Just popping in to say hi

last year

Hello everyone! I turned 70 this year, and gardening has become more of a chore than a pleasure anymore. I decided not to propagate anything more this year, and of course, someone gave me some seeds, so I planted them. I've forgotten what they are. Some kind of legume tree that has flowers like a tiny cassia, but the seeds look like tiny little beans. When I cracked the seed pod open, the seeds were very tiny and did not look like legume seeds at all. I hope some come up so I can eventually see what they are.

I'm trying to get rid of some plants, and it's hard, because I do love all of them. Well, except the oyster plant. It looked good for the first couple of years, but it got crowded and then the freeze hit it last year, and it isn't a pretty border anymore. The actual small liriope border grass doesn't clump like it should, it just sends out runners and grows all over the place.

My garden failures are many, but the most aggravating is the Mexican yellow dwarf poinciana (Caesalpinia Mexicana) that I planted as a seedling 6 years ago that still hasn't bloomed. I meant to move it to a drier, sunnier place this winter, but never did, so I guess I'll get no flowers this year either.

I planted a couple of daylilies two years ago that finally bloomed, a dwarf purple d'oro and a pretty fancy type that I lost the tag to. I really love them. I wish I had more space to plant more daylilies, but the sunny spot is about full now. My Amaryllis bloomed well this year, except for the Green Goddess, which hasn't bloomed since I repotted it. Dug it up to see what the problem was, and the bulb seems to have shrunk. Don't know if I will ever get it to bloom again.

Still love my brugs. Got a big branch of one from a friend that she just calls "orange" so I'm excited to see what that turns out to be. I still have my Frosty Pinks and Charles Grimaldi, and one seedling that is big enough to plant out this year. All five of my other seedlings died before they bloomed.

Lots more going on, but don't want to bore you. What's going on in your gardens?

Featured Answer

Glenn Jones(9b)

last year

Comments (6)

carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b
last year
Good to see you around here, DG 🙂

Fighting with critters over blackberries and the last of my tomatoes right now. Birds and (I think) rats as well 😕

I made some tomato sauce yesterday from all the damaged fruit I managed to salvage - almost a quart - and I have a couple of pints of berries I need to make into a cobbler.

Waiting for a second flush of Rattlesnake pole beans - still have a few pounds in the fridge.

I have pots and pots of perennials, shrubs and a pine tree that need to go in the ground, but I can't decide where, and it's getting so dang hot out there, I don't want to do anything but stay indoors in the AC.

Our neighbor has a ginormous Kapok tree that recently, finally, finished dropping a couple million seeds encased in gallons of white fluff that coated our (and others') yard and I'm still picking fibers off everything and pulling the resulting seedlings whenever I come across them. They quickly form long, strong taproots and can be really hard to eradicate if you don't get them early. At least the rain helped wash a lot of it down - it was floating in the air and coating everything until the rains came.

Advice for Floridians: DON'T PLANT A KAPOK TREE!
dirtygardener
Original Author
last year
Carol -- LOL at "Don't plant a kapok tree" I feel the same way about my elderberry now, which is big and beautiful and sooooooo messy! I don't know why I thought about the beautiful flowers and shade, but didn't think about the berries falling all over everything. I will cut it back and find some way to shade the plants under it while it grows back out with no flowers or berries. I'm going to have to take it out next year. I've tried pigeon peas there, but the squirrels make a mess ravaging the tiny new peas. I think I might buy a cattle panel and put a big arbor up there instead, although I have no idea what I will plant on it that won't die back in the winter, but will grow very quickly.

I'm telling you, with the way my gardens are laid out, I have to twist myself in knots to keep things going.
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irma_stpete_10a
last year
last modified: last year
DG, good to hear from you! Question: does your elderberry attract birds or is it just a squirrel magnet? I'm asking because I plan to introduce some fast growing, bird attracting plants to my squirrely yard.
bea (zone 9a -Jax area)
last year
last modified: last year
Hey DG. I I’m with you. I dug up my flower beds last fall, gave some plants away and created a 12x4 foot bed filled with wildflowers except for a small area for marigolds and a pot for zinnias and cosmos. This bed is easy to care for because it is very full…cottage bed style…and the plants self seed. Easy to water, no weeding. At my age this works!

I’ll see about posting a photo tomorrow.
dirtygardener
Original Author
last year
Hi Glenn!

Irma, I have a mockingbird who thinks the tree belongs to him, but some smaller birds get in there sometimes for the elderberries. I planted it for the birds originally, but I never thought it would get this big or have this many berries!

Hi Bea! I tried to make my gardens easy care, but so many things I love can only be grown in containers, it gets to be too much keeping them all watered.