Anna, that looks so lovely. Makes me want to take a stroll around the path. :o) Still haven't mastered the camera, sorry.

Oh Anna, your yard always looks to beautiful and peaceful. I love looking at your photos.

anna, you don't really think anyone will post pictures after such a tremendously beautiful display? i'm ashamed of my garden when i see yours...

i'll try to summon the courage to post sometime later this week...

Oh, I was expecting to see lots of pretty pics by now for sure. I hope you all are out there with your cameras. I miss seeing the ornamental posts, inasmuch as I've enjoyed the veggie ones.

Michael, you know I only show you the good things, being careful to angle out the bad. You should see all the bare spots of stuff that hasn't come back and brown areas that I keep hoping will. I've seen your garden before, and I love it every time I do. Now, come on, people! Let's see flowers and vistas....

Anna

Your gardens are just beautiful. I dare to post a few snaps since I have only set aside new garden space just recently. But I'll brave it anyway.

This male hummer stuck around for days.

The Monarch's are going to be quite happy if they ever show up.

This little gem has been here for weeks now.

The presence of day lilies in bloom.

The last time we saw rain I saw this. Really wish it would rain again.
So many more pictures so little time.

Hope you enjoy!

Anna,

That's quite a show you have there! Absolutely gorgeous, and natural in appearance.

Do you have well irrigation, and does it get on your begonias?

Now that's what I'm talking about, Zoozue! Wow! I missed the hummingbird the first time, admiring all the beautiful tropical sage against the dark background. Amazing pic of the painted bunting!!! Your garden is beautiful with the cheery daylilies and sunflowers, cosmos. It's all eyecandy to me. Thanks.

Thanks, ladywingr. Yes, I have well irrigation and it does get on the begonias once weekly. You can see that the joe haydens are actually a bit wilted, even after the sun was no longer on them. The others had picked up a bit by then.

Anna

to conserve bandwidth, a slide show...

Here is a link that might be useful: what's blooming in my garden...

Michael, you always have amazing stuff in your garden! It's interesting the difference between 9a and 10a (borderline 9b). I don't think I can grow yarrow, foxglove or candytuft here. At least I haven't seen it. Hollyhocks are probably improbable too. Your perennials and roses are beautiful. I especially love the English rose and the red yarrow. And your veggie garden is huge! What have you been feeding those onions! I always enjoy every part of your garden. That lady banks rose- is that the vine over your entryway in another post? That would be an incredible display when in full bloom. Thanks for posting!

Anna

Wow you guys
Anna, beautiful as always...I love your yard
Zoozue, lovely pictures!!!
Michael, you have some cool stuff growing in your yard - very nice

Here is what is blooming in Temple Terrace Fl

From Backyard Spring 2009

From Backyard Spring 2009

From Orchids April 2009

From Orchids April 2009

From Orchids April 2009

From Orchids April 2009

From Orchids April 2009

Olya

Both you guys have awesome pictures, love those orchids and Michael really nice slideshow...

These are awesome love the painted bunting.Sorry
I didnt see this post til I posted my slideshow,oops. Oh well mine was spring collection not just April.

Hey y'all,
Your pictures are so pretty. It's making us really want to go out in the garden.

Anna: It's a treat whenever I see you start a "WBIYG" thread because I know you'll have beautiful plant scenarios to inspire us (and maybe depress us, too, as we compare our gardens to yours).

Zoosue I really appreciate the thought you put into composing your pictures. The red salvia is so sharp against the fuzzy grey fence (?) background. I also missed the hummer until someone else mentioned it and I went back. I've never seen a painted bunting in person - what a great shot!

Ill-mannered I zeroed in on that Vietnamese hollyhock. Never heard of it before but I've already made a note in my plant shopping "file" to be on the lookout for it. I was also drawn to the red yarrow.

Olya: I don't have orchids but I certainly do admire yours.

Trini1: Your plants look lovely but I don't even have a clue as to what the middle two might be.

Now I'm going to take a morning cup of joe and tour my quarter acre "estate" to see how things have changed since I last checked it (last evening!). Hope that d*** bunny (my husband affectionately named it "Fuzzy") didn't enjoy a midnight buffet while I was dreamin'.

June

Anna ~ I have begonia envy. I have white angelwings, and that's it. Yours are beautiful, just beautiful. How many different kinds do you have? It's wonderful seeing all of your bloomers. What a great pineapple patch! Your place looks very peaceful.

Zoozue ~ Love that picture of the salvia with the hummer. The milkweed photo is great also. Your pictures are all wonderful actually. Is that a funnel cloud in the dark cloudy sky picture?

Michael ~ What a beautiful garden you have!!! How hard is it to grow the red yarrow? Your roses are beauties.

Olya ~ Your orchids always leave me in awe. I love your amaryllis and roses also.

Trini ~ You have some fantastic beauties I've not seen before.

All of your pictures have inspired me to do more work in my own gardens.

Thank you all for sharing ~ FlowerLady

Michael ~ Your gardenias have me drooling. I have had several and lost them all. Their scent is one of my earliest memories of FL when I was just a girl. Yours are beautiful and you must have a gardenia green thumb for sure.

FlowerLady

Been wanting to get back to this thread.

Olya, your orchids are gorgeous, as always. You've got a lot blooming right now. Mine are mostly done for the spring except a few phals.

Trini, you always have such exotic stuff. That passiflora is exquisite...which one is it? Do the butterflies go for it? What is the plant in the third picture that looks like a white sparkler? Is that a tillandsia or a flower? Really cool! I have the plant in the second picture, but it got hit hard by the cold and looks kinda stunted. No where near blooming.

Flowerlady, where have you been? Haven't seen any pics from your lovely yard lately. Please show. I really only have a few types of landscape rhizomatous begonias, but I like to try to propagate them and spread them in different areas of my yard. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn't, but I keep trying.

June, you are very kind. Snap a picture of 'fuzzy' if you can.

Anna

Anna

Sorry folks, when I posted the pix, my brain was still asleep and I couldn't remember names, but here they are;

1. Giant granadilla
2. Elaeocarpus grandiflora
3. tillansia xerographica mounted on a pachypodium tree
4. some orange bromie
Palm behind bromie-orange areca

Anna, I love your yard and am always inspired by it.
You elaeocarpus may bloom soon because they bloom even when young.

Thanks everybody

Beautiful pics everyone!

Anna, about those begonias. What kinds are they? How hardy are they? How much sun/shade do they take? I just love the look of them.

Zoozue, what are those tiny pink-purple flowers with the cosmos and sunflowers?

Thanks for posting.

Bill

Thanks, Trini. I couldn't make sense out of that tillandsia on the pachypodium. They didn't look like any plant I've seen, but now that makes perfect sense!

Bill, the begonias are carribean corsair, joe hayden, and nelumbiifolia. Look at the above pics, they are labeled, and you will be able to tell which is which. I also have plum gorgeous, one anglewing, heracleifolia, and another grape-leaf cane begonia (not pictured). This year mine saw 33 degrees twice and high 30's a number of times. You can see the burnt edges on the leaves on all of them (joe hayden had the least), but the plants are ok. In past years it got down to 37-38 and they didn't suffer burnt edges. If you want to try, I have a tiny carribean corsair I could send you, and a nelumbiifolia that's small, but not tiny, and in the ground. but I don't need them and I don't have them promised away either. Email me if you're interested. There are also hardy begonias. Google that, and I think you will find that species. I love landscape begonias. They need little water, fertilizer or any kind of attention. The only thing is that they need perfect drainage, as in the ground needing to be raised a little.

Anna

Anna ~ I work part time and I've been working in my gardens digging up unwanted ferns that have taken over. Still didn't get them all out, but I made a dent and am not going to worry about the rest. I just wanted room for roses and other bloomers. I'll try to post some pictures in here soon. I've been posting pics to my blog, which I'll leave a link to. ~ We put up gates to fully enclose our property after someone was in our property one night a month or so go. DH is working on the arbor over the iron gate into front patio area, and I've been working on the plantings in that area also. I love the cloistered feeling. Plus, I've grouped a lot of potted plants on the patio for easier watering. Trying to get a lot done before the dang summer's heat and humidity settle down on us.

I do love your begonias. I'm going to take more cuttings from mine to spread them around the property. They are pretty and smell sweetly, even if they are just white.

Happy Gardening ~ FlowerLady

Here is a link that might be useful: FlowerLady's Musings

Here are a few of mine. I wish I was a better photographer because I don't do them justice.

Melissa

Flowerlady,

Your begonias are really pretty, and your roses stunning as always. I have been pulling ferns also. As much as I love them, they demand too much work. Much more attention in that regard to keep them in bounds, and wait till the rainy season!

Melissa, your yard continues to grow and change by leaps and bounds! That's such a nice, wide bed you have there. I like that you've left spaces between things. In a couple of months they will likely be touching. I love that foxglove. They seem to burn up quickly for me. I have that same alternanthera. I really love how heat and drought tolerant it is and you can't beat it for contrast/color. It's pretty easy to propagate, too. My beautyberries are about the same stage as yours. It's going to look beautious there once those shockingly pink berries happen.

Anna

Thanks Anna. My yard was pretty decimated by the freezes this winter so things are just coming back to normal size. I have learned to space them better, too, but I don't mind when they end up touching. It is when I have one overwhelming the other that it causes a problem for me. But I don't even worry about that too much. I just fix it later.

With the alternanthera, I have that one plant there and the others planted together near the fence that covers the pump in a mass planting. I like how tough it is too but it can overwhelm the plants around it. One of the things I like about your yard is the larger masses of plants, and I have been trying that more. It is really all one great experiment!

We will see how the foxglove goes. I have never had it before. Michael accidentally left it in the car after we went plant shopping so I kept it! I like how it looks now though. Stunning flowers.

Melissa

Melissa ~ Wow, foxgloves. Everything you have looks healthy and happy.

Anna ~ thanks for visiting my blog. Those begonias are easy and I think they like shade the best, although those are going to be getting mid day sun when summer gets here. Of course, they like water also. I think roses are my favorites that I have right now, but I need fill-ins all around them.

FlowerLady

I keep going back to this posting as I love plants and flowers so much and everyone has such beautiful plants in their gardens. Everyone seem to have their own style and I love to see them all. Here are a few of mine, but no comparison to some posted.

Beaumontia murtoni

Place your browser on the picture for name.

Ginny

Thanks for the information, Anna. I'm afraid the ones you're growing would struggle up here, where we get hard freezes just about every winter. It's a shame because they're awesome, just the look I want. I will do some research on the hardy begonias. I used to grow some strawberry begonias, which I loved, but they just didn't like the heat (or lack of cold?) Either it gets too cold here, or we don't have enough cold here: seems like I'm always running into this problem.

Pretty pics, Melissa and Ginny! Ginny, what's the orange one in the first picture?

Bill

Ginny ~ You have some beautiful flowers. Very tropical looking. Do post more pictures.

FlowerLady

Ginny, great photos! What is the lovely plant by the wall with the orange flowers? I thought it was a rose at first, but the leaves are different. I also don't know the second one. The yellow butterfly vine and the beaumontia are gorgeous. Please keep posting. I miss seeing your garden.

Bill, the begonia I was thinking about is begonia grandis. It is very hardy (to zone 6 or 7) and multiplies well. I don't have it, but after seeing pictures, I think I may need to try it. Look up Heronswood Nursery and Plant Delights Nursery. They actually have several other hardy ones I never knew about. They also mention that heracleifolia, which is a rather common one around here, is hardy to zone 8. Go figure. So there's apparently a number of choices. Their prices are a little hefty (around 15-16 dollars), but I think at least the begonia grandis propagates and seeds easily.

Anna

Beautiful pictures, everyone! I am always inspired by the "WBIYG" posts. Here are a few flowers putting on a show in my garden now -

The First Buddleia of the year

Cuphea, I really like this one! It looks like little aliens with leaves.

Nova, those are beautiful especially the buddleia and spirea. I know I can't grow the buddleia, but will look up the spirea.

Bill and Anna - the orange blooms belong to Pereskia bleo -cactus rose. So it is a rose (in a sense) Anna, and the cactus spines are needle sharp - I'll take rose thorns any day.

Flowerlady - thank you, just wish I were a better photographer. Everyone's pictures are so beautiful.

Ginny

Oh Nova, I love that Goldflame honeysuckle! I had it in my Ohio garden (along with the coral) and your picture reminds me of how lovely it was. It was planted on a piece of old iron fence near the patio and the hummer visited it multiple times per day.

Your comments about the Hot Lips salvia match my experience. Mine also made it through the winter here without losing a leaf. While other plants were just coming back from the roots (for which I'm grateful), the Hot Lips was in full bloom and ready to "serve" when the first hummer of the season arrived.

Your buddleia is a beauty. I added one to my garden two years ago but yanked it before the season even ended. It was a named variety - Pink Delight - but seemed to go downhill fairly quickly. I had given one to my neighbor too and she had the same experience. I didn't lament its demise too long however because it opened up space for a new to me white cat's whiskers (orthosiphon aristatus) which far exceeded my expectations and is now a mainstay.

Thanks for adding your pictures to the eye candy- June

Well, I feel pretty intimidated about post anything since our yard really isn't impressive, I've got a lot to learn from all you folks....Here's a few flowers we do have blooming right now.

Tom

Nova ~ Oh my you have some gorgeous neat blooms. I've tried buddleia but it croaked on me. That honeysuckle is beautiful.

Ginny ~ Taking pictures gives you more practice. You are doing great.

Tom ~ Sheesh, intimidated, you shouldn't be. Look at all of your orchids, and those desert roses.

One great thing about this thread every time is that you see how we all grow different things. We are all unique and our gardens show it.

I'm adding more to my gardens via seeds from several wonderful gardeners here and from cuttings as well. I am thankful to all of you for sharing with me. As they grow and bloom I'll share some pictures. I need to sit down and write out a list of who has sent me seeds, and hopefully I will include everyone.

Here is some of what is blooming here. I have chicory that is about to bloom. Confederate Jasmine has been blooming and scenting the secret garden area. Orchids are about to bloom, million bells are blooming too.

Duchesse de Brabant

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Penelope

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I'm showing this picture because after I made the new work surface and storage unit under the window, I had to create a view out the window. This room is our little 6'x8' library, where my computer is to the left of picture. I have my needlework threads, photo and notecard paper, and other things stored in drawers.

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this is the view out the window. Duchesse de Brabant roses behind her. About 18' behind this scene is the 5-lane autobahn. :-)

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Two views of the lady next.

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This is the street gate, which is kept locked, about 5' behind the lady.

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Grand Duke Jasmine ~ I sure wish all of you could smell this one. Fantastic.

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This is Souvenir d'Elise Vardon.

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Don Juan

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Last but not least, Shovel Bird, with Confederate Jasmine behind and sea shells at his feet. There is a baby Maman Cochet rose that I hope will root for me.

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Keep the pictures coming as this is very inspiring to see what is going on in everyone's gardens.

FlowerLady at Plum Cottage Gardens.

I'm new to forum, although I've been lurking a long time, and gardening so there isn't much in my small yard other than dead grass and sand pits. But I thought it would be interesting to post anyway and then hopefully when I compare this post to one in a few years I can see how far I've come. Hopefully.

Asiatic Lily - Tiny Todd
Kind of cheating since I bought it already blooming. But since I did switch it to a pot without killing it I'm still counting it.

Hibiscus
Only a few weeks old, but still not dead. Go me!

Crepe Myrtle
I planted this a couple of years ago so this is probably the only bloom I can count. And it just started blooming so I'm looking forward to the full bloom still.

I love looking at everyone's pics as it not only inspires me but helps me get ideas of what plants I may want to try eventually. Plus it shows me just how wonderful a garden can look.

Wow, Tom, you've got quite the orchid collection going there! Looks like you're really doing well with them too. All look so pretty and so healthy. Quite the variety, too! My favorite is the brassia with the three inflorescences. Those crazy, spiky blooms, are they from the nepenthes? I'd never seen them blooming like that. Very cool.

Nova, that cuphea is precious, and I am in envy about that amazing buddleia. I always kill those. Hot lips is one I'll have to look for. Very cute and bright.

Flowerlady, I always love vistas from your garden. The area around the lady is my very favorite. Your roses are such beauties.

Jellybobelly (love the name), you've got some pretty blooms on your hibiscus and crape myrtle. I think the lily definitely counts! Keep posting, we all like seeing others' flowers.

Anna