Do you enjoy gardening?

Nothing would grow in my yard, not flowers or even a nice coat of grass.

One year I bought a single lily and planted it. Every year it comes back with more and more flowers. But other than that... i even killed a cactus! lol

what do you plant? and can you keep a lawn green?

I am a gardener. I tend to the flower garden while he takes care of the lawn. Some years he grows vegetables, but our gardens don't get full sun. In a short summer the veggies are a disappointment.

I have all kinds of plants: A few hardy fuschias, dahlias, black-eyed susans, 6 rose bushes, crocosmias, plumbagos, lilies (Nile lilies, Oriental lilies, Stargazers and Casablancas), sedum, Chinese lanterns, a Bella Donna lily, lavendar, cannas, and more. In pots I have a palm tree, bamboo (not doing well at all), euphorbias, a white fuschia, and a hardy begonia. Inside the house I have a spider plant (goes outside in the summer), Mandevilla (goes outside in the summer), a couple of Orchids (hope they survive), and a Jade plant (also goes outside in the summer).

I do get lots of oohs and aahs, but I'm not nearly the garden worker that I used to be.

My mom LOVES to garden, I used to when I was a kid but I don't anymore, but I still have to help with it all. We have a vegetable garden in the back which is very large and is murder to work in after it rains, and then we have a bunch of flowers in front.

Don't do gardening at all.

Uh...no. Nystyle doesn't 'garden'.

I seriously miss my Irises. NOTHING grows here in North CArolina. It is either all red clay or yellow sand. I would love to have a few dahlias and purple cone flowers as well!!

zthatzmanz28 wrote:

I seriously miss my Irises. NOTHING grows here in North CArolina. It is either all red clay or yellow sand. I would love to have a few dahlias and purple cone flowers as well!!

I forgot to mention the Irises in mine. Bunch of them. Too many. But they're about the only color in my beds in mid-spring except for the roses. Have you tried Irises where you live? I have pretty hard soil, too, and they suffice.

I hate gardening thats why I have a gardener to keep the grass growing. I have lots of flowers in front of the house during the summer, they are all artificial and no one ever guesses that they are!!

Bluesmama wrote:

I forgot to mention the Irises in mine. Bunch of them. Too many. But they're about the only color in my beds in mid-spring except for the roses. Have you tried Irises where you live? I have pretty hard soil, too, and they suffice.

The natural soil is too acidic from the numerous pine trees here. I have planing the irises in a 5 gallon bucket but they still haven't bloomed, what's up with that?

zthatzmanz28 wrote:

The natural soil is too acidic from the numerous pine trees here. I have planing the irises in a 5 gallon bucket but they still haven't bloomed, what's up with that?

You have the bulbs just under the surface, right? If they're buried deeper, lift them up. Mine even inched above the soil line in time and it doesn't appear to hurt them.

I have weird experiences with gardening. I can kill something that should thrive where it's at, and other plants that come back when they shouldn't, or unwanteds that I can't manage to kill no matter what.

Plants run when they see me. If those perennials out front don't come back in the spring it will be because they managed to make a secret getaway in the fall.

CeCe wrote:

Plants run when they see me. If those perennials out front don't come back in the spring it will be because they managed to make a secret getaway in the fall.

Bluesmama wrote:

You have the bulbs just under the surface, right? If they're buried deeper, lift them up. Mine even inched above the soil line in time and it doesn't appear to hurt them.

I have weird experiences with gardening. I can kill something that should thrive where it's at, and other plants that come back when they shouldn't, or unwanteds that I can't manage to kill no matter what.

Down here it's either too much water or not enough. I am starting to think that the blazing sun has something to do with the plants' cycle as well. We cannot grow tomatoes until late August early September otherwise they get torchd in the sun / heat / humidity. UGH.....

Do you live on the coastline? If so, look into a Pride of Madeira plant (if you can find it). Gorgeous majestic blooms in mid-to-late spring but they do best in California coastal areas. I've grown a couple but they didn't bloom because of the lousy springs here (and they're not hardy in cold). It might not grow where you're at because of the winter.

Bummer.