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| Front Garden in December |
Time to post the last garden update of the year! I waited until the rain was over and the clouds cleared to take the pictures and after four days of rain, the garden is looking very green!
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| The Succulents Border |
The succulents are much refreshed by the rain and the jade plants are flowering.
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| Flowers on the Jade Plant |
The aloe plants are sending up their flower stalks. The buds are tightly closed right now, but, they will start opening up in mid-February or so.
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| Flower Buds on the Aloe Plants |
The succulents circle with the jacaranda seedling in the middle - I seem to have captured a sun beam!
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| Succulents and Jacaranda |
The rosemary plant in the front garden is thriving:
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| The Rosemary Plant |
Going to the back garden:
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| The Back Garden |
The back garden is getting ready for winter! The vegetable patch that used to be in the foreground, where the butternut squash and the cherry tomatoes grew has been cleared and several of the fruit trees have been pruned:
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| Peach Tree |
You can see how, when the top of the peach tree broke off a couple of years ago, the side branches sent up some of their branches to make up for that!
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Plum Tree (foreground) and Nectarine Tree
(behind, to the left) |
The avocado tree (grown from seed) is doing well and the nights have not been cold enough to affect its leaves:
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| Avocado Tree |
I wonder if it will ever set fruit? I've read that some avocado trees won't produce fruit if they are grown from seed.
The loquat plants that neighbor S gave me were also grown from seed and they are doing well:
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| Loquat Plant 1 |
Loquat plant 1 is being grown in the shadier part of the garden and seems to be thriving. Loquat plant 2, in a sunnier spot, is not thriving as much, but, it is still alive:
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| Loquat Plant 2 |
The orange tree is growing well and we've already picked and eaten some oranges:
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| Orange Tree |
I don't have many flowers in the back garden, but, the crocosmia plants are coming up and will start to flower in the early spring:
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| Crocosmia Plants |
The starts in the December garden are the lemon trees:
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| Ripening Lemons |
I have three established lemon trees and one seedling (a sucker from the root of one of the other trees that I am allowing to grow). I had M prune one of the lemon trees all the way down and it is growing back, but, there are no lemons on it, this year. The other two trees are full of lemons, although M is a little concerned about the yellowing of the leaves. We have ordered some fertilizer that is meant for citrus trees and hopefully, that will take care of the yellowing of the leaves.
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| Lemons and Yellow Leaves |
I hope you enjoyed the visit to my December garden!
Your garden is lovely. I hope you and your daughter have a happy Christmas.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Celie. Wish you a very happy Christmas.
DeleteI always enjoy seeing what you have growing and how it's doing. I'm sure everything appreciated the recent rains.
ReplyDeleteThank you, June; yes, the plants really enjoyed the rain!
DeleteThe rain has done wonders for your garden! Everything looks so fresh and alive. The lemons look great but I wonder if the yellow leaves are the result of too much rain?
ReplyDeleteHave a joyful Christmas!
The rain was much appreciated, Bushlady. Lemon tree leaves can turn yellow due to a number of reasons including overwatering and under-watering, a lack of nitrogen, iron, magnesium, etc. We've given them some Epsom salt for the magnesium and ordered some iron pellets and some fertilizer.
DeleteHope you, too, have a joyful Christmas!
Have a wonderful Christmas. How lovely to be able to grow your own lemons!
ReplyDeleteHappy Christmas to you, too, Angela.
DeleteYes, it's lovely to have homegrown oranges and lemons. :)
What a nice walk through your garden I am enjoying as I sit here with my morning tea. Everything does look so green.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen a jade plant's flowers. They are very pretty.
So the rosemary bush in the front - that's in addition to the one in the back with the wonderful gnarly trunk? That's a different one, right?
I really like crocosmia. I've read they can be a bit of a thug taking over an area. Do you find them that way? They're very striking when in bloom and a plant I often think about adding to my garden.
Merry Christmas, Debra!
DeleteGlad you enjoyed a walk through the garden!
Yes, I have two rosemary bushes - one in the back (nearly 30 years old!) with the gnarly trunk and this newer one (about 5 years old?) in the front garden. Bought it, along with some oregano and thyme, from the dollar store; the oregano and thyme died, but the rosemary survived! I don't use that much rosemary in my cooking, but, they are drought tolerant plants and the bees love the flowers.
I like crocosmia. The previous owners of the house had planted them and my mother did her best to remove them (she didn't like how the leaves sort of flopped down later in the summer, after the plants have finished flowering)! She had M dig them all up and the next year, they sprouted up, again, apparently from bulbs that had remained even after all the digging! I've encouraged them to grow - they are hardy plants and the flowers are pretty, too. They do multiply, but, they haven't really taken over my garden. You can always plant them in a container, if you don't want them to spread. :)
Your garden looks lovely Bless, so appreciative of the rain you have had.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Eileen. The rain did a world of good for the garden! :)
DeleteYour garden looks lovely, Bless. I'm looking forward to enjoying mine once more, when spring arrives. X
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jules. Our climate allows year round gardening, but, I, too, look forward to spring because that's when the garden is at its peak with flowers in bloom. :)
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