Sunday, May 31, 2009

Water Lily - the rest of the story.


Last year I was into garden goals - and I accomplished the ones I set. This year, not so much.

This water lily was one of my goals last year. I accomlished the goal but never really got the benefit. I was excited about having a small water feature in our courtyard filled with floating leaves and flowers. What I got was a container filled with green scum, a few lily pads and not flowers.

Needless to say, my wife is not a raving fan of this water garden. She does not appreciate the aesthetics of galvanized metal and she doesn't like green scum.

So I have vowed this year to do better. More fertilizer for the lily and find something to fight the green scum. I have inserted fertilzer plugs every few weeks with no noticeable impact on the lily. There are still only a few skimpy leaves. With the scum, I have kept the water relatively clear. It may be some stuff I got to spray the water to prevent mosquitoes. It may have nothing to do with the spray. I don't know. I do know that I expect some appreciation from the lily and I'm not seeing it.

Maybe it's still too cold for lily growth. Maybe, the lily just doesn't like me. All I know is that unless it starts giving me a little appreciation, it won't get another year.

Monday, May 25, 2009

This week in the Garden

First up - Mmw. Cecile Brunner with long bloom stalks. Then the deep purple shrub rose.






Then my new shrub roses for the foundation planting. These are Flame Mediland - a little blue for my tastes but it looks promsing to fill in the spaces where the pittosporums died.

Next is Mutabilis, always looking good.

Finally some new african daisies. I like the color blends available. This one blends orange, brown and purple very nicely.





Saturday, May 09, 2009

Flower in May




As you can see the roses are beginning to bloom. Graham Thomas -slightly out of focus, followed by Mme. Ceclie Brunner.






Cecile has been tiny for the past two years and I have wondered if she would ever get big because the catalogue says 3 feet. This year I have some bloom stalks that are tall as you can see. It still remains to be seen if the whole plant will get bigger.

The next rose is a dark violet shrub paired with Cecile and finally Ginger Syllabub growing up the bell tower in my entrace courtyard.

Mutabilis is blooming but only a few blossums and I am still waiting to see flowers on my newest - Fire Mediland which I am using to replace some Pittosporums that died. I havn't used roses for landscaping plantings yet and so if this works, I will be doing more.

Anybody using the new landscape roses like flower carpet ($25 at my nursery, wow!) or mediland or others. Share your experiences with me.