Tag Archives: flowers

2015_Day 96: One little, two little, three lil’ tomatoes

Three tomatoes are now growing on one of my Early Girls.

Three tomatoes are now growing on one of my Early Girls.

Ten days after I transplanted the tomato plants into my raised garden bed, there are now three tomatoes growing on one of the Early Girls. There are a lot of flowers on the other Early Girl and Better Boy but no ‘maters yet. Continue reading

2015_Day 76: Dirt Day gone, garden glee just around the corner

Found a couple pots to go next to the flower bed.

Found a couple pots to go next to the flower bed.

My raised beds are full of soil and ready for planting. But that might have to wait a few days because there is rain the forecast tonight, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Continue reading

2015_Day 73: Raised beds together and ready for soil

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What a glorious day! Raised beds put together and waiting on soil. Crape myrtle tree planted. Maybe that doesn’t sound like a lot, but I am thrilled I got that much done. Continue reading

2015_Day 70: Zinnias, cosmos, daisies and more

My seed packets this year

My seed packets this year

There aren’t any real surprises in my seed choices this year, although there are far fewer, given I won’t have a 30-foot-by-40-foot space in which to plant them. Veggie seed mainstays peas, beans and cucumbers will complement the tomato plants in my vegetable bed, along with a few onion bulbs. It’s possible I may add a bit more lettuce, too, depending how my current containers of lettuce do. Oh, and I can’t forget the chives and basil plants I bought. Aside from dill, I’ve never really grown herbs, unless you count lavender (salvia), which to me is more of a flower.

Speaking of which, my flower seed packets this year are my tried and true faves zinnias and cosmos, along with aubrieta, gazania, California poppies and daisies. I’m thinking I’m going to devote one fairly big raised bed to veggies and herbs and another big one – or maybe two smaller ones – to flowers. I have yet to figure out exactly where the underground sprinkler system’s pipes and heads are in the backyard in order to place the container beds, not to mention my crape myrtle tree. Tomorrow night, I think I’m going to run the sprinklers so I can get that settled once and for all. Not that we need any more rain, but that seems to be the easiest way to figure it out.

I’ve already bought one raised bed, so I’d like to get that together, too, so I can get an idea of its size. Then I can go buy a few more, depending on what I want/need. I’m so glad it’s going to be in the 60s tomorrow and 70s through the weekend. Should be perfect gardening weather. And I’ve got a lot on my to-do list. Don’t you just love Spring!

2015_Day 32: Why are there so many crape myrtle varieties?

A pink velour crape myrtle tree. From thetreecenter.com

A Pink Velour crape myrtle. From thetreecenter.com


One of the first trees I noticed when we came to Texas was the lovely, flowering crape myrtles. Especially the ones with deep red- or pink-colored flowers. “I definitely want to plant one of those in my yard,” I remember thinking. Continue reading

2015_Day 11: Lettuce, flowers made it through hard freeze

2015/01/img_1415-0.jpgI’m happy to report that both the lettuce and my matthiolas made it through the last few nights of really cold weather. I’ve been covering them at night for the last week or so (one night, it got down to 18), and on Friday and Saturday I kept them covered all day, as well. I was able to move the lettuce onto the covered patio, but not before the tarp was coated in ice on Saturday. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem any worse for wear, although it’s certainly not growing. Continue reading

2015_Day 10: Breathing new life into aglaonema

2015/01/img_6669.jpgAbout two months ago, I bought a beautiful aglaonema that I kept on my patio until the nights started getting really cool. I had never seen one with this coloring before, the leaves – most of their stems, too – are edged in red, while the insides are mostly shades of green and yellow. The plant is quite elegant, I think, and is just a treat to look at. Continue reading