Front yard garden pics

Trumpet lilies, from the front gardens. Last year,
when I planted them, there was only one flower stalk on each plant. Now, each has at least two, and in some cases three.

Dwarf cannas, from the front garden. The gladiola in the back is the only one out of a hundred bulbs planted that is giving any indication of producing flowers this year.

In between the dwarf cannas, (there are 6 total) I have a couple of variety of hosta and some gladiolas. The glads are a big dissapointment, to be honest with you. As I said, I've only got the potential for a bloom off one plant so far out of a hundred bulbs. I'll be experimenting with other plants next spring, I assure you.

The full size canna I planted in the front are still establishing, so there's nothing to show off there. I did want to show off the beginnings of the blooms from the dwarf canna though.

Side yard garden June 2008

These are calla lilies - I planted 4 stands of them last year, however only this one came back this year. I believe this variety is called "Picasso" but I'm not sure. The only thing I know for sure is that it's a calla lily. The plant in back of it is my hibiscus, however it hasn't started blooming yet.
I planted 4 of those last year too, one on each side of the side yard garden, and two in the back, but only the one in back of the calla came back this year.

The orange day lily is the common or wild variety.

The lovely pink specimen with the yellow throat is from my side yard garden.

This is a picture of the side yard from the front, June 2008.

This is the side yard garden, in a long shot.

Garden June 2008 pics back yard

Here are some pictures from the back yard garden, June 2008. I hope you enjoy them.

This is Tuscan rosemary, with a hosta in front, and an iris in back. I really worried about it last year when I planted it, as it acted as though it wasn't happy, and looked like it was barely hanging on.
What a difference a year makes. It's obviously decided it's happy, and is really taking off.

This is my stand of mint and in front of them is my patch of thyme. Both are doing very well - I'll be harvesting some of that mint in a week or so and enjoying fresh mint tea. They're next to the lily bed.

These are the moonflower I got from your Aunt Sheba - as you can see, they're already starting to climb the trellis. I have 2 out of the pot that have reached the trellis as of this point, and I expect the other 3 to reach the trellis in a couple of days. Once they realize it's there, they'll really start taking off. I can't wait to get some pictures of them when they hit their stride and start producing flowers.

These are my "trumpet" lilies and the Oriental lily.

The Oriental hasn't started blooming yet, however it should in about a week or so. Behind it are the pink lilies (I can't remember their real name, so pink lily will have to do), just as I can't remember the real name for the "trumpet" lily either - oh well, blame it on my age. All I know is they're happy and growing and blooming and that's all I can ask for.

These are sunflower seedlings - the variety is called "Mammoth" because they're supposed to reach a height of 12 feet. I can't wait. I had more but those damn chipmunks got to them.

This is a side by side of the "standard" elephant ear and the Gigantus variety. Audrey, as I've said before, is a Gigantus. To refresh your memory, the reason I call her Audrey is a reference to "Little Shop of Horrors", the Broadway musical and film and the original black and white movie from the 1960's. Technically then, she'd be Audrey 3, since the plant in "Little Shop" was Audrey 2.

This is Audrey 3 - June 2008

Rear garden pictures

These are pictures of the garden in the back.

The elephant ear in the pot is Audrey, my giant strain from Thailand.

The one in the dirt is one that I had planted last year, and is now coming back with 4 separate stalks. I've also included my lily bed, consisting of Oriental, stargazer, and what I call trumpet lilies.

Monday, February 25th

Okay, I got slack again.
Sorry about this, Andrea - I had a number of things going on, and blogging wasn't high on the list of "must do today" 's.
On the bright side, I did manage to send up a number of outfits for you - not that at your current age (you're a month old today - Happy Birthday!!) you're going to know or care about fashion - which believe me, is my saving grace - when you get older, if I think about sending up clothing, it's going to be in the way of a gift card - I won't embarrass you with my fashion choices.
Toys are also going to end up being your choice via gift card - no offense, but you're going to know what you want more than I will, and rather than incur your wrath I think it's easier to just send you a gift card. Unless of course, I'm sending you another bear.
Those, you're going to have to deal with.
Anyway, in the time since the last post, I've turned 47, gotten my hair highlighted, gotten talked into playing Bingo at the American Legion with Grandpa Don (and won $100), ordered a MONSTER elephant ear plant (that's going to drive the HOA up a wall), gotten involved in the Paranormal States message boards, and lost more weight.
Elaborations are forthcoming, right now I just thought I'd throw up a quick fill in.
Anyway, I have to get ready for work now...
More later.

January 26th

It's Saturday, and I'm at work.
On the bright side, it's a typical Saturday, meaning no fires to put out - I'm just sitting here updating the Windows software on my workstation, updating various spyware programs and in general just sitting here waiting for my relief to get in.
It's also only 20 days until my birthday - I'll be 47 this year. I know that sounds like an eternity to you, but believe me, it really does go a lot faster than you think. Especially when you get older.

I'm on the phone now with Grandpa Don, and he's just told me that your first pictures have arrived.
According to Grandma Lisa, they took tons and tons and they're just waiting to get to a computer to upload them from the camera.
Grandpa Don said that he sent copies to me, but they haven't shown up in my inbox yet. I can wait, I've waited 7 months for you to arrive, I'm going to have to wait for a few more months before I can actually meet you and hold you, so a few more hours or days for pictures won't matter much... (who am I kidding, I want those pictures **NOW**)

You can probably tell by now that patience is not one of my stronger attributes.