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Post by tod2 on Jun 23, 2022 14:39:44 GMT
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Post by mickthecactus on Jun 23, 2022 16:09:21 GMT
That looks good. I wonder what the pink flower is?
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Post by tod2 on Jun 23, 2022 16:43:43 GMT
That's what I was hoping you would identify ! The closest I have come to matching the leaf structure was with the Selenicereus Testudo cactus. The day we arrived at the beach house the flower was as you see it here. There were about three blooms all open in different stages on what looked like a single stem.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jun 23, 2022 17:07:52 GMT
Testudo has a white flower. Must be another plant.
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Post by lugg on Jun 23, 2022 20:27:59 GMT
Noi idea but your beach house garden is lovely Tod.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 23, 2022 22:53:56 GMT
Gorgeous grounds, Tod! Love the staghorn ferns.
Did you ever touch those flowers? Is it possible that someone placed them there to be pretty? I see no leaves or anything that goes with them & you said they appear to be on a single stem. Could someone who works there put them as a welcome bouquet?
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Post by tod2 on Jun 24, 2022 11:51:54 GMT
You know Miss Bixa I think you might have solved the pink flower mystery......It could very well be artificial. They make them so realistic that even when I felt the petals they felt real but who knows?! The only person that was there ahead of us to make up the beds and see everything was shipshape, was my sons partners sister. I'm going to message her right now and see if she left the flower. I was so hoping it was real.. The house belongs to my sons partner as she recently lost her dad and he left her everything in his Will. He was crazy about staghorns and plants that grew in the air and on other plants. It's now a family retreat for us all.
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Post by tod2 on Jun 24, 2022 12:16:52 GMT
News flash! The flower is indeed artificial and left there by a previous girlfiend of her father. Good spotting Bixa....you are a real floral detective!
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 24, 2022 14:59:03 GMT
Thank you, dear Tod, but it didn't take much botanical knowledge to figure that one out! The loss of her father is sad for your son's partner, but what a beautiful legacy that property is. The fact that the sister graciously prepared the place for you all must mean that she didn't get left out of the will, right?
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Post by tod2 on Jun 24, 2022 15:19:00 GMT
As far as I know her sister is from another father and much older. She does lots of odd jobs and fixing electrical things for her half sister who keeps her palm well greased.
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Post by tod2 on Jul 25, 2022 14:52:04 GMT
This is the black aphids ? or maybe some other pest - I nearly cried when I saw them on my first crop of beans from three tubs. Unfortunately had to spray them and wait seven days before harvesting the ones that were still developing. Luckily I got a beautiful lot which is going to last us for three meals.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 25, 2022 14:58:50 GMT
We do have to share the planet with the other creatures. It is often a problem.
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Post by bjd on Aug 2, 2022 11:00:00 GMT
As I look at the garden and think of all the new plants and flowers I put in this spring, I realize that I will have to make changes: move the dahlias to a less sunny area so that their leaves won't burn, plant a small tree to provide some shade on the western side of the house, where it is hottest on summer afternoons, add more compost and mulch this autumn, plant some bushes rather than perennials and roses...
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Post by casimira on Aug 2, 2022 13:25:11 GMT
I returned from being on vacation for weeks to find a jungle like garden bed spilling over the railing of the entrance of our apartment. Artemesia and yellow lantana desperately needs to be clipped. I need to do it soon before the groundskeeper comes and weed whacks it and making a butcher job of the plant. It rained here daily, and everything around is so lush. I'm going over to the homestead lot today and anticipate the same.
Tod, your beach house and its surroundings is so beautiful!
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Aug 4, 2022 8:15:54 GMT
Beautiful beach house garden To...I love it!
My brother arrived home from a 3 week holiday in France to a dried up garden here in the uk. The only things that were ok were the flowers in a bed sheltered by a sprawling apple tree. Poor love lost all his dahlias..but luckily I took lots of cuttings this year so he can replace at least 3 of them!
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 7, 2022 18:42:15 GMT
What do you all think ~ will we be showing off our rock gardens here this time next year? Why You Should Try Crevice Gardening: ‘This Is the Future’In a world where water is increasingly scarce, these rock gardens are not only pretty, but surprisingly resilient.What intrigued me about this article is that it shows ways to use the technique in all kinds of different locations, from tiny to large and even in pots.
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Post by mickthecactus on Aug 7, 2022 19:59:43 GMT
That’s a good article and the small ones were quite intriguing. The RHS garden at Wisley has some great examples btw.
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Post by casimira on Aug 12, 2022 13:08:39 GMT
I was able to see all my gingers in full bloom at the old garden. Quite a spectacular display. It was because I had the massive Live Oak tree dramatically cut back some months ago. The canopy that it provided was shading out the sun the gingers so desperately needed in order to bloom.
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Post by tod2 on Aug 12, 2022 15:57:02 GMT
Oh Gosh, I so wish you took a photo for us.....
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Post by mickthecactus on Aug 12, 2022 19:30:24 GMT
The 40c heat did for my sweet peas. They have given up the ghost despite my best efforts.
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Post by tod2 on Aug 13, 2022 8:56:31 GMT
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Post by mickthecactus on Aug 13, 2022 9:15:10 GMT
Make sure you cut the little pods off the sweet peas or they will stop flowering.
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Post by tod2 on Aug 13, 2022 9:26:35 GMT
I've never grown sweetpeas before so that was a handy tip Mick - thanks.
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Post by casimira on Aug 13, 2022 12:54:26 GMT
Make sure you cut the little pods off the sweet peas or they will stop flowering. I always leave a few of the pods on the vine because inside of those pods are seeds for future planting. Let them stay on the vine until they dry. You'll know when you see them.
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Post by bjd on Aug 17, 2022 14:08:54 GMT
I planted sweetpeas from seed for the first time but of course they died from the heat and drought.
Looking for sturdier, more heat-tolerant plants, today I bought some echinacea called Orange Sunset Not that I like orange or bright colours much, but these are rather nice and perhaps they will survive in a warming world.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 17, 2022 17:17:47 GMT
I missed seeing your sweetpeas earlier, Tod ~ they're really pretty.
re: orange ~ it was always a color I sort of avoided, thinking it wouldn't add to the lush romanticism I always hope for in a garden. Also, I tend to associate it with stuff like circles of gazania planted around suburban mailboxes.
But the black-eyed Susan vine/Thunbergia alata I planted on the big arch on my porch has worked beautifully not in spite of, but because of its screaming orange flowers. They're cheerful as all get-out and draw the eye toward the front of the house in a pleasing way. Surprisingly, they work well with other color far better than I'd ever suspected and do a great job of complementing the greens of foliage.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Aug 17, 2022 18:29:43 GMT
This year the back flower bed has been a bit of a disaster, it's a raised bed dominated by a geranium and veronicastrum. Other plants have floundered in there so at 'the back end' of the summer I plan to rejig all the flower beds. I shall leave the little lilac in there but take out eveything else, it then needs digging over and levelling or to be made into a bank. I then plan to move the flowering quince, pink buddleia, the bay and a box ball into the back bed...carefully aranged of course...if it needs anything else I have a large codyline and a big palm that might add bit of structure. I want to take down the fence that surrounds the back bed too so that the dog can get amongst the shrubs as at the moment he just stands in front of the fence barking at the mice (He sometimes catches and kills them too).
Once the shrubs have been moved there should be room in the middle bed for herbaceous perennials saved from the back bed...nepeta and phlox...the mad blue geranium is going into another flower bed where I have ferns, helebores, epimediums and a few other things. There is a corner where nothing seems to grow well but the geranium is such a thug I think that it will fill the space nicely.
I'm quite looking forward to getting started. Hopefully I'll be able to recruit Jeff and Russell to help with the heavy work...
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Post by bjd on Aug 17, 2022 19:19:25 GMT
That sounds like me, Cheery. Given our weather this year and the probable continuation of extremes of heat or rain, I also think about rejigging things I planted just this spring. I have to move the dahlias to places that are a bit more protected from full afternoon sun -- the heat really fried their leaves but I am hoping that the tubers will survive to bloom another day.
This afternoon I planted my echinaceas near a blue/purple flowering bush in one place and a few others near some white lantanas so the brightness will be toned down a bit.
However, I cannot manage to grow phlox -- I have tried several times and they just die immediately. The nepeta is doing fine though. I'll have lots to do in the fall.
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Post by casimira on Aug 18, 2022 14:47:16 GMT
Despite my being told that I wouldn't have to clear out the jungle in the rear of our lot the surveyor did not complete the job I paid for. He said that the foliage was too dense for them to go in there and measure. So, my trusted garden helper and I went back there and cleared a pathway for easy access. No excuse now for them to complete the job. It has been a long time since I last wielded a machete. Quite the workout but we got it done.
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Post by bjd on Aug 19, 2022 6:43:54 GMT
It sounds as though you should take that machete to a few bureaucrats! Get them moving a bit faster.
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