Thursday, December 19, 2013

Winter Protection

      So I have mentioned methods of winter protection before in the past but im going to briefly explain how I do this again for my plants that are not 100% hardy in my climate.

      Desert plants(Hardy Cacti and Agave) In my desert garden I cover my plants with old glass window panes, cold frames, or whatever I can find I am all for being creative and resourceful. I even use Bamboo from my bamboo grove to create a frame that I put clear window plastic over to help protect some of the cacti. Cacti and Agave hate wet weather many can take the cold but cannot do wet cold they tend to rot. So in the middle of October here in USDA zone 6b I cover up my desert bed to let the bed dry out and to keep the rain off before the cold sets in. I cover everything in 4ml window plastic to keep out the wetness.

     Hardy Palms With my hardy palms Chinese Windmill Palm (Trachycarpus fortunei), Sabal minor, and Needle palm (Rhapidophyllum hystrix) I use this method. I use a large tomato cage put over the palm wrap the tomato cage in several layers of bubble wrap then stuff with dry leaves and or straw. Then I put a plastic heavy duty trash bag over the top of this and then use twine and tie tightly around the tomato cage to keep the plastic on. You will probably have to use duck tape or heavy duty packing tape to keep the bubble wrap from flying off if it gets windy, they can unravel. After established(after 2 years) the palms may survive without protection depends on your climate and moisture and the species of palm. Needle palms and Sabal minors are very hardy and more tolerant of moisture than other palms. Many palms can rot during wet cold weather. There is a group of Windmill palms in Bulgaria that have survived for many years unprotected in very cold temperatures, but these may be more cold hardy than many other strains of Windmill palms. It's all an experiment really.

Here are some photos of my winter protection from this winter.

                     


Sunday, October 13, 2013

Ox Blood and Red Spider Lilies

      With the fall rains upon us the Ox Blood Lilies(aka School house lilies) and Red Spider Lilies (aka Hurricane & Magic Lilies) have began to bloom. The Ox Blood lilies came up next to some potted Agave americana and the Red Spider lilies sprouted out from under a red chrysanthemum.

 

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Mr. Moy Ginger's Surprise bloom

      I was walking in the garden yesterday and I smelled a floral smell, like some kind of flower was in bloom. Then I noticed later the the Mr. Moy Ginger in my tropical themed garden was blooming. The flower smells amazing and is very beautiful. I was not expecting it to bloom really as it's almost the middle of October.

Monday, October 7, 2013

Momo Botan Dwarf Lotus

The Momo Botan dwarf lotus I planted in my mini water garden made out of a large pot bloomed again for the second time. I bought it off ebay and was surprised that it even bloomed once let alone twice since it was it's first year and it was only a small offset.

Banana's, my tropical garden.

So I am sorry for the long hiatus I took from blogging. I have been very busy working and I just graduated from College with my BA in History. I took some photos of the tropical section of my garden which includes Japanese Fiber Banana aka Musa Basjoo, various elephant ears, and Cannas among others. You can see that they have all grown quite a bit since I took photos of them last at the begging of the season.

Monday, June 3, 2013

Flowers in the Garden

Took some pics from around the garden of the Red hot pokers, Clematis, Lamb's ear, Hardy Japanese Fiber Banana, Clematis, Daylily "Happy Returns", Knock out roses, Hardy Prickly pear cactus in bloom, and "Major Wheeler" Honeysuckle vine.

Iris

Took some pics today my Bearded Iris"Oktoberfest" and my Siberian Iris "Caesar's brother" bloomed for the first time.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Cast Iron Crab

Here are a few pics of Crusty the cast iron garden crab I forgot to post earlier.

Cacti Blooms

Took some more photos today of the Cactus garden some of the cacti are starting to bloom. Also got 2 glass floaters and a cast iron crab to add to the beach feel.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Hardy Cacti Garden

I uncovered the Hardy Cacti garden a few weeks ago. It had some plastic and glass over it for winter protection. Took some pics over the weekend. The Ice Plant "Fire Spinner" bloomed for the first time. I really like these they are very nice.

Spring Flowers-Tulips and Hellebores

Here are a few more Tulips and Hellebores this time.