Water, Water, Water

My plants are doing well...I had a couple of red snaps that were just a bad batch...and I think once I'm actually home for awhile, I'll need to do a little replanting. The hardest thing is getting my plants enough water...I have to fertilize. I'm amazed, but how much maintenance plants require. I miss plants.

Crisis in the Garden

Something is eating our plants. We have been at war with the snails for a while now and I think most of them are dead. But every once in a while, I go out to look at the garden and an ENTIRE plant will be gone. One day a full tomato plant is there, the next day it is gone. Empty, not even a leaf left. The same thing happened to a cucumber plant. These are big plants, so what is eating them? This morning, the second cucumber plant looked great. This afternoon, half of it has been chewed off at the base of the plant and so half of it is now dead. What do I do? What is eating my plants? I have not seen any animal prints. SOS- We need help pronto!

Beautiful!

Wow- your house looks amazing! I meant to post my response before I left this past weekend but did not have time. You guys did a great job. Keep up the good work!

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.