May 2015 what looks good/bad/awful in your garden?
Hi everyone, sheesh, I'm late getting this started! I've been attending a conference for work so am a tardy party getting started. At least the conference is HERE this year instead of on the road (it's the Scrum Gathering and it moves city to city each year and just happens to be in Phoenix this year). ANYWAY, what looks good/bad/awful in your garden?
Things in my little garden look great, especially since I've had two Sundays in a row of rain, like a lot of folks have. Here are some cacti in bloom right now. Glad I didn't miss them by being on the road!
Astrophytum capricorne, with some stapelias with seed pods in the background. Wilson the tennis ball included to show size.
Pretty pink Echinopsis in the front garden. They typically want partial shade or sun with afternoon shade, but this poor thing cooks in 100% sun every single day of the year and seems very happy with it.
Big red Trichocereus, also in the front yard, putting on a nice display. The big flowers stay open all day. So nice!
I'll have some what-looks-awful pics soon about my nasturtiums once it gets hot, hah!
What about your garden? Happy gardening!
Grant
Comments (27)
MaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZ
8 years agoI love all the cacti blooms this time of year. Here's mine:
Leslie said it's an Easter Lily cactus and she is right that it smells wonderful!
And some shallots, about ready to pull. All the garlic came out last week. Sweet 100's tomato plant just getting going.
LeslieM peoria az
8 years agoRelated Discussions
April 2014 what looks good/bad/awful in your garden?
Comments (43)Awesome new pics and updates all, you have some great plants! Love that pink cactus, Mary, and all of the other updates too. Some of my dwarf plumerias really didn't drop their leaves, and my largest, 'Celandine' definitely did but is waking up and will be making lots of those wonderful, heavily fragrant blooms (yup, I see the buds already). Such great plants. I am loving the weather right now--warm days and pleasant nights. I still haven't turned on the a/c since the house cools off so nicely at night, and if I seal it up when I head to work it stays cool all day. Nice! Here's an oldey timey amaryllis (Hippeastrum, botanically speaking) blooming in the garden. It's Hippeastrum johnsonii, that some think is a species and some think is a very early hybrid. Either way, it's got a certain durable wild charm about it, and it's been passed down among gardeners and nursery people for 150 plus years. So fun (and easy!) Here's a no-ID "amaryllis" that I bought several years (I think it's the variety 'Charisma') that re blooms for me each and every April. I bought three bulbs for three dollars on a rescue rack and they all three always rebloom in spring. Talk about a bargain! Our native "western four o'clock" or "Colorado four o'clock", Mirabilis multiflora, has been blooming away for weeks now. I actually much prefer it to the more popular M. jalapa types as the foliage is much more tidy (and a waxy blue green), plus the purple is just intoxicating. Full hot sun or partial shade, are fine for this fun deciduous perennial. And while not flashy, I do love Euphorbia royleana, my FAVORITE landscape Euphorbia for this climate. I've planted quite a few of these all over my garden in everything from full sun to partial shade and they've all really thrived. And no, I don't protect them at ALL winter or summer. Easy and fun! Keep the great garden updates coming, pics or not, happy gardening all! Grant Here is a link that might be useful: Pics from my garden, April 2014...See MoreJuly 2014 what looks good/bad/awful in your garden?
Comments (45)Hi all, sorry for the late reply, I was away in Santa Fe, NM for a week. Love that town! Great new pics and updates, thanks so much for sharing them all. I too am amazed that you keep that jade happy outside! I have to keep them cowering indoors in summer, LOL. Neat caper pic, Jon, what conditions do you give it and how long have you had it outside? I only recently saw them in a greenhouse a few weeks ago at the terrific Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. Neat! Awesome cacti pics too, Mike. You're obviously doing something right. Awesome pics and great blooms. Love love love! Mswillis, your veggie garden looks so happy and productive. I'm envious! Thanks for posting it and keep us updated! Not fancy, but here's my own-root variegated, contorted Euphorbia lactea outside on the patio, in a "wash pot" or "bean pot". I've become addicted to these pots as they're really hard to tip over. Happy gardening all! Grant...See MoreNovember 2014 what looks good/bad/awful in your garden?
Comments (10)Sorry to hear about your impatiens, Kevin, that's no fun at all. I've never been able to keep impatiens happy here long term spring/summer/autumn/OR winter, LOL. I've tried and given up on them locally. I DO have great luck with geraniums, alyssum, petunias, pansies and snapdragons. Pansies, violas and calendars are bulletproof even if we have a hard freeze, although they want lots of sun of course. Let us know if you find a good alternative for your shade. Annual winter color in shade is a challenge here. Hopefully folks will have suggestions. I mostly rely on succulents in winter shade and hope for the occasional flower from my Aloe maculata plants, LOL. Here's one, right on the north side of the house. I've got a bumper crop of 'Meyer' and 'Lisbon' lemons. I'm harvesting them a bit early so I don't get overwhelmed by lemons in late winter, hah! My 'Raspberry ice' bougainvillea is blooming its head off. Such a fun, super dwarf, variegated variety. This one sits in full hot sun all day every day of the year, and gets watered maybe once every ten days at this time of year. When I'm away, even in summer, it gets nothing and is fine. It's been in this pot several years and really should be repotted, LOL. "Pretty Much Picasso' petunias are really putting on a show in that huge Day of The Dead talavera pot I bought this summer. You'd think having the funky green edge would make them weak and inbred or something, but they're really very durable and excellent bloomers for me. Happy gardening all, see you in the December thread tomorrow, LOL....See MoreFebruary 2015 what looks good/bad/awful in your garden?
Comments (18)To answer Grant, ASUdevil & Waterbug; the plants you see growing on the fence (The fire stick) were all simply branching parts of a much larger plant from another property we have that were trimmed off (I wanted to get some of it for this purpose as we had sold the other property) for the exact reason of covering the less sightly chain link fence. You can VERY easily propagate these plants (and pencil cactus too) I simply let them "callous" over for about 1 1/2 days (some of the stems that we cut were over an inch across and took a little longer to dry out) to avoid rot - then I just stick them in the moist soil and they root! Mine that I've grown in my own yard here in CenPhx do NOT turn as red as my yard just seems to provide too much of a micro climate so they are mostly green most of the year. . . Couldn't be easier and I've NEVER had ANY summer damage from heat or direct sun - you can leave them unwatered until they start to "wrinkle" in the stems and they will literally bounce back. Only problem I've ever had is from frost . . ....See More
lazy_gardens
8 years ago
Joey
8 years ago
newtoucan
8 years agojoncongaroo
8 years agoMaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZ
8 years agoiandyaz
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoHere's a few pics from my back yard today:
This is my Arabian Jasmine blooming like crazy. They give off a pleasant scent.
Every spring for the last 3 years I've been planting at least 1 different type of squash. This year I'm trying Acorn Squash.
One of my banana trees. I did a photo for this one last summer, here it is:
It has zinnias growing under it again so it'll look like that, except much bigger :)
Here's one of my arabian cucumbers.
This gardenia plant is in a really bad spot so I'll be moving it this fall. Still has really neat blooms.
Blueberry plants are still living (and growing)! Those big leaves to the right are from a Michelia Alba.
Cherokee purple tomatoes. Hard to tell by this picture, but it has around 20 tomatoes so far and some are already ripe.
Laurus Nobilis - I think of all my plants, this was the most difficult to germinate. Out of about 20 seeds, 2 germinated. It took much more work than the passiflora vines I germinated 2 years ago.
Fluffy the peach protector (she's not very good at it, I had to buy bird netting) wanted to say hello.
grant_in_arizona
8 years agoHah, awesome new pics and comments all! LOL @ Fluffy not being very good at her job. She's cute though! Here are a few things looking good right now....
Ruellia elegans.
Aristolochia watsonii our native "mouse ear" pipevine (more of a scrambler, really).
Variegated 'Jolly Tiger' fig putting on a lot of new foliage.
And just a few mini yellow pear tomatoes. So delicious.
Happy gardening!Grant
azbolt
8 years agolast modified: 8 years ago
4 in 1 Pluot
Satin Plumcot
Loads of blackberries
Right now in my yard I'm enjoying a huge harvest of blackberries and a modest harvest of "flavor delight" apriums (SO yummy!) and next week my plumcots should be ripe. Just have to beat the birds. Several more weeks for the pluots to ripen. I love odd fruits!Kevin
Jovan Coleman
8 years ago
I have been reading this forum forever, but just got my own apartment with two balconies that I can plant to my heart's content, so here is my new balcony garden. Everything looks really good. Pomegranate tree in back, shrimp plant, and gaillardia. Two Turk's cap hibiscus plants are just leaves right now, but they are growing.
Shrimp plant, firebush, white guara, and jasmine. Peaking out from the front is basil leaves and sage.
Pomegranate flower
gaillardia
white guara
kevininphx
8 years agoBeautiful gardens everyone :-D
This year we did our first vegetable garden here (typically stick to ornamental gardening) . . .
We planted corn, green beans, radishes, several varieties of tomatoes (lost the tags! - but we have cherry, patio, roma, and a few heirloom varieties) the most vigorous growers are the ones we planted by seed, also have cucumbers, some kale still going and some herbs . . . I think that's it!
Overview of the edible garden patch;
Cucumbers up close - these surprised me but we must have had the most agreeable weather and timing (we planted everything in late February)
Cucumber next to my foot for comparison (the only one we measured was 13"x8"!) taste delicious too
Cherry tomatoes & some I had picked for a snack :-D
First time growing corn myself; doing well I must say!
A fig I am growing from a cutting my mother gave me from her neighbor's tree!
Green beans
Mini red bell peppers (and you can see the baby cucumbers HERE too!)
A MONSTER sized Roma tomato - I swear this thing grows at least 4" or more each day! It's obscuring other plants below such as radishes, onions & carrots
More in part two . . .kevininphx
8 years agoapparently in an effort to keep me from spamming you all with my garden photos, this is limited in the amount of photos I can put per post! lol
Some onions I have as well . . .
My tomato thieves!
Front patio flowers . . . begonias, pentas & lobelia up front . . .
My baby wing begonia - I LOVE the begonias this year, with a very shady yard they performed VERY well :-D
Dragon wing begonia & banana combo . . . started this one back in October
some fancy begonia I got for a steal @ Home Depot & it's doing well outdoors for about 2 months now
Sunny spots too though; cacti & sweet potato that made it through "winter"
Crown of thorns - another favorite
Some succulents and a Japanese aralia - beautiful foliage
slowly switching to summer annuals (zinnias, vinca, summer snapdragon, gomphrena, gazanias) as well as some still-performing cool weather annuals (hot pink ivy geranium, fragrant stock, carnations)
part 3 . . .kevininphx
8 years agoAn old wheelbarrow turned flower bed . . . made for summer
A nice hanging basket I made of lobelia, columbines and amaranth, sweet potato & wandering Jew
back yard
I usually buy ONE caladium each early summer and it may last through or may not but the foliage is beautiful again . . . I love foliage & flowers!
Two identical plant stands I received as gifts - two totally different plant set-ups on each!
My spider plant on top is about 5-6 years old, the one below is about 2 years now!
That's all folks! Sorry to be an attention you-know-what :-D Happy gardening & hopefully this strange El Nino helps bridge the gap to monsoon season!MaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZ
8 years agogrant_in_arizona
8 years agoI LOVE all of the new pics and updates, thanks for posting them everyone. Your plants are SO FUN to see! Congrats on your new garden space, Jovanc. You are putting it to good use!
Close up of a flower on one of my variegated apple of Peru, 'Splash of Cream', Nicandra physalodes. Fun quick-from seed annuals for the warm months.
Love seeing the new growth (upper right) on my variegated prickly pear, Opuntia 'Sunburst' (Wilson the tennis ball for size):
Fun flowers (technically it's a bunch of small flowers instead of just one) on my Senecio fulgens (plant in the background, about three feet away from the flowers, hah). Fun succulents that struggle a bit in summer but perk up in autumn.
Enjoy this amazing weather, locals! Happy gardening!grant_in_arizona
8 years agoharoldws
8 years ago
Grant - Here is a picture of Ann's "Ronnie" If you want her to make a start for you just let me know.grant_in_arizona
8 years agoAwesome pic of a great looking plant, Harold, thanks for posting it. I'm so thrilled it's doing well for you for so long! I gave one to a former coworker and she's going to give me a baby so I think I'm set. THANK YOU for the wonderful offer though, I doubt any of mine will ever look as great as yours, thanks for posting it! :)
As far as garden updates go, here are a few quick-pics.
Matucana madisoniorum blooming again. They really DO flower off an on all spring/summer/autumn. If you like cacti flowers, GET SOME. AZ Cactus Sales down in Chandler usually carries them (call first, LOL).
This virtually-spineless (bred as cattle feed for arid regions) Opuntia canacapa 'Ellisiana' is making a ton of flowers and buds. So pretty even before they open for the day:
Parent/baby of one of my favorite scented "geraniums", Pelargonium 'French Lace'. I rooted the baby directly in soil and just repotted it into the colorful talavera pot. Wilson the tennis ball to show size.
Happy gardening all!Grant
grant_in_arizona
8 years ago
Oh! AND I'm swapping out winter stuff (geraniums, snapdragons, petunias) for summer stuff like vincas, celosia and zinnias. The heat hasn't returned enough to kill the winter stuff, but I was ready to get set up for the impending blast furnace, hah. Happy gardening!
kevininphx
8 years ago
Michael O (USDA Z9 San Tan Valley AZ)
8 years ago
Wow, last day of May...
Great photos everyone, love looking thru what everyone is growing. I have been so busy, that I did not have much time to get on the web, but I managed to take a few pics.
Everyone stay cool and keep posting...newtoucan
8 years agokevininphx
8 years agogrant_in_arizona
8 years ago
haroldws