October bloom day on a Fertilizer Friday.

I haven't joined in with Bloom Day or Fertilizer Friday for awhile and thought this would be the perfect time to join in since they both land on the same day.  I always forget just how much is still going on in my garden in October.  If I think about the October garden in May I'm pretty sure I've forgotten by then that there are actually plants still flowering.  It's nice to be reminded that even though it's slowed down, it hasn't quit yet.  Several plants are blooming again, a few have been blooming for months.  I'm really trying to enjoy each flower this fall since all we keep hearing about is how bad a winter we are supposed to have this year.

 No surprise to see Sedum 'Autumn Joy' blooming now.  I've got several different Sedums blooming, I love watching how intense the red becomes as the flower ages.

 Chocolate Eupatorium/Joe Pye Weed has finally bloomed.

 The Impatiens will bloom until the first frost.  This is the time of year I really appreciate them.  They almost seem at their peak right now, the plants are big and full of flowers.

 Heuchera 'Caramel' as well as many other Heucheras are blooming again.  Hardy fuchsias are blooming behind them.

 Linaria was cut back and is now reblooming.

 Mexican Orange (Choysia ternata) is blooming for a second time.  It's first bloom is in late spring.

 Now this was a surprise, a Primula blooming.  Looks like the slugs found it already.

 Rose 'Abraham Darby' had a couple of blooms left although smaller than they would be in the summer.  'Lady Emma Hamilton' is full of flowers, and 'Tamora', 'Julia Child' and 'Iceberg' all have flowers.  'Honey Perfume' has quite a few buds too.

 Nicotiana grown from seed from Lona is still blooming as is the Nicotiana 'Limelight'.  I saw that a hummingbird had discovered these ones today.

If anyone remembers this little Meyer Lemon tree was overwintered inside last winter.  It bloomed and was hand pollinated by the Littlest Gardener back in December of 2009.  It looks just about ready to pick.  I saw that there are about 4 little baby lemons starting on it too.

To see what is blooming around the rest of the world visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day and Tootsie at Tootsie Time for Fertilizer Friday.

Fertilizer Friday, July 2nd.

This was definitely a good week for me, nothing like having your birthday stretch out for a whole week!  I enjoyed time with my husband and kids, dinner out with two of my sisters, plant shopping with my girls and breakfast out with my parents, kids, sister and nephews.  On my actual birthday I told my girls they had to come with me to as many nurseries as we could fit in, which was about 4.  I think going to Dairy Queen for dessert helped make it worthwhile.

During a day out last weekend my husband told me to pick something out for the garden.  I found this trellis with a bird finial.  I'm drawn to anything with birds on it.  Another thing I'm drawn to is something to grow a Clematis on, so it was an extra great gift.  This is the new bird trellis, it's about 6 feet tall.

One of my sister's gave me a gift card and the first thing I thought of was, "now I can go plant shopping!"  I found a new Clematis integrifolia 'Pamiat Serdtsa' which means "memory of the heart".  It will grow 4 - 6 feet.  I love when plants have special meanings behind their names.  This will always remind me of this birthday.

Here they are together in the bed behind the pond (although you can barely see the Clematis now).  I didn't plant any of the Poppies, Larkspur or Bachelor Buttons this year, all of them reseeded from last year.  The Larkspur that I started by winter sowing are not growing at all.  I think just letting them reseed on their own will be how I let things happen back here from now on.

A side view of the "driveway bed".  These plants take many beatings from basketballs, and aside from the roses all seem to handle it pretty well.  My poor unknown pink rose really got hit with rust and blackspot over the last week.  I cut a lot of the diseased branches off, being sure to not leave and leaves behind in the soil.  The 1/2 wine barrel has just been planted by the Littlest Gardener and I, she named it the "family garden".  We planted Cosmos, Zinnia, Agastache, Coneflowers, Coreopsis, Liatris, trailing Lobelia and million bells in it.  Now I have to decide where to put the other half of the barrel.

Fleabane in the driveway garden had to be staked up as usual.  I love how bright purple the flowers are.

Rose 'Tamora' is still too small to be seen from behind the Lavender in that bed so I have to get down and look for the blooms.

 Astillbe is just starting to bloom.

 This is the bed that I planted the rest of my new flowers.  The short rose struggling in the back is 'Gertrude Jekyll'.  I don't she likes this weather one bit.  In front I added Campanula 'Cherry Bells', Campanula 'Mouse Ears' and Scabiosa 'Beaujoulais Bonnets' - I hadn't seen or heard of this type before, the pictures of it are very pretty.  As I was looking at this bed I realized I have four different types of Campanula in this bed.  I think everything in this bed is awaiting some real hot and sunny days.  (Another day of 63 degrees and rain for today.)

And in case anyone remembers the little lemon on the Meyer lemon tree, you can see it's still hanging on!  It's a little bigger than a golf ball now, but I'm really rooting for it.

To see who else is flaunting their flowers this week visit Tootsie at Tootsie Time.
If I don't get a chance to post on July 4th I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday! 

Up high and down low - Fertilizer Friday.

I love this time of year, I look up I see flowers and I look down and I see flowers! And of course everywhere in between has flowers or buds that are very close to blooming. But, one plant I've been anxiously waiting to see bloom is my Lilac. I've been patiently driving past many houses in town admiring their Lilacs and trying not to feel too jealous. I wonder if some of the homeowners even pay attention to them. Are they going out and smelling them? Cutting fresh bouquets of them? Well, my patience has begun to pay off...my Lilac finally is deciding to bloom.

Lilac (Syringa vulgaris) 'Ludwig Spaeth' is a beautiful deep purple and it sure has been worth waiting for. I am so lucky that it decided to bloom on some lower branches this year which makes it much easier to smell. I even saw blooms on the lower back which will be perfect to cut and bring inside.

And also blooming up high is the Pink Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida). It's at it's peak right now. The windows at the front of the house look right out at it, and I find myself stopping and looking out frequently. It definitely has some years that bloom better than others, and this is a great year for it.

I just love those flowers!

At the base of the tree is Deutzia 'Pink Minor' which I showed about a week ago. It looks just perfect with the Dogwood, the flower colors are almost exactly the same.

The Iris from my sister's yard are getting flowers. Last year I just had a couple, this year I see quite a few buds coming up. I wasn't even sure when Irises bloomed here because I hadn't grown them before.

Saxifraga 'London Pride' has blooms! Linda brought me this when she came to visit. This is the neatest plant, I love the variegated leaves.

And over in the raised beds in our side yard up high the Fig tree 'Desert King' is leafing out and producing it's first crop of fruit which is called the breba crop. The breba crop grows on last years growth in the Spring. Another crop will grow later in the summer. 'Desert King' is a variety known to do well in the Pacific Northwest.

Down at the Figs feet are strawberries. This combination seems to do very well. The strawberries have lots of time to fruit before the leaves of the fig are fully leafed out.

Speaking of fruit the Meyer lemon tree which has been growing inside all winter in a pot has now moved back outside. That one little lemon is still growing (the Littlest Gardener's hand gives an idea of the size) and I'm guarding it with my life ☺

Fertilizer Friday is hosted each Friday by Tootsie at Tootsie Time. Visit her to join in or see who else is "flaunting their flowers."

January 2010 Garden Bloggers Bloom Day on a Fertilizer Friday.

Two days where gardeners share their blooms have coincided this Friday, today it's Bloom Day and Fertilizer Friday. Our weather has cooperated very well this past week and we've had nice mild weather, although very rainy, which allowed me to get a few pictures of the newest flowers. I've got some things blooming inside as well as outside this month.

Starting inside is my first Amaryllis 'White Christmas'. This was actually the last one to sprout, but the first one to bloom. It's got another stalk of flowers coming up as well.

The Meyer Lemon tree is blooming like crazy. The whole room smells so sweet from it. I'm not able to tell yet whether any lemons have started yet.

Outside more and more Pansies are blooming. These are in the window boxes under our dining room window.

Another Pansy in one of the deck planters.

Sarcococca ruscifolia or Sweet box has begun blooming! What a delicious smell these have. The flowers are tiny but very strongly scented. You can see the berries that form after the flowers have finished blooming.

Hellebores in the backyard are blooming. This plant is further along than the rest, but the others look like they should bloom in the next week or two.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day is hosted on the 15th of every month by Carol of May Dreams Gardens, visit her to see what she and other gardeners have blooming. Fertilizer Friday is hosted each Friday by Tootsie at Tootsie Time where she asks gardeners to "flaunt their flowers." Visit her as well to see other gardeners blooms.
I won't be around this weekend, but will be back to see everyone's blooms early next week!

Busy as a bee, hand pollinating lemon blooms.

We have some new indoor blooms here and do they smell heavenly! I woke up Christmas morning to find that the Meyer Lemon tree that I brought indoors had it's first bloom opened. What a great surprise! I've been trying to take good care of it since it is the first time I've overwintered one. It had been a gift from the California in laws last March and to be honest I didn't take very good care of it for the first several months. Towards the end of the summer I re-potted it and since bringing it in a few weeks ago I've put coffee grounds around the base of the plant as a nitrogen fertilizer and have allowed the soil to dry some between waterings. The Littlest Gardener has helped me mist it since it's very dry inside right now with the heat on.

Here are some of the delicious smelling blooms.

More yummy flowers.

I realize the word tree might be a bit of an overstatement for this plant, might be more like a Lemon "shrub". It has many open flowers and lots and lots more buds growing each day.

I had mentioned in an earlier post while reading up on the care of indoor citrus that since there wouldn't be any pollinators indoors we'd have to hand pollinate. From what I could find on hand pollinating a small artist's brush was the best thing to use, although I found one person that suggested using a finch feather. We decided to go with the paintbrush. Here you can see the brush being carefully brushed against the pollen in the flower.

And look who my little bee is... The Littlest Gardener was very excited to pretend she was a bee. I told her how bees pollinated the flowers by visiting different flowers and carrying pollen from one flower to another. She worked very intently on making sure she got to each flower.

I'm sure each flower was pollinated as if an entire hive of bees had been on the little tree. I figure this is our little indoor winter experiment. If we get fruit it will be very exciting, otherwise it was a good lesson on how important the different pollinators are in the world.

I did read that some people hand pollinate the flowers regularly until the flowers are spent. My little busy bee and I will keep you posted on how our lemons do. Until then I will be stopping by regularly to breathe in the wonderful smell of lemon blossoms.

Fertilizer Friday - Success inside.

Since the weather has been so cold I've barely been outside other than to and from the car. I guess it's good that I've been busy with getting ready for the holidays because I haven't had time to miss gardening. I realized last night that I hadn't even looked at a garden magazine or book in over week, for me that's a long time. I know once Christmas is over though the countdown to Spring will be on. Every year on December 26th I start waiting for it to hurry up and be Spring.

These sad Pansies represent how the majority of my yard is looking now, the Carex 'Prairie Fire' in the center looks great though. I didn't even bother to look around the front yard since it doesn't see much sun during the Winter months. The Hellebores are still flat to the ground and no chance of them blooming early like I thought they might.

A frozen Water Hawthorn flower. You can see a fish that was resting under the ice nearby in the upper left corner.

I don't think the waterfall has ever been this frozen. The way the water runs through the ice is really pretty looking though and at least the fish are able to get some oxygen still.

My very little Meyer Lemon tree is by a sunny glass door now. It's gotten several flower buds on it since I brought it in. I've been reading up on citrus trees indoors and came across something I probably wouldn't have thought of on my own. I'll need to hand pollinate the flowers with a paintbrush since we don't have any bees inside to do the job for me. I've never overwintered a Lemon tree so I'll be doing lots of reading to make sure it survives inside.

I mentioned my very slow to sprout Amaryllis. It finally started to sprout a few days ago. I forgot to keep track of which bulb was which when I planted them so it'll just be a surprise when it opens.

Tootsie hosts Fertilizer Friday each week. Visit her to see what blooming other places around the world.