What's looking good in your garden December 2012?

11 years ago

Hi everyone,

Hey, we're getting a late start on this, but December is a long month, LOL, what's looking good (or awful) in your garden this month?

So far my little garden looks really good. No frost for me yet, but some of my gardening friends in more outlying areas have had some light ones--you?

Anyway, here are a few pics from this month in my little garden:

An ageratum (sometimes called "blue floss flower", A. houstonianum) just going insane right now. It survived the long hot summer just fine and is now covered in blooms, in full sun.

Aloe cryptopoda (a.k.a. Aloe wickensii) blooming away.

Some containers of flowers (petunias, pansies, geraniums, alyssum, and some tomato plants too) out on the patio.

And finally, some leaf lettuce and marigolds in the ground under a very small orange tree

Merry Christmas to others who also celebrate it as I do, and Happy New Year and Happy Gardening to everyone! Let us see/hear what looks good or bad in your December 2012 garden!

Here is a link that might be useful: My December 2012 garden pics

Comments (6)

thisisme
11 years ago
I don't know what to say Grant. It all looks wonderful. This time of year I don't have anything that compares.

Come spring I will try to take some pictures of my fruit trees in bloom. They are so pretty when they are covered in flowers.
grant_in_arizona
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks thisisme, I appreciate the nice words. I sure wish my garden was as productive as yours. I'm workin' on it though. What fruit trees are you growing?

I've got quite a few different citrus, and several different varieties of pomegranate, plus a "custard apple" (sapote), but I'm always open to more. :)

Plenty doesn't look great in my garden, but here's a few more than look pretty good. Wilson the tennis ball gently placed to show relative sizes:

Some 'Wave Blue' spreading petunia really starting to bloom in a huge pot, surrounding a Mediterannean fan palm:

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A "Christmas cactus" (Schlumbergera truncata, technically the "Thanksgiving cactus") blooming away outside on the patio, and a newly purchased and newly repotted mini Cyclamen. If anyone has tricks/tips for keeping the cyclamen year to year, please share. I know they like some summer dormancy, but specifics would be great!

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Finally, a goofy, colorful talavera style hen pot filled with pink and magenta-red petunias on the patio this morning.

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Happy gardening all, please send this clouds away!
Grant
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Fun updates and pics everyone! Love the passion flower and the plumeria, euqruob. Your plumeria is weeks ahead of mine, which are just now showing that they're making flowers and leaves, so they're weeks away from opening. Great stuff. Love your pics too, Mary, so nice. Your garden is so pretty and the containers are great! I finally tossed a pot full of lobelia this week as they were just getting sad looking. I still have a few self-sown ones around the garden but I tossed the ones in pots this week. Time to go, LOL. Love the color on your desert willow and your red nicotiana is super pretty too. Is the red one scented?? Nice cactus bloom too-very very bright! Nice tomato and pepper pics too, raimeiken. You all have such nice green thumbs, it's so fun to see your pics, thanks for sharing them with everyone. We're lucky to live here and to garden here. Take care! Grant Here is a link that might be useful: What's looking good MAY 2012?
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Awesome new pics and updates everyone! I'm glad lots of folks got some good, soaking rains too. Last Thursday afternoon I was caught in the heaviest downpour I've ever seen here in over 12 years. Amazing! Tons of rain water in my rain barrel right now, and it only collects from about 20% of the roof surface! Mary, you should definitely get some rain lilies, they're just so easy and they absolutely do not need to be on life support (automatic irrigation)! Just plant them, water them once every ten days or so when they seem active, and forget them. They're great, and so easy! Congrats on your pumpkin bloom, Xica, so nice! Keep us posted! Thanks for the nice comments on my little blog, it's a fun little outlet for me. Oh, you can plant those desert bluebells (Phacelia campanularia) any time, but when I am introducing them into a garden for the first time I wait until November to sprinkle them around the garden. They'll pop up in late winter and bloom in spring. Once you let some go to seed, you'll never need to plant them again, LOL. Awesome pics and plants as always, dlg421! I love your garden! Great that it got a nice rain too. I noticed a few mushrooms popping up in my garden too, LOL. Fun! Okay, it's September now, so I'll see everyone in the September thread! Thanks for sharing your gardens with everyone, it's wonderful to see/hear what's going on in your gardens! Take care and happy gardening, Grant Here is a link that might be useful: Happy September 2012 what looks good/bad in your garden?
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That's awesome euqruob! What do you do with them? Are they fruit like or veggie like? I'd love to see/hear more! It's cool for sure! Here's a rescue adenium that I picked up for just a couple of bucks early this year. It was terribly abused and had gotten stuck in the holes of its cheap plastic pot. No leaves, no blooms, and virtually no soil. Now it's got a ton of leaves (and a nice pot after I cut away the old plastic one) and blooms. I really like the peppermint look of the fancy double flowers! Here's some Merremia dissecta ("Alamo vine" or "mile a minute vine") that I got as seeds from old Mr. Baker at Baker Nursery years ago. This spring I planted three seeds at the base of this 6 foot tall iron obelisk/armillary and they have quickly consumed it. Talk about house-eaters! The vines are covered early summer through very late autumn with nice morning-glory-like blooms that stay open well into the afternoon. Full, hot sun (yes even here) and fairly regular irrigation keep these vines looking great, and blooming. Take care and happy gardening! Keep the fun updates coming! Grant Here is a link that might be useful: Pics, so far, from my garden, October 2012
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AWESOME looking tomatoes and tomato plants, Mary! Mine faded months ago, hah. What's your secret?? Thanks for the fun comments, Marlorena, what made you pop in to our forum? We're happy to see your comment. Your UK climate can grow a lot of things that folks here would envy, so it all evens out for sure. :) Delicious looking lettuce and salad, Jay, nice job! My leaf lettuce is still looking great too, although my salads never look as tasty as yours, hah! Nice harvest there, Captain! You're growing a LOT of different types of pumpkins and squash. So fun to see. I've never really given pumpkins a serious try here. You're making me want to though. Thanks for posting your harvest. Impressive! Nice new pics too, Waterbug. You're staying BUSY on that garden work. It looks really nice. I hope you post a lot of updates on how it all comes together. You're more ambitious than I am. I hope you start or have a thread with all of the changes and work you're doing? Nice cannas too of course. Like you, I love watching the hummers work over the aloes in the garden. Speaking of which, here's Aloe 'Cynthia Giddy' in bloom this morning: Here's some of the oxalis 'Grand Duchess' in bloom in the garden too. Winter growing/summer dormant, so full sun since they love it in winter and are asleep in summer. Definitely the largest flowers of any oxalis I've seen. Indoors this Schlumbergera 'Samba Brazil' is making a nice show. Despite the frost warning last night, no frost at my little garden, so these geraniums still look great. Happy gardening all! Grant Here is a link that might be useful: Pics from my little garden, Dec 2014
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thisisme
11 years ago
Beautiful just beautiful Grant. I have already purchased seeds of many of the flower varieties you have post in the past. I hope they sprout this Spring.

Here is a list of the fruit trees I currently have growing in my yard.

APRICOTS

1 Blenheim Apricot This one really produces well for me.
--------------------------------------------------------

ASIAN PEAR

SHINSHEIKI. Harvest late July 15TH THROUGH August 10TH. Self-fruitful.
-------------------------------------------------------

CITRUS

1 TROVITA ORANGE

1 GOLD NUGGET MANDARIN

1 MEXICAN/KEY LIME

1 ORO BLANCO GRAPEFRUIT
-----------------------

FIGS

1 PARADISO

1 ATREANO Will likely pull.

1 LSU GOLD Will pull.

1 CONADRIA I really like this trees fruit. However it's not known for being very productive.

1 Violette de Bordeaux This one is a big producer of very tasty figs from late April till early December.
-----------------------------------------------

NECTARINES

1 SNOW QUEEN White freestone. Late June harvest Self-fruitful.
-------------------------------------------------------

PEACHES

1 BABCOCK. WHITE, Ripens July 7TH THROUGH 20TH. Self-fruitful. Will likely pull.
------------------------------------------------------
PEAR

1 SUGAR PEAR RIPENS MID TO LATE AUGUST Self-fruitful
----------------------------------------------------
PLUMS

1 BURGUNDY. harvest, July 20TH to August 10TH. Self-fruitful.

1 BEAUTY RIPENS JUNE 15TH THROUGH JUNE 26TH

1 EMERALD BEAUT ON CITATION RIPENS AUG 18TH THROUGH OCT 8TH

1 ELEPHANT HEART PLUM RIPENS AUG 28TH-SEPT 30TH
------------------------------------------------

MULBERRY

1 ILLINOIS EVERBEARING Self-fruitful This tree grows very very fast so IT requires frequent pruning. Oh, and it grows really really fast too.

Next up I want to get;

Gold Nugget Loquat
SHERWOOD JUJUBE
OPUNTIA NOPAL/MEXICAN FIG SPINELESS CACTUS
HEDGEHOG/STRAWBERRY CACTUS.
nc_crn
11 years ago
I was worried this wasn't going to show up this month.

Sincerely,
A dude across the country that wishes he could find work in Tucson and enjoys these threads.

PS- Hell, I'm thinking about getting out of the corporate world and getting a job with the USDA just for better transfer options.
grant_in_arizona
Original Author
11 years ago
Wow thisisme, you have an AMAZING array of plants! I'm so impressed! Please post lots of pics and updates all year long. I really need to plant some figs, I'm ashamed that I haven't done it yet (though a friend did give me a dormant cutting from one of her trees, though I don't know if it will make it).

I do have a ton of citrus and really enjoy it, plus I planted a baby "custard apple" (Sapote) this summer, so far so good. I need to branch out more though, like you. Do you have good luck with your plums?? I'm green with envy!

nc-crn, I hope you can do whatever it takes to get here if you love it here. I feel in love with this place on a layover in 1998 and sold everything and quit a great job to move here. I'm so happy I did! Hope you get your wish.

Okay, off to start a January thread right now.
Happy gardening!
Grant
cap78
11 years ago
grant everything looks amazing!

thisisme - how big is your yard? thats a lot of trees! i have an average size yard and wish i could have more than 8

What's looking good in your garden December 2012?

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What's looking good in your garden December 2012?

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