A Beautiful Day in the Garden

I certainly DID enjoy. I still DO enjoy.

Iris, you are an inspiration to the rest of us. I love your Rose of Sharon. One of mine was supposed to be like yours but it turned out the same as the other. I did get some cuttings from a lady in California, and it is supposed to be like yours. If not, I may come a begging for a cutting or a wee wild plant. ;-)

Your phlox are really nice. When I was watering this morning, I noted that a lot of mine are out now too. It sure seems early somehow. Beautiful roses. Beautiful everything.

You certainly have “an eye” for composition of your photos also.

Well done!

A++

-- jroot

Iris, thank you for sharing your beautiful garden and flowers with us. I really enjoy your photos and I appreciate how you tell us the names. I particularly like the photo of the unopened Hibiscus buds. I agree with Jroot. You are an inspiration and “Beautiful everything.”

How long have you worked your garden? What was it like when you first moved into that house? It seems to me that it would take years to create such a paradise.

-- Robin, Massachusetts - "Live simply so others can simply live." M. Gandhi

“A++” Wow, that’s a very nice grading, jroot. :) Thanks. I only wish I could take more credit for the the beauty seen in these pictures…...it’s hard to take poor pictures of something that is so pretty as flowers.

I’m not sure that you would really like to have an off-spring of this rose of sharon. It is an old fashion plant….. one that every pod has lots of seeds and every seed germinates. If one is not careful, you could end up with a million off-spring. I try to minimize the number by pruning all the seed pods off as soon as they develop. This has helped to keep my garden from becoming over-run with little rose of sharon. I believe there are newer varieties that have this tendency bred out of them.

Just an additional note to the above….I also have a ‘blue rose of sharon’, which horsetail gave to me as a small seedling two summers ago. It has not bloomed yet.. maybe next year.

Robin, I have lived on this property since ‘89. When I bought the property, it did not have any gardens. (Owned by an old bachelor who used the property for a workshop) The garage was here, and an older model house-trailer. My son and I renovated the house-trailer so it was livable and I lived in it until 2001. I developed many gardens around the h-t, but in 2001 I had to dismantle most of the gardens as we prepared the land for removal of the h-t and dug the foundations for this house. I moved this house from farm several miles away and settled it on new foundations here. And then I had the chance to develop all the gardens again. It has taken some work as the ground around the house had become so compacted after the necessity of having big machines working around it. Every year I work up a little more and I renovate parts of the border gardens along the fence line.

LOL, Robin, I took out an old photo album to re-fresh my memory re. how the property developed. I really hadn’t realized how many changes have been made over the years. If I had known when I began this particular journey…..well, it might have been too over-whelming. Ha-ha.

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

Iris, I am amazed; you created these incredible gardens in less than ten years!

-- Robin, Massachusetts - "Live simply so others can simply live." M. Gandhi

Ha-ha…..Robin, you would be even more amazed if you could see how slowly I work. Looking at those photos this morning, I was amazed! LOL

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

Iris, I was aghast to see the number of buds on your hibiscus. It shows how well the plant is looked after. I am curious to see what will bloom from the buds. All your other blooms are just fantastic, yes A++. Your story of how you developed your present garden is very inspiring. With days to come it will have many more facets added to it. Wish you good luck in your gardening venture.

Sharad

-- Bagwan-- “If someone feels that they had never made a mistake in their life, then it means they have never tried a new thing in their life”.-Albert Einstein

Sharad, as much as I would like to take the credit for how prolific the hibiscus blooms, I can’t. Hardy hibiscus are very easy to grow. This particular one I started from seed….they grow quickly from seed to bloom. Each winter the foliage dies back to the ground, only the root system survives our winters. Late spring, new growth begins and this plant grows almost five feet tall. The blooms are not huge, but it makes up for that with the number of flowers it produces. I have one that does have huge blooms…..12” across. When they start to bloom I will definitely post pictures.

I’m glad you enjoyed the other pictures, as well. :)

I have one more….I promised MsDeb a picture of the frog that lives at my pond area.

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

Such breath taking photos. Your garden is so wonderful to look at that I hope you keep posting often. I never get tired of the tour.

-- Donnie in sunny South Carolina

Iris I love your humility. I have never grown hibiscus from seeds but only by cuttings. Does your hibiscus seed? I want to ask this question to Jroot also. I have never seen a seed on my hibiscuses although I have them for many years. Is there any method of getting seeds on your plants. I tried to retain the flowers on my plant to see if they develop into a fruit and thereafter give seeds but of no avail. If anybody knows how to get seeds on one’s hibiscus I would like to know.
The picture of your frog is deadly!

Sharad

-- Bagwan-- “If someone feels that they had never made a mistake in their life, then it means they have never tried a new thing in their life”.-Albert Einstein

Sharad, hardy hibiscus are different from tropicals that way. Almost every flower will develop a pod of seeds. Each pod has dozens of seeds in it.

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

Iris, I like hardy plants, even if they seed themselves everywhere. Or maybe especially when they seed themselves everywhere. If you will collect a few seeds of the hardy hibiscus for me, I will try to think of some seeds to share back with you.

-- Robin, Massachusetts - "Live simply so others can simply live." M. Gandhi

Robin, I will be very happy to collect seeds for you. :)

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

Iris, does it mean that tropical hibiscus will not develop a pod of seeds? Can you send a picture of the hibiscus seed?

Sharad

-- Bagwan-- “If someone feels that they had never made a mistake in their life, then it means they have never tried a new thing in their life”.-Albert Einstein

inspiring!
and your frog—what a fantastic photo!

We had 7 frogs sitting around our pond yesterday. None as big as your guy, though.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a) http://www.execulink.com/~yohan

Sharad, I don’t have any tropical hibiscus now but when I did, I don’t remember if it grew, or how it grew seed pods. Maybe jroot would know…..he has so many tropical hibiscus…..and he told us about receiving seeds earlier this year. When my hardy hibiscus bloom this year I will collect the seed pods and take pictures of everthing to show you what these plants do.

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

MsDeb, doesn’t he have the greatest eyes? (the frog, I mean) I don’t think he is all that much bigger than any other frog, but the picture taken from this angle certainly makes him look huge. He talks to me every time I visit the pond. Br-r-rup! Br-r-rup! Br-r-rup! :)

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

yes, very handsome – in frog appreciation perspective . How wonderful that he talks to you. My guys are pretty quiet. On occasion we will hear one galumph in the evening.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a) http://www.execulink.com/~yohan

I think this is his girlfriend, but she is very shy and I only see her once in a while. :)

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

I think I see her batting her eyelashes :)

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a) http://www.execulink.com/~yohan

Sharad, the hibiscus do indeed form a seed. I have had them on my tropical trees last year, but I have not seen any this year, so far. I am thinking that I would like to start cross fertilizing the ones I have to see if I get some interesting new colours. I have also seen them on my perennial hibiscus. I’ll try to remember to post a photo of a seed pod when I see one in my garden.

Iris, I love your R.O.S. I saw a LOT of them in Rochester on our short trip ( end of July ), and a large variety of colours. I am hoping that the cuttings I have will be similar to yours. If so, I will be ripping out the smaller R.O.S. plant I have. If it isn’t like yours, I may definitely come begging for a cutting or some seed.

Great shots of the frog.

-- jroot

Thank u Jroot and Iris. The seeds of Hibiscus have always puzzled me and would like getting more information from experienced gardeners like you and also the pictures of the seed. I am curious to know how they look.

Sharad

-- Bagwan-- “If someone feels that they had never made a mistake in their life, then it means they have never tried a new thing in their life”.-Albert Einstein

I find myself sitting here holding my breath and repeating beautiful over and over and over.I just love all that color and variety.I agree with Jroot A++ for sure.Loved the froggie pics too.(lol)

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more