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| "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" |
The theme for the front garden in May has to be the song, "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?"! That spring exuberance of osteospermum flowers has ended. All that remains are a few seeds that will scatter themselves or get eaten by the birds. The garden is still green, however, and I haven't decided if I want to pull out or cut back the osteospermum and clean up the garden a bit.
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| The Newest Addition - A Plant in the Gentiana Family |
This is the newest addition to the front garden - a blue flowered plant that M brought for me saying it is in the Gentiana family. I don't know for sure, but, I hope it will grow well in my garden,
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| A Trickle of Osteospermum |
April's "stream of osteospermum" has turned into a trickle, now, although this plant that is spilling onto the sidewalk is still looking quite healthy.
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| The "Stumpery" |
Not much has changed in the stumpery.
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| The Succulents Border |
Looking down the succulents border, everything is growing well.
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| Aeoniums |
This patch of aeoniums has spread. They look a little like green roses, don't they?
I watered the front garden on Saturday, just after I took these pictures, since M wasn't here on Friday (he took the long weekend off).
And that is the front garden in May. Something tells me that there will be a lot of cleaning up and tidying to be done in June.
It still looks lovely. And I always enjoy seeing the succulents. Xx
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jules, you are very kind. Yes, the succulents will keep the garden going over the summer. :)
DeleteThe flowers may have faded, but your gardens are still looking quite lush. While there are some things blooming, most of the spring flowers here have faded here, too.
ReplyDeleteThank you, June. Yes, the garden is still nice and green; I'm happy with that. There are flowers on the pomegranate tree, but, I forgot to take a picture of that. I might splurge out a bit and buy some bedding plants to add to the front garden, this year.
DeleteThe aeoniums do look like roses! They're very pretty.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Celie. They get a bit scorched in the summer, but, they recover quickly over the winter. :)
DeleteI love the looks of succulents too. They do not do terribly well here since we get quite a bit of rain___until August!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Anne. The succulents do really well in the front garden. Maybe you might have to keep succulents in planters inside your house or in your enclosed porch area.
DeleteWhat a difference, although the front garden is still so nice. The aeoniums do look like green roses and you have so many. The succulents grow very well for you. The stumpery is off to a good start. We’re early in our planting season and aren’t going to plant so many vegetables since we’ll be away off and on this summer. I expect we’ll do fine with lettuce, but I’m going to miss growing tomatoes. 🍅
ReplyDeleteIt is quite a difference, isn't it? But, you are right; the garden still looks green and nice. The stumpery is still a work in progress, but, I'm happy with it. :) I'm sure you'll manage to grow plenty of vegetables over the summer, even if you are not planning to grow tomatoes.
DeleteOh that's a melancholy sight - I know everything has its season and each one has its gifts but your osteospermum were so spectacular. I do get sentimental about the passing of time, and it really saddens me when people wish it away. Good luck to your new addition - let's hope it earns its keep!
ReplyDeleteAfter a few nice days it is cold and wet again here. Heavy rain and winds today. We also have a long weekend and tomorrow is supposed to be wet and dull too but I am hoping to go out for a walk unless it is as bad as it was today :o( I put my bedding plants out (early) last weekend and quite a few of them have already been eaten by slugs and snails. I have been going out every morning and evening removing them but it is a losing battle and very disheartening - never seen such numbers but the conditions have been ideal this year. I don't like killing them but if things don't improve very soon I shall have to resort to going out with a bucket of salt! (Laurie left loads of that behind too!)
Yes, it is a bit sad, isn't it? But, the garden is still green and I am looking at the end of the osteospermum flowering as a time to clean up and tidy the garden a bit. M will love nothing better than to know that he can weed whack all the osteospermum back!
DeleteI'm so sorry the weather is cold and wet and you are having to deal with slugs and snails. I watched a video where someone put some pistachio nut shells and some branches from a spruce tree or such on her vegetable beds, to keep the slugs and snails away. But, one would have to eat a lot of pistachios to collect enough shells (unless they are available for sale, somewhere) and have access to a spruce tree. The salt that Laurie left might be easier!
I have heard of a similar method but using egg shells. Again, i think you'd need loads for it to be effective, and they'd still be rampaging elsewhere in the garden! Some people put copper rings around their planters which apparently works as long as the planters are a suitable shape. As for going round the beds and doing each individual plant ... well that salt option is looking better and better. Hugh.
DeleteEgg shells would be easier to get than nut shells. Especially if you are baking a lot - better get cracking! :D (Sorry, couldn't help it!) I have also heard that if you set a bowl in the planting bed, so that the top is flush with the soil level, and fill it with beer, the slugs and snails will fall into the beer and drown in it. Not sure if that will work or if the snails will think you are a lovely hostess, providing them with not only a salad bar, but, also some beer to go with it! I had snails in the garden, a long time ago (back when we used to water quite frequently), but, we used some snail bait pellets that were supposed to be safe for birds and pets, and that helped.
DeleteI've heard about the beer but don't think it is very practical. Even a small ramekin would take up relatively large space in the planter, and I would have to make room for it, spoiling my planting arrangement - and then do that for every planter. Then, how often would I have to clean and top up the beer? The amount of rain we have had, it would very quickly be diluted, not to mention squirrels and pigeons coming to investigate, maybe having a drink and definitely knocking soil into the bowl. As if the slugs weren't bad enough, a squirrel has snapped off one petunia and done other digging damage. I picked my first raspberry yesterday but, going by past experience, it may be my last if the thieving little punks are on form! Aaagh!
ReplyDeleteI do use slug pellets but even they are no help any more. The recipe was changed a couple of years ago, removing the active ingredient (I think it was metaldehyde) out of concern for other wildlife. The new recipe uses iron which is harmful to slugs, but not to the birds, hedgehogs etc. which may eat them. Trouble is, the pellets themselves are now attractive to the birds, so invariably they gobble up them up before they can do their job. It is such a pain. I only ever used the pellets sparingly, immediately after planting certain tender plants, just so they had a couple of days to establish themselves in peace. I guess some gardeners were too heavy-handed and I agree that the ecosystem is important. I think it is just an unlucky year after a wet winter and spring.
As you can see, I am procastinating by writing long and dull comments to you, rather than going out for that walk. We have had a couple of downpours this morning so I am still trying to convince myself! Perhaps I should make the cake instead ... if I eat a couple of pieces of that I might feel guilty enough to do some exercise! Oh wait, is there a problem with this logic....? :o)
Oh, no, squirrels in addition to slugs and snails! Yes, the beer might not work too well and we don't want drunk squirrels and pigeons cavorting around in your garden! Maybe, if your brambles have thorns, you could add some of the cut canes to your planters and see if that helps to keep at least the snails and slugs away?
DeleteI've told you before, your comments are never dull or too long, and I enjoy reading them. But, I hope you were able to go for a walk, after all. Or bake a cake. Or, do both! I did a bit of weeding in the garden and then, treated myself to some ice cream! :)
I did both! The cake turned out really well although I deviated from the recipe quite a bit. Used up some more ingredients that had been hanging around too long, and did without others that I've finished. I've been through some more recipes looking for those that call for plain flour. I've noticed that the ratios of baking powder stated differ a lot from cake to cake/book to book (even taking into account other ingredients such as ground almonds or whatever). Interesting. Apparently American baking powder is different from European so perhaps the amounts have been adjusted for UK books. Having said that, I've never had a problem baking recipes from us books here. I also have some European recipes that I have made as stated, with plain flour and baking powder, or sometimes just gone for SR flour instead. No difference that I can tell. I'll just be glad when I get to the end of all this flour - all types! I have decided on my next three bakes!
DeleteThe walk was ok. No I interesting photo opps but I was glad I went, and it didn't rain.
Good thought about the brambles. They said on the radio this weekend that one way of avoiding too many molluscs is to keep the garden well weeded so there are fewer hiding places for them. So all brambles etc.should be cleared away ... however if I pull all the leaves off and cut the stems into short lengths I can try laying them on the surface and see if it helps. Dad seems to think that the thorns are too widely spaced for them to be a deterrent but I can lay lots side by side or criss-crossed and just experiment. Will keep you posted. (Lucky you. )
I'm glad that you were able to do both - bake a cake and go for a walk. Well done! Maybe putting the brambles down criss-crossing each other would be good. By the way, I checked the grocery store app, today, and 6 oz. container of blackberries are on sale for $3.99. I'll stick to the blueberries I'm picking from my garden for now, but, might seriously think of buying a blackberry plant for next year!
DeleteThe stumpery certainly looks as if it is an intentional garden feature. Obviously succulents are an ideal complement to the logs.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Bushlady. It's very kind of you to say so. :)
DeleteYes, they do look like green roses!
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean - we wait all year for our flowers and in a blink they move on to their next phase. But hopefully something else will catch our eye and give us something new to marvel over :)
As we move on into summer, the succulents will be the stars of the garden in the front! Depending on our water restrictions, I might or might not get some bedding plants to add some color. We shall see. :)
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