The backyard - productive or otherwise - 2022

[Nancy]

Last week I got 2.5 cans full of weeds only two fit in the trash so I took a break.
Got half of the holly hocks transplanted.
Rest of the plants are in.
Transplanted the money plant they have purple flowers and seem to like shade here.

[Harriet]

I think hollyhocks are so beautiful, Nancy. So different from other flowers, and eye-catching. How tall will yours grow? Do you have to stake them?

blessed's posting in PWYC reminds me I haven't posted about my gardening and yard lately. It's interesting that with the changes in the breeding world of plants lately, we start calling flowers by the trademarked names. They are often more expensive, but if they work, they work, so deserve credit. She has several colors of "Supertunias" and I have 3 others, Bordeaux, Bubblegum and just one white Silverberry.

The point with these is that you are supposed to be able to get credit for them! They can be seen at a distance, so are called "vista" as well. I need this because in this new/old house, people approach on the driveway wrapping around the house's front rather than driving toward the front. The planters/boxes are at the front against the brick of the house, so they really need to "shout" color or no one will know about them! Another door/entrance becomes more convenient then.

I haven't done a perfect job, because I didn't take into consideration that the plants were going to grow to their mature heights at very different speeds. I counted on tall yellow lantana at the back of the most visible bed, and even though it is healthy and blooming, it evidently takes a very long time to grow to its full height of nearly 30 inches, so isn't doing much on the eye-catching work so far. I put (supposedly shorter) blue salvia/sage in front of that thinking the blue spikes would be pretty with yellow behind them. But so far, against the brick you have to get close to get any "credit" for having such pretty blue blossoms, and its bushy-ness is actually covering up the still-short yellow lantana! Opposite to my thought process, but still very pretty once you get close. Perhaps I should have used tall yellow marigolds at rear, even though I would dread the staking.

Happily, the purple and pink petunias around the outside are living up to reputation so far, and bright yellow (although small) dahlia at front is waving! if folks do at least notice those, they'll also have the impression there's more going on in the beds and maybe want to come take a look!

[Nancy]

No need to stake the hollyhocks they get bushey and are only 3'-4' tall I have some white and red ones that came from neighbors and
seeds I gathered plus have reseeded themselves!

I weeded the driveway and raked up seeds yesterday.
Today edged one side of the driveway it has been raining so was not too much of a job.
But I was stiff before I began so did it in small segments.

Today's insp. is to put the weeds dirt grass and gravel in a low spot so I will be prepping for that this week.

[Nancy]

I weeded more in the drive way potted up some camomile and potted it up and put it by the front step.

I picked onion sets that were blooming and replanted some in areas that did not have any to grow there.Good for keeping bugs moles and voles out.

Pruned the suckers off the maple tree out front. Also pruned roses on the path back by the plant cage and on the back fence some. Then it rained will have to pick up later.

Digging out some herbs lemon verbenia that grow like weeds. About 3/4ths done.

[Harriet]

More than anyone wants to know about my project! Getting thoughts down for next year.

Midsummer flowers, taking stock - sunny side

As we drive in and get at least a glimpse of the front flowers I've hoped so much would catch attention, HRH and I have decided that, yes, this is pretty much working. All are getting tall enough now that the eyes of visitors go there. The house is getting "credit" now for having interesting architecture, which we think has gone unnoticed at times.

One "minus" is that I think with petunias out front (reasoning was because they needed a lot of sun), the look can be somewhat spindly. Next time, I believe I really will back them with tall marigolds for that fuller, solid-bloom look. Also, a brick house shows off yellow flowers well. The pink and purple petunias are just perfect up close, blending with the brick. But at a distance you need contrast or you don't get credit. Those petunias that are underplanted with the sweet potato vine do just as well and the big-leaf foliage helps with the petunias' thin look. I should give a petunia hair-cut, but Idonwanna go without their color for any time at all!

Happily, there is the yellow lantana, and it is starting to offer more blooms in the rear. It's just that they are delicate instead of really "popping" like a yellow marigold would. (Lantana that dd42 bought from a nursery that sold it as a basket was a flop. Lantana is simply not a basket plant and it died from lack of root space even though we watered like crazy.)

First time growing dahlias, I now know that they have a wonderful flush of bloom and then quit, at least for a while. An attractive plant still, giving a healthy look to the planting but no color in high heat. And something to remember - of all plants I've ever grown, dahlias have been the most susceptible to "burned" leaves from splashes of the well-mixed organic fertilizer, which isn't supposed to burn much at all.

First time growing verbena... .. I must do something wrong. Might as well dig them up. All the other plants around them are happy and blooming, too. They don't like something about their home here. They have growth but quit blooming fast and never started back. The variety said you didn't have to prune. Maybe I shouldn't have believed that.

Butterflies -
petunias are everything to them. The other flowers that are supposedly their favorites, such as salvia, can't compete. But the salvia is lovely and healthy and (best of all) actually BLUE. (Unplugged So Blue Sage variety) Everyone who visits wants a closer look at the blue with yellow and pink.

[Harriet]

In the shady areas -
as the summer goes along, some evening sun is reaching the flowers at back of house and under some front shade. So, I'm learning. There was no reason to worry about too much shade for annuals to grow. The "shady annuals" are doing really well, and I like them so much I wouldn't even want to trade for sunny types.

Impatiens - gorgeous. A++ Downright heartwarming.
So glad I let dd23 talk me into having all the colors. Orange and white, which I thought were my least favorite colors, are happy at the back door. No, they're not as classic as the violet, rose and salmon in the shady front area, where those look cool and sophisticated. The orange and white are very casual together and so bright they get the most attention. The ones at front with morning sun all this time are definitely taller, reaching the bottom of the windows now. I know they'll get even taller and that's fine - let them get as much attention as they'd like.

Hmmm... .. next year, do I want orange and white at the front to catch the eye of visitors? Is it more important to have the prettiest colors once someone looks, or to get someone to look in the first place?

Begonias - these are "double-up" pink. Fat and healthy. Fluffy balls of bloom look interesting beside the flat impatiens blooms. So far, begonias and impatiens planted together are growing up at the same heights. I had wondered if one would hide the other, but so far, they both show up.

A thin little ivy volunteered underneath the super-big pot I relocated to the back. It keeps trying to grow up to the plants there. Eventually, I told it, okay have fun. And it looks as though I planned a trailing plant at the edges of the pot, lol! I don't know how long I'll get away with that, but it does show that the shady areas have the most surprises.

[Harmony]

I have the blue sage salvia in the back of our house and like it very much. Lantana at the side of the house blooms nicely. I like the multicolored ones the best. I also have white and pink but the multicolored blooms are showiest. These survive in drought or rain and are easiest thing to grow down here. My blue daze is good and the false heather spread out so much that it takes up more than its share of the round flower garden I put in the front. Mums are spreading and I love the purple blossoms. I have suggested to DH that I need to make that garden bigger around than it is and his response is to just walk away. I guess sometime I will do it when he's elsewhere. That's how I got this little flower garden in the first place!

[Nancy]

Picked up the lemon verbenia I took out.
Weeded on the East property border this morning.
Picked up a branch yesterday that fell.
Got a can full of yard waste.

[Harriet]

The lantana here is reaching its height potential but even though the flowers are bright they are not showy. Looks nice against the brick wall, though. From a distance, people think it is a climber that I must be training, lol.

Bubblegum Vista petunia is outrageous. You get so much credit for every plant - big color, many flowers, butterflies galore and yesterday a hummingbird. One plant will take up 3 square feet in a bed, easy. Their sister, Bordeau, is a beautiful variety but doesn't make quite such a show. These petunias are not as lovely in baskets. They need a lot of root space because they are going to be doing a lot.

The cheap green tomato cages have been a help. No one seems to even see them in the beds, but they helped me so much with plants that wanted to flop over after hard rains.

One of those hard rains broke off a little 3-inch stem of a Double Up Begonia. Didn't think it would work but I put it in water just the way it broke - didn't even make a new cut. Within 2 weeks I have a plant that really needs to be potted up - full of strong, neat roots in nothing but water. forgotten on a windowsill that doesn't even get sun! This would be a great project for children. I suppose you could attempt a houseplant overwinter.

[Nancy]

Ordered seeds on Amz. Got dill Lavendar & hollyhock dark ones.
I have somne seeds to scatter from plants here also.
Trying to water some did not today had to have a day off.