Wordless Wednesday

New light fixture

We got this one installed in the downstairs bathroom after the old fixture burned out. I guess the switch was bad, actually, and we could have lived with the old fixture, but I don't like bare bulbs. This is using the new CFL's - save the earth one bulb at a time.

Mountain views - Mineral Springs Mountain

Since we cut the pin oak at the South of the house, we can see views of Mineral Springs Mountain year round! What a treat!

Daylillies

These are growing on the north side of my little potting house. I've got to transplant some - they're so beautiful!

Wild blackberries

These are growing in the back yard by the bamboos. I leave them for the birds to harvest. I remember all too well the "chiggers" I harvested as a child along with the berries. The blossoms are glorious!

Planted tomatoes

We experimented with a place closer to the water hose, but none get enough light. I'll have to haul water to them. I just hope they like their new home - a big, old-fashioned wash bucket. They are staked right now with "yard" twigs.

Brandywine Pink Heirloom Tomato

I got my three plants yesterday via UPS. Now to plant and take some pictures.

The 'Brandywine Pink' Heirloom Tomato Plant dates back to the mid-1880s from strong Amish stock. This heirloom tomato has quite a following when it comes to gardeners and tomato connoisseurs. Brandywine tomatoes have won numerous taste tests and many tomato enthusiasts wait anxiously until their first Brandywine Pink of the season is ripe for the picking. These tomatoes average about 12 ounces, but have often grown up to 2 pounds. The fruits are reddish-pink, the flesh is creamy and the taste is superb. Brandywine Pink has large pinkish-red fruits borne on vigorous vines. Fruits are flattened and irregular, perfect for sandwich slices.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

New Sage Green Wall

I painted the hall wall sage green last week. This is the wall seen from the living room, so I wanted some more color to go with the green on the living room walls.

It is a lovely muted gray green, that changes colors based on the light and time of day. It never gets direct light, but I like the way it is softer than the living room colors.

It's amazing how the color changes. What does this have to do with gardening? Well, GREEN, of course!

From the Kitchen Window - Marigolds, etc.

I bought seeds a few months ago from Burpee to plant in a three-tiered garden bed I also bought from them. Yesterday I transplanted the Marigolds from their started pot. I hope they do well.

The views here are all taken from my kitchen window. You can see the tops of the dianthus, yellow rose and azaleas that I planted earlier.

Marigolds
Family: Compositae
Scientific Name: Tagetes sp.
Origin: South America-Argentina and New Mexico
Classification: Annual, herb
Use: Bedding plants, pot culture, edging, cut flowers
Height: 6 inches to 4 feet
Spread: 6 inches to 3 feet
Hardiness: Tender
Stems (Bark): Herbaceous
Flowers: Orange, yellow, mixed, red, cream and maroon; rounded or flat heads
Fruit: Ineffective
Foliage: Lacy, feather-like, finely dissected, opposite, often pungent odor
Texture: Medium to fine
Growth Rate: Rapid
Form: Rounded
Soil Requirements: Good garden loam, moist, well drained
Maintenance: Keep soil moist but not wet. Remove spent flower heads for continuous flowering
Situation: Sun; flowering delayed if planted in shady areas
Insects & Diseases: Spider mites, spittle bug, aster yellows, wilt
Remarks: Propagate from seed sown indoors in March, April, or direct seed outdoors in May after danger of frost has passed.

Pink Impatiens Walleriana

I bought two hanging baskets of impatiens for the front porch, where they won't get much light - which seems to be what they prefer. Birds found both our plants last year and raised families in them. They're welcome any time. I think they were finches.

Impatiens (sometimes commonly called bizzy Lizzy) is the most popular annual bedding plant in the U. S. today. For easy-to-grow, non-stop flowering in shady conditions, it has no equal. It is a bushy, succulent-stemmed tender perennial that grows in a spreading mound to 6-24” tall depending on variety. It has been extensively hybridized to produce a large number of cultivars featuring flowers in various shades of pink, rose, red, lilac, purple, orange, white and bicolor versions thereof. Showy, slender-spurred, five-petaled (some doubles are available) flowers (1- 2 1/4” wide) typically cover the plants with colorful bloom from spring to frost. Single flowers have a distinctively flattened appearance. Ovate to elliptic leaves (to 3” long) are light green to dark green, sometimes with a bronze-red cast.

Ours are a pink color, very similar to the Pinks (Dianthus) I planted a few weeks ago. That color should show up well. The red ones we had last year were a bit hard to see under the eaves.

Trouper Azalea (Glenn Dale)

Bought two azaleas at Lowe's in Morganton for $5.00. Yep, 2 for one sale. I am amazed at how cheap they are! The last time I bought an azalea is was around $32.00, but of course, that was in Minnesota.

The Glenn Dale evergreen hybrids were developed in Maryland from R. indicum, R. kaempferi, R. simsii and many other species and hybrids. They are compact, spreading, evergreen azaleas developed primarily for cold hardiness along the mid-Atlantic states. Flowers are borne in showy trusses of 1 to 4 per cluster. Bloom time is late April in warmer areas and as late as mid-June in cooler climates. This is usually a back of the border azalea because most of the Glenn Dales are taller, though not all. Do not be alarmed if plant drops some leaves during colder weather. Filtered light is best. Plant as you would any of the other azaleas: high and in well-drained, acid soil, rich with organic matter. Though azaleas have a potentially large list of possible pest and disease problems, they are usually trouble free if planted correctly in proper cultural conditions