Great Summer

BY SKEETER

  How is everyone enjoying Summer? One more month remains for us then Summer begins to wind down. I am seeing Halloween and even Christmas Decorations in the stores now! Wow, where has the year gone? 

Oh, I now have Peacocks in my GEORGIA GARDEN...

 Ha, not wanting the mess of real fowl, I settled for these two bargain birds found at an "Antique Store" while I was in Tennessee this past spring. I put them on the fencing which hides the Propane Gas tank for our home heating. Click HERE to see the Fencing's start. I removed the Trumpet Vines as they were trailing beyond the fence. I tried my best to keep them at bay but they were determined to take over the entire Semi-Formal Garden if not removed. I removed the vine back in Spring and am still finding it popping up throughout the garden today. Grrrrrrr....



This garden has really enjoyed the rain this summer. This colorful garden is located by the Arbor Swing. Click HERE to see the Arbor Swing being built. I love red, yellow and purple's together. 

Miss Huff Lantana had a late start this year but is now putting on a show for me.

 Zooming in to one of the hundreds of blooms you can see why the butterflies, bees and humming birds flock to this bush.

 The Rock Garden by the Patio is still a favorite of mine. I am loosing some things in this garden as it was once a shade garden. With fewer trees in the area now, more sun is hitting shade happy plants. The ivy has really taken a hit but Periwinkle/Vinca is a great filler to bare spots. 

 The Formosa Lily was becoming so large in the Beach Planter, that I divided it and put a couple in the Rock Garden. Here you see one happy Formosa Lily. Click HERE to see the Beach Planter.

 Here is the view one sees of the Rock Garden as they sit at the Patio Table.  

 The Chimney Planter on the East side of the house has been a great spot for the Elephant Ear. This is the Ear I would over winter inside each year. Not wanting to close off a room to our indoor only cats any longer, I left this Ear on the front porch in its pot over winter. I was not sure if it would survive or not but come spring, I put the bulb roots into the ground. And now the results! I shall heavy mulch this area and let her be this winter and hope for the best...

The plentiful rain has the grass looking so beautiful this summer! It is so lush, green and soft to the feet. Keeping up with mowing has not been too difficult as we have had cooler temps then normal. I am mostly push mowing and bagging this year. Thus far, we have had a GREAT SUMMER, In the Garden... 

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

REACHING TOWARDS THE SKY

BY SKEETER

 Today, I shall show you the Good from all the rains we have received this Summer here in my GEORGIA GARDENS.

 

Elephant Ears have grown like crazy! This is year 2 for this clump of Ears by the front porch on the West side of the house. I stand 5.7 and the Ears are way above my head! We hope these do not decide to harm our house foundation. This clump also receives run off from our Air Conditioner. So plenty of water has been in this area and I have only had to hose water them once back in early June.

 Year 2 for this clump and hose watered twice I believe this year. They are starting to mingle with the Bald Cypress Tree so this clump shall be removed and located somewhere else by next spring...

The clumps along this pathway were planted last fall. They were once on the other side of the Cypress Tree and became too crowded. Good thing for the rains, as I had not planned to water in this area. This is far from the house and I don't care to tend anything this far away even though the hose will reach. Just never planned to create gardens in this area. But now that the Saint and I see these beauties, we shall maintain them during drought times. Love the way they hide the tool and wood sheds.

 Now to pull the weeds below them. Yes, rain has brought the weeds as well.

 Year 2 for these clumps of Ears which are located behind the Swing Arbor.

 Love the look from this view but the Ears are overtaking the Tropical Red Canna's. I have the Canna planted behind the swing to the right, left and middle for filling in over time. But I must admit, the green of the Ears shows up and may look better then the Canna. What do you all think?

 Zooming in, you can see the Canna is now under the Ears. Hum, to move the Canna or to move the Ears? Also, in time the small Angel Trumpet you see in the lower middle of pic, will be larger. This was a rouge root I pulled and thought was dead but planted it anyway. It appears, it is far from dead and by next year, should be much larger and blooming.

The way the Elephant Ears are growing, you would think the Banana Tree Clumps would be growing as quickly but no so. They seem to be taking their time about REACHING TOWARDS THE SKY, In the Garden...

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

Time does not stand still

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

Foundation on the West side

BY SKEETER

Here you see the West Side of the house. Kind of boring with not much going on in my Georgia Gardens back in 2008.

Here you see the blank canvas before the Beach Planter took place. To the right of the cement pad, you shall see another small planter take shape as we scroll.

Here you see the Beach Planter that we talked about on Tuesday.

Now to the right of the cement pad. Grass was dug out, holes dug, plants inserted, rocks set into place and mulch spread. The 5 gayfeather bulbs to the back were planted at the same time. They each grew at a different rate. Strange how that happens, eh. The Irish Moss was left over from another project. More on that to come.

We jump to June 7 and see some blooms. Ha, I just noticed a bee buzzing by the gayfeather!

Jumping again to July 19 and we can see that only 3 of the gayfeather bloomed. The elephant ear is from a bargain purchase from McCorkles Nursery last year. It looks as though the ear survived its first complete year with us.

Moving in a bit closer, we see the Irish Moss is doing well. I also see a weed that needs to be pulled. The Toad Abode gives a bit of a fairyland thought to the mind.

Moving to the left side of the AC/Heat unit, we find the Sagina Platform back in April. Click HERE to see how it was created if you missed it.

Jumping to June 27, we find the Black Elephant Ears (also from McCorkles last year) are doing well. I added the green Elephant Ears from those I took away from the Semi-Formal Garden last fall.

All Elephant Ears are doing well in this spot. They get lots of sun and lots of water from the AC run-off. Free watering, HA, not really as every time that AC runs, she is eating up money. This picture was also snapped on June 27. Keep that date in mind.

Pulling back for the long shot, you see the entire West side of the house. What was once boring is now filled with interesting things to view. Hum, how can I hide that darn ugly electric meter?

Jumping to present day, we find that the heat and sun have finally taken its tole on the Sagina. Sigh, I was afraid this would happen.  I am really surprised it lasted as long as it did with our extreme high temps and blazing sunshine of the hottest time of day upon its lush green. I still like the look of this platform and want to keep it similar. Any ideas on what would work in this spot and take extreme heat and like moist areas and stay low to the ground? There you have it, the FOUNDATION ON THE WEST SIDE, In the Garden... 
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Sagina Platform

BY SKEETER 

Here is a project I started Saturday morning stopping once the sun moved into the area. I finished up yesterday just in time as the sun had moved in on me. The heat is getting to me and the calendar says it is Spring. I dread Summer in my Georgia Gardens with this heat!  

I am getting bad about not snapping "before" pictures these days. I am usually good at that but for some reason, lately I have been forgetting. Saturday, I was able to get all the sod removed and dug a layer of clay out as well. I placed some bricks for a border and laid a pattern in the middle. I was not too happy with the pattern but was only trying to use all of the large bricks I had on hand. I did use two smaller bricks in this pattern. These bricks were a freebie that I posted about last July. I am just now getting around to finding a use for some of the bricks. Click Here to read about my free bricks.  I hope this linking works as it is my first go at it with the new Blogger Format...

Refreshed and ready for day 2 of the Crawlspace platform. I leveled the area, scattered sand and put the brick border into place. Then the middle pattern started to come to mind. It just seem to flow out of my head like putting a jigsaw puzzle together.

Next, I filled in the cracks with sand mixed dirt. The fun part was filling the large holes with Sagina! I have had this Irish Moss for about a month or so. I found 6-packs on sale at half price in the Wal-Mart Garden Center. I picked up 4 of them and had no idea what to do with them until now. I did a bit of research on this moss and found conflicting reviews of sun/shade and water habits. I decided to give it a try in this spot even though it will get the afternoon sun. The AC unit is nearby and the running system will keep this area moist.

To the Left of this new platform is a new planter of Elephant Ears and Blue-eyed Grass. I transplanted the ears from the Semi-Formal Garden as they were staying too dry with our drought conditions plus, they were not getting enough sun due to the ever growing dogwoods shading them. The rocks were freebies I have collected.

To the right of the platform, I have another new planter made this spring of Black Elephant ears and a little Fern tucked into the back right corner. The Ears were planted in this spot last summer and thrived in the AC unit water! I was not sure if this plant would return or not as their was no tag on this bargain purchase. I dug out a small shoot of it just in case and over wintered it inside. As you can see, it is hardy and has returned. The Fern was in a small pot on the front porch all winter long. I picked up a replacement fern this spring and as I was taking out the old dead plant, I noticed a small green sprig in the center of the plant. I went ahead and took out the old and potted the new and decided to stick this little fern into this corner and just look how happy that thing is in this spot! Kind of shaded by the AC Unit but come Summer, it may not be so happy. I will keep my eye on it and see if the growth of the Elephant Ears will keep it shaded enough to remain in this spot or I will move it.

The Saint and I do not like for bushes or trees to be planted beside the house. We do not like the idea of raccoons, squirrels or anything else possibly getting onto our roof from having plants nearby. As things fill in, I hope this will be a nice view to the eyes rather then just a soggy grassy, mossy, weedy area. On the other side of this AC/Heat Unit is the Beach Planter.

I had never heard of Sagina or Blue-eyed Grass before finding these while strolling the Garden Center. Since my purchase, I have seen both on other blogs! I still have to add some dirt to the platform area as it settled a bit after I watered it in. I would also like to come back and add a nicer looking stone to the planters. But that will cost money and for now I am happy with my SAGINA PLATFORM, In the Garden...

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