Secret Garden

[ninnymary]

Beekissed, I have a mandevilla that is striped with red and white. It doesn't grow very big and I have it in a clay pot.

Mary

 

[ninnymary]

Here is a picture of it.

 

[Beekissed]

Mandavilla perhaps, @Beekissed? I love those flowers, but I have to bring them in each fall so mine stay in pots.

Yep! That's it...looked up the pics of the Mandavilla... but that's not the name the nursery had on them...started with an "L". Good to have a flower expert on here! We didn't bring ours in so it's likely they died this winter? I haven't checked to see if they are showing any sprouting out there.

 

[Beekissed]

Just checked them...deader than a doornail. Scratch that idea of planting them along the garden fence. I'll stick with my lavender, chamomile, honeysuckle and various wildflowers.

 

[baymule]

I planted amaryllis bulbs I dug up at the old house. They sat in a bucket in the garden tub, along with Narcissus, red spider lillies and daylillies. My garden tub really was a garden. Those poor bulbs got put on the back burner, didn't need the tub, have a shower. LOL Amaryllis were the last to be planted, looked sad, leaves dead and yellow. Would you believe there is a half dozen bloom buds on those poor, abused, neglected amaryllis? Grand daughter is going to love it!

 

[catjac1975]

Well Bay, around here we must grow them inside to protect them from the COLD. What you must do is let them die back and leave the foliage to dry after letting the greenery grow all summer. So you did the northerner's trick to get them to rebloom without knowing it.

 

[thistlebloom]

Mandevilla are tropical and only hardy to zone 9 @Beekissed, so if the label said cold hardy it wasn't mandevilla. That lucky little Mary can grow them outdoors though.

Thistle you need a Clematis secret garden arbor too !!!!

I do!! Dh said he would build an arbor over one of the gates in my little picket garden. Not so secret, but a pretty nice hangout.

 

[Beekissed]

I'm trying to steer Mom to perennials that are easy to grow and need less care but she's new to having flowers(Dad never allowed it) and when she sees something that pretty, she wants it. Poor thing is 80 yrs old and has never had many flowers in her life at all that were not already planted by God out in the wild.

Slowly but surely she's getting to explore many things that a lot of us women have always taken for granted...going to the library, having friends~female and male, growing flowers, painting things in bright and cheery colors, wearing whatever she wants, eating whatever she wants, driving, traveling, etc. It's been fun guiding her in all these things.

 

[Nyboy]

@Beekissed good for your mother starting a new life at her age!! Never allowed a flower garden sounds like my grandfather, if you couldn't eat it or us as mediation why grow it.Members here should all send your mom flower divisions from our garden, bet she would enjoy getting so much mail!! ( might not be a good idea if you have to do all the planting)

 

[Beekissed]

Awwww, that's sweet! You are so kind to suggest such a thing but we don't keep many areas that are designated for flowers even yet since the chickens free range, so we only have a small area to fill. Even that has to be deer netted to keep the big, fat hens from digging them out.

We are building up a raised bed in front of her porch this year and trying to fill it with just simple perennials(I'm trying to get her to go with things like Black-eyed Susans, flowering herbs such as lavender and chamomile, some Coreopsis, etc.) and then also fill in with some pretty annuals. Last year I introduced her to impatiens and she loved them...they got big and showy and lasted until hard frost in the fall. We'll be getting more of those this year.