Monday, December 30, 2019

The Garden at the End of the Year

I took a walk around the garden, this afternoon, to see how it looked at the end of the year.  We've had quite a bit of rain, so far, this winter, and everything is nice and green. 

In the backyard:

Lemons and Chrysanthemums
These two lemon trees on either side of the side door to the garage are full of lemons and the chrysanthemum plant continues to flower.  The little plants under the lemon trees are mirabilis (four o'clocks) that have self seeded and are coming up.



Yucca and Squill
The yucca is a cutting I took from the plant that is growing in one of the corners of the back yard.  I had M plant it in this spot, earlier in the year, and it seems to have rooted itself.  The plant under it is one of the squill bulbs that M brought me from his garden and planted.

Squill Plants


There are three squill plants in the back yard and a fourth one in the front.

The narcissus (paperwhites) are continuing to flower:


Paperwhites

The current star of the back garden is the orange tree:


Oranges
I picked four more oranges, today, to share with my daughter.  I might be able to send a few oranges home with her, too.


There are still some roses, too:

Yellow Rose


Iceberg Roses

And the crocosmia plants are starting to come up:


Crocosmia

I turned around and saw a spot of color at the other end of the garden:


Do you see them?
Perhaps a close up might help:

Ginger, Snowball, and Stripey (siblings)

Three of my garden cats.  Ginger and Snowball are siblings from the same litter; Stripey is from a later litter.  Something (I didn't find out what) attacked and killed their mother while Stripey was still quite young and he attached himself to his older siblings who mothered him.  I tried to go closer to take a better picture, but, Stripey is easily spooked and took off running.

My birthday present from M, the Buddleia (Butterfly Bush) is growing nicely, with all the rain we've been having:


The Buddleia 


In the front yard:


The Plants by the Driveway
The mixture of plants in the bed along the driveway - osteospermum, rosemary, chrysanthemum, etc., are continuing to do well.  The osteospermum usually dries up and dies after the spring blooming, but, this year, we've had so much rain that they continued to remain green and I've just left them in place.  I don't mind that they are not flowering - they continue to add some color to the garden.

The newly planted white sage is also growing well:

White Sage

The red rose by the trellis is still flowering, but, it is almost time to prune the rose bushes - M will do that in January:


Red Rose

The succulents border along the side wall is starting to fill in, nicely:



Succulents Border

I took a few more pictures of the garden, but, they are refusing to upload!  Oh, well.  I guess there are enough pictures already to show that the garden is doing well at the end of the year!  I know I am very lucky to be able to garden throughout the year.  

I've plans to do a little more landscaping and planting in the front garden in 2020.  It'll have to be drought-tolerant, heat-resistant plants (even the succulents get scorched for the sun in the summer!), but, with M's help, I'll get the front garden to look a little less bare in the area where the lawn used to be.

What are your garden plans for 2020?  

20 comments:

  1. Wow your garden is so green and so flowery! Everything here is dead/dormant for a while.

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    1. But, you get to enjoy the snow for now and watch for the colors appearing again in the spring as the earth wakes up from her winter sleep. :)

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  2. A little cooler weather and some rain has made everything in your garden happy. Thanks for the tour.

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    1. You are right - the cooler weather and rain really helped! You are welcome. :)

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  3. Your garden looks great. I love your citrus trees.

    I need to put some potted plants in the ground. I wanted to do it this year, but never got around to it.

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    1. Thank you, Nil. I hope you will be able to get your potted plants into the ground this year. Spring might be a good time for transplanting them.

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  4. My garden plans are to employ a gardener!

    I will concentrate on the planting in the pots this year. Some of the existing planting is doing well but the rest needs some serious attention. I'm hoping to be able to do that part of the garden myself as I should have more time now I've left the band.

    Your garden is looking good. I think M must be a treasure. And I'm not at all envious of the fruit trees!!

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    1. I hope you find yourself a good gardener, Eileen. In the meantime, I hope you are able to get the potted plants going, again. I'm glad you are not at all envious of the fruit trees, by the way! LOL! :D

      M is truly a treasure. He takes a personal interest in my garden and does what he can to keep it going, even when I am not able to do my part, which is to water it! But, this year is the year when I will be able to get in there and play an active role, again, I hope. :)

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  5. Beautiful! You are richly blessed (and you have a green thumb!) Andrea

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    1. Thank you, Andrea. Mother Nature did her part in greening the garden by providing us with plenty of rain, this year! :)

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  6. Loving your citrus trees! How fab to be able to pick your own lemons

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    1. Thank you, Angela. It is rather nice not to have to buy lemons! I juice and freeze the juice in ice cube trays, so I always have lemon juice on hand. :)

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  7. Wow, your lemon trees are really loaded! Everything looks so healthy. I plan to just take care of what I have. I added some rose bushes to the cottage garden last year. The citrus trees have been producing nicely.

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    1. The lemons are relatively small this year, but, yes, the trees are loaded! I'm glad that your citrus trees are producing nicely, too. :)

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  8. What an amazing abundance of lemons! Such a blessing! Are they Meyer lemons? I recently tried a great recipe for Meyer Lemon Blender Pie in which you use one entire lemon (including peel) with seeds removed. It turned out great.

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    1. Yes, Carolyn, they are Meyer lemons. I remember reading about your Meyer Lemon pie. I've made marmalade with mine, in years past, but, not this year.

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  9. Thanks for showing these pictures of your garden. I always enjoy seeing the photos you share.
    And the kitties are adorable :)
    (But, of course, Dancer is cuter)

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    1. I'm glad you enjoyed seeing them, Debra. Spring really is the best time for my garden, but, winter is good, too.

      LOL, Dancer says thank you for saying he's cuter! :D

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  10. Thanks for the great garden photos. My favourites are "Yucca and Squill" (sounds like a title for a murder mystery or a gourmet dish but the plants look great), and of course I enjoyed the photos of the garden cats. Hmmm, I'm still thinking about a dish of "Yucca and Squill" perhaps with a little garnish of slices of your fresh oranges!

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    1. Ha, ha, well, you know, cassava or manioc, as we used to call it in Sri Lanka, is also known as yuca, sometimes spelled as yucca, and that is a very edible tuber. Apparently, even the root of the yucca is sometimes used as medicine, and, so, apparently, is the root of squill, although there are some safety concerns according to the online articles I read. So, your yucca and squill might be more of a medicinal tonic than a dish, with fresh orange juice to add vitamin C and sweetness to the concoction! :D

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