"Gardening is about enjoying the smell of things growing in the soil, getting dirty without feeling guilty, and generally taking the time to soak up a little peace and serenity. " ~Lindley Karstens

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Weekend Project

With a full time job, the weekends usually are the only time I can tackle some garden projects (although sometimes I also use weekday nights if I am too eager to wait).

This weekend I did quite a few moving and planting...

Four newly purchased dormant rose bushes were finally put into the ground. All of them already have new leaves emerging.

This is the corner of the flower bed that contains six rose bushes now, including two "New Day", two "Peace", one "Double Delight", and one pink tea rose (lost the name tag). I will call it the rose corner :) 

Two new gazanias were planted in front of the west flower bed of the backyard.

With this winter's unusual cold weather in south florida, I feel my garden is in half sleeping state except for some blooming annuals. So, this friday afterwork, I directly drove to the garden center to buy a few more plants to add more color into my garden. This gazania's brilliant color really cheers me up!

This is another plant I bought this friday, a double layerd pink Kalanchoe. I love its long lasting rose like blossom!

It is planted in a partial shaded area of the west back yard flower bed, next to the ground orchids.


There are four clumps of Agapanthus Africanus planted in the front garden by the previous owner. When we moved in last summer, two of them were still blooming. The other two that did not bloom are located more deep and behind ixora bushes. They hardly get any sun during the day and I think that is the reason they did not bloom. From this picture, you can see the ones in the back is much smaller than the ones in the front, which get the morning sun.


I decided to move the two smaller ones to the back yard west flower bed, where they would receive morning sun, and a few hour of afternoon sun in the summer. I hope I am making the right decision.

Anybody knows how much florida sun this Agapanthus Africanus needs for it to thrive?  And how much is too much?

Here is their new location.
Oh, one other thing I did was I planted one Angel's Trumpet cutting that I got from my friend.

I found Angel's Trumpet is very easy to propagate via cuttings.  When I first got the cuttings from my friend, all the leaves wilted by staying in the car trunk for the whole day.  After a few days in the water, the old leaves fell off, and the new sprouts emerged.  Now you can see a few sets of new leaves are already growing. Small roots were also developed. 

I can not wait to see those gorgeous trumpet shaped white flower dangling down from it! I have been drooling over this one when looking at the pictures on the internet...  When it blooms, it should look like this:


I also did some other work in my south east corner flower bad in backyard. I will do another post about it once it finishes.

I always feel a sense of achievement after a busy weekend in the garden.  Do you feel the same thing? 
Hope you all had a very good weekend!

14 comments:

  1. Ami,
    Hope your Roses do well. I never had much luck with them here in South Florida.

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  2. Those gazanias certainly are bright and colorful. You have quite a lot of color going on now. I can't wait to see the rose corner in bloom. Sounds like you had a fun weekend in the garden.

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  3. You've been very busy ... love that kalanchoe by the way. I have lots of gazanias here too ... they just love our sunshine. The Agapanthus will do well in it's new spot ... they really do love full sun as well.

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  4. I guess it my be all worth it when you see all of them bloom and thrive once they have settled their new home.

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  5. Isn't that just the best part of gardening? New plantings! It's all looking good. I really love that angel's trumpet!

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  6. Ami, I'm impressed with your roses. I had so many up north. Tried when I moved down here and got kicked in the rear end! Needless to say, I've been to shy to try again.
    I love the gazania too...such pretty brilliant color. The rabbits nibble mine to stumps, though! I notice your snap dragons...I have them too. So pretty and chipper!
    You had a productive weekend...I did too! Thank the good Lord for the warmth again! I hope it's here to stay!!!!

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  7. Oh Ami, you have been a busy girl and I can tell you are having fun while getting your hands dirty. Up here the Agapanthus do quite well in partial sun. I LOVE, LOVE them so I have them planted in most every possible situation but none in FS. Keep them watered well until they get established and then not so much until they start blooming. Once they start blooming they require a tad bit more water. You can always move them again if they don't work out in their new home. They are very forgiving.

    Those gazanias will brighten you up in a hurry! Love them too.

    Yes, I am in my garden almost everyday for some period of time... it is my haven.
    Meems

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  8. Wow...you accomplished so much this weekend. All of your plants are just lovely, but I do have to say that I am most excited about your new roses. I just love Peace and Double Delight roses especially :^)

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  9. sanddue, Nanak, Kimberly, Noelle:

    My experience with Roses was not good in my previous house. But I just love them, so I have to try them again in my new garden. Hope at least they can do "partially" well. I am sure I will do more posts about my rose corner :)

    NanaK, Bernie, Meems:

    Yes, got to Love those gazanias! Would love to have more color varieties as Bernie have shown in her recent post.

    Bernie: I visited your garden. You have lots of pretty colors in your summer garden. Love to hear about my decision of new location for Agapathus might work :)

    James: Gardening is always filled with expectation and surprises. That is fun part of the gardening. I can't wait to see how they do in the summer.

    FloridaGirl: Yes, I get excited everytime I got new plants and made the new plantings! Even the angel's trumpet just a small cutting now, I am already imagining its beautiful bloom!

    Kimberly: I am sure someday you may feel itchy to try the roses again. Just let us know when you do that :) Fortunately, I have not seen any bunnies around here yet. I do have wild ducks around the lake, but hopefully the fence can get them out of my plants. Snapdraggon is wonderful! The flower spike is so heavy now that I have to stake them! I saw post about your busy weekend as well, and it was a fun one!!!

    Meems: The new location for Agapanthus does get partial sun now, but I am a little concerned that they might get more sun in the summer. I will monitor them and move them again if needed. Thanks for the advise of the watering. I am sure you are getting lots done in your new flower bed, veggie bed, and berm in this beautiful weather. I will be happy to see more posts about your projects.

    Noelle: hehe, just can not resist the beauty of roses even I know Florida weather is not very rose-friendly :)

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  10. Hello Ami, a weekend in the garden... no place I'd rather be, and what a sense of accomplishment when you stand back and see what you have done. Your roses definitely love being there. ;)

    I wanted to let you know that I tried answering your question on my blog, but not sure to which white flower you were referring. I have 4 and their full names are listed prior to the photos: Galanthus, Spiraea, Trilliums, and Magnolia blossoms. Let me know if you have any other questions. Hope your week is enjoyable.

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  11. Di: Thanks a lot for the names! I guess I should have read the info prior to the photos more carefully. My eyes were just drawn to your beautiful pictures as soon as I opened your post :)

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  12. Love your blog - found it the other day! Hope we'll meet one day soon as I'm spending a lot of time in Florida right now. Off to UK tomorrow, but back next week.

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  13. I like a pink Kalanchoe much more than an orange one. You are right, its blooms look like rose flowers!

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  14. The galloping Gardener: Thanks for stopping by. Maybe someday we can meet :)

    Tatyana: I just got another golden yellow kalanchoe (shown in my new post). Both colors are gorgeous.

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