Not exactly the frozen tundra!

 It was a beautiful weekend here in the Carolinas. We had highs above 70 with a nice gentle wind. I got the weekend started on Friday by washing my truck. I do this once a year, wether it needs it or not :D. Then I got up early Saturday and started another of my least favorite things to do, cut back the ornamental grasses in the gardens. I have six very large clumps of variegated grass, three at the end of the driveway by the street, and three in the circle in the drive up near the house. If you've looked through the pictures on the blog, I'm sure they are in several backgrounds. They get about 6' tall and about as wide. I also have some smaller grasses in the street bed, one is a zebra grass and the other I honesty don't recall.  I use my electric hedge trimmers to cut them. It does a pretty good job, even on the tougher stalks. The problem being that the end of the driveway is some 225' from the house, so I have to string out three extension cords to get there. I park my truck next to the grasses and pile it all in the bed and take them around back to the compost bins. There I mix them with some barn cleanings and wait.

The camelia japonica, Mr Sam, is blooming on the south side of the house. The blooms have a very tactile sense about them. They are so very smooth and perfect, and so very soft to the touch.  Last year it bloomed at this same time, maybe even earlier as I recall, and I had thought it was fooled by a warm spell. I am starting to think this is it's destined time to bloom. 

The lenten roses are full of buds. They should be opening any day now.

Here you see my small attempts at what is termed 'winter sowing'. I take perrenial seeds and pot them up in these mini greenhouses (I've poked holes in the tops and bottoms of the containers) and set them outdoors. This way they are exposed to the elements and those that require winter chilling, will get it. They will sprout whenever they are ready. I've had some sprout very early in the process, and some not until late March. I will them transplant the seedlings either into individual pots or plant them straigtht out into the gardens. This year I have some echinacea, some oriental lilly, and two varieties of balloon flowers sowed. All of the seeds were harvested from my garden this fall.

As you can see, here in Carolina, the jounquils come up in early winter. They have done this every year we have been here with no ill effects on the flowers. You should plant these near where you will pass by and enjoy their wonderful fragrance. I have these planted below some Burkwood Viburnums which bloom slightly earlier than the jonquils, so I get several weeks of fragrance in the spring as I come in from the driveway.

Here are the two varieties of violas I am growing this winter. I like them better than their more heralded cousins the pansy. Violas are far more easy to care for and more hardy too.

On Sunday I got the garden ready for planting of the snap peas next weekend. I put up a couple stakes and strung some old deer netting between them. The peas I sowed indoors last week have sprouted, and will be ready to go in the ground next weekend. I also decided to try the Alaska pea again this year. I soaked those seeds overnight Friday and sowed them on Saturday, again indoors. I also potted up some more cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and spinach seedlings Saturday. One more sowing should do the trick for this spring.
 It will soon be time to get very busy with the seed starting. I started some datura seeds I collected from the garden this year. They come from a hybrid, so there is no telling what I'll get. One of the fun things about gardening, and growing from seed, is the not knowing.

Dog days of summer

The heat is here with a vengeance. We had several days over 100 degrees this weekend and it felt like an oven outside. If not for the swimming pool, I would not have ventured outside at all. But I do some gardening in my swim trunks and when I get too hot, I dive right in the pool. Most of my work was in the veggie garden, pulling some weeds, harvesting tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers and peppers. I pulled up what was left of the beans. The deer had eaten the biggest part of them and I decided to pull the rest up and prepare the bed for some late season tomatoes.

 I made three batches of salsa this weekend, one on Friday, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Each batch makes 10 pint jars. I use the recipe from the Ball canning book for Fiesta Salsa but I add a tablespoon of chili powder and a teaspoon of cayenne pepper. I had a quart of tomatoes left over and put them up as well. I'll use them to make chili at some future date.


Here is the hydrangea after having been dead headed. I filled an entire wheelbarrow with faded blooms from just one bush. I expect to have a small rebloom on this bush later this summer.

These two still have the fading blooms on them. 

This is my angel wing begonia. These plants are easy to grow and easier to propagate.

Out in the gardens, the coreopsis is blooming.

This Diane hibiscus is having it's best year ever for me. For some reason the JBs are leaving it alone this year (relatively speaking of course). It has pure white blooms and is nice because it is sterile and won't self seed itself everywhere like some hibiscus will.

Here you see the Becky Shasta daisies blooming. I have these planted all around the house. My DW loves to bring these in to the house as cut flowers. They last a long time.

The black eyed susans have started to bloom as well.

And despite having been deadheaded twice this spring the mums have started to bloom. I plan on shearing these back after the bloom and maybe I'll get a fall bloom as well.

The Oriental lillies are blooming out front.

And the Lucifer crocosmia is blooming as well. The hummingbirds love this flower!

Here you can see the liatris (purple blooms) and the obedient plant (white blooms) and if you look closely you'll spot the crinum blooming in the back. 

 These are close ups of the Crinum lillies. I have three different varieties but I've long since lost the name tags for them.

I still have this one daylilly blooming. The deer have gotten the rest.

This is Plox David.

I have lots of Dahlias blooming as well.

And here is White Swan echinacea.

More echinacea.

Blooms forming on hydrangea paniculata.

Torenia in bloom.