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ljrmiller

Highlights of my garden--Sparks, NV

ljrmiller
17 years ago

The back garden: Lilium superbum is blooming. I think I need more of them. It has small, pendent, bright orange turk's cap blooms. Lovely! Echinacea 'Sundown' didn't make it. That's the cats' fault. They used that spot for a pottybox and the Echinacea got dug up in the process. Eh. I'll try again in another location.

The front garden: I never knew Sempervivums had such COOL flowers! Cute! Cute! Cute! Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue' survived the winter, as did one Salvia farinacea 'Victoria'. OTOH, my Salvia pachyphylla is failing fast. I guess it's kind of a short-lived plant.

Comments (11)

  • ljrmiller
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    First grapes this year, too, if the birds don't get to 'em first. I wasn't growing them *for* the grapes--this is on Vitis vinifera 'Purpurea', which I grow because it has beautiful burgundy leaves, but hey...I'll be happy with fruit as a bonus (as long as it's edible).

  • redneckgardener
    17 years ago

    I am so hoping my grapes make it this year. They survived the winter and produced a few leaves, but since my drip line is relatively new, I hoping that is the difference in surviving and THRIVING!!! (have no idea if they will be edible, should they produce fruit, either!)
    Please keep us tuned in Lisa!

  • ljrmiller
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    I tried one of my grapes this weekend. It was still kind of hard, which meant it wasn't completely ripe. Right now they are pretty bitter and acrid and not worth the eating. I'll try again when they are softer.

    Lots more lilies in bloom--Orienpets, 'Citronella' and some Asiatic hybrids, mostly.

  • seacliffsand
    17 years ago

    My three year old grape vine has grapes, too!! How do I tell when they are ripe?

  • sarahornejewett
    17 years ago

    I'm jealous of everyone with grapes! My vines went in last year, so I have a way to go.

    My garden is new (we moved in last March and there was nothing in the back), but so far my crabapples and cherry trees look nice. I've been eating cherry tomatoes all week, and anxiously eyeing my Early Girls. I planted Hill Billies and Genovese(?) tomatoes too, and I'm going to cross my fingers and hope I'm not eating green tomatoes in October ;)

    I put in a currant that is doing quite well, and my raspberries finally seem to have settled in. The other thing that seems to grow well is tumbleweed, but that's another story!

  • redneckgardener
    17 years ago

    Well, sadly my grapes faced death by bunny. They are back to nubs in the ground again. I might just have to give up on this endeavor until I rabbit proof better.
    Oh well, when I let the composters (horses) graze the yard, they eye-ball my ornamental grasses. I have to sit on the back patio reading a book with a water hose in my hand. They get to close and they get 'shot'. Guess, I better get to fencing off that area too......
    This is getting depressing.

  • loganlady
    17 years ago

    I am very glad the bunnies leave us alone. Jack rabbits are all around...but the fences are keeping them out (so far). I've already picked some peaches..birds got the last of them before we did. I have appples growing, pomergranite...no grapes. Vege garden is growing well. Just picked my first tomato-yummy. I used the silver reflective mulch in one bed and it works so much better then regular mulch. Confuses the bugs and birds too. I have tomatoes, peppers, basil, oregano, zuchini & yellow squash, cucumbers. Still have some roses blooming and looking so beautiful. I am getting into the mode of live and let die. If the plant is dying..oh well..let it die...too hot to worry about it. I do have lots of "volunteer" tumbleweeds trying to grow all over (LOL)...I just keep on top of them pulling them out-over and over and over again. Is the tumbleweed the Nevada state plant??? LOL.

  • ljrmiller
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    After a summer where I just didn't have enough energy to do more than water what needed watering, I confess I don't have any more energy to plant bulbs this Fall, either. No matter--it was a terrible harvest in Holland this year, and the few bulbs available just aren't as nice as in previous years. Instead, I'll just watch the Colchicums and true Fall Crocus bloom and watch the leaves turn color.

  • mohavemaria
    17 years ago

    I too am glad a summer of running around trying to make sure everything had enough water to keep from keeling over in the heat is over. And we got a great rain storm. This time of year I won't have to water anything in the ground for two weeks.

    Did your Salvia pachyphylla die? I have a big one I've had for several years that does great here. We put in two more the following year next to the existing one so they had the same conditions and the two new ones died off when it got hot. Go figure. I also grew them at our other house in Las Vegas and had no problems and they do have the coolest pink and purple bracted blooms.

    I just planted the fall crocus savaticus, the saffron crocus. Is that the fall one you have? Saffron is so expensive and the idea of crocus in the fall appealing so we're giving them a shot. Lets see, stamens off the flowers of twelve bulbs, I wonder if that will be enough for one pot of yellow rice?

    Happy gardening, Maria

  • ljrmiller
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Maria, my Salvia pachyphylla gave up the ghost this year. I'll just get a new one next spring.

    The Crocus sativus I've planted, but it doesn't tend to repeat bloom. It's very pretty, but not too reliable, at least here in the North. Crocus speciosus is doing extremely well for me--absolutely GORGEOUS, as well as the Colchicums. I plan to get a lot more Crocus speciosus next year, as well as (not surprisingly) more Colchicums.

    Right now the spectacular plants are my Japanese Maples. This is the first year that they ALL colored up--I guess they take a few years to mature and/or settle in. Red ones, orange ones, burgundy ones, yellow ones...

  • ljrmiller
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    No more "highlights" for a while--the frosts have knocked everything down and my garden looks absolutely disreputable. That's the downside of having a lot of deciduous shrubs/trees and lots of herbaceous perennials. My garden just looks dowdy until the bulbs start to bloom in spring.

    If anyone craves Japanese Maples, I strongly recommend Lake's Nursery in Newcastle, CA (not too far off I-80, but you will swear you got lost before you get there). They have lots and lots of 1-gallon trees, many 2-gallon, as well as larger trees. I buy the 1-gallon trees because I have lots of patience and I think they acclimatize better. The 1-gallon trees cost $19.95 each this year, and I think that's a good price for named grafted varieties. Never mind that I want them ALL.

    Lisa

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