy

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  31. I can't believe how much green you have already! Love the moss, too. And, finally, I think ice cube plants would be the coolest (ha ha) thing ever. No, really!

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  32. I saw that sweet-gum ball, Skeeter! Things are looking good in your garden. I wanted to walk around the yard yesterday but was short on time. As I was backing down the driveway, I saw a hyacinth showing its pretty self in one of the front flower beds. Let's hope some of its buddies join in when I get home early next week!

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  33. Nice to stop and notice the little green things - so often I just slosh right by them. Hey I like that green porch. I think you should leave it!

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  34. Janet, Too Soggy for me, sigh but now I have boots made for walking!

    Jennifer, Welcome to the In the Garden gang! Tina is our Master Gardener living in Tennessee, her sister (Dawn) post’s monthly from Maine and I am a friend (found through this blog) that lives in Georgia but hometown is TN where Tina lives. Hope you enjoy following us around :-)

    James, Yes, I love my drought tolerant plants in the garden! I lived in Texas where it was a dry heat and I will take that any day over the humidity we get down here. I am a Southern Gal but never did like the humidity. lol, I am already giving those boots a work out!

    Andrea, Gee, you make me feel good about myself today! The shadow on the hedge is actually a decoration I have setting on the brick wall. It is a Pineapple which is a symbol of welcome in the south. In the old days, they would have a pineapple on the mantel of the fireplace. When the pineapple was removed, that told house guest it was time to leave as they have overstayed their welcome. I would never remove my pineapple as I so enjoy guests….

    Liisa, Get those boots, you will love them! I am giving mime a good workout in the soggy garden but not today as it is coming down to steady…

    Joy, I am so glad you enjoyed the refreshing blue sky and all :-) I know it will be a bit getting your way but when you see it turning warmer here, you know it is on the way there as well. Nandinas are a must in every garden here. I think they are awesome little plants as they are drought tolerant, don’t mind the soggy and change colors for fall when in a sunny spot. I love the things. Wish you could grow them there but they do like the warmth of the south…

    Monica, believe it or not, all that green is left over from summer! Well, except for the spring bulbs rearing their heads. Even though we have had some freezing night temps, nothing seems to have frozen on me this year. I was shocked at the Liriope as it normal goes way more dormant then this year. Compared to others in our neck of the woods, I guess we cannot complain about the winter cold but the rain, I can complain about…

    W2W, Sweet Gum Ball. Now are you calling it a sweet gum ball as in it is a sweet gum tree pod or a sweet looking gum ball? lol, I hate those things with a passion I tell ya. You will see more on them soon. Ahhh, yes, the spring bulbs are popping up so time to warm up a bit and I am so ready. I kind of wish the rain would go away too but I must be careful what I ask for. So many prayed for this rain during our drought, I think the Rain Gods stored up all the prayers and are letting loose all at once on us….

    JGH, Ah, I have always heard that we seem to over look the little things in life at times. You can have my green porch, lol. I don’t think it is too healthy to have mold, mildew so close to the windows when we open them up. May not be good on our Respiratory system. It does kind of give that English Cottage feel about it though. I also remove the moss on the bricks of the walkway. But I do leave it on the back patio as it does look neat in the woodsy area. So natural…

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