winter chill



We had a dusting of snow right before xmas and in January an arctic chill for 3.5 days with temps dipping to the teens.

Camellia in the pot survived
Limri was in garage but garage door was left open all day so no idea if its ok or not
Abelia Kaleidoscope lost a lot of leaves....worried
Hawaiian ginger, and tuberose are probably toast
Dug around in peonies and saw the pink shoots forming :)
Peony - Bowl of Beauty was 5 bucks at Lowes for 2-3 eyes. Had to buy it.
Peony wish list - Red Charm, Buckeye belle, White Cap
Researching apple trees for espalier


been away a while

looks like I got a little distracted last summer and forgot to update this blog.

Here's a recap of how well everything grew in the summer:

Front yard - the purples spires bloomed like crazy. I'll probably move them back this year. 

The knock outs did ok for 1st year. The dining room side did better than the living room side. I'll have to prune them down hard for better branching in the spring.

Ornamental peppers were amazing...loads of very colorful peppers all summer. I'll probably get some in 2010 but plant them in the back yard. 

I planted 1 sunpatient in white and it was my fave plant all summer. This year I'm going to have a whole bunch more as they bloomed all summer until first hard freeze.

The OSO easy roses were a dissapointment. I'll probably end up returning them this spring before the 1 yr is up. I'd rather use that space for other flowers.

The gaura were great at first but the deep pink didnt do too well for long. the light pink one did well - going to move it though

Backyard - the thunbergia black eyed susan vine was gorgeous once it bloomed in late summer. Always covered in hubdreds of yellow flowers. 

The black eyed peas vine grew really well too. Loads of flowers and loads of purple beans. 

Figs didnt do too well. Seriously considerring chopping the celeste down and planting brown turkey. 

Knockout rose in the back yard grew almost 4 feet and bloomed profusely.

Tuberose sent out 2 shoots but didnt bloom due to cold weather

Hawaiian ginger sent up 5 shoots but didnt bloom

Lantana grew like wild fire. Always had butterflies visiting. 

Bird of barbados was a gem...three sets of blooms and cant wait to see how it grows in 2010

yellow esperanza bloomed really well and will have to be moved to the back as it will grow taller

2 out of the 4 lavenders bloomed well and this year I will try new varieties

Winter update coming up soon.