Images of My April 2011 Country Cottage Garden

12 years ago

I was just looking through last year's photos and came across the April 24th, 2011 garden pictures.

Man! I didn't remember it looking that lush and colorful.

I hope everything survived last summer's severe drought and extremely high temperatures.

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Spring generally does pretty well here, but in the last several years, by the end of June or July, it burns up and it's a battle just to keep everything alive, let alone worry about them blooming.

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In this part of the garden, most of the flowers are Spring blooming, or early Summer flowers.

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Then it gets very hot and extremely dry and they go dormant. The Salvias take over, some Daylilies and a few roses attempts to bloom, but nothing else grows in here that is this colorful and it gets sad looking.

This year, however, I am going to try sowing lots of Zinnias in here again and other warm season flowers, like Sunflowers in the back along the fence row, with Calendulas, White dwarf and tall yellow Marigolds, white flowering Sweet Allysum and whatever else I can find that can take the extreme temps and dry conditions. They should do pretty good in here now that I have been able to greatly improved the soil.

If they grow and thrive, I'll post pics.

Some of the green shrubs in the background outside the garden fence died last year due to the drought and an infestation of white flies. I'll have to dig all of them out and try to find some other evergreen shrub to replace them with not prone to white flies.

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Comments (11)

Annie
Original Author
12 years ago
1). Clematis growing in with an Old Blush pink Rose - where the new Italian Pouch Arbor is set up now. Hope they grow up and all over it this year.
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2). Old Blush climbing Rose and Green Spires Juniper
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3). Old-Fashioned Bleeding Hearts
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4). Red Tulips
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5). Old Blush
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6). North Garden - left center where you can see the daylily leaves is where I want to set that new Wrought Iron Birdcage Gazebo.
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7). Our Cottage from the Northwest Garden - orchard on the right.
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8). This view of our cottage was taken standing in the Orchard. (Peaches, Pears and Apples)
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Can't wait for the flowers and all the Greens of Spring!
~Annie
mrtoad
12 years ago
most magnificent

mr toad
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Up around Tulsa the highways are not sprayed and only mowed after the wildflowers go to seed. Miles and miles of wildflowers bloom along the highways. I cannot vouch for the how it looks on the off roads - dirt roads - but at least you see the Tulsa area officials taking a stand for Nature. They are more progressive thinking up there. Over on the West side of Stillwater the same is true to a lesser extent, but only because of the university faculty and students. The local yo-calls don't seem that "into" the local Wildlife or preservation that I have ever seen, other than shooting it and making trails with their three wheels and other rec vehicles. The land on the west side and an area on the south side of Stillwater belongs to Okla State. They have a large experimental garden there that is open to the public. They also have lots of experimental sites dotted around in Payne county where they grow new crops, varieties of fruit, fruit trees, herbs & flowers. Once a year the plants are sold to the public. Too pricey for me, but all proceeds do go back to the school's horticultural or agricultural studies. On the west side is where Lake Karl Blackwell is located, which I believe was built by students many many years ago and is operated by the University. Loblolly pines were planted there about 30 years ago. There are little log cabins that can be rented and some are perpetually leased, so the families keep them for generations. My kids and I spent one Fourth of July at one of the cabins with a friend and her family. They were small, spacious and VERY NICE. In the spring the wildflowers along the highway are quite pretty. They were almost all seeded by university students. One year they seeded the median with Oxeye Daisies and for more than two miles they filled the grassy median. Sure beat just old Bermuda grass. It was lovely. But down this way...not the same story. As for the farmers and ranchers who leas that land....uh...well. They spray with herbicide. They use chemical fertilizers and they us pesticides. On the days they spray, I keep all the animals inside and you cannot go outside else you might choke to death on it. I am serious. Yes, I have called the authorities concerning my complaint about the herbicide and etc. I told them how it killed off all my wildflowers and even my herb garden. They smiled and told me, "Hey lady. This is farm country. What do you expect the farmers to do? They have to do what they have to do to make a living, and if that means spraying, then they spray. And I seriously doubt you would find any lawyer who would be willing to take your case, and if they did, it would end up costing you more than you lost." He was right. However, I have put the word out with lots of the locals about what I am doing out here, especially the owner of the local feedstore in town, (who is the one you call when you want to know ANYTHING around here), so I am sure Jim has told the local men about me and my "funny ways a doin' things". This town is like Mulberry USA, except that instead of going to the barber shop, they all meet over at Jim's feedstore and stand around jawing about "important stuff". I talked to the new guy who leases that land about the herbicides. He said 'Why sure little lady!" with a big cheesy grin and then 2 days later he sprayed anyway. However, this year he didn't spray herbicides and he left a wide span of wild vegetation between where he plowed and sprayed fertilizers and planted his crops and our 2 stretches of fence that borders his field, so I am HOPING he is being considerate. At least I will act like that is why he did that. Probably just left those areas to prevent erosion, but whatever. It works for me! As one of the locals sages here likes to to tell me, "Things here is the way they always has been, and there ain't no a'changin" how they is, don'tcha see?" And that is the truth. :) Have a good one whoever you do. ~Annie
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Lilyfinch z9a Murrieta Ca
12 years ago
Oh my Annie! What a beautiful garden. I bet you cannot wait to see all that lushness again!
Ginny McLean_Petite_Garden
12 years ago
Love all the green Annie! Can't wait for spring!

Ginny
kathi_mdgd
12 years ago
Looking good Annie,glad to see you around again also,i missed you and all your beauties.

Today here in S.Ca it's cold,rainy and very windy,and they say it may stay this way all week,yuk!!I'm sitting here at the computor with a space heater on,that's how cold it is.We do have central heating,but i see no reason to heat the whole house,when i'm only in one room.Believe me Calif weather has really changed since you left here.Seems it changes more and more every year.
Take care,enjoy your gardens.
Kathi
aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
12 years ago
Sunny but cold here today, this is just what I needed a breath of spring.

Annette
Annie
Original Author
12 years ago
Today while I was out pulling weeds and watering, I had two great surprises - the little Thalictrum I got last year from Ariel has sprouted, having survived being dug up and transported across America in the hottest time of the year, and the shock of being transplanted into a new type of soil and having endured last year's drought and triple digit temps, and then surviving this strange winter...(yeah!). There is a cute little sprout, purple w/tiny white spots, emerging from its brief winter's sleep. Happy me!

I also found dozens of little 'Sweet Annie' plants (Artemisia annua) growing in the North Garden. I pinched the tip of one of the little fern-like leaves and the unmistakable scent confirmed their identity. "We are not weeds", they cried. "Don't pull us! We are your beloved Sweet Annie!!"

My old-fashioned white flowering Spireas and the gorgeous yellow flowering Forsythias are budded and a few blooms opened today. The fruit trees are budded and I saw some pink on the peach trees today.

It may not be spring yet according to the calender, but my garden sure thinks it has arrived! :)

~ sweetannie4u
No, no...sweetannie4me!
mandolls
12 years ago
I'm jealous! Of your gardens and your early spring. I spent part of yesterday looking through last years garden pics too. But your season is at least a month and a half ahead of mine. I dont have peonies, clematis and bleeding hearts in full bloom until June. We have a winter storm warning forecasting 11" of snow in the next 48 hrs. I am not looking forward to it!
grandmachris
12 years ago
The Bridal Veil Spireas and Forsythias always cheer me up too. We're behind you on development. I have blooming snow drops and glorious hellebore and flower buds on the daffodils. Just saw a fat groundhog on the south hill helping me with spring clean-up.

Your pics from last spring were so beautiful!
Annie
Original Author
12 years ago
We're getting a fine misty rain this morning. Supposed to be some severe thunderstorms tonight. We've had more rain already this year than we had in total in the past two years. It is a La Nina year for us, so that usually means more Pacific West rain coming in from Mexico and Gulf rains from Texas with cooler summer temps. I am so READY! Of course, that also means more bad storms. Can't win for losing, I swear.

Looking out my window now, there are dozens of colorful birds at the feeder I hung in the weeping willow tree. I just took one of my sling plant hangers and set a large metal farm pan in it for the seeds. It is deep and has a good lip around the top, so accommodates a lot of birds at once. It works much better than those expensive but cheaply made plastic things you buy, and a heck of a lot sturdier.
II also hung a Finch sock out there and it is covered with Golden Finches - their colors are changing from their winter drab to the vivid yellow. Each day they have more and more yellow feathers.

Birds at the feeder or running up and down the tree are:
Golden Finches, Purple(Scarlet) Finches, Flickers, Red-headed Woodpecker, Redwing Blackbirds, Cardinals, Eastern Blue Jays, Tufted Titmouse, Black-capped Chickadees, Snow Buntings, Black and White Warblers (Nuthatch), & Downy Woodpeckers.
There is quite a lot of activity out there and fighting. I so enjoy watching the circus!

Yesterday there were Robins darting about in the back garden, pulling up worms and paying no heed to me while I was watering. One Robin came right over to me to get a drink. She wasn't a bit afraid of me. I laid the hose down by the Wisteria tree and she hopped right over and took a good long drink. So cute!

This morning, the Weeping Willow popped out with tiny green leaves. So pretty and welcome to see.

I better go out and put out more seeds before the Chickadees tear up the Finch socks.

Thank you all for the lovely comments. Nice to have all my hard work appreciated. Hope you have a good day. And thank you all for dropping by! Please drop by again.
~Annie
Kristi1931
12 years ago
That is gorgeous! I especially like the bleeding hearts and clematis. I'll have to add those to my list! :) Very inspirational. :)

Images of My April 2011 Country Cottage Garden

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Annie
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Images of My April 2011 Country Cottage Garden

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