A Year of Firsts - Clematis

Earth is here so kind, that just tickle her with a hoe and she laughs with a harvest. ~Douglas William Jerrold, about Australia, A Land of Plenty

This clematis , I lost the name but it looks like "Nelly Moser", was planted in the spring of 2006, that same year and 2007 it had around 2 or 3 blooms for the entire season. Now look at it! This is it's first year of such prolific blooms.

Last fall and spring 2007 I planted several other clematis none of which I have any blooms yet:

2 - Clematis Ernest Markham

2 - Clematis flammula

1 - Clematis Jackmanii

1 - Unknown of white variety

I think the bishop's weed helped as clematis like their roots shaded. Last year I dug up rocks out of this bed. The rocks were on top of landscaping fabric so I removed it as well, and surprise! the bishop's weed popped up.

A Year of Firsts

For over 10 years I lived in a small housing addition with a very small yard, almost non-existent yard. Due to the limited space most of my gardening was done with containers, including some veggies in containers and annuals here and there around the foundation.


In October of 2005 I moved to the current home I'm living in and boy what a difference. Located in a rural small town where everybody knows you by name, seriously. I love the community and the "warm welcome" mentality of the local folks that accepted us as new neighbors. For my daughter the schools are great , with small class rooms and high learning achievements and accomplishments from staff and students. What I love the most though is the quiet surroundings, beautiful nature, things I see on a daily basis that I didn't living in the city and of course more gardening ground to work with. Located on an acre lot, the home didn't have much in the way of landscaping or plant life on the property when I moved in.


So this is where I begin "A Year of Firsts" , of all things planted and this year being the first that most have bloomed or grown enough to see a difference in my landscape.


Some things I may remember or have details, some I don't , but I will have pictures to document the progress in my little corner of the world.


Some pictures of some annuals in some of my containers: dianthus, osteospermum, begonia

Iris First Year Bloom

There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it. ~Chinese Proverb

It's been raining here for the last couple of days but I did manage to take a walk through my garden in between the downpours. I wasn't expecting to see anthing new blooming. I walk around the corner of the house and ** gasp** I see an Iris standing tall. I planted this last fall and have been anxiously anticipating it's first year of blooms.

The other plant in there with purple blooms was given to me 2 years ago, I have no idea what it is. Do you? I know I didn't get a very good picture of it.
Before the rain we did manage to get everything planted for the veggie garden. So now we wait.

Not much to show but dirt, lol. Hopefully after all the rain and the sun shines again I will see some sprouts.

My little helper planted some of the marigolds and naustriums in front of the young shrubs along the fence line.

She's just like her mommy .. loves to dig in the dirt!Next week I 'm off work, woo-hoo. I plan on spending some quality time with my little helper, the garden and visit with family. So to all you mothers out there have a Happy Mother's Day!

First Bloom

Ahhh alas, my first bloom on March 29th, a bit late this year for the crocus. I'm late posting as well, I've been busy, busy mostly with my 8 to 5 job.

I did manage to get some work done in between rainy days. I finished the flower bed on the south side of the house. It was a little messy, over the winter the brick edging fell over in some spots.

I dug the brick edging line out about 6 inches more as well.

The orange daylily looks like it needs to be dug up and seperated, I hope to get to it this fall.


The main reason I started this blog was to create a journal of how my garden is doing each season. So... the plants on the south side of my house are as follows:

Tiger Lily or orange lily - lillium ancifolium (here when I moved in)

Hollyhock - alcea rosea (here when I moved in)

In the fall of 2007 I planted:
astillbe red fanal

carnation desmond - dianthus

daylily autumn red - hemerocalis

tenor tall phlox - paniculata

bee balm - monarda

allilium

iris

I hope to start the rose bed this weekend. The weather outlook is supposed to be sunny and warm. Let's hope! Rain, rain go away!