Summer Garden- share your pics!
Josue (Zone 9b, Central, inland California)
6 years ago
I finally got to spend some time weeding and tidying up the yard this past weekend. It had been a couple of weeks since I'd had the chance to do so - I'm sure most of you will relate! With the ongoing summer heat, it's been hard to muster up the will to work outdoors. I did tidy up plants, trimmed away dried tissue, removed dead and dying plants and spread a bit of mulch. We still have about a month of 100 degree days ahead of us, but I'm ready for fall! Here's a picture of my front yard nearing the end of summer. Please share yours!
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Josue Diaz
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Share your Garden Pics Please!! Especially Milkweed!!
Comments (6)A suggestion....look at a few garden catalogues/books at your local home improvement stores....there are some specialty issues coming out now about BF gardening.... The trick, especially if space is tight, is to think and work with nature/seasons and dimensions. Trellises are a wonderful way of adding dimension to a garden. Trees/shrubs also add colour, texture, and some shade if needed for some of your part-sun plants. Try not to go monochromatic, with 1 BF species...you're setting yourself up. Diversity your garden into thirds.... 1/3 host plants of various (start with MW-monarchs, fennell/parsely/rue BST's (rue-GST), a pair of aristolocias for PV (plant 2 on 1 trellis if necessary for thicker growth habit)...and a couple more for your area... then 1/3 nectar plants (some function as nectar and larval host)...your nectar plants need to be performing 3 seasons, spring, summer, fall....a classic is the BF bush, and doubles as a shade producer....and you can cut it down every year for longevity.... Also, a groundcover can hold down soil temperature in hot climates, reduce weed pulling, and there are a few that are host plants as well. One thing I have learned is many species like to scoot off their host plant for a time, especially when they molt. Perhaps for safety. This gives a garden that is beautiful to the beholder both human and BF The 1/3 people tend to overlook are shrubs/trees--many of which by the way make excellent host plants, tulip poplar for EST, and willows of any veriety should work for Viceroys & RSP's....the list goes on and on, but if you follow these rules, your garden will have colour, diversity, beauty, dimension, and always some surprises! Hope this helps...See MoreMy garden last summer - Pics
Comments (9)Thank you all so much for looking! I live in a hidden neighborhood so not many people see my gardens. Funny thing about the color of that shed... when I moved in it was brown and very run down looking. My neighbors (love them!) are very...observant, shall we say. (I think they keep a log of my comings and goings. haha) I slapped one stroke of that green on the brown shed and they were over making not-so-subtle comments about the new color. They liked it once it was done, though. I think they just were worried a wild woman had moved in across the street from them. Yes, plantmaven, that is an astible. I have several, but that is my favorite. It gets so tall. I do cut my hibiscus back to the ground each fall, lilyfinch. Don't yours grow up from the ground each year? Or are they sending new shoots from an old stem? I don't really know all that much about hibiscus, even though I have quite a few. Schoolhouse - yes, I had been eyeing that fountain for awhile, wondering where I would be able to put it. I think you really need a wall or backdrop of some sort for those flat backed ones. I run an extension cord through my garden (under the mulch) and under the grass pathway. It's a little hard to clean the fountain when it gets clogged, since it needs to be pulled away from the wall. Definitely not a fountain for someone who minds maintenance. I'm going to a pond shop sometime soon to see if they have any ideas to keep the debris out....See MoreShare your Succulent Garden PICS!
Comments (49)Neil,sorry i don't know the name of those red leaved plants.My sons gf gave me that plant 2 years ago for mothers day,and it has several different succulents on it,there's also an orangy one on it that i like. Joe you're off to a very good start,quite a few nice ones you have there.Be careful though,they are so addicting. Hope you guys in san diego are getting this rain like we are up here in Oceanside.I'm loving it!! Kathi...See MoreIt's Halloween....share your scary gardening stories and creature pics
Comments (10)My scary story involves being a Florida gardening neophyte and not realizing that everything I planted was going to either get huge or run everywhere! Bamboo that was supposed to be Golden Goddess, but it isn't. When first planted and second photo from a couple years ago--bamboo stalks are even larger now. I planted this clerodendron from a tiny pot from a garden club sale. Now it has spread itself all around, 30 feet from its original plant. I am chopping down suckers everywhere. I planted a blue clockvine on a trellis. It got huge and died back in the frost, leaving ugly black leaves and bare stems, so I dug it up and threw it on the side of the lot. Now it covers all the scrub growth for quite a distance. I love the Dombeya seminole I planted, but now it covers up everything else--under its spreading branches are three roses, a bird of paradise, two pineapple plants, and several crinum lilies. But it's just starting to bloom, so how can I prune it now??? To the right of the Dombeya is a Carolina jessamine--climbing into the gutters. How was I to know it would get so BIG? I have several other examples, including a fern a neighbor gave me that is spreading everywhere, a Calliandra powderpuff that got huge and has to be put back every year or the neighbor's yard disappears under it, a coral honeysuckle that got so thick it collapsed the trellis it is growing on .... Marcia...See MoreJosue (Zone 9b, Central, inland California)
6 years ago
emmarene9
6 years ago
Erika Kuntz
6 years ago
PROYardvaark
6 years agoUser
6 years agoJosue (Zone 9b, Central, inland California)
6 years agoUser
6 years ago- PRO
Yardvaark
6 years ago emmarene9
6 years ago
Dalton the Bengal (Zone 6)
6 years agoUser
6 years agoErika Kuntz
6 years agoThank you so much for getting back to me! I live in Southern California. I'm actually in the process of landscaping my front yard myself. So this is what our front yard looks like now...
Josue (Zone 9b, Central, inland California)
6 years ago
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whitewatervol (Z 8a/7b Upstate SC)