QC Garden - Quad Cities Gardening » Flowers

Hells Bells

boo — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:50:20 +0000

Where are my photos? hmm, I seem to be having temporary photo issues. Speaking of bells, ever grow Bells of Ireland? Strange green plant that just sorta sprawled in my garden. I thought they would work well in bouquets but was surprised when I ran across thorns! Still they were interesting enough that I would consider growing them again. They are an annual for my zone so it would take effort on my part to plant them…not this year.

Now to find my photos..

Back to WordPress

boo — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:07:03 +0000

It feels strange to be moving the blog back to Wordpress. I’ve been at Blogger for so long.

What’s nice about WordPress? More control of the template. What’s nice about Blogger ..don’t have to be in control. I’m not looking forward to the million WP updates but I do like the new look.

I’m looking forward to spring and the garden season ahead.

Win David Austin Roses

boo — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:16:00 +0000

It’s a pretty white winter for the most of us. I know that I’ve been freezing my butt off while dreaming of spring. I plan on starting seeds soon especially lisianthus because they take forever to grow, but I’m also browsing the plant catalogs.

Want a chance to win vouchers for David Austin Roses? Blossom Swap is having a giveaway to celebrate its relaunch. http://www.blossomswap.com/forum/thread/18617/rose-giveaway-for-12-14-09 Good luck!

Flakes

boo — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:46:00 +0000

I think this is the earliest I remember for snowflakes. It was beautiful. I tried to take a picture but wasn’t able to capture it right. Couldn’t really tell it was snow falling or splotches of bird poop.

Anyway, today we pulled out the veggie plants that had turned to mush from the freeze. Although I haven’t been recording my gardening journey this season online (I’m so bad at this) I did have a great season. Here are some pics from the garden this season.

Growing Bird Food

boo — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:51:00 +0000

I can tell fall will be here soon since the birds have started helping themselves to the seeds. Here is a finch on the purple coneflowers. I haven’t had time to read the 400 page booklet for my camera yet so the picture isn’t the greatest.

When I first started gardening I spent a lot of time deadheading spent blooms so everything looked real tidy. Then I happen to catch finches all over my coreopsis and started reading up on the flower seeds that birds love to eat. Now everything pretty much looks ratty from late summer to fall. I love watching the birds though.

Here is some purple millet that a few sparrows are feasting on. I guess fresh millet is the way to go since nobody seems to like it in the bird feeder mix. We now only serve black oil sunflower seed which is as pricey as black oil. The prices are soared this year so next year its very likely that we’ll be growing more food for the birds.

Tight Squeeze

boo — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:52:00 +0000

I’m surprised that my Clematis heracleifolia attracts so many bees & butterflies because its tight little flowers seem to aggravate the pollinators. Still they are very attracted to it including the hummingbirds but I have yet to get a picture.

Today its raining drizzling, but I’m happy to get any moisture for the garden. At least things are being dusted off.

Ground is Dry

boo — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:22:00 +0000

Yesterday I had to move a couple hostas and I was surprise how hard the soil was around their rootball. Like a hard rock. Then after looking at the corner bed I noticed that the ground is real dry & cracking. So this morning I lugged the hose around to water my shade plants that really don’t care to be so dry. Of course this means that since I spent an hour wresting with that hose it will rain this afternoon.

My dwarf delphinium that I started from seed this spring is blooming. Such a nice array of blues. I really like this one and its so short that it can be towards the front of the bed. Hope it overwinters.

Some Bloomers & Pups

boo — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 17:17:00 +0000

Summer is going by way too quickly. I’m trying to enjoy all the blooms and the playful pups because soon the blooms will be gone and the pups will become couch potatoes for the winter.

Daylilies have really been putting on a show. I’ve added a few here.

Rose ‘Hot Cocoa’

boo — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:01:00 +0000

Two years ago we bought a Rose called ‘Hot Cocoa’ to put on our pups grave. It’s blooming now & I am so happy that we went with this color.

Rose ‘Hot Cocoa’

The garden is wild with weeds & bugs. All the wet weather has really jump started the germination process of weeds from years past. It’s such a mess.

Linda’s Peony

boo — Tue, 27 May 2008 14:33:00 +0000

After three years what is left of Linda’s peony has decided to bloom for the first time. She sent me such a large division but it wasn’t happy in the location I planted it and soon I only had a bit of the root left. I was thrilled to see it sprout a leaf last year after I replanted it. This year it has bloomed even after being knocked down by a groundhog. Now I have a cage around it….the peony.