Addicted To Buying Flowers Or Just Filling In The Spaces

It's Fertilizer Friday and everyone is flaunting their flowers so when ya get
done here be sure to link over to Tootsies place at the bottom and see what she
and everyone else is up to.
My first Alliums are blooming. I'll have to buy more for next year. I wanted to enjoy them in 2 different places so consequently there aren't enough for a nice show.

I know I showed Columbine Clementine Rose before but she has more blooms now
and looks so pretty.
This is the Columbine that sent me into a rage last year when the deer wiped
it out. We beat them this year and got the Liquid Fence put on all of the
flowers. I remembered when I bought this one it had a pink bloom and a blue
bloom. Then later would only bloom one color and I thought surely I was mistaken
- it wouldn't bloom 2 colors. But it does. It was ready to last year and if you
look in the upper right corner there is a blue bloom on it's way.I'm not sure what Columbine this is. It doesn't look like one I've had before - I've
heard they can intermix and change colors. This is very pretty.

Some of the Irises are opened up now and more are on the way.

Miss Kim, my new Lilac, is really loaded for her first year.

A closer shot of Miss Kim, she's a dwarf Lilac and won't get
very big.

Lupines are opening.

Bob's beautiful Peony finally opened - the first one that is. I'll get a picture when
all of the buds open up.

The Phlox aren't doing well this year - only a couple of blooms.

Tradescantia Spiderwort

The little Weigela I started is blooming like crazy. It's only about 6" tall and
look at it go.

This is a dwarf Weigela I've had for years - probably one of the first plants I
bought. The tag disappeared years ago but the other day I saw one and I'm pretty
sure this is called Java Red.

A closer picture of it's beautiful foliage and bloom.

I got new stuff! Went to the Master Gardeners sale but there wasn't anything there
because we had been out of town and I missed the first day which I heard was
great. Lucky for me in the next room over was a swap meet and a lady had these
small Hostas in a crate. Whoopie! Flowers and a neat container. But look at this
little vintage coffee pot. WoW! Isn't that just great. I have a mottled gray
teapot about the same size on a weatherized ladder with flowers so it will go
great with that.

Wall Decorations

I put these narrow wall shelvings up last year
to hold my

small mini topiaries, pots, and bottles it gives
my sunroom

a gardeny feel.

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Last month I added some small square shelves to
hold some

of my pots. Just the other day I counted all
the pots that I have

just in this room I was shocked that I have
around 183 different

sizes! and that does not include the pots I have
in my shed.

Maybe I should have a pot sale on ebay?

Water Fountain

Just placed my water fountain outside today, I
bought a water lettuce and

a water hyacinth.

I was happy to find this variety of hens and
chicks called cobweb. It

really looks like a spider's web on the foliage
but it's part of this plant.

Oh, and I found a Metallica Echeveria and I just
love it.

My Succulent and Cactus Rack I just finished
putting away

most of my pots to make room for the Cactuses
and Succulents.

Now that I bought a Cobweb hens and chicks I
don't have a place

to plant it, so maybe I'll bring it indoors for
the winter as a house

plant. I did take a few cuttings to root,
hopefully I'll be able to find

a spot for it. It is a gorgeous day today, and
hope everyone is having

a great time in their gardens this
weekend!

Water Gel Packs for Cuttings

This water gel cups for cuttings seems to work
well for propigations,

just poke a hole at the top and insert a stem
cutting into it.

Stems should be about half an inch to an inch
long, and pull most

of the foliage off accept for 2 to 3 leaves.
Wait about a week or two

for root growth. I found this water gel pack of
2 at Menard's for about

$3.49.

What's Blooming Now

The reblooming irises are finally in bloom,
this variety has such a

sweet fragrance to them.

The Japanese Knotweed is growing nicely, I
planted this one in the morning

sun so it will grow larger and have more color
than grown in the shade.

I also planted a Flax, this year I am planting
more blue flowers to give

the garden more color.

I just love daisies especially the yellows and
oranges.

Gazenias are one of my favorite annuals, it's
pretty neat how they

close their blooms at night.

One of my cactuses bloom has opened it's so cute
and very tiny, about

the size of my pinky finger nail. Things that
make ya go hmmm.....and

...a bloom here....a bloom
there....everywhere...I must have too much

time on my hands! but gardening is a wonderful
thing!

Wisteria and Bittersweet

I was glad to see my Wisteria vine had survived
the harsh winter, this is the

2nd year since I planted this vine and now it's
showing signs of life.

This Japanese Bittersweet female was a seedling
about 2

summers ago, when my mom gave it to me it was
about 2 inches

tall and now only 2 summers later it has already
reached the middle

top of my pergola. The female bittersweets
produce flowers where the

males do not, the males have only foliage.
This vine has just started to

bud up.

You can see the little buds, their little
flowers are white.

In this photo you can see how thick the stems
are already and

tend to grow very curvy.

This is the top of the pergola.

Wisteria Blooms

This is the second year since I planted the
Wisteria and so far I

have 3 blooms on it.

My Black Irises has bloomed and I was surprised
that this

variety is fragrant.

I did manage to find a Ruby Heart Hens and
Chicks.

The Devil's Tongue

Devil's tongue (Amorphophallus knojac) is
a member of the

philodendron (arum) family. The plant, from
southeast Asia, produces

a large tuber which can weigh 22 pounds and be
as much as a foot across.

From mature tubers, a single flower stalk arises
which can reach

at least 5 feet high.The largest flower in the
world belongs to an

Indonesian relative the Titan Arum.
which produces a bloom as much as 12 feet tall.
In nature, the plants

have evolved to be pollinated by flies, so, to
attract the pollinators,

it mimics the scent of dead water
buffalo.Devil's tongue is not hardy

out of doors and must be treated as a
houseplant, and don't worry

for this plant when grown indoors does not
produce the bad odor.

Terrarium Craze

Lately I've been getting into the terrarium
craze thanks

to Fern & Mossery ;) , she is always
showing such nice

moss terrariums and I have been seeing them
everywhere.

Well here is some more that I have condured up.
I made them for the natural look and a little
different.\___________________________

I had one of these candle lantern in the garage
from

last year, I never used it yet so I placed some
natural

dried pods and some moss at the bottom.
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Since this hanging candle holder has a small
opening on

it I just placed some moss into it.

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In this little jar I have a small cutting of a
Creeping Pilea

plant inside with small rocks and a little
moss.

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I used this little jar and placed some small
rocks on the

bottom with moss, looks great on the small
shelf.

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and would you believe what jumped into my cart
while I was

at Pier One today? a cute terrarium..

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I took this small bottle and put small pebbles
in the bottom

and moss on top.

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The baby tear plants sure likes it inside this
large

jar, I don't cover the top completely. I still
am going

to get some of the hanging glass vases for the
real moss

terrariums, that project will take a little
more time.

Teeny Bopper

I also found this variety of Trailing African
Violet:

The smallest-leaved of all violets! Tiny,
single, dark purple bells
on the very tiniest, glossy, dark green foliage
imaginable.
This is an extremely tiny grower with an upright, branching
habit.
A mature plant, with a hundred or more leaves, can fit in a 2" pot.

Not a difficult plant but, nevertheless, not recommended for the
true
novice because of its very small nature.

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Terrarium

Just got this terrarium yesterday, it's made of
wood and holds

my Primroses nicely I think.

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I found this at Ikea for about $14.95 and you
have to assemble

it yourself.

Tasmanian Violet

My Tasmanian Violet is in bloom again, they do
resemble

little violas but the Tasmanian are smaller
about the size of

a pea.

The top photo was taken outdoors, this one
indoors where you can see

the true colors.

This
is a photo of the whole plant, it is a trailing violet but unlike
the
African Violets the Tasmanians don't have fuzz on their leaves and
have
no sensitivity to water on their foliage. I do feed it violet food and
keep it
in semi shade area. It is a vigorous grower, within 3 weeks it grew
about
4 feet in length and I keep on giving it a hair cut. Overall I like
this variety
of violets.

Persian
Violets also known as Execums are not for the outdoors,
I had 3 of them
already this year, kept it under a large evergreen bush
to shield it from
the sun and it died. They are sensitive to the weather
constantly changing.
Persian violets must be kept moist at all times, not
soggy but never let it
dry out. They like filtered light not direct in the summer.
They don't care
for the heat or the
cold, once their blooms are spent prune it down about 2
inches and let it
rebloom. When grow appears feed it violet food. This type
of violet
is fragrant.