Wednesday, May 30, 2012

My Indoor Babies


This is my Pothos, or one of them.  I don't remember how long they go back.  I've had them for so many years, starting as a small plant.  I watch them grow, take cuttings to keep the shape the way I want it and to create new plants, and once I find just the right light for them, just the right growing conditions, they don't move.  They reward my noticing where they do best with large variegated leaves and waterfall growth. 

One of my dreams is to be able to replace part of the back wall in this room with sliding glass doors that lead to a balcony.  Once I have that I will be able to grow some of the plants I love most.  I just don't have enough windows in here to grow the plants I'd like and to let the outdoors in, whether rainy, cloudy, sunny or the most wonderful of all, autumn.




Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Today, in the Garden

My garden is one of my passions.  At my house I have three garden beds.  One is small and is home to two ancient boxwoods.  It is in the shade, and I've added a variety of wildflower (I need to know the name!) I dug from shady places around the yard and replanted in the shady bed.  It is similar in growth to a Wandering Jew, a plant that has great meaning to me.  It has small, bright blue flowers with yellow stamens.  Next year I would like to add hostas and ferns to this bed.  the flowers shown below are from my larger front bed, and the fruit is in a small side bed with veggies, other fruit, and herbs.  Come and enjoy the things I liked today.


Bright pink geranium.

This is in my front large garden bed, which holds flowers, two baby blue spruce, raspberries, and herbs.  There is still much to be done to the entire bed.  I will add cedar mulch, and not the artificially colored mulch. 







Light pink geranium.

There are more, much much more than just geraniums in the front large bed, it just happens to be the geraniums that are looking beautiful today.






White petunia.

I have four colors of petunias.  Some are from last year, wintered over in the house.










Blueberries.

Look closely.  There are about six berries hiding in the center of the photo.  We have four young bushes loaded with almost ready to ripen berries.




Roma tomatoes.

Like the plants last year they will stay potted and on the porch.  Though I have several garden beds, they are either very small or planted with things that will remain in place for years: berries and grapes, for example.  The plants on the porch get an abundance of sun.  Right now I have 15 tomato plants, both roma (paste tomatoes) and Sweet Million, a variety of grape tomatoes for the kids to pick and eat.

I am enjoying the challenge of finding ways to grow all the foods we need in a house with nine people, and the flowers that prevent the incredible amount of cutting through the yard that was plaguing us. Ahhh, the adventures we have!