• From James in Amarillo August 19 - 11:45 pm [10]

• Before and Afters August 19 - 11:14 pm [27]

• Pond Restoration May 29 - 11:32 am [2]

• Making Messes October 24 - 8:34 pm [24]

• Garden Planning June 13 - 12:12 am [3]

Let's share our before and after pics here,,, to spark inspirations and perchance, get some feedback.

From Leann and Dan in Keller, Texas
After gardening at their last house for 18 years, they moved into this one last Dec. It suffers from the lawn and shrub mustache syndrome that we gardeners just can't abide.


After ripping out the first line of boring hedge and building a deck out off the back door, inspiration came from the black self-contained waterfall fountain, which inspired an Asian setting. Louisiana iris rise up from behind it, a young Japanese maple is working on framing the rush backdrop and an elegant goddess with hostas at her feet, is keeping guard.


Leann says more plants are to be added as they present themselves and they are currently ripping out a big chunk of lawn for a sunny border and a rose arch ... we await updates and picies

Thanks Leann and Dan for sharing your new escapades with us. Can't wait for the next installments!

Dan and I are eager for input so please feel free to give us your thoughts! Leann

I was thinking an annual vine might be nice up the reed screen. Although, most annual ones need a lot of sun. How shaded is it Leann?

Leann and I would like to hear other ideas from you shy visitors out there too.

The area is basically total shade. The wall faces directly south and is under the eve of the garage, under the shade of an oak tree at that! I did add a very large bird of paradise on the right corner of the bed to give some impact to the otherwise bland screen.

I am a lurker, but think you might wish to add some hidden gingers, (circuma petiola (sp)) or brugmansia, or columbine, also persian sheild would be nice as would japanese painted fern...Everything I named are perinniel and root hardy in DFW area.


CAC

Thanks for the tip. It just so happens that I received a brugmansia as a gift and am eager to find a perfect home for it. However, I was under the impression that the brugmansia was not hardy here. More tropical in nature...no?

Hi, against your home it will be root hardy, what direction does this bed face? North, South, etc? It does need a few hours of sun, but I know people that have them in zone 7a and they come back, you cut it back in the late fall before the freezes, use a pot filled with leaves to cover the stump which I would over mulch, on the coldest nights you can throw a blanket over the pot just to double insulate it The cuttings you take, save a few and root them in your garage either in dirt or water, that will be your insurance They love lots of fertilizer and water.

CAC

Hi all, I agree...My Burgs are outside year round in a clay pot that is slowly falling apart. I am out there the night of our first HARD freeze, taking cuttings. Then I do nothing, but let the leaves fall and wait for Spring....and of course here comes the brugs up again....with no special care on my part...Oh, BTW the pot is above the ground and faces North...

Remember that golden rule of green thumb David.. the first time we forget to take cuttings, we will get one of those rare single digit freezes. Right? :-}

Hi CAC, Glad to have you join us. Good ideas up there for Leeann.
David and I are wanting to ID a velvet-y leafed Brug that came from a grower in Louisiana. Ever heard of such a thing? It hasn't bloomed yet,, so we have no other clues right now. I'll snap a pic of its foliage tomorrow.

Hi all,
Thanks for the welcome
The only Brugmansia I know of with fuzzy leaves would be the shredded white. There are a few cultivars out there.
Here are a couple links, I don't have first hand experience with it, just from what I have read.
Hope this helps!

http://brugmansias.com/showpicture/9242/

http://www.nativehabitat.com/shredded.html

This one has a better view of it:

http://www.americanbrugmansia-daturasociety.org/brugmansia_shredded_white.htm

Descriptions:
http://www.nativehabitat.com/plants_brugmansias.html


CAC

Wonderful info and links CAC! Thrilling to think this might be one of those. Can’t wait for a bloom, to find out. Here is what we have …

It’s leaves are so young. They probably don’t represent the right size yet, but the shape and veins so far look right.

My peach one has occasionally had a bloom with split petals, much like the white ones in the links. It seems to be a sort of mutation, so it was esp interesting to see there is a strain that does that consistently. Interesting thought to consider that mine might be able to cross with the white shredded, to perchance make a peach shredded one. humm

I believe that is the one you have Maggie, the shredded white.....The bloom is to DIE for!!! Glad you got that one......There was only one.....

Oh good, I am glad I could give a general direction for the Brugmansia ID

LeeAnn, you might put a bit of epsom salts around the plant after it gets established, for some reason mine seem to bloom better for it. I have heard conflicting stories on amounts of epsom salts being used on our clay based soils. But if it stays in a pot instead of the ground it won't matter if you use the epsom salts as potting soil doesn't seem to retain salts like clay does. And watering seems to wash out the soil fairly well.
LeeAnn, it looks like alot of work you have done on your niche! You should be very proud of it! I never seem to complete anything, most of my beds never seem to get the neat tidy look I would love to have

CAC

CAC

CAC thanks for your kind words. Trust me though, unlike Maggie who is a one woman wonder and does it all...I have a lot of help, from special garden angels who share their baby plants with me to a husband who takes direction VERY well! Maggie has been so helpful and encouraging, not to mention inspiring. She is amazing.

I too am glad you have joined us. I hope you will stick around and continue to enlighten us with your tips. As I have said before on numerous occasions...Lord knows I can use all the help I can get :-)

I think most people can use an objective eye. I have a few areas I would love to hear some ideas on, they just aren't coming together as I wish, or maybe the plants just haven't grown enough to fill it in? I have been lurking for ..umm...this is a bit embarassing...2 years I was directed here by a gent way back when. Being from the deep south it was hard for me to start here with the changes in everything from soil to temps to droughts. It just totally overwhelmed me. This website gave me hope so I spent hours speaking to people, researching and trying to get an idea of just what would even grow here. I feel like I know just enough now to be dangerous with a credit card in a decent plant nursery Oh, I went to the library today, they had a neat book called "Artists in their gardens" by Valerie Easton and David Laskin...it looks very interesting

CAC

Blushing at the gushing here Leeann
oxoxo
My lovely new rain gauge read 1/2 inch today. Whats yous guys gets?

CAC,,, Two years?!?! Good, I'm glad I nagged about lurkers now ,, and reeled you in. Two Years?!?!? :-D
I'm sure there are some others out there who have much to contribute to our sharing too. Slinging bait here ;-)

You can write CAC in the username box without having to register or anything.
Interesting, to hear you are from the deep south, which explains your fam with tropicals and near-so trops. Do you do digi pics?

Yeah, it took 2 years I don't have a rain gauge, but I wish it would have rained for another couple days! I have a digital camera, but need to find another place to put my pictures on the web. I'll try to get some up by this evening. When you grow up somewhere, you take plants for granted, I didn't know the names of alot of plants that I grew up around. Thanks for the tip on the username Maggie

Hello all. You can actually measure your rain Maggie? How wonderful :-) Every gardner should have a good rain gauge ...or a cute one at any rate! We only got .25" could have used a good deal more. I have a baby passion flower stem that has just been cut back to a nub just trying to get it to take hold. I am afraid the heat will prevent it from getting a start before it sets it.

CAC...this is one place you can always count on an opinion or at the very least an idea or 2. So get that camera out an let us see what you have going. We all love to lurk into other people's gardens if even via pics.

All of you people and your knowledge of plants are giving me a complex. I am better off with Larry..."a red bush"....rather proper names and certainly more than than latin names! I know my limitations!

Have a good weekend everyone...it may be our last temperate one for a while.