Oh $h!t, APHIDS! 5-27-15

So just when I thought I had this whole gardening thing under control OF COURSE something would happen to prove that hey, no you don't Sabrina. I came home one evening and saw that my Goldflame honeysuckle's buds were COVERED in aphids. So I hit up Google hard, and found out there are a specific type of aphid flocking to my plant: Goldflame honeysuckle aphid--clever name, huh? I ran and got my hose and aimed a strong jet of water at the honeysuckle to knock off all the aphids that I could before dousing the plant in a rosebush insecticide. The next day when I went back to check, I hardly saw any aphids at all. Good sign, BUT I wouldn't start to think this battle is over just yet. Lets hope with the weeks to come, some of the predatory bugs start to help me with this pest! Yoo-hoo ladybugs, over here!! 

A bud starting to open!

After that debacle, I flitted over to my rose garden where at the moment, not much has changed aside from lots of red indicating new growth. Of course I snapped a few pics to document the progress. The Climbing America rose is still blooming wonderfully--I'm really loving the grandiflora roses!

The last thing notable for this week is the changes to my Bitter Nightshade vine. It's blooming and I wanted to show you all just how splendid this "weed" is. I'm so glad that it is such a thriving little beauty!

Brrr! It's Cold! Pictures of Progress 5-20-15

Brrrrr! It's a measly 47 degrees out today, which is unseasonably cold for this time of year. I still went out meandering through my garden today to show you the changes that have occurred over the past week. All the plants are doing well, nevertheless, and are still growing strong! 

My 'Tutti Frutti' Lupine #2 has bloomed! A lovely shade of cotton candy pink in comparison to the purple one in the previous blog! I love this shade even more with it's light pink and white blooms! It's standing tall like a glorious ladder to the heavens! Over 12" tall!

My John F. Kennedy rose has grown even more, lots of bushy greens nicely spaced out which leads me to believe it will be a full plant :-) Just what I like to see! Nothing worse than a rose with only one measly cane (like my Joseph's Coat on the side of the house :-( what a bummer).

Oklahoma rose has made A LOT of progress since last week, I'm super impressed. Lots of beautiful red amongst the glossy, green leaves. 

Climbing America rose has bloomed! Lovely pinky-salmon blooms. Even more buds are about ready to bloom, I think it's gong to be a showstopper! I'm kicking myself because I forgot to give this little beauty a sniff, but I'll make a point to let you know how it smells in the next post. 

Belle of Woking clematis seems happy as a clam steadily climbing up his bamboo pole. His little arm seems to be reaching towards the left, hopefully to affix to the trellis. I think I will even get some flowers this season!

Goldflame honeysuckle is chugging along. It was budding in the last post, and now some of the buds show a hint of color. I'm guessing it will flower sometime in the upcoming week. Can't wait to smell it's fragrance. Maybe I'll even get some butterflies or, dare I say, HUMMINGBIRDS!

'Visions in Red' Astilbe is a shade plant I have growing in-lieu of the average shade plant--Hosta. Its sent up its shoots from which I'm expecting a dazzling array of scarlet flourishes. Butterflies are welcome! It's loving its place in the garden and is taking to the soil and light well.

Here's a planter with some orange mint. It has crawled over to the edges (as mints tend to do, as they are aggressive spreaders and great for planters) It is beautiful, aromatic and a nice addition to freshen up your summer salads, teas and even cocktails. Even just grown for the foliage, it is a robust filler plant.

New to this blog is the wildflower I found growing a few years back. Its viney, sprawling and VERY healthy. It blooms on new and old wood. I have it woven in and out of my patio railing. When it flowers, it shows delicate tiny purple flowers with yellow centers. It seeds are bright red and resemble little tomatoes. Introducing: Bitter Nightshade. Ever since I came across it growing in my yard, I couldn't put myself to kill this weed. Its too lovely. And why not embrace what nature has come to live in your yard?! It's happy, it's pretty and it rewards us with a wonderful display year after year--requiring no maintenance except to wind its vines around the deck. I'll cheers to that!

Pictures of Progress 5-13-15

Tutti Frutti Lupine

The 'Tutti Frutti' Lupine has bloomed out of nowhere! What a gorgeous display, and such interesting buds! Their 'flowers' are mainly purple with a splash of yellow and even a cerise color. This lupine is one of two, and the second hasn't bloomed yet. I wonder if it'll be purple as well. The 'Tutti Frutti' variety is supposed to bloom in multiple colors, so I'm interested to see how the other one performs. I will keep y'all updated!

John F. Kennedy rose

Above is my JFK rose bush. I left it uncovered during the winter, so it's finally starting to wake up (much behind schedule compared to the roses I covered over winter). I was so thankful to see the little shoots of green when I went to dig up this bush originally because I thought it had died! So I dug it up, added compost to the soil in which I would transplant it a little bit higher (the crown of the rose bush likes to be above the soil), and I have been rewarded with this tough li'l guy showing me his greens. This rose bush is meaningful to me because it is my late grandmother's favorite rose. She used to grow one in her garden so I thought I would give her something to smile about when she stops by to check on me from heaven. Who knows, maybe she's the reason this rose came back this year ;-)

Oklahoma rose

Above is my Oklahoma rose, which I also left uncovered during the winter (I think I learned my lesson in leaving my roses uncovered!) Though it is even slower in growth compared to my JFK, it is slowly coming along. The red is new growth and hopefully, this bush will be faster moving in the weeks to come because I love the flowers this bush procures. The roses are so bright red, they almost seem to illuminate from within themselves!

 

Climbing America rose

Above is my Climbing America rose bush. It's the first climber I ever purchased, wait, no it's not. I purchased a Joseph's Coat climbing rose 2 years back, and it's not climbing much. It's pretty scrawny, acting more of just a standard rose bush. But this one seems more vigorous. I decided to let it climb up a tomato cage so that I can weave the plant around it because I want to keep it off the fence. I am praying that this bush climbs so big and tall like it's supposed to! There are multiple buds about to open, I'm curious about the 'salmon' color that they are claimed to be. If you're curious about the roses I had in my garden last year, you can find a video on them at this link here 

Starsister Dahlia

 

Here are some Starsister Dahlias. They are so pretty that they look fake! What pomp they have with their bright red with yellow fluffy centers. I have them in a container planter alongside of some other (less interesting) plants. These are the focal-point though, so I figured I'd feature them here. I just learned that I should be dead-heading them, because they are supposed to flower now until the first frost. I sure hope so, because they are just so pretty! Alongside of the dahlia is a little spiller plant called the 'Snowflake Giant Snowstorm' (below) It is spilling so profusely, much better and faster than the 'Creeping Jenny' I planted a year back, and the constant white flowers are a wonderful accent to any flower or foliage planted next to it. I highly recommend! 

Snowstorm Giant Snowflake plant

Goldflame Honeysuckle

My honeysuckle is budding! To say I'm excited to smell this puppy once it flowers is an UNDERSTATEMENT! It is taking well to it's transplant and seems to be happy in the location it's in. Right now, the sun hasn't angled yet to give it the full sun that honeysuckles are said to want, but it is definitely getting enough light, because it has budded and has sent out new growth which is purple. To the right of the honeysuckle is my 'Belle of Woking' clematis. It was so tiny and fragile when it was shipped to me (my first online nursery purchase) that I was worried it would never pick up. WRONG! It's climbing quite quickly. It has doubled its size in the last 2 weeks. It's little green arm is reaching and holding on to the stake I put next to it. In an attempt to remove it from the stake and vine it on a rung of the trellis, this little guy wouldn't even let go! I gave up and just let him do his own thing. Ha ha! I doubt he will be a strong healthy plant fit for flowering this summer but you never know. Maybe he will surprise us all.

May 2015--It's Just The Beginning!!

YES!!!

 I can't even begin to ever explain how happy I get during this time of year--after the harsh mid-west winter has FINALLY gone to usher in the sunshine and greenery.

It is 5-12-15 and I have (already) begun to enjoy my zone 5a growing season. I started early (before Mother's day--the time others usually start) because I just couldn't wait to get my hands in the dirt. I longed for something to take care of--to nurture and watch grow. I missed walking the garden daily, inspecting all my little beauties and noting their progress. I yearned to take their pictures and praise them for their exhibition-worthy blooms that can only come from such loving care.

After spending about $250 at my favorite garden center, and about 5 hours digging, transplanting, hacking at old roots and pulling weeds--this year's various plantings are complete! And boy, am I proud. I let a week pass to monitor any shock that could have come from transplantation, and as usual, my little green thumb has proved strong again---no shock, only happy (and already thriving) annuals and perennials. I planted a lot of NEW and FUN plants--most of which I have always dreamed of trying in my own garden. Since I have truly discovered my passion for gardening, I decided to finally go ahead and give them a try...it doesn't hurt, right? The plants I am the most excited to see how they do in my yard is my Amethyst Falls Wisteria and my Golden Flame Honeysuckle! Apparently I'm all about the flowering vines this year! I'm also seriously still enamored with my rose bushes--although I lost two due to the harsh winter we had (Oldtimer rose and Blue Girl rose).

I started this blog so that I could post the findings, progress and pictures of my garden each growing season--for the sake of SCIENCE! haha! This is a good way for me to see what works, what doesn't and share my findings and categorize things better. My mind is chaotic, and since I expand my garden each year, I can better manage all the information that I gather from all the experience I yield daily, monthly, heck--yearly from workin' in my yard.

I am the happiest and most at peace in my garden, so let the good times commence!