Just to Catch You Up

Well, first off let me apologize for my absence as of late. I have been crazy busy getting the yard whipped back into shape and things are coming along nicely. The past weekend I managed to get the new drip system started and let me tell you, that thing is going to be a life saver this coming summer. I’ve been really surprised at how inexpensive and easy it’s been to get it all installed. I should be finished putting it in by this weekend. Weather permitting, that is.

I mentioned in the past, that one of the pharmacists that work with Jamie bought us a new arbor for the garden. We decided to plant Confederate Jasmine on it. The jasmine has been blooming this week and just those two little vines have been filling the air with the most wonderful scent! It’s amazing; I never knew I would enjoy it so much.

'Confederate Jasmine'

The ‘Crimson Queen’ made seeds for the first time. I’m going to try to plant some and see what I come up with. The ‘Glowing Embers’ in the opposite corner actually has two seedlings under it that came up this year. It would be wonderful to be able to grow our own maples. We could scatter them everywhere!

'Crimson Queen'

It looks as though we will be building a Salvia collection since they prefer full sun. This Mexican Bush Sage is named ‘Mystic Spires’. It has wonderful colored blooms and I can’t wait for it to spread. The new bed is filled with purple and blue. Those are Jamie’s favorite, so I wanted to fill it with those two colors. This picture looks kind of weird, but it's the only one I have right now.

'Mystic Spires'

This is a 'Yellow Flag' variegated iris. A friend from Gardeners Gumbo told me you can never have too much variegated foliage in you garden. Acting on her advice I started shopping around for that very thing.

'Variegated Yellow Flag'

This is a St. Joseph’s Lily. It was the first hybridized amaryllis ever created, introduced around 1790 by a watch maker named Arthur Johnson and is a cross of H. reginae and H. vittatum. We had tons of these and gave all of them away except one. Had I known how hard they are to locate and how expensive they are if you do find them. I would have sent less in each trade so I would have more to share. Over the years I’m sure they will multiply.

'St. Joseph's Lily'

This is a ‘Don Juan’ climbing rose. During the storm it was just beat to pieces and I had to cut it way back. It seems to be making a wonderful recovery. I highly recommend this rose, ours blooms the entire growing season and the flowers look like velvet, in the sun. It doesn’t seem to be as vulnerable to black spot as a lot of the other roses. Our ‘Peace’ rose has black spot so bad right now it looks absolutely horrible, all flowers and no foliage.

'Don Juan'

I’ve had these ‘Minerva’ amaryllises for years and years and I have no idea where I got them from. It’s terrible that my memory is so bad. I’m almost positive it came from my neighbor Judy, but she says she got it from me. Who knows… at any rate it puts on a beautiful show every spring.

'Minerva'

This last picture is an Iris that was traded to me under the name ‘Kaye’ and I can find nothing about it. I got seven or eight Irises in that trade and this is the only one I couldn’t find online. I would really like to know more about it. If this looks familiar to you send me a note and let me know. Maybe it just has the wrong name. Isn’t it a beauty though?

'Kaye'

A Thank You and Photos

Hello everyone! I wanted to catch you guys up on all the progress. What’s happening in our garden is absolutely nothing short of amazing. With all the help we have received from everyone in our garden clubs and our friends, the garden is absolutely coming together. I never would have dreamed that we would have recovered to the point we are so rapidly. I haven’t posted any pictures because everything is so small it doesn’t really show up. But, I can already see in my minds eye a beautiful garden developing. We’ve only made one boo boo with some maples trees we planted, that can be corrected by moving one or we may leave it just as it is. We thought we had two different types but they turned out to be exactly the same and they are planted side by side. So now in the front yard we have two dogwoods on the left and two red maples on the right, which was our intention, just not the same ones. I’m just not feeling it… Jamie likes it, but to me it looks a little like poor planning. At any rate, considering how fast everything is coming together if that’s the only mistake we’ve made we are doing excellent.

A gardening friend of ours from down south that hasn’t seen us since the storm came up and spent the weekend with us. There was a huge sale north of us and she wanted to go and buy us some plants to help with the process. She was so amazed at everything; all she could do was just stand at the kitchen window looking out. She was with us through the entire process with the previous garden and now just a little over two months later everything has completely changed and she was having a hard time processing the new view. It is the polar opposite of what it was, from shade to full sun. On top of all that there is practically a new garden already in place. It has a long way to go but you can see a plan is being executed and something wonderful is being born. I’m telling you guys, you just wouldn’t believe it. In a couple of months things will be getting large enough to photograph. Now of course all the foliage from the bulbs is truly adding a lot of interest where there really isn’t much, so I hope it all hangs on awhile.

I just wanted to share my excitement with you all. Our garden is being reborn. It’s absolutely 100% completely different than it was before, we have a long way to go, but we have no doubt we will be walking thru a place of enchantment in no time. I’m feeling so incredibly positive right now! Jamie and I want you to know how grateful we are for all the help you have given us, both mentally and with your gifts of generosity. I don’t think we can adequately express the feelings we have about all that everyone has done. We do want you to know this. With out all of you, this garden would never be happening and we have been truly blessed by your kindness.

Here are some of the things that are currently blooming in the garden. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

'New Gold'

I need a name for these next two, Annie I know you can help me out here. :-)

Lady Banks Victorian Rose 'Lutea'

A Purple Japanese Iris.

'Bethie's Iris'

'Peace'

'Don Juan'

'English Dogwood'

Lady Banks 'Alba Plena'

'Whisper White' Diascia