I have a new flower to show you! First up, though, is the revamping of the garden bed. Remember this picture?
I labored away Labor Day weekend and made it a reality!
I still need to amend the soil as it is pretty sandy. Most of the planting will occur in the spring, but I will be putting some bulbs in and possibly moving a couple other plants over. I think I might have hurt my shoulder digging this bed, too. My clavicle looks a little odd. 😕
So the new flower? The flowering tobacco finally bloomed! Only one of the plants. Here it is.
It’s very pretty, but I have to say not worth all the fussin’ and a feudin’ it took to get this going.
My scentimental has a bloom on it.
However – my rose looks terrible! It got black spot, which is a mold and the leaves all fell off.
Eek! This is a disease resistant cultivar, but it was humid for a while and this is the result. I need to clean up all the dead leaves and spray the plant with a baking soda/water mixture to prevent any new mold spores. I will have to put that on my other 2 bushes as well to protect them.
I also have a sunflower that popped up from near the birdfeeder.
Gotta love that.
The butterfly weed blooming again, with some aphids.
And here are my 2 feral kitties. Boo and Lily. They don’t like people, but they like being by the garage because it is quiet. John and I are probably the only people that don’t shoo the kitties away, so they hang out here. I am starting to get attached to them, the little fleabags. I am now very worried they are going to get hit by a car as we live on a busy road.
There’s no room at the inn, though. I apologized to John for being such a sucker and he said “there is one born every minute.” Sigh…
This is going to be perfect. It’s going to give you so much more space to work with but still won’t take up a big chunk of the yard. Looks great. And I envy the sandy soil – ALL around here there is nothing to clay and that’s absolutely wretched to dig and deal with.
It’s funny you named the adorable strays… John prolly wouldn’t be worried if they didn’t have names. 😉 What does Pixie think of them?
Pixie hates the strays. She hates any kitty that goes by the house LOL! Very territorial.
The bigger bed looks great! More fun for you with the extra plant room, too. 🙂
The bonus kitties are so pretty. I have to stand my ground on resisting cute kittens – “no more” is my motto. We are down to two, from a lot of years of having four. That was crazy.
That flowering tobacco is covered in aphids too isn’t it?? Soapy dish water in a spray bottle will take care of them!
Yep – aphids. I’ve been too lazy to get rid of them LOL!
OH! You could get ladybugs too they are voracious and they LOVE them some aphids! Some garden centers sell them i think…the one i worked at did for a couple years but they really took a loss on them when most of them died……
I think being a cat lover is a wonderful quality.
Thanks – I do call it being a sucker. My sister said there is an invisible X on our house that only kitties can see that means a softie lives there 😀
Those are the prettiest healthiest looking feral kitties I’ve seen in a while!
I don’t think I’ve seen the flowering tobacco before–very impressive. And I love the color of the butterfly bush. Poor rose. Looks like some of my chickens used to look during molting season!
I am so impressed with all the home improvements you do! First, the porch, and moving right ahead to the flower bed!
They actually do look pretty good, but they are very young so I think that has a lot to do with it. This picture doesn’t show how thin they are (and filthy). The grey and white one will let me pet him now if I move really slowly. Lily really has no interest at in me. So how did I get so attached??
I love the coloring of your rose. Our roses have black spots too. 🙁
If you mix a couple tablespoons of baking soda in some water and put it in a spray bottle – use that all over the foliage on the rose. It changes the pH so the mold spores won’t germinate. You have to apply it after it rains, though. It won’t save the leaves that already have it, but will keep the other leaves safe.
Okay now this is Texas experience talking so i don’t if it applys to where you live. LOL. But….i’ve always heard it reccommended to water in the mornings that way the leaves have all day to dry…if you water at night then they don’t dry or takes longer for them to dry and makes them more suseptable to black spot…powdery mildew etc…so just a thought …don’t know when you water or anything and where you are you may not have to water often so this may not apply…..
At the Garden Center where i worked we had feral kitties…employees loved it…company hated it….a little old lady would come every morning at 5am (i know cause i was there waterng the plants.) and feed them and about once a month she’d take one and have it fixed then bring it back….are your kitties girls or boys???Hugs! deb
We’re humid most of the year here, and I’m horrible about spraying. My roses show it. 🙂
Have you ever added a few drops of dish soap to your soda/water combination? It’s said to help the spray adhere to damp plants.
Sorry I have missed your posts & catching up! A crazy few days… family member very sick.. off to read you other posts. I love your blooms!