I just harvested a bunch of fruits and vegies! Hope this picture counts since I've been busy on this instead of working in my regular garden.

Yeah, OK, you're right. It's a quilt I'm working on and not really a picture from the garden. Looks yummy, though, doesn't it?

Sure does, Kate! Gorgeous colors and oh so yummy! I'm always amazed at folks who quilt. You have my deepest admiration for tackling a project like this! I still have 2 pairs of brand new shorts waiting to be hemmed. Sewing just makes me shiver!

Great work!

Marcia

Marcia, gorgeous pictures!
Your garden is looking great. Imagine if we had some rain?
Pink pet is a most perfect looking pet.I can't get my eyes off of it.

Kate, what do you do to get such healthy veggies? The strawberries yummy!

Felix

I love to see the pictures of everyone else's garden. Here are some pics from mine:

From the left: Laura Bush petunias (magenta in color); B&B salvia; tall red pentas behind the salvia; white periwinkle; and red Brazilian petunia (ruellia elegans).

This is a new addition to the garden - variegated aptenia cordifolia. It's taking hold nicely. I envision it filling in this space and being an attractive contrast to the dark green of the shrub above it (which you can't see in this picture).

The crepe myrtle is peeking from the left. Under it is purple verbena. Against the wall, on the trellis, is allamanda cathartica. The shrub with the blue/lavender flowers is barleria cristata. Wish I had marked on the calender when the barleria first started blooming but it's been months and months. I gave it a haircut in early spring because I thought it was done. That just goaded it to restart again.

I'm trying something new this year. In front of the tall red pentas, I'm pruning artemesia Powis Castle into an informal hedge. I love the color and ferny texture of the artemesia contrasted against the pentas. The pink is a wonderful NOID verbena I got as a cutting from a fellow gardener a couple of years ago. What a wonderful plant.

The cat's whiskers is blooming. I noticed landscapers pruning in a neighborhood yard and thought surely they wouldn't cut down the cat's whiskers which looked gorgeous. But...they did. I couldn't resist. I stopped and asked for one of the stalks lying on the ground. Can't believe how little time it took for my little cuttings to become large blooming plants!

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This is red pentas, Diamond Frost euphorbia, and fan flower (scaevola). To their right is some more Brazilian petunia and a little patch of Dahlberg Daisy that reeeeds each year. I love the way the euphorbia has grown around the little boy - it's serependity. I have both the Diamond Frost and the fan flowers in several areas of the garden. They're both so reliable.

Finally, this is a different type of vinca I tried last year - Nirvana Cascade Pink Splash. It's much shorter than the usual type and the individual flowers are very large. In front is variegated lirope and a splash of neon portulaca.

Thanks for looking - June

Marcia! Just beautiful! What an array of COLOR!!!! I love it! Is diamond frost an annual? I ALMOST got some - it's sooo pretty...my white allysum is most gone and I'd love something white and moundy that would make it through the summer. I can only imagine how beautiful your gardens are in person!
Kate...you're so clever to plant the carrots next to the tomatoes! and then the strawberries next to them! and leeks?? by the bananas?? The sun and shade look so good! You're a very brilliant quiltest...Quilter? That's a very nifty quilt - most unusual choice of fabric prints! I love it!
June...my goodness..I can't post pictures of my gardens after seeing these! (I'll just have to put single flower pics!) Your gardens are lovely...does the cordifolia want sun? shade? wet? dry? I have some in a pot and love it.

June, your garden looks fantastic. So neat and pretty! Very colorful combinations and such lush and healthy looking plants. I'm afraid my overall garden is nowhere NEAR so tidy and well cared for. Much more haphazard around here, sadly.

Beth, thanks for the kind words, but I posted very selective photographs, mostly close ups. You'll notice you can't see much of the surrounding areas in my yard like you can in June's. That's because my overall yard is still a mess in many areas.

My Diamond Frost was planted about a year and a half ago. It got kind of skimpy and small over winter, and I cut it down to just a few inches. It is now filling out rapidly and making a nice mound again. I'm guessing it is a perennial, though I have only grown it a short time. Perhaps a tender perennial? Needing something to fill in for my white sweet alyssum is exactly why I got it. It holds up to the heat longer, though I still like to have some alyssum here and there for the wonderful fragrance.

June, it seems to me that barleria blooms nearly all year, except in the coldest months, maybe. I love it. It's a tough plant and it makes new plants. That makes it a winner for me. I hope my newest small ones soon look just like yours. I also like that it isn't choosy about sun or shade. It seems to fare well in either.

Marcia

What's blooming in this little corner of Paradise??

Abundant Ruffles
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Showtime Frills
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African Blue Basil & lantana

Coral Honeysuckle & butterflies!

Barefoot Fairy Princesses !!!!

Passion flowers, but I don't know it's real name

Why do you build me up, Buttercup? - it never lets me down!

.............and.......... TUBEROSE - a small flower with a great BIG fragrance!

I'm glad you liked the pics, Felix. I will have to try to root you a piece of Pink Pet. It's such a beautiful little rose. Mine is only about 3 feet tall, but it spreads gracefully in every direction, and the blooms are always in pretty clusters like that. I love it. And it has about a million buds on it right now, so in another week or so, it is going to be fantastic this year!

Marcia

Ohhhh, Beth! Your daylilies make me PEA GREEN with envy!! They are gorgeous! All your photos are great, especially the passionvine and the Barefoot Fairy Princess! So sweet!!! I love kids in the garden!

Abudant Ruffles looks like it's as big as your head! What a flower!

Marcia

Thank you,Marcia,you are always so kind.
junerose, my son planted a cat whiskers a week ago. While he was planting,he broke a piece. I took it and it rooted. Now I'm waiting for it to grow so I can give it a home. It's going to like the bed.
:-)
beth,Your pictures are great and the little fairy is a real princess. I would enlarge that picture and frame it.
Felix

Marcia, I love your gardens. My favorite is the coral honeysuckle and violet porterweed combo. They look soooo great together. I have decided to add them to my wish list along with the Diamond Frost euphorbia.

June your gardens are beautiful and the cat's wiskers is a favorite of mine. I love the garden with the Diamond Frost euphorbia, and fan flower and statue.

And Beth7 that tuberose is so pretty and it smells good too?

June, I meant to comment on your beautiful ruellia. I think it is called Ragin' Cajun red, and you have the prettiest beds of it I ever saw. I've grown it here and there several times and loved it, but never in a larger area. I will have to try it! I love how it looks next to your white periwinkle!

Marcia

Thanks, Marcia. Got those daylilies from Blooming Auctions - they're from Blueridge in NC...BIGGEST fans I've ever seen! Got them last summer and had them in pots under the oak tree til this spring. Wow..they're great, eh?
Felix..there are two other angels that come to my yard, too. If I framed every picture I take of them, I'd need a few mansions!
atreelady, the tuberose is one of the most amazing fragrances!! ...I'd love a field of them!

june...
tell me more about Diamond Frost euphorbia and fan flower. how do they do for you during the hottest, sunniest season? how water hungry are they?

marcia -- your garden is lovely!

The only negative thing I can say about this forum is that it feeds the need to buy ever more plants. I see the beautiful plants and flowers that you all grow and begin to "need" that plant too. I try to stay away from the garden centers but, as I know you all understand, it's an addiction. Whenever my husband needs something from the big box stores he knows that I will happily accompany him and he also knows to park by the entrance to the garden center!

Also, with our heat and humidity, it's so easy to propagate plants. Coupled with gardeners who are so willing to share their clippings, no wonder our garden beds "grow".

Beth, you asked about the aptenia cordifolia. I too kept it in a pot for several months, thinking I would use it as a draper in a lanai pot. However it seemed to be going downhill so I decided to plant it in the ground. It has been saying thank you every since. Mine is planted on a small slope and gets morning sun (eastern side of house). I recently installed a micro irrigation system in my flower beds (why didn't I do this sooner - I love it!) so the aptenia gets some water about every 3-4 days.

I highly recommend the Diamond Frost euphorbia. I see it at both Lowe's and HD. I bought mine last year and immediately took cuttings. The cuttings root very easily. I now have 4 big clumps of it - 2 on the east, 1 on the south (the one in the picture), and 1 on the west. They all survived the winter without damage. I did cover one plant when we had a brief and mild frost one night because I wanted to "save" at least one. The uncovered plants did just as well.

Marcia, thanks for the info about the barleria. I originally started it from a cutting about 2 years ago. I've read that it reseeds readily but I certainly haven't noticed that with mine. Mine gets the western sun and not a lot of water and still rewards with ongoing flowers. It's a winner for me.

Another plant that gets the thumbs up is the Brazilian petunia. I have clumps of it on the south, west, and north side of the house and they all do well. As the clump grows and the plant roots are shaded by its own foliage, it tolerates our Florida sun even better. Now that it too is on the new drip system, it gets a drink as the temps rise; it certainly perks up in appreciation. I've also seen the hummer on it.

June

Ill: The Diamond Frost (DF) is a euphorbia and doesn't seem to need a lot of water (some sites list euphorbias as succulents). In my earlier posts I raptured about the new drip system I installed in the flower beds. However, I did not put emitters by any of the DF plants and they're showing no ill effects from lack of water. They undoubtedly do get a drink wheh the yard sprinklers run once a week but otherwise, no extra water.

I planted my original fan flower on the east side of the house about 3 years ago. It got water when I lugged the hose around the house for the rest of the flowers. It never show signs of wilt, however. The only time it ever stopped blooming was for about 3 weeks in March one year when we had a frost. The frost killed the existing flowers and buds but the rest of the plant looked untouched. It quickly formed new buds and was soon putting on a show in the garden again.

This spring I noticed that it wasn't looking as good as usual. It seemed like the stems were getting woody. I made cuttings and when they were rooted I pulled up the old plant and replaced it with one of the new.

While I was rooting a replacement fan flower, I rooted another, and that's the plant you see in the picture. This one's on the south side of the house. So far it's doing wonderfully. I haven't given it an emitter from the drip system yet. I started the cuttings on March 22, so the pictured plant is less than 2 months old.

I made one of my routine trips to the big box garden centers about a week ago and there was a fan flower in WHITE! I have absolutely no place to plant it but that didn't stop me...I bought it!

i'm off to home depot!

June, you are sure right about this forum. And yes we park by the garden department too. Now I am trying to think where can I put Diamond Frost euphorbia and fan flower... and coral honeysuckle and violet porterweed.

Ill, I've been growing the Diamond Frost for a year and a half. As I mentioned above, mine did die back somewhat over winter (didn't disappear), but I cut it back hard and it is now filling out nicely, as you can see in my pictures. I think it's a terrific little plant. Never stops blooming. (although like every euphorbia I know of, the "blooms" are actually modified leaves of some sort, but you get my drift).

I have never tried the fan flowers (scaevola) in the ground, but you can bet I'm going to now. Out of the hanging baskets, into the beds!

June, what you call Brazilian petunia is what I call Ragin' Cajun ruellia. Still ruellia elegans. If only more people knew about this wonderful little plant. It laughs at hot weather, doesn't it?

My aptenia cordifolia is the yellow one, which Ill-man gave me a piece of at Nova's swap. I stuck them straight in the flower bed, full sun, and they seem to be thriving. Even the little pieces bloom like mad.

Marcia

There is also a white Barleria, "Alba". I got a cutting last week & am rooting it. My purple comes up in several different beds, seeds spread by the wind. It is one of the most carefree plants I have ever grown.

Oooh, I NEED a white barleria! Thanks for that info, happy girl. It would look good mixed in with my purple ones, for contrast. Will it do well in shade just like the regular ones do?

I have a white garden in the shade where I now have oakleaf hydrangeas and white candles growing. I plan to add white caladiums, white impatience, and other white plants. The barleria would be a good addition there, too, perhaps?

Marcia

Marcie, yes the white berleria has the same requirements as the purple. Just a hole in the ground! :)