Showing off a bit :D

There will be rather a few posts, but this is a great teaser, lol. So, since we got the camera it has been hectic here (we hosted Thanksgiving). But, I did manage to get a few pics of some things around here. That is the view out to our balcony. The must have, hunted for one because I can't give up my bonsai!



This is a Southern Magnolia. Seems pretty happy here in Seattle! This was sent to me by YardGranny in SC. I potted it up a while back and it has loved the weather here, frankly it surprises me as it has gotten rather cold here.


Here is the White Snapdragon. I don't grow flowers normally but this one has it's place here. Shannon fell in love with it so I will do all I can to keep it alive. It has grown on me since it flowers when it gets cold. How random is that! I guess I will have to do some research on this bugger so I know it's habits and whatnot :D


YardGranny also sent me two Mimosa's, they were happy but just to make sure, since they are babies, I have done what I normally do for my coffee tree at work (the one I am bonsai'ing) and placed their very own mini greenhouses over them. These will stay on until the last possible frost. There are a lot of mimosa here, not this color...but they seem happy to live here. I figure once they get older, perhaps next winter, they will not require this (and I will get a Bay tree to do this for instead, hehe).


I had these at the house and took them with me (note...MINE!). There is a Purple Sage, a standard Silver Sage, some Garlic Chives (thanks again Poe!) grew from seed from Ohio and a Mother of Thyme. It is so nice having fresh Thyme at any time. Yes...I had to do that ;)


And one last shot for now, the Japanese Elm with a few leaves left, my favorite Japanese Maple (about 7 years old) and some Provencal Lavendar. Shannon is a freak for Lavendar so I think this will get a bigger pot come spring so it can go wild!

No patience...

Oct 22, 2008 | 10:53 AM PST

Lordy I hate waiting. No camera yet, lol.

I want to get a pic of my Herb Pot. I have two sages, one silver, one purple. A Mother of Thyme and some Garlic Chives (Thanks, Poe!) that were all potted separately. So I tossed them in a big pot and wow, the space. Amazing how much space a couple pots take up! I have two Purple Thai Peppers (thanks to the seed exchange!) I had started in that pot and I repotted them to take inside as it is starting to chill a bit around here. Here is my method of herb pots. It will be great because this means we will have something green out there all winter. I am going to put a firepit out there, yes, it's a balcony. In an apartment building. My building manager was going through an abandoned storage unit and found a small smoker grill and gave it to me. With the lighter fluid. WITH the charcoal. So...we can have FIRE! Been using the heck out of the smoker, first time in years I had my OWN Carolina BBQ. The real stuff. Alder plank smoked fish...oh yum.

I have two new plants out on the balcony, two 'liberated' plants. My excuse? They SAID they wanted to come home with me and we were wandering by...and had been 'out'...and well, they came home with me. A Hardy Fern, I don't do ferns. What is wrong with me? I kidnapped adopted a fern?!? I put it in the hanging basket, and as Shannon said the fern is all 'I'm a FERN! I'm up HIGH! It's COLD and WET and I LOVE IT! WOO! I'M A FERN!' So...guess it has grown on me, it is a family member now. I am sure TIppy would love to meet it but I think the fern is safer outside (she is good about *most* plants, it is the ferny types she just can't help herself about, lol). There is another plant and Shannon has fallen in love with it. It has no use that I know of, it is just pretty. It seems to be getting happier the more it cools down (as if it ever really warmed UP this year, lol). I will take a pic of it...when I get the camera...and it is flowering (several blooms are begining to open) as I am not really a flower growing type either (too selfish with the space) so I know it is simple, but I don't know what it is!

Oh, and as a side note, I have had a few messages and comments about bonsai. If you really REALLY want to get into it, read here: BONSAI! I give a few great tips about them :D

The extra veggie space

Feb 10, 2008 | 9:20 AM PST

Last year, when I moved it, I started reclaiming the section of 'gardening space' next to the house. These were fallow sections, with an odd assortment of flower bulbs that were in weird places and a lot of grass. I could barely see the walkway between the two raised beds. Granted, this is a rental house but how could I possibly NOT use them?

So, at the end of these beds was a HUGE nasty, mean and thoroughly entrenched blackberry, one of the sorts that makes you understand why they are the bane of the PNW. I figured, go ahead and clear what I could and then cut it back, at the very least. No way, there *is* also a nest of yellowjackets, who knows how long they have been there!

Being the organic gardener I am, and having turned rather a bit of the soil already and seeing all the 'wonderful' (note sarcasm) grubs that were here and there...I had an odd idea. I left the yellowjackets alone! They eat grubs so we had an understanding, I leave you alone, you leave me alone :D That worked out great, I think there was only one time I went around the corner and thought, hey...not today...not going in there! Otherwise, we were out there all the time so it balanced well and I didn't have to go through the trouble of wiping out an entire colony, haha. I know...yellowjackets, and ground ones at that, the kind that if it stung my Mom, she would be dead...but still, didn't want to kill them, especially since they were such a help in the end.

I know they are still there, but they are hibernating so I went ahead and did the clearing. I really don't know exactly were they are, I am not sure they are actually in the garden itself but maybe in some bushes that are very thick at the end, which is actually the top of a rockery beside our very steep and very narrow (pretty much the Seattle norm) driveway. Guess we will find out when it warms up! I really need to take pics, still have one somewhere I can dig up to show where I stopped digging last year.

So, cutting that blackberry, I started cutting sections and tossing them back in the yard waste...and cutting...and cutting. The grass was long enough that when it died out for winter there were a couple sections that I just pulled it up with NO weeds below. Of course where there were weeds they were seriously there, and then the bulb thing. Shouldn't you have a rhyme or reason to placement? No...that was what whoever had put these in thought :D

The best thing was, in the corner I *think* the yellowjackets might be, under that blackberry from Hades...was a 2-3 foot tall Rosemary. Healthy, happy...and I had a chicken in the fridge so I went out to get some rosemary, thyme and a handful of parsley and stuffed them all into the chicken. So, lot of work, but immediate benefits. I will try to get some pics later, it has been raining pretty much ever since I was out there (started sprinkling while I was still out there but needed coffee grounds!).

Fall storms...beauty and destruction.

Nov 8, 2007 | 3:04 PM PST

So we had an amazing wind storm not that long ago. I even cleaned up the yard and battened down the hatches, so to speak. Got all the potted stuff down in a protected spot (will be the winter spot too!) and all the furniture and bikes nice and tidy and close...

Max is a dumb cat, I love him so but he is CRAZY. The wind started blowing HARD but it was not raining yet so I decided to give him some outside time. Nut job goes running around with the WILD KAT look in his eyes. You know the drill...run run run...mad dash...STOP! look around madly with flashing eyes.

He does not have that collar anymore, little jerk keeps losing them. This time was the worst as it had his license and a name tag. Jerk.

Then he did this and I was thinking 'Ain't he cute!'. As you can see all the brown in him, he snuck in as a regular cat and once he was established he is letting the Maine Coon out.

Then he FLEW over to one of the cedars and ran on the roof. Not happy. Wasn't happy a bit. He had no clue how windy it was, and how fast he could fly off! So I ended up standing in the raised bed while he teased me by coming to the edge when I was whistling and calling and finally came down so I promptly tossed him inside! Jerk. Cute, fuzzy, lovable jerk.

So, on to the destruction,

The dahlia. It took one hell of a beating...

My tomatoes, oh dear, my poor Black Prince...

The radishes I let bolt? So close to get my seed? Not a chance in hell. The wind snapped every single one of them and it was going so well. They would have had SO much seed. Damn. I had a fit and went ahead and cleared them out. They are now mulch. See all those seed heads? I don't even want to look.

So, upset as I was, daunted by the greenery that needs to be cut, tossed...all of the above, I started looking around. I have pretty much missed the nice fall foliage that so many are harping on as our nicely colored leaves have been passing us at about 90 MPH. I looked at my Bonsai and had to take another glance (and pictures!) as they are most gorgeous! Here is one where I took two different breeds and literally wrapped the Female around the Male to create a piece I call 'co-dependence'. hehe. Her color is amazing! He has just started to change a bit.

And one of my favorites, these are all about 4-5 yrs old. Such a nice yellow! Guess we have to keep our trees behind a wall in order to be able to see the colors!

The Japanese Elm has lost most of its leaves so gets to show off it's corkscrew nicely!

And the Cotoneaster is showing off it's berries, the wind took off a lot of them but it still has a few ;)

Then I notice the thyme and sages, how happy they are...it has finally cooled down enough for them.

And yes, I will get in there and weed them!

My herb pot looked a little unhappy, then I looked closer and changed my mind when I saw the flowers :D

The Parsley is happy finally, it does NOT like it hot-hot-hot, haha!

I come out of the garden area and see this, a cool little volunteer. One of the great things about a rental is you really don't know what is there so it is always a surprise

Yes, I know the buggers next to it have to go, lol. I *promise* LMAO!

Heading up the hill I see the dahlia in a different light...and that bush behind it? Never stopped flowering, it was leggy, like 8 ft tall and I cut the bejeezus out of it. So it flowered and has not stopped since early spring. Oh, how the honey bees and bumble bees love it!

Then I look over and see that the yellow rose a kid decided to trim this summer, with a toy sword *eek!* gave us something.

I look to the left and see fall colors on the hydrangea with a guest that really set it off!

Much better mood. What can I say, there is good in everything...I think. Excepting our present government, hehe. I decided to FINALLY plant the alpine strawberries that have been floundering and mocking me continuing to flourish despite my treatment of them. They will be great here, this spot is full of bulbs so is interesting for about 5 minutes then Blah.

So, I lost power. It was cold, windy and rainy and the power cut off while my non tv watching butt was in the middle of Grays Anatomy. I will not get radish seed this year from my crop. My tomatoes are a mess...the dahlia is half broken and the yard is a basic mess. A basic beautiful mess!