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Flowers

Category: Garden Novice | Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 4:12 pm

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Here are some photos I've taken recently. The poppy is growing wild at our local nature preserve.



California Poppy ( photo / image / picture from EileenT's Garden )



Violet ( photo / image / picture from EileenT's Garden )



Last edited: Sun Apr 10, 2011 4:14 pm

This blog entry has been viewed 436 times

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New place, new garden

Category: Garden Novice | Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 12:19 am

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It's been a long time since I visited Garden Stew and so much has happened in the past year. After working so hard on the gardens in the old place, we took advantage of an opportunity and bought a lot in a gated retirement community in Ojai, California and ordered an adobe manufactured home from Phoenix, AZ.

I didn't have much space for a garden but managed a small courtyard in the front and a back patio from our bedroom. I hired a landscaper to put in the hard scape and a few plants but I'm busy now trying to design something a little better.

We have an adobe wall in front. It was made out of sandbags and stuccoed over. I planted a started honeysuckle vine to grow over the wall. I also have a couple of starter Clematis for the wall around the patio in the front. Our lot is a corner lot flanked by walls with a large oak tree shading one side of the house.

I've inserted some photos of the front. I'll take some of the back soon and share them with you.






House front and stucco wall. ( photo / image / picture from EileenT's Garden )






Courtyard and gate. ( photo / image / picture from EileenT's Garden )






Courtyard fountain. ( photo / image / picture from EileenT's Garden )






Courtyard, steps and patio. ( photo / image / picture from EileenT's Garden )






Blue front door in Southwest style. ( photo / image / picture from EileenT's Garden )






Front porch with Boston Fern. ( photo / image / picture from EileenT's Garden )






Flower in back yard. ( photo / image / picture from EileenT's Garden )






Close up of Croton. ( photo / image / picture from EileenT's Garden )





Last edited: Wed Apr 06, 2011 12:57 am

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Half Finished

Category: Garden Novice | Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 5:34 pm

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I've completed planting half the ledge. I have about another 20 feet to go. The hardest part is removing the sod but I'm taking it slow and easy. I had a real hard time under the lemon/lime tree as the long spikes kept sticking me and bees were doing their thing. But I managed to get the sod out without too much damage to my body.

So far, in the sunny area I planted Bougainvillea, Yucca, Agapanthus, Day Lily's, Bird Of Paradise, Lavender, Plumeria, Geraniums and Creeping Charlie as ground cover.

In the semi-shaded area, I planted the 4 banana trees that weren't doing well in the sunny dry spot, Yucca, Lavender, Day Lily's, Croton more Geraniums and Creeping Charlie.

Hope to have some photos soon.

Last edited: Sun Apr 11, 2010 5:35 pm

This blog entry has been viewed 484 times

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Re-making Entire Garden

Category: Garden Novice | Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2010 10:12 pm

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I've decided that I have to revamp our back garden. It's completely out of hand. I've been pulling out plants, digging up sod and putting soil conditioner into the dirt. I moved 4 small banana trees that were dying in very dry bad soil. It's going to take another week of work to finish it and my 60 year old body is telling me that I'm nuts. I'm tired and sore and my hands are swollen. But it's all going to be worth it when I'm finished and have a new beautiful garden.



This blog entry has been viewed 466 times

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Orchid and Bougainvilla Photos

Category: Garden Novice | Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 5:19 pm

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Here are a couple of photos I took yesterday.


( photo / image / picture from EileenT's Garden )






( photo / image / picture from EileenT's Garden )





Last edited: Tue Mar 23, 2010 5:19 pm

This blog entry has been viewed 474 times

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Calla Lily photo

Category: Garden Novice | Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 7:22 am

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Here's a photo I took the other day of the only Calla Lily blooming right now. I have several mature plants but only one is blooming. The rest of the garden has gone wild and needs a good cleaning out and fresh mulch. I see a lot of work ahead!


Calla Lily from my garden. ( photo / image / picture from EileenT's Garden )





This blog entry has been viewed 297 times

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What A Year!

Category: Garden Novice | Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 8:10 pm

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Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I last wrote a blog entry. We've had quite a year filled with family emergencies and I'm afraid my gardens suffered.

So, for the next month or so, I'll be out in the yard every moment I can spare, weather permitting. One of my flower beds needs to be completely re-planted. I have to recondition the soil first and then use different types of plants. I wasn't able to water much last year and that poor garden gets nearly full sun all day long. The only thing that made it through was a lavender plant. I wanted to put drought tolerant plants in that area anyway so this is the perfect time to do it.

The rest of my gardens need weeding, pruning, plant food and vitamins. The recent rains we've had perked everything up and it's nice to see green again. A welcome surprise was to see how much my garden path flower beds have filled in. The Calla Lily's and Creeping Charlie has taken over and it looks very nice and full now. I need to prune it back a little and add mulch but I think that's all.

I want to make a flower garden filled with colorful perennials. I have just the place for it and a small garden statue that will look nice in the middle of all the flowers.

That's it for now. Happy gardening, everyone!

Eileen in southern California

This blog entry has been viewed 296 times

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Drought tolerant plants

Category: Garden Novice | Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 10:45 pm

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I finally finished my bathroom remodel and decided to treat myself to some new plants. I've been wanting to plant drought tolerant plants and so I went to the local garden center and bought several pots of different plants. We have an upper ledge to our yard that has dying grass and on one end is a palm and the other end is a small banana tree grove. In the middle is a lemon and cherry tree.

I plan on putting different gardens in between these focal points and will include a lavender garden, day lily garden, a shade garden with mixed plants and a sun garden with mixed plants. I'll fill it all in with mulch to cover the grass. I don't know how it will all look in the end but I love planning the gardens and buying the plants!

This blog entry has been viewed 322 times

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Photos of my kitchen makeover.

Category: Garden Novice | Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 9:14 pm

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Here are photos of the makeover. The previous owners had installed brick facing on the walls. It was horrible as it had jagged edges and was uneven around the windows. The outlets hadn't been moved to the top of the bricks and so were recessed and hard to use. The cabinets were yellow with age.

I removed all the bricks by using a hammer and pounding them to pieces. I did that on and off for a couple of weeks as I had to rest a lot. Once that was all removed I had to sand and clean the walls. A nice coat of blue paint brought new life to the kitchen. I rested a few more days before tackling the cabinets and they took almost an entire week as I worked slowly. The final touches were the new hardware on the cabinets, painting the stove hood, and installing stainless steel tiles. I bought a navy blue curtain for the window. I love the look. But most importantly, I was able to work hard without my back hurting and for long periods of time. I did wear my back brace throughout most of the work. I know now that my physical therapy worked and my stamina's improving. I'm thrilled to be able to do things that I haven't been able to do in many years.

We still have more work to do in the kitchen. We need to replace the counter top, lights, sink and faucet and get a disposal and dishwasher. But until we can afford to do that, we're happy with the makeover. I'd like to mention that this is a 30 year old double-wide mobile home. The kitchen is very small - more of a galley. I think the white really brightens the kitchen and makes it look more roomy. Also, I did all the work by myself (Hubby's helpless when it comes to being handy.) And I had spinal fusion surgery a year ago. So, I'm doubly proud of myself and the work I did. Oh, and I'm 59 so the spring in my chicken left a long time ago ~ LOL.

Here are before and after photos.



BEFORE:


Kitchen before photo ( photo / image / picture from EileenT's Garden )




AFTER:

Kitchen after makeover. ( photo / image / picture from EileenT's Garden )





This blog entry has been viewed 5597 times

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Yards a mess!

Category: Garden Novice | Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 5:28 am

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I've been so busy remodeling the house that I haven't had a chance to keep up with the garden. I have weeds everywhere and many of my plants need trimmed. I feel kind of overwhelmed at the moment as there's so much to do both inside and outside the house. At least my back's doing well. I've been working pretty hard and haven't had any pain just the normal old age stuff. I'll be glad when I'm caught up with the yard so that I can enjoy my garden again.

This blog entry has been viewed 387 times

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