Spring Gardening...

[Mara]

and dutch iris...this camera takes beautiful macro shots! it''s so detailed.

 

[Mara]

and my little mini crabapple tree...my second year with it and i think i should have pruned it..but i did get some wonderful clusters of flowers...i love how the buds are pink and open up to white.

 

[Mara]

and my first rose of the year...the abraham darby austin rose tightly closed and just about to unfurl its petals. this was 2 days ago so it may be further open by now, i should go check it out!

 

[Mara]

oh and one more...my second rose...sneakily hiding behind the fence rail so i didn''t see it til today...my sheer bliss hybrid tea which smells divine and looks even more heavenly.

 

[pinkflamingo]

Just gorgeous, Mara!
I am inspired!! I want to start my own garden!
Just out of curiosity, how much time do you devote to your garden each week? it looks time consuming! I have always thought that I don''t have enough time for a garden.

 

[Mara]

Pink...it''s actually not that much time spent since I have a container garden, the most time I spend is watering!! But I used to have a garden in the ground at my last place and it was still not too consuming, partially because I am kind of a lazy gardener and I tend to like ''cottage gardens'' where stuff all just grows together. So I only spend about maybe an hour or two every week outside playing around with stuff in winter (that is when all the work happens for me) but the garden pretty much takes care of itself the rest of the year. Like this weekend I was out there watering and I pulled 2 weeds but that was it. Mostly I just admire the flowers. I fertilize once a month or so or every 3 months with time-release, and deadhead (Cut off the dead heads of the roses after they have bloomed and died) the roses once a month or once every bloom. Sometimes I wish there was more to do out there!! My dream is to have huge acres of gardens and devote whole days to playing around in the dirt. I wouldn''t have to work then either.

 

[FireGoddess]

Beautiful! I''ve got nothing worth snapping pics of - my white calla lily plant has mostly spent itself - there''s one flower left but they flower earlier in the spring for me. My succulent is doing well but it''s not that pretty. I did get a little jasmine plant, just put it in a bigger pot but the blooms are gone and I''m trying to get it to rebloom.

 

[FireGoddess]

Just a little tip I read in Real Simple....as an alternative fertilizer for rose bushes, flatten a banana peel and bury it 1 inch underground, a few inches from the base of your rosebush. Apparently the potassium and such is great for roses.