Birthday Goodies

I got some really cute garden goodies for my birthday My best friend got me this bag to carry to Garden Club meetings...HOW CUTE IS THIS!!!!!!! I LOVE it...precious. Thats me ;)

My mom gave me a garden angel...I have to put her somewhere nice

Leaves!!! I love getting leaves or pine straw. So this wasn't actually a "birthday" present...but it was for me!!! My best friend brought them over.

The Princess yard sceptor from Ramona...so cute!!!!! I asked her where the other 29 were...but I only got one :(

Just checking

Everyday I come home and walk around the garden to see what is going on. I am looking forward to seeing my garden in bloom soon. My white coneflowers are about to bloom! They are the best cut flower! There are now 2 irises

This is quite possible one of my favorite plants. It is called a BAT FACE plant (http://www.magnoliagardensnursery.com/productdescrip/Cuphea_Bat.html). It is a very interesting little plant! It is in the cuphea family. The flower is red with a dark purple center that resembles a bat face. Hummingbirds love this plant...I can see why

Gloriosa Lily (http://www.floridata.com/ref/G/glor_rot.cfm), is coming up. However a limb fell on it during one of the storms and decapitated it!!! I hope it will be okay though. I got these from my grandma, and they are very unique. They reproduce fairly quickly. I can't wait to get some babies off of it to spread around the yard.

I have lots rooting in this container. A four o'clock tree (http://www.gardenfairy.com/garden/mirabilis.htm) that my aunt gave me (tall branch in the rear). My mom also has this plant. It came from my grandmother, and they rooted it from her. I will plant it soon. I also have two branches from some type of shrub my aunt gave me. I don't know what it is, I don't know if she knew or not. It is growing though...so soon there will be pictures on my blog of it and all of my blogger buds can tell me what it is. Lastly we have native azalea (the ones flowering), I plucked these straight out of the woods Sunday. So far, so good...lets hopw they make it!

Up & At 'Em

Once again I have to see what my flowers look like over at Ramona's yard!!! She emailed me these pictures last week. They are amaryllis I had in my yard and I shared them with her. There were probably over 200 bulbs in my yard. They had not been divided in 15+ years until last year! They had never bloomed while I have been there, I believe the masses where too big. In September I finally divided them and shared them with the Garden Club ladies. Mine have not bloomed yet....but go figure Ramona's have!!!! Mrs. Brown said this particular type is a St. Joesph's Lily, and it is one the oldest known amaryllis. I have mentioned before the my next door neighbor once lived in my house (around 18 years ago). They left these amaryllis and many daylilies behind. They told me that these amaryllis came out of Mr. Otis' grandmothers yard. This is what started my fascination with heirloom bulbs.

Now the amaryllis below was given to me by WC Gardener. It is an Apple Blossom amaryllis. It was just a little bulb when she passed it down to me. The strange thing about this to me is, is that the flower bloomed before the leaves came up? Is that normal for an amaryllis. I thought the leaves came first, then the stalk??? Chicken or the egg???? Oh well, either way it bloomed, and I am not interested in its leaves!

Leaves just beginning to poke up

What a pretty thing!

Magnificent!

Now lets see how long it takes my others to bloom!

Hydrangea happenings

I have 6 or 7 hydrangeas in my garden. I love them. There is something about them. They remind me of the old South...not sure why. I can remember my grandmother having two HUGE hydrangeas in her yard, they were the old powder blue ones. My mom rooted me a piece off of it, and it is now growing in my garden (I forget to get a picture of it). I can't wait for them to get bigger, right now they are all babies. I don't know all the names of the hydrangeas I have...I just call them pink, blue, purple, etc.!

Hydrangeas are interesting plants. You may purchase a blue one, plant it and it may change to pink or white. It is easier to change one from pink to blue than it is from blue to pink. To change a bloom from pink to blue you must add aluminum to the soil. White hydrangeas cannot be changed to pink or blue (or at least that what they say.). My neighbor does have several hydrangeas in her yard that are deep purple. They were all the same type, from the same nursery. On one bush the majority of the blooms are purple, then there are several hot pink blooms, and a few white. Strange right? Here in South Alabama it is hard to grow a "true" red hydrangea. It is just too hot. You can purchase newer types of hydrangeas that are not supposed to change colors once you plant them. This one is hot pink. It is a mophead hydrangea. I bought it last year. I was worried about it for a while, but now it is doing great. (If you notice all the pine straw/leaves piled up in the corner of the fence, this is from all the rain washing through my yard)

This one is burgany/pink lacecap hydrangea. It is really pretty. I purchased it from the local flea market. They have a wonderful selection of inexpensive plants.

I am really excited about this one. It is a deep purple! I rooted it myself! My neighbor gave it to me. They have tons of them.

This one is an oakleaf hydrangea. They are one of my favorites. I also purchased it from the flea market...I believe it is white.

Light pink mophead

My first orchid

One of my fellow blogger/garden buddies ,WC Gardener gave me this Nun's Orchid about a month ago. I am so happy that is bloomed! I can't really take credit for this, it was about to bloom when she gave it to me!!! I just had to keep it alive. Which I have done so far (crossing my fingers!). I also have two more that she has given me, but they have not bloomed yet. Hopefully they will soon

Rain Rain Go A Way

We are expecting more rain today, tomorrow and Thursday. I am not real thrilled with this. It will be fine as long as it isn't a torrential down poor like it was last week. Here is some of the damage it did in other parts of Mobile County. http://www.wkrg.com/alabama/article/the_road_that_swallowed_up_cars/24957/

Princess or Queen

Today the Dirt Princess is celebrating a birthday...well I don't know if I would call it a celebration. The Princess is 30 today. Whew THIRTY!!! How long before I become the Dirt Queen???? Nah...I like being a princess. I will bestow the title of Dirt Queen to my mother. She is the Queen.

I did get a fabulous yard stake...or sceptor as I would like to call it, from Ramona. I will get some pics of it today. It looks like a sceptor that royalty use. All I need is a crown!

I also got a river that washed through my yard...not really a birthday present! It rained around 12 or so inches in 2-3 days here....down poor of rain. My neighbors house sits higher than mine, and mine in higher than the neighbor to the other side (following me here). When it rains for a few days, we always get some washing in the yard. Saturday we had a river running through the front yard, the back yard, and the rose bed. Poor little roses! The flow of water coming from their yard rushes down through mine. It washed all of the dirt and leaves out of the roses bed, it even unearthed one little rose. Leaving tons of sand in my driveway...and I am still not sure where this sand is even coming from! So I have to get all of the sand up...I can't blow it off since there is so much...it must be shoveled! Joy!!! I did manage to rake up the leaves out of the yard that washed out of the rose bed and get them back into their home. My poor neighbors on the other side of me really catch it....they get the run off from The Stricklands and me! This only happens once or twice a year...so it will be okay. Just need to get some rock to put in these areas to keep it from washing so bad.

The apple blossom amaryllis is blooming, and all sorts of things are popping up now. I did get some damage from tree limbs. Some oak limbs fell on several of my plants, nipping their heads off! Maybe they will be okay. I didn't get any pictures over the weekend because it was wet, and nasty and I was too busy cleaning up the aftermath. I will try to get some pictures today. Have a great Monday :)

Felder in Fairhope

I don't have much to post on my garden...so I will share a garden field trip with you. Back in January a few of the Garden Club ladies went to Fairhope to see Felder Rushing speak. I wasn't able to attend unfortunately, but Ramona did get some pictures for me. Fairhope is across the bay from Mobile, about 45 minutes. It is a beautiful little city. Last week they were discussing raising the sale tax from 6% to 8%. This made the residents very unhappy. The city employs a full time horticulturist, who keeps the city looking great. They have beautiful flowers beds around the city. Some of the residents want to do away with maintaining the flowers, and keep the taxes low. I think that the flowers add so much to the city and Fairhope wouldn't be the same without them. But I don't live in Fairhope so I don't really get a say so! Felder loves making containers from strange items. Would you put this in your yard? This is even a little much for the Dirt Princess A tire container...yes it is green...well pink...but again...a little much for me

Felder is notably know for his truck. He always has a garden of some sort growing in the bed of his truck. He changes it occasionally.

Fruit stand and flowers in Fairhope

So nice!

TGIK - Thank Goodness Its Kiki

Wow...in all of my excitement over posting a blog on Mrs. Brown's...I nearly forgot it was TGIK!!!!

Don't thank me yet....

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to visit not one, but TWO of my favorite places. I got to visit with Liz at Garden Lake, and then Mrs. Brown called! Let me tell you a little bit about Bob and Carolyn Brown, they are in their early 80's, and have been married for 63 years!!!! They are a fresh and vibrant as a 30 year old! They spend every day out in their yard working away. That is probably why they are in such great physical and mental shape. They absolutely amaze me. Bob gets more accomplished in their garden in 1 day than I can in 4 days! They are extremely entertaining. I laugh the entire time I am with them. They are a plethora of garden knowledge. I wish I could pull it all out of their heads and put it on paper. They can root anything....any type of plant you can think of. The property is 2 acres, and 75% of it is shade. Now, if you don't think you can garden in the shade you need to take a look at these pictures. There are amazing oaks on this property. I asked Mr. Brown how old they were, and he said they were probably 150-200 years old!! They have camellias that are more like trees. They are 20' tall, and I had never seen camellias that big until I came to their house. Everything is bigger and better at The Brown's (or atleast thats the way I see it!). All of the stones you see used for borders, and the old wood used for fencing Mr. Brown got from their old home place in the country. I believe that old home place was one of their mothers. I really could sit here and talk about this place for days on end. It is just an amazing place. Mrs. Brown always shares her plants with me, and luckily for me they have all lived. Whenever she gives someone plants and you thank her, she always says "don't thank me yet, they may die!". The Brown's garden is one of the gardens that is on tour for our garden club on May 9th. If you are interested in the tour please let me know. Tickets are $10. Here is the link to the photos I took at The Brown's. Some are blurry...not sure why. I was having a bad camera day!! ENJOY!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35726325@N06/show/

Garden Lake Part 1 - Flowers

There are no words for me to describe Garden Lake...I am speechless everytime I leave there. Garden Lake is a 32 acre home/garden of one of our Garden Club members (we are blessed to have her). It is a sight to behold. It is one of my favorite places to visit. Lucky for me Liz (the owner) lets me come and visit with her and take pictures of everything I see. She doesn't live very far from where I work so today I was able to take my lunch and ride to Garden Lake. There is so much to see...so I narrowed down the pictures and created 5 posts...thats right FIVE POSTS! They are broken down into categories. I hope you enjoy the pictures. Amaryllis Snowball (Snowball something..I forgot, so much to take in!)

Tulip Camellia

Strange formations on a tree. Bug maybe?

Pink Dogwood (down here...pink dogwoods are VERY rare)

Wild Periwinkle

Sorry...I don't remember this one....

Mayapple

Japanese Cherry Tree

and again

Buckthorn (I did some research on this one and found out that it may not be a good plant to have around)

White wisteria (this is also very rare down here)

Wisteria mixed in with the azaleas

Japanese Magnolia

This is some type of orange...Phillip over at Dirt Therapy has this....but I am drawing a blank as to what it is called

Garden Lake Part 2 - Azaleas

I could not even begin to tell you how many azaleas are on this property...I would say 5,000+ easy!!! They are everywhere you look. There are also native azaleas and rhododendrons. Azalea Naitve Azalea (aren't the colors unreal!)

Rhododendron

Rhododendron

Rhododendron

Azalea

Azalea

Native Azalea

Native Azalea

Native Azalea

Native Azalea

Native Azalea

Azalea's along a path