I miss my summer garden

[FrancSevin]

Nice! Are those crepe myrtles that I see blooming?
My crepe myrtles seem to be okay, but I'm worried about my azaleas. Some seem to be okay, but some not so much.

No, I do have Crepe Myrtles but they are currently cut off at ground level having suffered the -15F cold last winter.

Those are Red Bud trees native to the Midwest. They bloom in spring. Crepe Myrtles bloom here in St Louis about late July and August.

I'm betting a lot of crepe Myrtles, even in Texas & Louisiana, are hurting.

Post 23 has my wild Plum blooming. After the Red Buds do their thing the tree next to the red Tulips blooms those beautiful white Dogwood blossoms. A large American Lilac sits under a big Walnut tree and is now blooming as well. Mid May the European Honey suckle fills the air with perfume blossoms.

I don't show it but I have a Bing cherry in bloom other side of the yard. Next to it is a Japanese Dogwood which waits until everyone else is done and can show off alone. From about mid March until midsummer, I have one tree or another in bloom

Your Azaleas should come back fine although blooms may be small or sparse. Give them a dose of Agricultural sulfur as soon
as you can along with some bloom buster from Miracle Grow. They have a liquid version (LiquaFeed (tm)) that works fast. Lowes carries it.
This should be done late February here in the Midwest, earlier in the south.

I am technically Zone 6 but at the northern extreme of it.

Where are you located?

 

[FrancSevin]

Grown, baby, grow

I did some research today after watching my cats eat the celery leaves. Turns out celery is good for cats. In fact you can cut stack pieces and feed it to them as treats.
Mine eat it whenever they have stomach issues. Good to know it is safe and even of benefit to them.

Can Cats Eat Celery? Is Celery Safe For Cats? - CatTime

Can cats eat celery? The short answer is yes. The vegetable actually has a lot of health benefits for a cat, such as its high vitamin and fiber content.

cattime.com

 

[Ceee]

I'm betting a lot of crepe Myrtles, even in Texas & Louisiana, are hurting.

Yeah, they have been hurting a little but not like the azaleas. I was thinking I was going to have to cut some of the azaleas back to the ground. I'm going to give them a little more time though. I'll have to check out the sulfur recommendation.

Where are you located?

East Texas

 

[FrancSevin]

Yeah, they have been hurting a little but not like the azaleas. I was thinking I was going to have to cut some of the azaleas back to the ground. I'm going to give them a little more time though. I'll have to check out the sulfur recommendation.




East Texas

Then your Crepe Myrtle should be bruised but okay. Down there it grows to be graceful midsized trees. You might have some deadwood from the cold snap.

Here in St louis Crepe Myrtle is almost considered and annual.

 

[FrancSevin]

Violets like stars fill my yard.

 

[Ceee]

Very pretty violets!

This celery plant seems to be spreading left/right instead of growing upright, may be because of more sun.




I bought a 6/8" croton, so I had to do a little switcharoo on the pots. The croton is coming into the house at the end of the summer, so I wanted it to be in the nicer pot. The celery got the growers pot.

Good to know about the celery being ok for cats. I have one cat who thinks celery is the Call of the Wild.

 

[FrancSevin]

As Spring Progresses, so does my garden.



Bags of mulch to go down when I finish planting new holly trees in that space to the right . Lumber is for decking along the back fence.


One of my side gardens coming awake.

The white blossoms to the extreme left are mountain laurel from the Rockies. The redbud is from Missouri.

The dark Green Euonymus stays green all year.

 

[FrancSevin]

Very pretty violets!

This celery plant seems to be spreading left/right instead of growing upright, may be because of more sun.




I bought a 6/8" croton, so I had to do a little switcharoo on the pots. The croton is coming into the house at the end of the summer, so I wanted it to be in the nicer pot. The celery got the growers pot.

Good to know about the celery being ok for cats. I have one cat who thinks celery is the Call of the Wild.

Cee, The growth you see is natural. The long stalk celery you buy is trained to grow up and create the vegetable you see in stores.

Now if you want that, use a 3" tube to force upward growth and whiter stalks. You can make them out of newsprint but only as long as the height of the plant. As it grows replace it with a long, taller tube. Keep adding tubing inch by inch until about 10 inches.

However, if you want a house plant from which to harvest leaves, let it grow naturally.

 

[Ceee]

However, if you want a house plant from which to harvest leaves, let it grow naturally

I'm just going to go natural.

Your redbuds are really pretty. I had one, but the wind blew the roots out of the soil, and I had to have it cut down. I think around here the roots are very shallow.

 

[FrancSevin]

We had snow today. Officially two inches of the stuff but none of it stuck. Tonight we get 25% F. UGH!
The dogwoods and redbuds will be fine. The violets close to the ground will do OK. But I have to bring in all my tenders like Fern and Hibiscus.
Green house heater will be on all night.

I have yellow roses that, sadly, will just suffer.

No signs of life yet from my Crepe Myrtle. This cold snap won't be helpful.

 

[Ceee]

Container drift rose:



This thing is full of blooms. Maybe the freeze did it some good. I still have some other shrubs that are looking pretty pitiful.

 

[FrancSevin]

Container drift rose:



This thing is full of blooms. Maybe the freeze did it some good. I still have some other shrubs that are looking pretty pitiful.

I lost my container yellow roses last winter.

Those are lovely.

 

[Ceee]

I can't stand to sit still. I re-potted the celery into another container and added a little girly thing to the pot. The growers' pot was ugly. The celery plant is going back out into full sun.

I'm just biding my time until I can get down to the garden center.

 

[FrancSevin]

In this picture are three Alberta spruce trees which I moved to a new site last March

The wife has decided that one of them needs to be moved again. It's the one in the middle.

We have had rain slow and steady for three days now. And cool temps. So I'm going to try to move it tonight.

Most of the trees in my yard have been moved at least once from their original positions. Like they are some kind of furniture. This will be the third time for this poor fellow.

Tree and root ball weigh in at about 200Lbs. Maybe more. I cannot do this one bare root.

If I don't post later tonight it's because I'm in hospital or mortuary.

Remains to be seen.

 

[FrancSevin]

I can't stand to sit still. I re-potted the celery into another container and added a little girly thing to the pot. The growers' pot was ugly. The celery plant is going back out into full sun.

I'm just biding my time until I can get down to the garden center.

We have rabbits in the back yard. I have placed 4 celery plants in the ground for them. They seem to like it.
So does the possum from time to time.


I've done the same with leaf lettuce stalks. They will also sprout and grow if planted in the right soil medium..

 

[Ceee]

Most of the trees in my yard have been moved at least once from their original positions. Like they are some kind of furniture. This will be the third time for this poor fellow.

Oh my gosh. I can't even imagine moving trees around once they're established. I hope you find a permanent and suitable home this time. Your backyard is beautiful!

 

[FrancSevin]

Ironically, the new home is only ten feet away. But the wife says it belongs there instead of where it is.

In this case, I'm the gardener, she's the artist. I'm just the hired help.

That said,,,The pay is lousy but,,,,;the perks are worth it.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

We're gearing up to finally start planting hopefully this week. Ours will strictly be vegetables. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get the raised garden beds filled with soil.

 

[EastTexFrank]

After the success of our COVID garden last year my wife decided that she wanted another one. I took out three of the old raised beds and replace them with three new ones. She has the tomatoes and peppers planted and set up a new herb bed.

The freeze back in February totally decimated my camellias. Those trees were probably at least about 40 years old and 15 - 20 feet high. I don't know many I have lost altogether but some are putting out new leaves. I'll leave them a while longer to see what happens but either way, there's a bunch of trimming to be done.

Franc, your back yard looks as if it would be a pleasure to sit in.

I have a permanent rose garden and all but one made it through the winter. They needed some severe pruning this spring but they were absolutely spectacular.

 

[FrancSevin]

Well, Trucking company didn't come by to pick up a hot order until almost 8:00 Never got to do the tree move. Maybe Tomorrow.

 

[FrancSevin]

I moved the tree, finally. It seems to have survived it,,,so far.
Cathy now wants a bush moved to "balance" the space vacated by moving the Alberta spruce.

..........it never ends.

 

[Ceee]

I've done the same with leaf lettuce stalks. They will also sprout and grow if planted in the right soil medium..

I've been very happy with what you can do with a basically free end piece of celery. I always have pots and potting soil, so that's about as cheap as it gets. I've already had to cut it back a couple of times. It's just a pretty green patio plant. I may have to try the leaf lettuce too.

The freeze back in February totally decimated my camellias. Those trees were probably at least about 40 years old and 15 - 20 feet high. I don't know many I have lost altogether but some are putting out new leaves. I'll leave them a while longer to see what happens but either way, there's a bunch of trimming to be done.

My one camellia made it, never lost any leaves. This thing, however, don't even know what it is, lost all its leaves and turned totally brown. It has always been evergreen. I was ready to have it ripped out, but....

It's still ugly, but it's trying to get there.

 

[FrancSevin]

I've been very happy with what you can do with a basically free end piece of celery. I always have pots and potting soil, so that's about as cheap as it gets. I've already had to cut it back a couple of times. It's just a pretty green patio plant. I may have to try the leaf lettuce too.

My one camellia made it, never lost any leaves. This thing, however, don't even know what it is, lost all its leaves and turned totally brown. It has always been evergreen. I was ready to have it ripped out, but....

It's still ugly, but it's trying to get there.

That looks like Euonymus. Dark green leathery leaves. Green all winter?

My Crepe myrtle is just now showing some signs of life. At least one of the three bushes has some new sprouts.

 

[Ceee]

That looks like Euonymus.

That looks right.

My two crepe myrtles are doing great. All the azaleas made it, except maybe one. I'm still holding out some hope for that one.

 

[Ceee]

I'm not sure what these are either, but I have a row them on the side of my house. I thought they were goners for sure, but I'm not so sure now. I had a guy come out to look at them. He got down on his knees, broke a piece of the bottom, and told me...no green, have to be ripped out. I'm not so sure right now. Maybe he was thinking, more moola for ripping them out.



They are greening out from the bottom, so now I'm thinking about just having the tops trimmed off so that the bottoms get more sunlight and will hopefully grow back.

 

[FrancSevin]

I'm not sure what these are either, but I have a row them on the side of my house. I thought they were goners for sure, but I'm not so sure now. I had a guy come out to look at them. He got down on his knees, broke a piece of the bottom, and told me...no green, have to be ripped out. I'm not so sure right now. Maybe he was thinking, more moola for ripping them out.



They are greening out from the bottom, so now I'm thinking about just having the tops trimmed off so that the bottoms get more sunlight and will hopefully grow back.

I don't recognize them. But yes, unless you see green grosth on the upper branches, cutting them back would likely in courage recovery.

Also, if you don't it will be tedious to remove the dead branches once new growth occurs. You might try cutting one thick branch, and see if it is alive.

 

[FrancSevin]

Last night the wife and I stayed outside until almost midnight watching this scene.

 

[FrancSevin]

We acquired a 3 toed Box turtle today. About 7 years old it was caught in the railings on our employee's pagoda decking. Apparently it tried to go through and go it stuck. Under a pile of leaves I only discovered it's plight because I was using a leaf blower to clean the deck.

Barely alive, it must have been stuck there for some time. We had a wading pool with some water in it for the grandchild so I put her in there. She submerged her head, in haled and spit water and then took a long drink. After that, some apple pieces and three large grapes, she was moving about freely in the pool.

This is not and endangered species but it is the State reptile. Whatever that means. You're not supposed to make pets of them from the wild. However, having saved her life and the missing left hind leg suggested this was a rescue. So I brought it home and placed it in our backyard arboretum. Fresh corn on the cob, peaches and some kale, all by a small bubbling pool of freshwater, she was happy as a clam.

Now wandering about the backyard when not napping.

The kids named her "Appleton"

Captured Turtles, when removed from their home, desperately seek to return. Even if in captivity for many years. 17 miles of streets and super highways, it would be a death walk for her. But there is absolutely no way out of my yard. Solid cedar fence on a stone foundation. So, hopefully she stays safe here.

 

[Ceee]

I love to do this kind of stuff. I had the one celery plant that I've cut back many times. I saved an old celery butt and a newer celery butt and planted them all together. I was surprised that the older celery butt leafed out before the newer celery butt. I am a piddler.

 

[FrancSevin]

I love to do this kind of stuff. I had the one celery plant that I've cut back many times. I saved an old celery butt and a newer celery butt and planted them all together. I was surprised that the older celery butt leafed out before the newer celery butt. I am a piddler.

What a pleasant potting. Aside from being the product of a vegetable scrap, in and of itself quite lovely.

The view out the window ain't bad either. Wow!