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De-Vine Addictions or Passionflower Passions?

Category: Plants | Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 9:05 pm

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I am so pleased! I just found purple moonflower seeds on ebay! I've been wanting some and searching all over. While I was there I also found auctions for other types of passionflower:

Love In A Mist



Blue



Banana Passion



Golden Apple



Be still my heart!

I've already planted so many vines. I like the idea of training vines over less than impressive trees and plants too. My boxwood will soon be wearing a lovely gown of Grandpa Ott Morning Glories:



I just can't get enough of vines! I've got:

Mandevilla
Asiatic Jasmine
confederate Jasmine
Cathedral Bells (Purple AND white seedlings)
cardinal vine
heavenly blue morning glories
Grandpa Ott's Morning glories
purple passionflower
white moonflower
pink trumpet vine
chocolate vine (just planted)
Coral Vine (Queen's Wreath, Love Vine--just planted)
Banana Passionflower (just planted)

Most are in shades of purple, pink, or white...save the cardinal vine and heavenly blue.

I think one big attraction is that they grow relatively quickly and you can actually see a little difference each day. Every time I see a new (to me) type I get really excited.

I saw a magnolia vine...rubra I think, with these lovely red flowers...absolutely luscious! That will probably be next on my "list".



I really need to control my ebaying, but at least seeds are fairly inexpensive!

Last edited: Wed Jun 06, 2007 9:11 pm

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A Little of this...a little of that....

Category: Morning Hodgepodge | Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 6:32 pm

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I think this is one of the prettiest flowering vines! I love Mandevilla! The flowers are quite long lasting too! We bought two of these vines to put in the planters by our pool and this pink is so striking beside the blue of the pool water. It has also been so obliging about climbing the trellis. I've added some white moonflowers and the vine is starting to intermingle with the mandevilla...I think the white flowers will look so pretty with the pink.



Our little moonflower vines continue their climb up the fence. We have 7 planted and all are near 2 ft high. I can even see some tiny flower buds starting to show. One of my passionflower cuttings has rooted nicely enough to go into this area too....so that means some day this fence will be covered with : moonflowers, cobaea scandens (cathedral bells), passionflower, chocolate vine, coral vine, and trumpet vine....it is a long fence so this is possible. I am hoping ot always have something blooming with this plan.



These are the plumeria cuttings I got from my Grandma's house. She has a red plumeria so I got a cutting for my mother-in-law, who has a cutting of white...I thought she might like to have the red. I am partial to the white, which my Grandma didn't have....BUT her 90 year old neighbor does....so do you know what my 85 year old Grandma did? She went right over and pilfered a cutting for me. She says my Grandpa planted that plant anyway and that the neighbor wouldn't even notice. I think there is something about stealing plants that really appeals to my Grandma.


I need start out right now by saying that my first hypertuffa experience did NOT go well. I am not sure exactly what went wrong but the mix did not cling together well. It didn't help that I wanted to make a bowl shaped planter using my huge exercise ball...not good. I got desperate and dug a hole and tried to use that as a mold but I am not optimistic.

On the upside, one of my bowling balls is ready grout, and the other just needs a very small amount of gems and it will be ready. I will do both at once--hopefully it will go BETTER than the hypertufa. I haven't given up, because I know I'll get it right, I just hate to make a big mess with nothing to show for it.



I think I've decided what to do for my "pergola hanging baskets". I am going to use sweet potato vine coming out through the bottom (because it will be free), because of the pretty shades of pink and green, and impatients in the top (because they like shade and are available), because the come in so many pretty colors. My hanging baskets out front aren't too shabby, but kind of a crazy mishmash of plants:



I didn't even realize the calladiums were there!



I redid my windchimes...it seems I forgot to create a "sail" to help catch the wind. I noticed they were awfully quiet. I rubber stamped them with silver leaves to give them a pit more zip. I am very glad that I did...MUCH better!



I was actually pleased to see this cicada. He (she?) was just shedding it's shell. I remember collecting those empty shells off of trees when I was a little kid. It has been a long time since I've seen any so this guy was a nice little bit of nostalgia. He was such a good sport about having his picture taken too!



These baby grackles were visiting the cat (bird) food bowl. The birds wait every morning for cat to finish and then swoop in. They get kind of impatient, it gets to be like a scene from "The Birds" and the cat starts feeling a little too much like Tippi Hendren.


Now, I need to contemplate a better hypertufa plan of action,so if anyone has any advice please feel free to share!

Last edited: Wed Jun 06, 2007 6:36 pm

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A Morning Stroll.....

Category: Morning Hodgepodge | Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 6:38 pm

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One of my favorite things to do each morning is to visit my little plants to see how they've changed overnight. I've planted a lot of my garden from seeds so this is quite exciting for me.

This is Anise Hyssop....from seed, it is the only seedling I got from my packet of seeds. I have a hard time being patient with perennials from seed and this little booger has taken quite awhile!



Here is my Bravado Echinacea....these are growing a bit faster...supposedly they flower within 4 months!



I planted lots of Grandpa Ott Morning Glories in my garden. I planted some near this big boxwood bush...I want them to use it as a trellis...I am happy to see that THIS little MG gets the picture:



I have several planted around this bush and a Giant Moonflower...they are making great progress weaving through the branches.

It is always especially gratifying to see a plant's first bloom...this is a Sundown Echinacea...I can already see the deep orange beginning to show:



Here are some pretty flowers that were just begging to be photographed:

A Star Jasmine


Nora Barlowe Columbine


My Gardenia Tree (this is the first bloom I've gotten)


and my other echinacea, it continues to open and look more beautiful each day:



This is a new plant (to me) called Angelonia, it's like a dainty snapdragon...I love it:



I decided to take my windchimes down and gussy them up just a bit. I rubber stamped them with silver leaves...I am testing the ink to make sure it will hold up, but I really love the look.

AND I found the large gems for finishing my crystal bowling ball....I should be ready to grout in the next day or so!

Have a great day!


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Latest Projects

Category: Garden Projects | Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 7:17 pm

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Well, last week we built a pergola for our back garden...so it is kind of like a shady cover for part of our pool deck. This was the first carpentry project we've ever tried so I am extremely pleased with the result.


I've planted pink trumpet vine in those big terra cotta planters and can't wait until the pergola is enveloped in the feathery leaves and pretty flowers.

I have a windchime addiction....but I will only buy them on sale or for a really low price. I got a set at Target for $2.49 (they originally sold for $10), actually I bought 2 sets, one for the front and one for the back. I found a pretty little bell chime at Michael's for $2.99. I wanted to complement the terracotta planters in back so I decided to make my own chimes out of flower pots....


I used wooden car wheels and wooden beads to separate the pots slightly so the softly rattle together. I think I will make more, but decorate them....they might make nice Christmas gifts...the sound is quite soothing.

I am still working on my bowling ball...I DID find that the silcone works the best for me. I work on a small section at a time then use the weight of the ball to hold them down until dry. I am having to track down more of the gems. I am using the extra large iridescent clear....I think they will have a beautiful dragon scale appearance when done. I got some light green for doing my dh's ball...hopefully I bought enough...Michaels had them for $1 a bag.

While at Michaels I found these lovely pot hangers for my fence...going with the terra cotta



I've planted them with ornamental sweet potato....that is the easist stuff I've ever tried to root. Every two days I have new plants. That may or may not bode well for the future.

My last little project I've been working on is to make a hanging hummingbird garden....sounds more fancy than what it is...I saw one for sale somewhere for about $20, but I already had a hanging basket--empty and waiting to be planted. I've put 5 little peat pots with cardinal climber seedlings....this is what it is supposed to look like (in a little over a month):

http://www.highcountrygardens.com/catalog/product/C0019/

I hope mine looks as nice as this one! I hope the hummingbirds visit. Every week I clean my feeders and refill them...still no hummers!

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I Hate Love Bugs!

Category: Odds n' Ends | Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 12:34 am

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They are SWARMING in my area right now! You can't go outside without having them ALL over you. They seem to be attracted to the weirdest stuff too. My husband just finished staining a pergola that we built and they are all over the stain in huge quantities. The above picture is a clump of them near our French doors. We tried to eat breakfast under our new pergola and it was a disaster!

More about lovebugs?

http://cricket.biol.sc.edu/luvbug.html

On a happier note....I am THRILLED that my echinacea has opened:



It smells so sweet too!

AND....my Nora Barlowe columbine has opened.....my first EVER...



I just got my order of Black Knight butterfly bushes....they are so nice. I've found this excellent seller on eBay. Everthing I've bought from him is in fantastic condition and seems to transistion well. I got a Black Knight from another seller and it was kind of wimpy in comparison. I ended up spending $1.95 a bush for the good ones and $3.99 for the wimpy one...go figure. So now I have 9 butterfly bushes....can't wait until they are big, blooming, and burgeoning with butterflies!

This is what the flowers WILL look like:



oooooh, I can't wait!


Last edited: Mon Jun 04, 2007 12:37 am

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