Great news about all of your new plants, and the sweet peas, too, Pat!! Mine are growing like crazy now. I know I was way too late getting them started this year, so I hope they actually bloom before the heat really hits. The sprinkles we got here were so refreshing, but now the wind is here to dry it all up again. :(

I don't have any slug bait, so I've been going out every pre-dawn morning with the scissors to protect my little hollyhocks that I grew from seed. Slowly, but surely, I'm making a dent in those little suckers.

Planted out some Achillea yesterday which I also started from seed. The gophers got my last 2 plants, one of which was rather large. I've got plenty more now. :)

I'm going to start some cinnamon basil today or tomorrow, as well as some Royal Carpet Alyssum. This seed thing is SO addicting! LOL

Found out Mom had a crazy accident this weekend. She was out planting stuff with help from Malone the pug. He was so handsome, his tummy splayed out amongst some seedlings, she just had to bend down to pet him. Unfortunately, she forgot about the century plant spikes, and one went in RIGHT next to her eye, about 1 1/2 inches deep!! Ack!! Amazingly, she had a only a cut and a black eye to show for it, since it basically bounced off the bone and traveled under the skin surface. I don't even want to think about what could have happened. I told her that if she (or Dad) doesn't cut those spikes off, she should have the pruners ready for me the next time I go up there. :)

You all stay safe now!

Brenda

So sorry to hear about your Mom's encounter with the Century Plant. I think I've eliminated anything with spikes or thorns on it for that very reason. Well the Sweet Peas still look a bit puny and the one volunteer I told you about absolutely refuses to climb the trellis, just wants to sprawl along the ground. Last year I bought some Lemon Thyme, it smells so good! The plants have grown to about 10 inches across, I'm wondering if I could take a sharp blade & cut them & put them in other areas. I'm thinking that as a ground cover it might reduce the weed problem, any ideas? I've also got Alyssum in a flat that I started sometime ago for the same purpose.

Mom's healing nicely, although she's been sending Dad on errands so people don't think she's an abused woman. LOL

Not sure about the lemon thyme and weeds, Pat. I have some in a pot that's very happy, and if it continues to grow like it has been, I'm going to put it in the ground. Love that scent!

Slowly but surely, my sweet peas are growing and TRYING to attach themselves to things. They're just not quite tall enough yet for me to point them in the right direction. :D

Brenda

Isn't today a NICE day:) I'm going outside and transplant at least 3 maybe 6 mini roses. I built a beautiful mini garden for them last summer and fall. I just didn't realize it was on the north side of the house:( All that hard work.... Then I guess I'm going to put azaleas in that bed, they should like it there. I just have to find room for 22 minis out in the rest of the new garden and the front flower beds..... You can't know how disappointed I am, how proud I was of that. You know how hot it was last year. This was built when it was in the 100's. I babied those roses through temps of that. Now I have to find a home for a climber I put in that's going to cover 20 to 30 feet. Perfect for when I thought my mini garden was viable, not now that I need that space. I can't even get to the companion plants now, I've got to find homes for all these minis first. Not how I thought I was going to spend spring. Oh well...

Hey Brenda, sorry about your Mom, I bet that hurt, she's lucky she didn't put her eye out! I bet she does have a bit of a black eye or scratch.

My husband did that a couple of years ago on New Years Day though. He wears glasses is the only thing that saved his eye. He raised up and I large metal file with the pointed end out fell off a shelf at the same time he lost his balance and he ran it into the corner of his eye. The glasses saved him from putting his eye out. He did sever his tear duct though and had to have surgery a couple of weeks later. There wasn't a single optholmolgist on duty in 4 counties around us on that holiday, they were all on vacation. The ER doc sewed the flap shut and made him an appt to see one after the outside healed. He said he could feel air from his nose through his eye, or something like that. It still bothers him somewhat today. Weird injury, they interviewed me in the hospital to make sure I hadn't done it to him, LOL. Not uncommon, he knows that better than anyone, he's retired sheriff's sgt.

I've got 3 clematis planted now too in pots, I'm curious to see if they'll grow. I can grow just about anything in the ground. Me and pots are a different story. I planted two red hostas yesterday just for fun too, I liked the color. You really won't see anything thing else in my garden that's red though:) My alyssum I planted really started growing with the rain. The seeds I scattered started growing the other day, that is until the cats started getting in that area. Dumb cats.

I'm glad to hear that your Mom's going to be alright. I can't tell you the number of times I've been stabbed in the bum. I've tried talking to the Agaves; threatening them; and cursing them... all to no avail. They stab me when I'm not looking..... sometimes I swear I hear them softly laughing.... or maybe that's the fairies laughing.

Westelle, I thought I'd remind you that Agave and most all other prickly stuff only understand Spanish! LOL!

And I forgot to mention that my mom does wear glasses, and those are what saved her eye, too! But her injury was to the outside of her face, not inside, like your hubby's Leslie! Yikes!

LOL!!! @ Spanish-speaking Agaves! I guess Dad cut off every one of the pointies, so we're all safe now. However, I did remind Mom that Dad can't very well cut off the top of the inside of the fridge (where she hits her head often while browsing), so she needs to be more careful! :D

I'll comment more tomorrow on those awesome beds you prepped and all of your roses, Leslie!

Brenda

Pat, just wondering how your sweet peas are doing! I experimented with mine, not only planting some in the ground, but putting a couple in a pot, too. I'm amazed at the difference in growth between them! My potted ones are well over twice the size of the ones in the ground, and much healthier looking, as well.

Mom reports that her potted ones are much more robust, too.

Brenda

Hi Brenda! The one s.p. that voluntarily(?) came up finally decided to humor me and connected itself to the lattice & is doing fine. It gets so much shade though that I doubt I'll see to many flowers. The pot idea sounds promising, think I'll do a bit of transplanting today. This gardening, for me, seems to be experimenting till I get it right, but then when the results turn out well, I'm like a little kid in a candy shop. I did replant all the Calla Lily bulbs, but no sign of activity. From what I've read on the forum, everyone elses are either blooming now or have finished. I think I'm between that rock & a hard spot. Maybe to late for them. Three of last years Dahlias that I didn't dig up, are sprouting, the new ones haven't done anything yet, but it's a tad early for them.
Spent the whole morning pulling out weed grass from the seams in all this concrete, sure looks better. Well lady, that's my story, so how was your day! Pat

I can't remember if I ever showed a pic of my mini garden or not. Here's it about last Nov. It's currently half torn apart now, I'm getting the roses out of there. I was so proud of this:) I hate doing something twice, especially if I liked it the first time....
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WOW Leslie, that is one sweet rose garden! How come you're tearing it apart? I've never had much luck with minature roses, but my regulars are going like gang busters. All of the roses were established here when I bought this house. Some of them, I'm told, are over 30 years old! Haven't a clue as to their names, but I sure enjoy the blooms that I get almost all year. A lady at one of our local nurseries laughed when I told her my growing ritual, but she came by one day, took a look and wrote down instructions. We both got a laugh as I told her this was my "do it or die" method. We just all have to remember that what works for one may not be suitable for another. Anxious to see what you do with the garden now. By the way, I've been meaning to ask you about your "dragon"! Did you get this at a local nursery or from a catalog & if a catalog, which one is it? Pat

Pat, I think I mentioned on another thread the callas I had in a pot with some Irish moss? (Memory, you know...) Well, after the moss died, I emptied the calla bulbs out of the old pot, and planted them all in a new, bigger one about a month or so ago. They started sending up shoots about a week ago. I hope yours sprout soon! Sometimes, things are a little behind up there compared to down here (according to some plants Mom & I share in common, anyway).

I'm with Pat, Leslie! Why are you having to take those roses out? It's such a pretty planting area, too! :(

Brenda

Ah well, from the time we bought the house I wanted this spot for my garden. That's my bedroom window, I wanted to smell the roses when the window is open. My husband neglected to tell my that's the north side of the house! They only get 4 to 6 hours of sun there. They all did ok last fall but this spring the roses in the middle and back half just aren't getting enough sun:( So instead of happily buying all the other roses that I had spent all winter making lists of, I'm finding where I can move all these minis to that will fit in with the plants I've already got in.... I'm majorly bummed about this because then I've got to figure out what to plant in here. I think I'm going to move my azaleas in here and figure out what shade plants that would like it there also and that I'd like it. Thing is I don't have any enthusiasm for it. I hate doing something twice, I sweated buckets last Sept to create this garden rototilling up the clay and amending it and then planting the roses in 100 degree heat and babying them though all that heat. It's just killing me to do this and my mini garden is a total disaster now. All the roses were budded out and so far I haven't lost any. I had 25 bushes in there, those were what I was freaking out on the freeze with. That frosted in the 3 week freeze and the frost built there like snow and never melted. I covered the whole bed with the frost sheets and it worked like a green house. I didn't loose any roses, a couple broke some stems because one of my cats walked on it though. I've still got 10 roses to move.

So, I'm open to suggestions what you'd put in there....

Pat, I got the dragon at a nursery, it's really heavy made out of concrete or stone. It'd cost an arm and a leg to ship that. I've seen something similar made out of resin though. Most of what I found in nurseries were alligators.
I put a link to one I did find in a catalog that isn't too expensive. This particular catalog has all kinds of dragons. They've got a dragon gazing ball I'd like but it's $125. Can't do that anytime soon. Need too many plants still:) However this lawn dragon similar to mine is only 39.95. Mine cost a little over $100 and was a late birthday/Christmas gift:) If I had found this one first I probably would have gotten it. By the way, the alyssum is spreading nice all around the dragon:)

I love calla lillies, I have two dwarf ones. I can't keep the cats from peeing on them and so they don't look very nice, they're a little ragged but they keep blooming:)

Thanks for the complements though on the mini bed, not any longer there like that!

Here is a link that might be useful: dragon

Oh, I'd forgotten about that bed facing north, Leslie! That is such a bummer! You know, my mom grows a lot of roses, and she doesn't amend her hard clay soil at all for them. Of course, I know next to nothing about roses, so maybe the miniatures need amended soil. :)

One plant I've always wanted to grow, which takes partial to full sun, is Helleborus. The flowers are gorgeous!

I've got a little north-facing bed that has some calla in it, and I used to have some Tradescantia (Moses-in-the-cradle) in there, until the freakishly cold temps got it this year. Also in that bed, and going strong, is some Hakonechloa (Japanese forest grass 'Aureola'). I received some Arum italicum as a gift from a neighbor, and I'm going to put it in that bed, too.

I have another Tradescantia (spiderwort 'Sweet Kate') that's in full shade in another area of the yard - golden green foliage with electric purple blooms. It made it through the freezing temps just fine, although it does die back in the winter, regardless.

Brenda

Brenda, I had a whole collection of Hellebores that I got at a garden club meeting one day. They bloomed and were so pretty! Couldn't figure out why I was breaking out in a rash till a lady told me one day that Hellebores put out a pollen type substance that can cause this. So I made a special effort to stay just with the H's and sure enough, about an hour later I had to go in, shower and put on some allergy cream. I have since removed them, but I still like them. This seems to be the only plant that I have a reaction to.Pat

I love spiderwort, I couldn't find any locally and sent off for one plant last year. It was expensive too. It died back in the freeze and came back. It did that in the mtns every year too, died and came back. All my plants are very young, 9 months to almost a month old:)
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I amend all the soil here, heavily, that whole mini bed had been tilled and amended and still planted in 4 inches of Miracle Gro rose soil:) I have a lot of money invested in soil, DH is complaining about that, he was at Lowes the other day when I bought some more, LOL* I'd always heard where you can grow weeds you can grow a rose:)

I'll make a note and look up the others you mentioned. I have to plant that bed fast before the lab notices it's getting empty, it's in the shade and the soil is very nice and moist and COOL. He's looking for shade, he's hot.... He thinks it's still fully planted right now because I have the front row of roses still in with cat scats if he steps in it's going to hurt....well that was for the cats, but if it'll keep him out, he weighs 120 pounds! He gets used to being in there again he'll kill anything I plant in there he's so big. He's already torn off the front part of two of the roses in the large garden trying to lay on the cool dirt near them.

Pat, that's terrible to be allergic to something that you like to have. Well that made it easier to limit one plant from your garden....

Ugh! I should have known that Hellebores were too good to be true, Pat. Hence the name, I bet! (Typo - I meant part to full shade, not sun. :D)

I know what you mean about dogs digging for cooler soil, Leslie. Before I started gardening about 5 or 6 years ago, we had a retriever/chow mix on a runner out front. Forget trying to plant anything. You really had to watch where you walked, between him and the gophers. :)

Beautiful spiderwort!

Brenda