A Memorial Day tour of the gardens. This is the yellow and blue zone and contains my alltime favorite plant - Ladies of the Nile. They are ready to burst into bloom anyday.

This is a fully loaded snowball bush. It brings back fond memories of our play days in the snow.

Remote smore cooking area complete with seats for gnomes and other small creatures. Later in the season this area should be grown in and provide good hiding places for smore cookers.

The pink zone. Also some other random stuff in the rocks from seeds that fell from plants last season. That's the reason one should stop deadheading about three weeks before the first freeze. Surprises in the garden the next spring are magical to discover.

The red zone. There are 8 whiskey barrels in total in this area, four are planted in red shade plants and four are planted in red sun plants.

The wizard ball zone.

This is the garden area with the highest density of vegetation. Most of it came up voluntarily. The gargoyle is barely able to keep his wings above the foliage.

View of deck with new pots and wall ornamentation which contains the rescued lantana.

Check out the blooming Columbine. It defines resiliency. It survived multiple snow piles of several feet or more, Goliah peeing on it during doggy daycare drop off and pick up and Babe the Blue Ox's tires .

Fully junglefied front porch complete with garden friends and flag to encourage gentle spring showers.

Cilantro or Small Tree? You decide...

I don't think we will be buying cilantro much this summer. In fact, I might start selling it at the farmers market. It seems that our cilantro plants are quite happy in their new home. Some of them even look like small trees. Remember that saying, you can't see the trees through the forest? We can't see the ocean through our cilantro.

Signs of Summer

This morning I got to sleep in and enjoy a cup of coffee with my puppies gazing at all of my plants...one of my favorite summer activites! How nice to have a moment.

I need to do some replanting, and I'd definitely like to set up my additional whiskey barrels. I hope I can find a moment between pools and graduation parties.

The dogs are nibling the leaves off of my yellow lantana. I thought I could hide it from them but they are too smart. Tina, should we transplant the lantana to your front entry pots. Lantana likes it hot and dry and away from puppy dog teeth.

The kangaroo plant is amazing. The flowers look like a spike formation of coolness. I splurged and bought 5 Ladies of the Nile to put in my blue and yellow theme whiskey barrels. I can't wait for them to shoot out their spheres of blue flowers. I plan to finish planting this weekend and will provide you with a virtual tour of my jungle assuming I can master the technology. May need to call in my consultant.

Recovery

My plants are doing alright and seem to be recovering from their trauma on Monday. I may have to replant my basil, but the rest should be okay. The good news is that everything is VERY well-watered.

I think I'm going to plant a couple more viney things in new whiskey barrels in an effort to camoflauge my neighbor's disaster of a backyard.

I'm jealous of the tomato plants and am definitely feeling the need for garden animals.

First Signs of the Impending Harvest

The tomato plants are starting to produce fruit. The Roma tomatoes are going crazy almost every plant has at least three going. So get ready for some fresh salads and tomatoes on everything that can be grilled.

I took my house plants outside yesterday so my porch is now fully junglefied. Some of those things are the size of snmall trees. I don't really notice that until I get ready to move them. They really prefer to live outdoors wiht their friends. I have baby birds on my porch in one of my hanging baskets. They are really noisy.

A real live weather movie

I swear to God that I drove home in a tornado last night. Scary...and my plants look like it. I think they are going to come back okay, but some are pulverized. I need to do some retrimming, but wow!

Super sad.

Mother Nature deadheaded with a vengance last night. Hail, wind and attack-raindrops pelted our vulnerable, freshly-planted vegetation. No need to water for a few days. We shall see how resilient our plants are once the debris is cleared out. Glad I am not depending on my garden for dinner.

Mother's Day

My garden is planted...and I'm out of control. I think I entered a new level of planting. I have a color scheme, and climbing scheme, and a I don't want to look a my neighbor's ugly back yard trellace (sp?) scheme. See pictures.

We started the day out at the Botanical Gardens for a Mother's Day brunch and then planted at Gramy's. I think it's going to take her two hours a day to water because she doesn't have a hose.

Ahoy!

I know that you don't need to water lanterns and they do not have roots or grow, but they are part of my happy plants habitat. With this in mind, here are my beautiful lanterns that you didn't get to see before you left. I think they really make the porch look perfect. They make me feel like I am on a pirate ship! Now where is my rum...

Could you now cook those slugs and snail in a bit of butter and garlic and call it a French appetizer? I'm pretty sure you would have to use wine instead of beer for your cooking sauce. I am looking forward to my plant buying therapy trip this afternoon. Columbine is blooming in my front yard. My honeysuckle bush is sprinkling flower pedals on the dogs while they potty.

48 Hours and counting...

Pretty sure that beer is not organic, but way to save plants. I have watering issues too...I think I need to get new gaskets for where my hoses connect to the faucet, but never fear...Home Depot is near.

I'm particulary excited about my plans to incorporate herbs in my planting this year. Lookout cilantro inspired meals....and of course mint for mojitos. I bought a magic bullet (Megan knows) at Linens 'N Things, and I'm pretty sure that some good things are headed my way.

My weeds are gone. They were surprisingly easy to pull out.

Beer Traps Organic?

So the Sluggo and Beer traps appear to be working at the beginning of my evening there were already three snails drowning away in suds. I wonder if beer traps are organic, would we have to use organic beer for it to be or not. Somehow I don't think Pacifico counts but hey it works. Maybe we have latin inclined snails.

Today was a frustrating gardener day. I fought with my sprinkler system and lost. New valves that work in mysterious ways, spraying water everywhere except throught the sprinkler heads. Not good. Missing caps to weirdo pipes. Talked to Smitty the sprinkler man on the phone, fixed some of the issues but not all of the issues. Dragging hoses around is starting to look like a good alternative. Maybe it will rain. Perhaps I can train the dogs to water the plants instead of peeing on them.

The good news is that some viny looking thing that came in a flower arrangement a couple of weeks ago has sprouted roots and leaves. I think I am going to plant it somewhere and see what it becomes. Could be a willow tree of the curly bough variety. As soon as the digital camera is back from Houston, I will post a picture of the mystery vine.

This just in:

Thai Chili Peppers are all dead. We bought the snail stuff today and saved other precious peppers, but not the Thai Chili variety. We might have to go buy more. Other than that- the plants look good. It is VERY hot here and I am hoping tomorrow it cools down. Luckily, my plants seem to be enjoying the sun.

Beer traps? For who?

The violas nourished by poop soup all winter look vigorous and vibrant. How is that for some plant alliteration?

Ladybugs do in fact like to feast on aphids. It is all about the food chain in the jungle garden. You just have to figure out who likes to eat who and adjust accordingly. Frogs, lizards and toads can also be helpful. Rabbits and gophers are not. Neither are goats.

Oh yes, that is a weed. Get it out of the whiskey/wine barrel immediately because it is sucking precious life-sustaining nutrients and water away from that beautiful pansy that is trying to put on a display of vivid colors and beauty.

Good to hear Megan and Jason have declared war on snails and slugs. They are indiscriminate vegetarians with voracious appetites. You must curb their appetites with snail bate and put up protective perimeters around your pepper plants. I think those creatures are somewhat nocturnal so you can get a better idea of their vicious plant killing activities if you investigate at night with a flashlight. Get control of this situation ASAP. Who wants to eat pepperless salsa? Once attacked by a snail or slug, a plant will not come back to life. These creatures are killers so you may need to replant.

Help

Is this a weed? (The spikey looking leaves.)

Planting Season

I was jealous of the Kangaroo Plant before, but now I really have issues. Plants are too cool. I'm not sure if mom addressed the deadheading, but perhaps we need a step by step visual demonstration. I was telling everyone at school today about our planting, and they were jealous. They keep asking me for plant advice...odd. Perhaps planting in Barber world is like "camping". "Planting" ... it seems reasonable.

Anyway, I have a cool plant story from today. My classes are growing bean plants as they read The Bean Trees. I haven't done anything to my plant in a week, and it's bigger than all of the others. They accused me of using plant steriods...they also have started calling Miracle Grow-Plant Crack. Amusing.

The picture is of my violas that grew in poop soop and came back from last year. Pretty cool.

Plant Predators

So despite only planting our vegetable garden on Sunday . We have already encountered some unforseen advesaries, snails and aphids. We awoke (or went to bed, depending on perspective) Monday morning to an army of Snails attacking the capsicum throughout the garden with a certain penchant for the thai chili peppers. I did not know that snails had such exotic or preferential tastes. Despite this set back we have learned from it and come armed with Sluggo, ladybugs, and beer traps. The plant predators may have "won the battle, but we will win the war".

Wow, that kangaroo plant looks happy in its new home. Pretty soon a little joey will pop its head out. Daily watering for the next 10 to 14 days should ensure good root development. Those whiskey/wine barrels look very familiar. Five is a good number to start with. I will have to figure out how to do the photos. I do not have a laptop to take out into the garden so will have to borrow John's camera. Are Bjorn and Titus bonding with the plants. Have they discovered the verbena that is within their reach? All that California planting was good therapy, almost as good as chocolate. Should we try and grow a cocoa bean plant? Aagje

plant-blogging

May 7, 2007: After a great weekend of driving, competing in a "spectator's triathlon", and jungle-fying my house in Santa Barbara, the Barber women have decided that we need a blog. Although there are many topics about which we could blog, (shoes, puppies, and chocolate for example... hmmm, I'm seeing lots of potential here) our first blog focuses on plants.

Personally, the prospect of growing plants is both exciting and terrifying. Will my plants grow? Do I water too little or too much? What the hell is deadheading again? However, this blog will function in many ways. It will allow us to discuss the progress of our gardens and seek advice when necessary. We can share pictures and stories of our favorite plants as well as our planting disasters. Most importantly, it will (hopefully) provide a new forum for comic relief while at the same time allowing us to stay in touch and continue making positive deposits in our relationship bank. (one of my favorite Barberisms) So- never fear, brave planters. Even millennials can strive for happy plants.