neighbors are relieved

« back from europe Tina at the Tiled Palace »

Our neighbors were so excited to see that, before we left for vacation, David and I pulled up all of the weeds from the mailbox bed that had been growing for years, and planted several mirabilis jalapa.

We also mulched and placed small river rocks for a border. It looks about 100x better than weeds. The seedlings came from my one mirabilis jalapa that I started from seed in 2009. The one that I thought died in the frost of 2010, that one came back and grew even larger than before, and produced many seedlings in the spring. Pulling up the seedlings isn’t fun, but easy and I tolerate it because I adore the little blooms. Their color is like candy for my eyes and the smell is just as sweet.

Speaking of four O’clocks, I saw them everywhere while on vacation in Istanbul. There were many different colored ones and even broken colors, but I didn’t detect as much of a scent on them as mine has.

I learned to properly deadhead my roses recently, and they rewarded me by growing like crazy and blooming up a storm. I should do this more often!

My rainlilies have been blooming more often than I’ve ever seen them, which makes me excited and giddy, and some of my daylilies are still blooming on and off.

Quick rundown on news from the back garden:

• the tomatoes are slowing down now because of the heat, but I snapped some photos of the ones I picked
• The new catnip is growing well with large leaves
• the mints (spearmint, chocolate mint) are still growing (in pots) though their leaf size is smaller than before which seems to be a trend when I grow mints
• Rosemary plants, lavender, and salvia greggi look great but no blooms (salvia greggi bloomed last year)
• My grass circle was looking good before my vacation, but now is overtaken with weeds, I don’t even know if any real grass still lives
• Elfin thyme died in the pot while I was on vacation
• Morning glories and moonflower vine grew like crazy, I even saw my first moon flower!
• I got a hibiscus that I need to re-pot, but it’s looking good and growing
• The meyer lemon lost all leaves and fruit while I was on vacation, but with the rains it put on all new leaves again, it’s starting to bloom now
• Black potato vine looks like it needed more water than what it got while I was gone, but they are alive
• Lemon thyme and English thyme, look okay in pots, but aren’t thriving
• Lemon balm is growing well
• As is lemon grass
• Lemon basil isn’t growing that well, I suspect the moonflower and morning glories are creating too much shade
• Mexican Oregano is also growing slower than I had hoped
• My other oregano is spreading but I’d like it to get fuller
• Black and Blue salvia is doing great
• Bronze Fennel died completely

I wish I had a lower failure rate, I seem to kill too many plants that I buy.

Related posts:

1. tomatoes in may
2. new plants and new garden design
3. shifting the blame

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 20th, 2010 at 6:16 am and is filed under garden, MrDavidPoe, photos, tina illustrates.