Yes, I like growing flowers......post your garden/flower-beds!

Buuuuuump

Never ever thought I'd be into gardening but here we are.

3rd summer in the new place. Year 1 was getting the garden back from the jungle it had been left to grow into (also planted the red robin tree off to the right as we had new windows put in and if walking past you could see right into the shower cubicle of the main bathroom when it was opened to let steam out :embarrassed:),

Last year I properly tidied it up and prepped for making it nice this year.

Daffodils and tulips in bloom out the front. Got some spreading annuals to go down once they die away

Got some muscari coming through (little blue ones near the front)

Have slowly been prepping the lawn to get rid of the grass for clover once it's a bit warmer overnight.

The patch of soil below the front door is aspirationally a small cut flower patch - orange and black lillies, crocosmia, lupins and have some dahlias inside to go out once it warms up and a few other things. I'll likely need to extend the patch.

The bit at the right is a total pita, I've planted a buddlea which you can't really see as it's just a bare root at this point, we have the mini Christmas tree too that my wife about killed, we'll see if it makes it to get used next year. Planted a bunch of alpines there too - there's only an inch of soil before hitting rock / concrete in most parts of it so I'm giving it a year to see if anything takes otherwise I'll probably either put down gravel or pave it for a parking space :(

Got a jasmine in the big pot in front of the trellis I planted last autumn, looking forward to seeing how that turns out.

I've started a little container pond at the back and that lawn will be converted to Clover too. The right hand side (behind the tree) wraps right round and is wild, Ill strim it later on in the year but I'm pretty much just letting nature do it's thing there except at the top where I've got a planter for some herbs and veg.

Get lots of nice comments about what we've managed to do with the place from people passing by :)


IMG_20260411_153330338_HDR.jpg
 
I have two rose bushes. Have cared for them for 30 years. I had to count that up just now and I’m a little stunned. I have some lilies, dragon and tiger. The lilly below came from one of my mom’s plants. Probably 40 years old. I dug that one up and brought it from our previous house.



IMG_0530.jpeg
IMG_0529.jpeg
IMG_0528.jpeg
IMG_0527.jpeg
IMG_0526.jpeg
IMG_0524.jpeg
IMG_0522.jpeg
 
Not sure why I'm here......but this thread showed up in my feed.
Blast from the past.
I've moved several times since the pics I posted, but hey, if you like flowers, here's some of the things I've worked on over the last several years. One thing I've learned.....if you want to grow Asiatic, Oriental or Orienpet lilies, you're going to have to put down poison. No and's, if's or but's about it. Otherwise the lily beetles will kill every single one of your flowers.
 

Attachments

  • 448754314_988249256127895_8098513748936747278_n.jpg
    448754314_988249256127895_8098513748936747278_n.jpg
    870.7 KB · Views: 71
  • 448753602_988249169461237_8329934515736548843_n.jpg
    448753602_988249169461237_8329934515736548843_n.jpg
    633.7 KB · Views: 75
  • a11.jpg
    a11.jpg
    621.4 KB · Views: 71
  • 448267675_983281679957986_1240080594664863734_n.jpg
    448267675_983281679957986_1240080594664863734_n.jpg
    383.8 KB · Views: 62
  • 469991585_1103786924574127_3087870972490981253_n.jpg
    469991585_1103786924574127_3087870972490981253_n.jpg
    100.1 KB · Views: 53
  • 467310262_1087132709572882_564930335371585976_n.jpg
    467310262_1087132709572882_564930335371585976_n.jpg
    98.1 KB · Views: 48
  • 453406081_1012707900348697_5095699308618932979_n.jpg
    453406081_1012707900348697_5095699308618932979_n.jpg
    864.9 KB · Views: 76
  • 452977032_1012707913682029_370151907547971682_n.jpg
    452977032_1012707913682029_370151907547971682_n.jpg
    786.4 KB · Views: 68
  • 452218296_1008133980806089_5709760243990155430_n.jpg
    452218296_1008133980806089_5709760243990155430_n.jpg
    656.8 KB · Views: 65
  • 452133781_1007058107580343_6980365927677831338_n (1).jpg
    452133781_1007058107580343_6980365927677831338_n (1).jpg
    758.3 KB · Views: 68
  • 452129181_1007058474246973_5036178882863281240_n.jpg
    452129181_1007058474246973_5036178882863281240_n.jpg
    724.1 KB · Views: 64
  • 450640138_1000149041604583_5416118980258321873_n.jpg
    450640138_1000149041604583_5416118980258321873_n.jpg
    1.2 MB · Views: 70
  • 450575314_1000149024937918_134935064814896603_n.jpg
    450575314_1000149024937918_134935064814896603_n.jpg
    1 MB · Views: 72
  • 450511316_1000148974937923_5713616338868389850_n (1).jpg
    450511316_1000148974937923_5713616338868389850_n (1).jpg
    1 MB · Views: 70
  • 449841218_1000148944937926_4537200824470479606_n.jpg
    449841218_1000148944937926_4537200824470479606_n.jpg
    766.9 KB · Views: 73
This is last year just before I reshaped a little fire pit area. That climbing rose is probably older than me, 63. I took that from my late wife’s grandfather’s house when we bought our current home. I remember seeing it when I use to go to her house when I was 15. If I did not trim this back each year it would engulf the back yard and rapidly. I swear some times I look at it and see it climbing. Thorns as sharp as razor blades.


IMG_0531.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Spring is springing on the North Side of Chicago. Native and non native geraniums, forest phlox, allium, grape hyacinth and catmint so far. Plus a no mow policy until earlier today. It’s all about the pollinators and keeping it organic here.
IMG_5342.jpeg
IMG_5233.jpeg
IMG_5199.jpeg
IMG_5203.jpeg
IMG_5202.jpeg
 
My tulips have done great and the muscari came through too. I'll maybe look at planting a different colour next year, the purple and blue look nice but a bit of contrast would be nice.

I've just finished digging out and prepping a new bed (front right) I've seeded around it and gaps in the border with nastartum orange Troika which I did last year and really liked - they were more coral that orange but absolutely lovely little trailing flowers.

Ive 4 dahlias I'm now hardening off that will go in there. They're meant to be beginner friendly varieties so we'll see how it goes.

The other bed is coming along nicely too, weather is still quite cold but it should warm up over the next couple of weeks so I can see what's come through.

Bah files are too large to upload. You'll just need to take my word for it :embarrassed:
 
Not flower related (though my big headlines are - new clover lawn looking promising, dahlias, probably dying slowly) but there's a shit little wedge at the front side of our house where you hit gravel or concrete after an inch or so. I've planted anything I could there but I'm out of options so...... I'm making a pond out of this whisky barrel.

Plants will be going in tonight,my little pond out the back is doing great.

Going to oil the wood, paint the bracings and it'll look great.

Mrs jbj is totally against the idea but she doesn't touch the garden ergo has no vote, once it's established I might put in a handful of medaka fudh


1000019943.jpg
 
I don't post pictures often enough to know how to do it, but I've been converting my front lawn into a nature-focused garden with enough flowers to keep the neighbors happy. I've got some lovely poppies, peonies, and iris blooming right now, but what I'm really happy with it the 8" of top soil I've built out of my adobe-clay native soil.
 
I don't post pictures often enough to know how to do it, but I've been converting my front lawn into a nature-focused garden with enough flowers to keep the neighbors happy. I've got some lovely poppies, peonies, and iris blooming right now, but what I'm really happy with it the 8" of top soil I've built out of my adobe-clay native soil.

Posting pics here is easy. Under the rectangle you type your reply in is a paperclip Attach files thing to click. Click it, choose your photo and inset. What I have a problem with is finding where the photo is, One Drive? this PC? and where the hell is the place I can resize photos in Paint.
 
Back
Top