Where we are starting this year...

Hey there everyone!

Just outside the door of the back porch.

Last year I didn't get started on this blog early enough in the season to give you all an overveiw of what I was trying to do/get done for the season.  This year I have that luxury, so I'm going to start the season off by posting some "Before" photographs.  Then, we'll see what my gardening area looks like by the end of the season.

The photo to the right gives you an idea as to what we're going to start with this season.  This is the flower garden facing south from my back door and the main plan for this year is to DOUBLE the size of this flower bed in depth.  At the far end of the little flower bed here you can see a very large Juniper tree.  On the ground beneath it you'll see a rather large grouping of Spider and Hurricane Lilies that haven't bloomed for two years.  I'm going to give them one more shot.  There are still some back there in pots too, and those are going in the ground in the same area.

Next step closer to the step is the first Blue Plumbago.  Right now it's pretending to be ground cover, much to my chagrin.  I'll be tying it up here soon and trying to convert this one and the one up right by the step into actual bushes.  The job will most likely require quite a bit of pruning, but the plan originally was to have these be bushes.  I never even realized that they would just lie on the ground and spread out!

The red flowers that you see there are Dutch Impatiens.  That particular one was a volunteer that I discovered growing from seed in Dad's flowerbox.  It was all alone and dying from lack of water last summer.  It's managed to survive and continue to bloom throughout the winter.  Just beyond those, really close to the ground are 5 Easter Lilies coming up.  I don't think that they will make it to bloom this season, as they just haven't matured to the point where they need to be to bloom by Easter.  The big pot in the center is called an "Evergreen Wisteria."  Oddly enough, it's not evergreen as advertised.  It lost all of it's leaves this winter (Mind you, we never got a freeze) and sat around naked on the porch and in the house off and on until it started sprouting new leaves a couple of weeks ago.

Cactus cutting I picked out of the trash!

Beyond the Juniper tree is my Desert or Cactus Garden.  Here I have a bunch of really neat plants that I've tried to set into the ground.  I have a few photos, but not a shot of the whole area.  The cactus that I show to the left here is an unknown breed of prickly pear cactus or something along that lines.  I reluctantly admit that I found this in a pile of spring cleaning trash at the house across the street from my Dad's house.  Over the past year it's more than doubled in size, and has produced some very beautiful and interesting blossoms.  I'm wondering if it will produce fruit as well, or if these blooms will eventually become the fruit.

One of the strange cactus flowers.

Momma Blue Agave and pups

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 In addition to that, I have a wonderful Blue Agave (Century Plant) sitting right next to this, who just this spring produced four pups to keep her company.  Other plants down in this part of the yard include 3 Pride of Barbado's Bushes, a Mother of Millions plant (in the ground) and a very small Purple Datura, which is located just behind the prickly pear.  I have a few more plans for this side of the yard, including planting a new breed of Canna Lily (Cleopatra) in this area in order to keep it far enough away from the Indica Canna's to avoid involuntary cross breeding.  I'll attempt to cross breed them, but I want to do that in my own time and on my own terms.

Close up of a Pink Hawthorne bush getting ready to bloom.
Not sure what to do with it yet!

On the north side of the door, which I have no real pictures of at this time, I have an area that I've just started to amend where I'm going to plant all of the  Black Currant Datura that I grew last year.  I want  those to put on a grand display up against the fence.  Beyond that a little farther north you'll find my canna bed, which up until about a month ago were all in pots.

All of my Datura plants that need to be planted in the ground!

Well, that about sums up what's currently going on in the backyard this season.  The main goal is to double the space and find some very spectacular, showy flowers to put in there that will serve as good cut flowers.  I want to be able to cut flowers on a regular basis and take them to my Mom who's in the nursing home.  She needs pretty flowers on a regular basis to brighten up her room, and her day.

Well, that's about it for today.  I wanted you all to see some pictures and get a good look at what I have in store for work over the next few weeks.  It's good to get it all out and have a look at it all so I can solidify my plans or make needed changes to the plan.

I know it's a mess.  I AM open to suggestions!


Until next time, Happy Gardening!