Gardening: my other obsession

[sammie5]

My cats keep my busy all year round, but come spring, I just can't wait to get out into the garden. I had a pretty sad looking garden until about three years ago, when I had a friend plan a perennial garden for me. There is some stuff in there that I had already planted, or was here when I moved in 10 years ago, but most of it is new. Its a labour of love, and this week the last of the plantings on our garden design went in.

Of course, now I am looking for new places to plant. The most exciting part of the garden was the addition of two raised beds, which were not on the plan. I have new neighbours who rent the attic apartment above mine, and they are avid gardeners. He built the raised beds, and the three of us have been lurking at garden centres to fill them up.

You can see the results here.
My garden

And the most notable feature, of course, is the large patch of cat nip growing right in the middle of the front bed.

 

[kiwideus]

Beautiful! I love gardens too!

 

[russian blue]

 

[brienne]

OOH! I love gardening too! I'm very new at it. My stepmother has VERY green thumbs. Their place is gorgeous, you'd think she hired landscape design people, but she's done it all herself. So that inspired me. Last year she sent me home with some beautiful hanging baskets and I promptly killed them. So this spring I was determined to start from scratch and succeed at it. And when I did that, I fell in love! My boyfriend gets mad at how much money i spend on it now, but at the same time, he loves the new patio i have created for us.

I live in an apartment, so everything i am doing is in containers on my patio and front porch. I live in Texas, so I have to plant things that will tolerate heat, and I have to water all the time, but i love it! It's sucha great stress reliever!

To date, I have English Ivy, Vinca, Coleus- Amora, Coleus- Inky Fingers, beautiful deep purple petunias, cherry pink callibrachoa ("million bells"), Gardenia (which smells SOOOOO good at night), light pink Hibiscus, and a BEAUTIFUL pot of wandering jew (this always struck me as not the most P.C. of plant names, but nonetheless that is what it's called). I am also trying my hand at roses. I have a pot of Jackson and Perkins "Love Potion." I am enjoying only medium success with this so far, but oh well. I am learning more and more. Next year, I am going to order a bare-root David Austin rose. I love his roses, and there are some that do very well here, and are fairly compact.

And I'm always thinking of the kitties! I grow them wheatgrass to chew on, and also started some catnip from seed, so I'm waiting on that to grow more.

 

[sammie5]

Oh, container gardening is so much fun, but you do have to watch and get drought resistant plants. My neighbours are David Austen rose fanatics, they sneak roses into the garden whenever they can. I love the mini roses they planted as a border in my front bed, you should look into mini roses for your patio boxes!

And your plant varieties sound lovely, great combination of colours!

Oh, and have you heard about the new Endless Summer Hydrangea? In warm climates, it is supposed to bloom from April to October, and says it does well in containers. And it will be either pink or blue, depending on the acidity of the soil, so if you have a lot of mulch, you could get nice blue blooms. I am trying to find a spot for one in my garden.....