Advertisement

All Recent Stories Staff Community Trending Elections From Markos' Desk Comics Community Groups Community Spotlight Actions Civiqs Make a Donation

Help Desk Jobs Work With Us Advertising Overview

© Kos Media, LLC. Site content may be used for any purpose without explicit permission unless otherwise specified. "Kos" and "Daily Kos" are registered trademarks of Kos Media, LLC.

Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | DMCA Copyright Notice

Change Blog Image

fuck off

Saturday Morning Garden Blogging Vol 16.11: Orchid Extravaganza

beaky

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday March 14, 2020 · 5:00 AM PDT

2020/03/14 · 05:00

no image description available

no image description available

Good Morning gardeners!

Hubby and I went to Philadelphia last weekend for the flower show and Longwood Garden’s Orchid Extravaganza. We were rather underwhelmed by the flower show. The theme was Riviera Holiday. The themed gardens all looked the same and while pretty they were very uninteresting. One stood out. It was called Cinque Terra.

Cinque Terra

We finally found some interesting things in the home gardening section. Temple University had an exhibit about sustainable gardening. I really like the living roof.

Temple had an exhibit about growing your own mushrooms in your garden. This is something I definitely want to do. I’m going to try to get a log started this spring.

Then we found an exhibit by the Delaware Valley Fern and Wildflower Society. They had this beautiful planting with 20+ varieties of ferns as well as companion plants.

So, that’s it for the flower show. Now I know I never need to go back.

On to Longwood Gardens.

Yes, it’s a field of yellow orchids.

This hall was full of lilies and freesia. It smelled wonderful.

We walked around outside too. It was a beautiful day. It felt like we were all coming out of hibernation. Children were rolling down hills and having so much fun.

Snowdrops and crocuses

I think snowdrops and crocuses come out just when we need them to get through the last few weeks of winter.

It was a lovely weekend even with the disappointing flower show. I really needed to be around flowers to feed my soul.

What’s going on in my garden? A bunch of plants are starting to come up (early) but nothing is blooming yet. Maybe next week.

What’s happening in your gardens?

Saturday Morning Garden Blogging, Vol. 15.51: Longwood Gardens

beaky

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday December 21, 2019 · 5:00 AM PST

2019/12/21 · 05:00

no image description available — East conservancy

no image description available — East conservancy

My mother visits every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Her two loves are gardening and decorating for Christmas. My husband and I have treated her in the past few years with a day trip to Longwood Gardens (the site isn’t working properly at the moment). It is botanic garden with an enormous conservatory that once belonged to Pierre Du Pont. We made the trip yesterday (Friday) and I took lots of pictures.

East conservancy — looking back towards the entrance

Same room — beautiful mix of hydrangeas, winterberry holly, euphorbia

Tree at the end of the east conservancy

This is the music room — they turned it into a confectioner’s shop.

Exhibition Hall — always something really creative in this room.

This is a close-up of a planter in the exhibition hall. Just a beautiful combination.

Walkway along the main conservatory

Main conservatory

Main conservatory

The Acacia passage

Orchid wreath in the orchid room

Mediterranean graden

I love this color of cyclamen

Close-up of the planting around the tree

I’ve decided to plant cyclamen next year. They had it all over the conservatory and it was just beautiful.

Pierre Du Pont was crazy for nectarine trees — they had many types espaliered.

This beautiful combination was in the grape room. Notice the kale.

This was in the bromeliad room — it was very sunny and I couldn’t get a great picture

Aloe in bloom

Tree in the palm room

Hibiscus and rose room

Desert room — one of my favorites

Tree in the desert room

Close-up of air plants as ornaments

Back in the main conservatory

Main conservatory — my husband looking at how they mounted the poinsettias to the tree

Main conservatory

Sorry it’s blurry but these are the wildlife trees — full of seeds and yarn

Blurry but you get idea.

Then we walked around to see the lights, drove three hours home and put together this diary. It was a long but wonderful day. I highly recommend Longwood Gardens if you’re in the Philadelphia area.

Happy Solstice!

Saturday Morning Garden Blog Vol: 15:42 Saturday, October 19, Gardening As Community Service

beaky

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday October 19, 2019 · 6:00 AM PDT

2019/10/19 · 06:00

no image description available — Our truck loaded with everything needed for a garden overhaul.

no image description available — Our truck loaded with everything needed for a garden overhaul.

This will be a short diary because I have been crazy busy with work the past few weeks. My subject for this week’s diary is gardening as a form of community service. I am the Vice President of the Board of Trustees of my county library. We have one library building for the entire county and it is located in the county seat which has the largest population of around 7600 people. It is an historic building with an addition added in the 70’s or 80’s. Our Director has been wanting something to be done with this garden plot by the front entrance but doesn’t know anything about gardening so asked for my help. As you can see it is a very sad little garden plot. So, we met at a local garden center and I picked out plants. Then, on a Sunday, because the library is closed, my husband and I set to work.

We had to pick out a bunch of river rock that someone had put in the middle of the bed and take out this sign and flower pinwheels.

My husband used a pitchfork to break up the soil while I separated the rocks, trash and daffodil bulbs. We dug out daylilies and black-eyed susans.

After getting everything out of the bed we added mushroom compost and peat moss to improve the soil. Then, finally, the fun part. This is a north facing garden that gets morning sun so I picked out plants that can handle shade but will also hold their color over the winter. The bayberry are pretty scraggly but I’ll prune them into a nice shape next year. All of the plants are also low maintenance. We also dug up three large hostas from our garden to fill up the space. I broke up the daylilies and replanted them but did not replant the black-eyed susans — they just take over.

Here it is after four hours of work. We replanted about 150 daffodil bulbs in groups of fives and sevens. (I’m going to plant the rest of the bulbs in my hosta garden). The handyman mulched it for us the next day.

I’m really happy with what we accomplished and we’re getting lots of compliments from our patrons.

Maybe there is a garden plot in your community that could use some love?

Saturday Morning Garden Blog, September 7th (Vol. 15.36)

beaky

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday September 07, 2019 · 6:00 AM PDT

2019/09/07 · 06:00

no image description available

no image description available

My husband and I moved to Central Pennsylvania eight years ago and bought a real fixer upper. We have put a great deal of effort into our dream home and we’re very proud of it. I thought I would give you a little tour of our gardens with a few before and after photos.

Before

After

We are working on a cottage garden for the front yard. The right side is underway but still have to work on the left. I’ve got this idea brewing of putting in a picket fence and filling it with flowers and really make it look like an English cottage garden. Here are some closer views of the cottage area. I have been working on getting more late season color. I’ve decided to plant some dahlias next year. In true cottage garden style I have planted some vegetables and herbs among the flowers. I’ll definitely do it again next year because it’s such a delight harvesting kale and chard for dinner.

Cottage garden

Newer
Older

RSS