BY SKEETER
Hello Bloggers! I hope you are enjoying some of the wonderful temps we are having here in my Georgia Gardens! Glorious 80's and low to NO humidity! My kind of weather indeed! Above, you see the Crepe Myrtle Bush in bloom. This is Miss Myrtle that did the Splits for me last year when she was a tree. She is making a comeback. Click Here to see that.
I have been out of the blogging loop for a bit. My mother had hip surgery and I went to Tennessee to help my family. I am happy to say that mom is progressing along and is off the walker and on a cane! It will not be too much longer until that cane is doing nothing more then collecting dust.
I had several Blog Postings scheduled before I departed Georgia and had planned to visit many bloggers during my "down time" in TN. I found out quickly that I had very little "down time" during the 3 weeks I was in TN. Family and Friends kept me busy the entire time! Thus, few blogger visits from me.
Once back in Georgia, I found a new computer and a new lawn mower amongst other changes. I was not ready for "Change" as I dont really like change that well. I deal with it in time but was not ready to learn something new so soon after such a long exhausting 3 weeks of worry, lack of sleep, etc. I decided to back away from the computer.
I now find myself pet sitting our favorite pooch, Zip, his three cat siblings and 3 Horse siblings as well. Zip and my Fur babies are getting along great as they are use to his visits with us. I now find myself ready to get back to blogging as I have kind of figured out this new computer format.
Here is one photo you saw during my TN visit of the lamp post I created from an old pole. Click HERE if you missed that post. Notice the lush Vinca in this pic.
I return to GA and find dead looking Vinca! What on earth happen to my lush, vibrant Vinca while I was away?
The Saint did a wonderful job of watering all the plants I had asked him to keep an eye on for me. Vinca was not one of them as it is very drought tollerant and never needs any attention from me. Plus, we had massive rains while I was away. We had a total of 12.3 inches of rain the month of August which was close to the record rainfall for that month. Could we have gotten too much rain too soon for the Vinca or what? Any comments on this would be wonderful as I find this a total mystery...
Signs of rain in the form of beautiful fungus are everywhere in the gardens.
Another thing I noticed was this area. This picture above was taken when preparing for the Post about the Foundation on the West side of the house. Click HERE if you missed that one.
Look at 3 weeks growth. The elephant ears are now above the porch railing and the black ears are above the AC/Heat Unit. Yes, they like the sun, heat and water in this area. (Rose, do you hear this as I failed to answer your question on the comments for that post...)
All the Elephant Ears in the yard loved the excess rain fall. They were taking over the Butterfly Bush Island. It looked more like a jungle when I returned to my gardens!
I have since clipped back the over growth. I know these huge plants will have to be moved for next year.
New growth was seen on many happy bushes such as this Ligustrum.
Penta's has never been so happy! Too bad I only purchased one this year. Sigh...
To the right of the Penta's, I find a Yellow Iris in bloom! Suprise to me and I can only wonder if this iris is the type Tina recently talked about? Maybe in the Immortality family. Hum, another mystery for me...
Both Angel Trumpet's are also happy!
The Pink that Tina passed along to me.
The yellow scented passed along from a neighbor.
A surprise corn stalk growing in the middle of a newly planted Knock-Out Rose bush! Silly Squirrels, there are better places to hide your corn seeds.
The Saint tells me to go behind the shed and "check out" the Compost Heap. Ha, a Elephant ear and Pothos nicely growing after being dumped as nothing but dead looking debris! It looks as though I planted this but I promise you, I did not. I need to get a pot and dig up the pretty house plants and also move the ear elsewhere. No, TIME DOES NOT STAND STILL, In the Garden...
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden
Skeeter,
ReplyDeleteSeems odd the have bearded irises blooming now. I saw blue irises blooming on Sunday. Looks very over grown there, ours is also.
Boy everything is looking great! Those rains were surely awesome and it is so nice now that things are cooling down too. I bet your vinca had spider mites. They are very prevalent in dry weather. It might be too late now but if you take a white piece of paper and put it under the vinca and shake the plant (it will help if the plant has leaves), then get a magnifying glass and look for small dots moving on the paper, then you'll know. You normally can't see spider mites. My evergreens get them each year. I spray a good stream of water on them but still lost 1.5 arborvitaes. Anyhow, wonderful photos! Glad you got the new computer figured out. Those angel trumpets look great as do the elephant ears.
ReplyDeleteMy Angel Trupets haven't done a thing for the past three years. It use to get huge, now it barely gets over a foot high. What do you suppose is wrong?
ReplyDeleteYour garden is gorgeous, especially those Angel Trumpets! We were hoping for some of that hurricane rain here in KY, but received only enough to settle the dust a little.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if your vinca has some voles eating the roots? For them to be in such bad condition after all the rain you had I think I would be looking at the roots or stems have been eaten/broken.
ReplyDeleteMy elephant ears are really huge now too. Think I will have to divide mine this year.
Your garden exploded with some great plant growth....looks very happy!
Your garden looks great. It doesn't look like it was lacking water at all. I love the Angel trumpets. Mine has not bloomed in the couple yrs I've had them. One in a pot & one in the ground. The one in the pot is actually doing better.
ReplyDeleteCan't believe your vinca. That is one tough plant.
Hello bloggers. I am not seeing the entire post for some reason. I talked about how my mom had hip surgery and me being out of the garden but not seeing it here. Hum, I can only wonder if you are all seeing the words or not???
ReplyDeleteRandy, the iris has me stumped as I dont know why it decided to bloom this time of year...
Tina, the Saint said this happen over night! One day the Vinca was fine, the next day, it was gone! I am not sure mites could have taken it out so quickly...
Randy, I have no idea about the trumpets. Tina passed the pink one along to me 2 years ago. The first year, it flourished, the 2nd year, it was late to get going and only had a few blooms. This year, it started coming up from the ground early with our early spring and it once again flourishing. I make sure to give it lots of water and thats it...
Barbee, we enjoyed the unexpected rains but they were pop-up showers and did not get everyone in our area. The nearby lake is still low. We are hoping for more rains to fill her back up again...
Janet, we do have a Moles tunnel in this area. But could the Voles eat enough roots to kill so much at one time? That would be a lot of eating and some happy fat Voles for sure. The elephant ears you see in the pics were all divided and planted in those spots last year! One years growth and they love those spots!
Lola, I spent a lot of time and money on the water bill keeping the garden happy the months of June and July. Last year one trumpet did well while the second one dragged along.
Talk to me about those Elephant Ears....Would they grow here? NE Indiana? How do they winter? I sure would like some!
ReplyDeleteOne benefit of drought is that this year we have NO moles or voles or whatever we had last year!!!!
So Miss Myrtle got back on her feet after doing the splits last year? You're right, there is a portion of your post missing. After the first pic of Miss Myrtle, there's just a link to your former post about her doing the splits. It looks like Blogger doesn't want to stand still for you either.
ReplyDeleteEverything looks so lush and tropical there in your garden. For some reason I thought the angel trumpets couldn't stand the cold at all. Now I see that I was wrong as usual. Since Grandson is old enough now to leave plants alone if I tell him to, I think I'd like to get some of those trumpets. When he was younger, I was afraid to plant anything at all toxic, especially if it has pretty flowers.
I see nothing about your mother. My plan on commenting before I read the comments was to say I was glad you were back and to ask about your mother. Also to say that now a days there are several iris that are rebloomers.
ReplyDeleteYour gardens look beautiful. My experience with vinca doing this in a container, it came back. I love the elephant ears next to the path, maybe you could just move them to the left a little. I just had a hip scope on the 4th, not sure how long I'll be on crutches...can't rotate my leg yet either....good luck to your mom.
ReplyDeleteRebecca, Not sure on the Elephant ears. I think they are more a tropical type plant seen mostly in the South. They do grow in North Middle Tennessee as my dad had some for several years then they died out on him. Not sure why. They die down in the winter and have huge root balls and they return the following year. Not sure how they would do up north but I have plenty and would send you a couple to try if you like...
ReplyDeleteW2W, I think Tina "fixed" my word issue for me. She is my tech-ie as I know very little about posting. Just know how to load a pic and the basics. When there is an issue, Tina to the rescue. LOL. I love the angel trumpets and they require such little care from me. They die down in the winter so must cut the stalks but they return...
Jean, Tina has the words up now! They were lost in space but she came to my rescue with her know how... This iris I picked up in early summer. I never expected it to bloom this year let alone near fall time. Ha, ya just never know about some silly plants. But a welcome sight to my eyes since no other iris bloomed for me this year. I moved them around too soon and they lost their will to bloom...
Darla, Good luck with your hip! My mother has recovered so quickly compared to my dads hip replacements. But his were done many years ago and the technology has come a long way since then. I cant move the Ears back as the Bald Cypress tree is in the way. It stays so the ears have to be moved. I may just dig out some of the larger root balls and leave the smaller ones as they may stay contained. I know the Vinca will return as I still see green on smaller leaves. Just so sad to see it die over night...
Glad to hear your mom is doing well. I was shocked at the vinca! But, 12 inches is a LOT of rain! That would be my guess, though I don't really know. I am impressed with your Elephant Ears! Wow!!! My poor pitiful one is such a sad specimen. I think it's in too much shade. And your Angels' trumpets are just gorgeous. I wish I could smell them!
ReplyDeleteI am with Janet on the Vinca. That is odd it took such a downturn. I swear it grows just about anywhere. I have it growing good in conditions beyond bad.
ReplyDeleteIt looks very lush, Skeeter. Love those elephant ears, especially the purple one.
ReplyDeleteSkeeter, I'm happy to hear your mother is doing better; I'm sure she was so happy to have you there and recovered much faster with your loving attention.
ReplyDeleteEverything in your garden looks so lush, but 12 inches of rain--wow! Rain can make such a difference; my garden is looking so much better now after several rainshowers as well. Thanks for the info on the elephant ears--I'd even forgotten I'd asked about them:) I'm amazed at how huge yours have become. The funny thing is I received two small plants from a fellow MG to "trial." She wanted to give the company who sent them to her some feedback on how they fared in the "average" zone 5 garden. You can't get more average than me--I stuck each plant in a pot and other than watering them once in awhile, I've forgotten about them:) They're doing great, though, so unless they're not happy in the winter, I'd say they're pretty carefree plants.
Had to laugh at the cornstalk in your rosebush:)
Glad to read your mom is recovering. And you planting always look so lush and tropical. I do wish I could grow those elephant ears and angel things.... :)
ReplyDeleteMy goodness that is lots of change to come home to....but your garden seems so happy and green. Wish we had 12 inches of rain...I need about 9 of that here still...
ReplyDeleteI wish your mum a speedy recovery. Blogging takes a back seat when it comes to family matters. Nice to have you back, though, and your wonderful images. Just yesterday I mowed the lawn in our garden and noticed the grass very dry. It hasn't rained much around here, so our greenery looks very different to yours. The cold weather is starting to creep in, though, so, maybe yesterday was my last time mowing the lawn. :-)
ReplyDeleteGreetings from London.
I have only seen two times where vinca did not do well. One was during a really wet summer and a fungus set in, and there is also a leaf roller type insect that will strip it pretty quick.
ReplyDelete