First Tomato of the Year!

Woohoo!! My first tomato of the year is forming! It's still green...definitely not ready to eat yet, but I'm looking forward to many, many more of these.

Also, on the subject of tomatoes....anyone know what those creepy crawly things are that photo-bombed in the picture above? I have no idea what they are, but I'm guessing they're up to no good.

Also, look at the pretty hosta blooms! It's treating us to two bloom stalks this year, with waaaayyyy more flowers than last year.

Blooms Day

Still on a role with cheesy blog post titles....I think the heat is starting to go to my head.

There are lots of blooms in my garden right now.

I've only gotten one bloom from the ranunculus tubers I started in my tiny greenhouse back in February. *sigh* It is lovely, though I was definitely hoping for more of a show!

The nasturtiums are really going to town. As many blooms as there are on this one, there are that many more buds ready to pop open!

The hydrangea is kind of a showoff. It blooms green and then turns pink, looking something like a disco ball in the process.

You can see there are many more blooms coming on this one!

Truthfully, I thought violas were not heat tolerant. It has been in the mid-high 80's though, and if anything, they are blooming even more vigorous than they did when it was still cool outside.

The ivy geranium has been giving wave after wave of these pretty clusters of white and pink blooms

The hosta hasn't bloomed yet, but I am hoping for more lovely purple flowers this year! Any suggestions yet on how to move this lovely?

The iris I dug up from my student's yard have finished their blooming, but this lily (also from my student's yard) is just getting started. There are several more buds on this one that have yet to open. Isn't the orange and yellow happy looking?

What kind of show are you getting in your garden? Any ideas on how to pack up and move my garden??

News, News, News

I hinted a few weeks ago here that I had some pending news to share. Well, it took a little longer than I expected, but here it is....

WE'RE BUYING A HOUSE!!!!!

Just in case you couldn't tell, I'm a little bit excited about it. The property is still in Inglewood, so we're not going far, but now I have to figure out how and what to move from the garden. I have purposely put off transplanting my started seeds into the ground, but what about stuff from the flower bed?

I am considering digging up the still tiny boxwoods and putting them into containers to put by the front door.

As for all the bulbs planted in this bed, should I dig them up? Just get new ones? The same neighbors that gave me these offered to let me dig up more from their overcrowded beds.

What about the daffodils that bloomed for the first time this spring? Should I dig those up and take them with me? Is it worth it?

I definitely want to take this hosta with me. I think it needs to be divided, but I'm not sure that would be a good idea while it's in the middle of it's growth cycle. Any thoughts on this?

Have you undertaken a garden move before? Did you take everything with you, or did you decide that some things would be too much trouble to move? HELP!!!

Latest Update and Pictures from the Flower Garden

Ok, so I've been a little MIA lately....things have been a tiny bit crazy in my neck of the woods and I hope I'll have some good news to share SOON!

In the mean time, here's some pictures from around the flower garden to tide you over. I'll cover the rest in another post!

 

Ok, here's a full shot of the right flower garden. Look how giant the hosta is getting! I think it's bigger than the boxwoods.

 Also, here's a closer look at the Roman Chamomile (it doesn't make blooms for tea, but it smells nice when you walk on it!) that's going gangbusters around the ornamental grass that has yet to show anything but dead straw. I'm not worried yet....it did this last year too.

Even though I didn't dig up my dahlia bulbs last year, they're still growing back...who knew? Maybe it was just the crazy mild winter. Also, you can see that the busyness of late has kept me from keeping my flower bed completely weed-free.

Said dahlias are in this left flower bed. There are lots of irises in here, but they haven't bloomed yet. I'm thinking they aren't getting enough sun.

However, the hydrangea and geraniums seem to be lovin' their spot on the side of the house. It's an east-facing wall, so they get plenty of sunshine.

And if you look closely, you can see that I'm starting to get some buds on the hydrangea! Hooray!!

This handsome fella decided he needed to get in on the picture taking...and I couldn't resist showing him off!

What's going on in your garden these days? Any fun happenings?

Returning Hosta

I guess this goes to show how much I don't know about hosta.....the one I thought died I discovered magically growing again yesterday. It's twice as tall today as it was yesterday!

Oohhh....also, I have exactly one tomato and one basil sprout in the greenhouse! Hooray!!

Last year's flower garden

Since I can't get much of a start with this year's garden, I thought I'd share some pictures of last year's flowers.

Miniature Parade Rose: Can't say this little guy did a while lot. There was only the one bloom you see, and it promptly died after it finished flowering.

My zinnias turned out beautiful and attracted lots of butterflies. They also grew to about five and a half feet tall! They also ended up with powdery mildew all over the stems and leaves.

The hosta put out some lovely purple blooms. I might have to plant more of these. They really liked my north facing wall.

 This dahlia grew to huge proportions. The flower was 6-8 inches across! Very pretty, but not all of the bulbs I planted sprouted (only two of the nine!).

Ok, so these aren't of flowers, but this is my garden "helper" Seger (yes, he is named for Bob). First seen helping me check over the flower beds and then napping in the sun after a hard day's "work."