Monday, May 11, 2009

Whats in your Garden??




Vinca
FUN MONDAY


Faye is our gracious hostess this week. This what she wants us to do....


I'm asking you to think about gardening. Do you consider yourself a gardener? Or, just the lawn keeper? When you think of your home, is it important that there are growing and flowering plants in your home landscape? Regardless of where you live--from a city apartment to a farm--do you need to grow something, even if it's a pot of geraniums on the patio? Do you grow your own food or have childhood memories of helping parents or grandparents grow a vegetable garden.


First of all, I must say... I Love Flowers. It is very important to me to have flowers in my home landscape. I have a lot of perennials planted that mostly bloom all summer. Tulips and hyacinths are my spring bloomers. Every year I plant in my containers, geraniums, petunias and dahlias. These plants do very well in the sun as my home gets sun at every angle at different times of the day. My perennials are, coreopsis, sedum, azaleas, rhododendron and dianthus. The only annual flower I plant in my beds are vinca, it is so hardy and drought tolerant and the bunnies leave it alone. To work in my flower beds gives me much pleasure. To plant a flower and nurture it to grow is very rewarding. As far as a vegetable garden goes, years ago I had a huge one. I had green beans, tomatoes, corn, peas, potatoes, broccoli, spinach, cauliflower, cukes, zucchini and even had a strawberry patch. I spent most of the summer, weeding, picking, canning and freezing the crops. After 7 years of doing this it just got to be so time consuming and we had to plan vacations around when the crops were coning in, it was no longer fun to us. Now I just plant one tomato plant and that's it. (Kudos to all the Farmers our there)

Annual (pictured above)
Vinca or Periwinkle is a prolific heat and drought tolerant annual, perfect for hot, dry areas. It's easy to grow, and requires little or no attention.


Coreopsis


Coreopsis: Zones: 3 - 9
Colors: Pale Yellow
Height: 18"' Width: 12 - 18"
Bloom Period: Mid-Summer - Fall
Exposure: Full Sun

Azaleas



Geraniums

Petunias



Now go on over to Fayes to see whats in everyone elses garden!

13 comments:

Living Life said...

Your flowers look very pretty! You definitely have a green thumb. I do share your passion for house plants.

Ari_1965 said...

I just love coreopsis.

Jill said...

how fun.i love the perennials because as longas you dont pull them up they just keep going back to where they were, and spreading!

Jan said...

Janis, love your post and photos. You are a fun gardener, for Fun Monday.

John Atkinson said...

I remember my mother working her flower beds and humming happy tunes. I didn't think about flowers until my wife got sick with cancer. She likes color in the yard. So I plant for color and enjoy watching flowers grow. I found out how tough pansies are in cold weather.
Your flowers look beautiful. Makes me want to get outside in the yard.

Sayre said...

We have a lot of shade in my yard, so it's tough to grow a lot of things. I never thought I'd say that I wanted more sun, but here it is!

Your flowers are gorgeous! My azalea bushes are about 15 feet tall and need to be pruned back - that's what happens to them in Florida...

m (the misanthrope) said...

Thanks for letting us peek into your garden! Your flowers are beautiful!!

Faye said...

Ah! A serious gardener who understands that both annuals and perennials have their place in the garden. As we speak I'm looking at the first dark red peopny on my desk--what pleasure. Agree with you about the veggie garden--too confining for we retired folks. And there's so many good farmer's markets around. Enjoy your beautiful blooms this year. Oh, and I'm with Ari--love coreopsis, especially the pale Moonbeam variety.

LadyStyx said...

I've got a black thumb. I cant even keep an already potted hanging plant healthy. The thumbs are so black I could probably kill a cactus. However, my yard isn't without flowers. Seems no matter how I neglect them , the irises still come up every year (I didnt plant them). I got a picture of my irises in my header picture (as well as my background).

Peter said...

No photo of your hands Janis... so you definitely have green thumbs.

Pamela said...

coreopsis is one of my favorites. We've had the single petal and the double. And one that grows in wild array with blossoms all over it (and the cats like to hide in it because it's like a jungle)

Mariposa said...

Sorry for the late comments. Been having really manic Monday... The flowers are really lovely. I'm planning of planting more flowers in the garden myself. :-)

I'll be hosting next weeks Fun Monday... Check it out... ;-)

Have a great day ahead...

Hula Girl at Heart said...

Your flowers are beautiful. I love the ease of perennials but cannot resist the temptation of annuals. They're such show-offs.