cold weather post
In the depths of winter, an old man's thoughts naturally turn to ...
... gardening!!
Zinnias, "Profusion Mix", probably planted a little too close together. Last August my free camera (thanks Holiday Inn) arrived in the mail the same week I was laid off, and I took some garden photos to document what I planted & to figure out how to use the damn thing.
What you see here is the result of a "just plunk stuff in the ground and see how it turns out" strategy. I have a butterfly garden assortment, an old rose, some bulbs & bearded irises that weren't blooming anymore by the time I took these, and a buncha annuals like the zinnias pictured above.
Front views:
The rose, 'Comte de Chambord', an old Portland from the 1800s. The blooms are quite lovely & nicely scented, and it repeats. But the growth is really leggy, and it's prone to black spot. By late September there aren't many leaves left and it isn't very attractive. I want to move these off to the side when the weather gets warm, and figure out what to plant in front of it to hide the spindliness.
A skipper, relaxing. I see lots of these, and I think they're adorable:
Another bug. Just a bumblebee, but I love bumblebees. I see several species in my garden every year. I avoid pesticides to keep the invertebrates happy...
My lj friend overton_cat is my inspiration here, his photos are stunning. Before I even consider fantasizing about approaching his level, I'll need to master some very basic photographic concepts ... like focusing.
Side yard. A couple big, boring ol' Yew shrubs used to live here. Just to cover the bare dirt I had a few wave petunias, some messy lookin' sweet peas, and behind all that, some purple clover as a temporary ground cover. Eventually I'll figure out what to put there, and meanwhile the clover will keep hummingbirds & various insects happy.
Tithonia, one of the few successes from last spring's attempts at seed starting. It blooms forever, I love this plant. I'll definitely grow more in 2009.
A container. Ipomoea, a couple Coleus, and a thing which looks like a little petunia but's actually something else.
2009, I'm going to try to keep the butterfly bushes (those graceless tall things at the right of the front view) a little more compact & bushy; they're not all that attractive when I leave 'em alone. The side yard, behind the remaining boring shrubbery, is eventually going to be filled with native plants that I can ignore all summer & which will attract more interesting bugs to keep me entertained...
I covet this rose. I think they'll look nice where the Comte de Chambords now live...
... gardening!!
Zinnias, "Profusion Mix", probably planted a little too close together. Last August my free camera (thanks Holiday Inn) arrived in the mail the same week I was laid off, and I took some garden photos to document what I planted & to figure out how to use the damn thing.
What you see here is the result of a "just plunk stuff in the ground and see how it turns out" strategy. I have a butterfly garden assortment, an old rose, some bulbs & bearded irises that weren't blooming anymore by the time I took these, and a buncha annuals like the zinnias pictured above.
Front views:
The rose, 'Comte de Chambord', an old Portland from the 1800s. The blooms are quite lovely & nicely scented, and it repeats. But the growth is really leggy, and it's prone to black spot. By late September there aren't many leaves left and it isn't very attractive. I want to move these off to the side when the weather gets warm, and figure out what to plant in front of it to hide the spindliness.
A skipper, relaxing. I see lots of these, and I think they're adorable:
Another bug. Just a bumblebee, but I love bumblebees. I see several species in my garden every year. I avoid pesticides to keep the invertebrates happy...
My lj friend overton_cat is my inspiration here, his photos are stunning. Before I even consider fantasizing about approaching his level, I'll need to master some very basic photographic concepts ... like focusing.
Side yard. A couple big, boring ol' Yew shrubs used to live here. Just to cover the bare dirt I had a few wave petunias, some messy lookin' sweet peas, and behind all that, some purple clover as a temporary ground cover. Eventually I'll figure out what to put there, and meanwhile the clover will keep hummingbirds & various insects happy.
Tithonia, one of the few successes from last spring's attempts at seed starting. It blooms forever, I love this plant. I'll definitely grow more in 2009.
A container. Ipomoea, a couple Coleus, and a thing which looks like a little petunia but's actually something else.
2009, I'm going to try to keep the butterfly bushes (those graceless tall things at the right of the front view) a little more compact & bushy; they're not all that attractive when I leave 'em alone. The side yard, behind the remaining boring shrubbery, is eventually going to be filled with native plants that I can ignore all summer & which will attract more interesting bugs to keep me entertained...
I covet this rose. I think they'll look nice where the Comte de Chambords now live...