Gardening in 2023

Just discovered this thread. Not much if a green thumb here but fortunately lantanas are practically idiot proof 😉

I have yellow and lavender lantanas in a different part of the garden but I just refer to these as Fiesta lantanas

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CinnamonSugar said:
Just discovered this thread. Not much if a green thumb here but fortunately lantanas are practically idiot proof 😉

I have yellow and lavender lantanas in a different part of the garden but I just refer to these as Fiesta lantanas

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I love lantana. It's too cold up here to grow it as a perennial, but I had a pot of lavender lantana in my sunny kitchen long ago. I love the smell of the crushed leaves!
 
More flowers from our garden: Magnolia Tree flowers have a heavenly scent, and I always place some in our bedroom to have sweet dreams; the next one grows wild, I have no idea what it is; then my wife's flower garden, and I don’t know the name; lower center shows our flowering Texas Umbrella Tree; and last each Pomegranate flower gives us one wonderful tasting fruit. Other flowers in our garden with an incredible scent are Jasmine and Orange Trees, but they are not in bloom at this time. Other beautiful tree flowers, not in bloom now, are our Silk Oak tree and the Mexican Jacaranda tree. And then we had a beautiful blooming Silk Tree but termites killed it.
BTW, about 100 plants are being watered by an automatic drip system. I used to have 2 1/2 acres with a small creek that I divided into four parcels, but I gave my children already three of the parcels because I am too old to take care of everything.

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Two years ago, I had oak leaf hydrangea planted on the east side of my house. The original was less than a foot tale. Deer came along and left three bare twigs 😒

Son rigged up a chicken wire cage, which we just removed fully. Here it is now

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still hoping for blossoms this year 🤞🤞🤞
 
🐢 So far, this morning, 3 different "Tomi's" (turtles) have visited. Two of them were the "common three-toed box turtle", like the picture that I previously posted. The shy one was an "ornate box turtle ".

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You can see all of the marking on her shell.

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There are quite a few pairs of "Summer Tanager" living here this year!! I would love to share pictures of them, but I'm not that good of a photographer.

I'll have to stick to turtles and flowers, I guess!
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Here is my first rose of the year.....

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I gave up on planting a garden this year. We've had very little rain so far, and the local deer population has grown substantially....they would probably get most of what ever I tried to grow....so I decided to let the soil "rest" this year. If we don't start getting some decent rain, I won't have to waste much money on lawn mower gas....the only things growing good are the weeds in our gravel driveway.
 
Saw a couple fancy lupines at a local public garden near Lake Merritt in Oakland. I’d pass on the first but desperately want the second in my garden.

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And a close up of the latter.

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My favorite among ones I’ve grown is called Cobb Mountain lupine. Hard to find in cultivation but sure did enjoy growing it When Annie’s annuals and perennials had it for sale.

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One more flower, this one from a Sweet Pea, at the Gardens at Lake Merritt.

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MarkD said:
Saw a couple fancy lupines at a local public garden near Lake Merritt in Oakland. I’d pass on the first but desperately want the second in my garden.

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And a close up of the latter.

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My favorite among ones I’ve grown is called Cobb Mountain lupine. Hard to find in cultivation but sure did enjoy growing it When Annie’s annuals and perennials had it for sale.

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One more flower, this one from a Sweet Pea, at the Gardens at Lake Merritt.

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California poppies (2nd pic) r one of my fave flowers 😊
 
CinnamonSugar said:
California poppies (2nd pic) r one of my fave flowers 😊
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it is one of those which, if it were hard to obtain or grow, many of us woukd overspend and pamper it to grow it. Here I am constantly having to remove it in places to avoid crowding out less well adapted plants. At least it is easy to remove as needed and generally ready to hand somewhere if needed.
 
Lady said:
pink and white clemitis ,, and my new plant i bought this last weekend , is a Weigelia
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Weigelia is one of the bushes that I have very little luck with. The flowers are so pretty, but once they are done I can't seem to keep the bush looking nice. Most of my Weigelia bushes look half dead.

I hope yours do better than mine.....and you can share your secret. Good luck!
 

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