How does our garden grow

Since early retirement back in November I've been trying to get the back yard in shape. Not that my husband didn't care for it, but sometimes he had so much to do he didn't see things that needed doing. He has gotten the pool back from being a green yucky thing to being an oasis again. It is a daily thing and all the high winds we have been experiencing lately have made it doubly difficult to keep it clean and sparkly. We got a great deal of growth cleared and sent to our local landfill if nobody wanted the wood from the trees.



We no longer have a wood burning fireplace...pity. We had a gas one put in years ago and it just isn't the same. Anyway, this is the back garden...well, part of it.


Over to the right is our shed...just around the corner of the fence. I've been thinking about how I can fix it up to be all that it can be since I started reading that Shed blog. However, nothing has happened out there yet to the poor thing to make it more lovely and desirable to sit by it. It does not have electricity, so I will not sit in it....also, it has all of our mowers, and garden tools, and pool chemicals inside. And a very leaky, smelly power washer a friend loaned us, but I've not been able to get in contact with her to find out how to use it to its full potential. I'm thinking...I'm thinking....and I know closing the door would be a very good start to making it look better. This may be a fall project since it is already very hot. Hubby has plans for the bit of gravel in front of the shed and I think the far side needs something to make it more habitable. If memory serves right, he is using it for a sort of compost pile. What that means is that when he gets the leaves out of the pool he drops them over there. It might work, but the live oak leaves have a half life of centuries to decay.


I've done a good bit of container gardening this year. Easter came so early this year and it was still cold here that day...there wasn't anything growing in the yard at all. We went to our local garden center and I picked up some plants to put in a huge pot by the front door. They had put the Oxalis that looks like Four leafed clover in the markdown bin, because St. Pat's was over. That is still blooming like crazy. They had some stock in the markdown. Anyway it was a very beautiful pot of flowers and when the lilly faded we put some sweet potato vine in and oh my goodness, it loves it here.

The dark vine is another sweet potato vine and the purple is a petunia peeking over the begonias. In Texas the best variety of petunia is called Heat Wave or Wave petunias. They don't play out when the temperatures get up to the upper 90s or 100. Wood ferns bow over the planter. They have been in that bed for more than thirty years and even though I take some for other flower beds it is still very full.

This little fairy caught my attention one day while shopping and I
just knew she should be in our garden. Nestled in amongst the ferns and begonias she seems happy. Begoinas are one of my favorites, because they
are easy to grow and very forgiving. Another plant I love, because it is so very easy to grow is Nandina Domestica...also, called Heavenly Bamboo. Some people just can't stand it, because it has a tendency to get "leggy" and it isn't too attractive when that happens, but if you cut one third of the tallest canes out it becomes full without losing the height. I love easy plants that look great and are lovely all year. Nandinas have red berries around Christmas and look great with the holly berries.

Another that is a native Texas plant
is lantana. It needs only a very little to grow and produce pretty pink and yellow blossoms.

We have it planted by the driveway and it flourishes there. We have had lantana at every home we've had since we were married. We take a bit with us when we move. This year I put in an herb garden out by the driveway, too. And some zinnias. It is very merry out there. Pictures of the driveway flowerbed will be coming, but I promised my friend, Melli, to post some pictures of the party lights tonight.