Treats from Tapovan.

5/28/11
What a day!! We went to Tapovan to spend the day there. As usual, after lunch we set out to have fun and Jim and me ended up spending the entire day exploring the - what seems like - hundreds of garden areas there. I am always amazed at the acres of land that holds all varieties of plants. Knowing how possesive Jim is about his plants, I was very proud that he shared so many with me. He gave me a beautiful houseplant (Night 'something' - have to find out the exact name), some hardy perennial Primroses, lots of Crocosmia bulbs, a couple of English Daisy, some flowering Sedum type of plants, and some heavenly smelling creeping Thymes. Hoping and praying that they do as well in my garden as they do at Tapovan.Will add pictures as these plants establish themselves.
8/13/11
The Godetia bloomed in time -

Crocosmia plants came up too. I was'nt expecting them to bloom and they didnt disappoint me.
Thymes did dispooint me though - they did'nt survive at all.
The sedums are thriving but no flowers yet.
The Night Angels are doing well indoors. Placed one of them in the front patio for the summer.

The Primose pleasantly surprised me this morning as I stepped out in the garden and saw two tiny flowers - such a beautiful color too.

Temparatures soared in Seattle today...

5/13/11
...so I went ahead and bought 3 daylilies and 15 caladiums. Blame the weather - not my fault at all ;-)
The daylilies went into the front yard. Planning to put the Caladiums all over my shade garden in the backyard.
8/13/11
The Caladiums are horrbie. They came up so tiny and not at all showy.
The daylilies are established and one of them have buds. Will add pictures if they flower.

Seeds in the ground

5/4/11
Planted 2 packets of Zinnia in the front yard. I am very very doubtful they will grow - bought these from a dollar store and they dont look too good to me. Will bring more from Wamart soon.
Also planted half a packet of Cosmos remaining from last year. They never did grow last year. Dont know if they will this year.

5/13/11
Got impatient so went ahead and bought another zumbo packet of zinnia from Fred Meyers on 5/8. And Holy Moly.... I have little seedlings already!! YAY!!
No sign of the cosmos yet though :(

8/13/11
Zinnias started blooming They are spectacular.

One new corner....one new project :)

4/16/11
Started a new project ....yeah again :)
Imagined my backyard a certain way and set out 'really small' in getting there. Its probably a eye sore now but hopefully in a few months, it will be the start of my backyard Oasis :)
The site I attacked today is the corner of my backyard.First covered the area with lots of newspapers which will hopefull take care of the weeds.The area has a little slope, so will raise it with some topsoil and compost. I had put some Shasta Daisy there earlier which seems to have established. Found a nice plant (trying to find the name of this one) growing among the 'Lily of the Valley' in the backyard, which I brought and put in a contianer. This covers a part of the corner. Very excited yet again to explore the possibilities. Stay tuned for updates :)

4/18/11
Figured out from my GardenStew freinds that the mystery plant I found in the backyard is actually a FoxGlove. Wondering what color the flowers will be.

8/13/11
Adding picture of Foxglove. Not anything else to add - the caladium were barely there. So tiny and unimpressive.

Narcissus blooming...

I bought 50 Narcissus bulbs early this year and planted them all over the front and back yard. They all came up nice and strong and starting to bloom now - they sure do look pretty!

Happy day...4/9/11

Happy because I got 3 new kinds of plants today - 1 pink crysenthemum, 3 fuchsia and 2 geraniums. These will be a part of my container garden.

A mysetry plant that I got from Idylwood Park has new leaves..YAY!!

The Kinnickinnick has two little pink flowers and is finally in the garden from the pot it came in - from office :-)

I also planted 18 Asiatic lilies in the front and back yard today. Cant wait for the blooms.

I propagated a little Day Lily off set from the front yard and put it in the side yard. I plan to gradually have a day lily bed in the side yard. I dont think the Day Lily will bloom in the side yard this year - it is too small. But hope it grows strong for next season :)

Oh yeah - the white Tulips in the container bloomed. They look so beautiful. The pink buds are showing too. Happy, happy :)

8/13/11
Only the Geraniums bloomed from the Fred Meyer lot. These are the so amazing. Have plans to winterise these and bring more next year.

The mystery plant is still a mystery - does'nt look like it will bloom.It has gotten bigger with more leaves. Will let it occupy some place in the garden.
The daylily did'nt bloom this year. But it didnt die - so hoping for blooms next year.
The Asiatic lilies came up. One of them have buds. Hoping we will see a little color on it soon.

Tuberose in a container

3/27/11
Planted 5 of the 15 tuberose bulbs that I got on Valentines day in the pot. Tuberose is one of my favorite flowers, absolutely love the fragrance. Always reminds me of home in India. I hope they do well.

4/6/2011
Added a Hyacinth as a filler in the pot with the tuberose bulbs. Since the hyacinth and tuberose have different blooming times, I am hoping to get some color in the container for a long time.

6/12/11
TuberRose in the container was a 'no-show'. While the ones I planted in my front yard has given out leaves, the tuber rose bulbs in the container didnt do anything even though they were planted over a month before the ones in the ground. I now removed the bulbs from the container and planted them in the front yard along with the others.

8/13/11
No Tuberrose flowers this year. Almost all the plants came up so hoping they will bloom next year.

Proud owner of a pink Heather

I bought this lovely Heather plant from the grocery store today (3/6/11). I love its pink flowers and heard that it is supposed to be hardy perennial. Planted it in the raised bed in the backyard. Hopefully it stays happy and healthy there.

Garden Corner Makeover - Garden Project 2011

Ok, so embarking on a makeover project. Hate the right most corner of the front yard and its time to do something about it.
Here's the before picture - whats there to like, right??

Now the plan :
Clean up the mess that are the weeds (..but of course), add a border (hmmm...), put some shade loving plants (options, options), mulch and pray :-) sounds easier than it is. Mind running wild with options, ideas and excitement.
Oh well... at least I got started. Cleaned up a small portion of the weeds and dug up the Gladioli bulbs which I replanted in the very front side of the yard where they will get plenty of sun. Here's the little progress I made on 1/23/11.

1/31/11 : More progress to report.
Cleaned out the weeds some more and put in a border. I might change the border if I come across something more appealing. Looking good so far , I think.

Also cleaned out the area with the daffodils - so that the blooms stand out a little more. I will move these daffodils from this spot after they are done blooming this year.

The daffodils bloomed and the below picture was taken on 03/09/11

4/3/11 : Little bit of progress. Dug up the hosta from the front corner of the yard and divided it up into two. My first attempt of Hosta propagation. Replanted both the hostas in my newly created garden corner. And a new border too. Picture below :

4/17/11
Planted 4 Astibles in this corner. My contribution here in this corner is done for now. The hard part begins though - patience....... :)

6/12/11
The Hostas doing very well as usual. And two of Astibles have leaves too - though they are very very small. I dont think I will get any Astilbe flowers this year.

Today I brought home a Hydrangea which was grafted in Roanoke Park in Seattle. I tried with others from this park before but those didnt grow. Please please dont let this one die. Love Hydrangeas and want one so bad. I planted this one in the top part of this garden corner.

The Astilbe's can't be seen in the picture, but the Hostas look great I think. The Hydrangea looks tired, but I transplanted it only today - hope it revives soon.

8/13/11
The Hydrangea did'nt survive. Sad but not surprised. This is what this garden corner looks like today.

Will move the Gladioli in the front of the yard next year and will add some more plants here - possibly the calla lily that I gave Sandip for his bday this year. The corner looks much better than it did all these years and I am happy with that.