A Spring Walk

BY SKEETER

  Wildflowers seen while out in the woods geocaching south of Atlanta, GA.

 These calm waters can be found in Panola State Park. Click HERE for more about that park.

 We really do enjoy walking in the woods of state parks.

 There is always something to spot around each bend along the trail.

 Such as these sunning turtles. Conga Line forming here... 

I love to see little wooden churches found on country back roads.

Now getting back into my GEORGIA GARDENS, I see spring everywhere I look, to include weeds! Ugh...

The Saints Crabapple tree has never been so full of blooms!

 For once, the squirrels left the buds alone and we are reaping the rewards with bright  pink beauty! This crabapple is finally becoming a nice large tree after 9 years with us.

During our weekend of Geocaching, we enjoyed a 7 mile SPRING WALK, In the Garden...

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Birds Love Crabapples

From In the Garden

As I sit at my computer desk to work play on the computer I am easily distracted by what is going on outside my window. Even though the weather is frightful the birds delight me with their antics and resilience in the freezing cold weather. One tree in particular is a favorite tree amongst the birds and just happens to be close by. It is the crabapple tree I planted in 2003. This crabapple is not the greatest for looks but the crabapple fruit must taste mighty fine to all the birds in my neighborhood because they flock to the tree regularly to sample the fine fruits. On this day a pair of male cardinals were busy eating, though I was only able to capture one in this photo. The red cardinal sure looks at home and stands out against the snow. Such a lovely sight to see the birds enjoying the crabapples....


in the garden....


Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,
 
In the Garden

Happy Fall Colors in Georgia

By Skeeter;
I am popping in here today to say hello and take a moment to partake in Dave's Fall Color Project 2010. I will pop back in here when time allows :-)

I wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving... Hello everyone! I have spent most of my Fall days in Tennessee helping my parents get moved back into their newly renovated house after the May Floods. I spent most of my time inside therefore, not enjoying as many Fall colors as I would have liked to but work came first. I have been one busy gal this Fall but everything is falling (yes, Pun here) into place for me and my family. I am ever so happy these days. I have not been into my Georgia Garden in some time but knew I was not missing much with flowers playing out and plants getting ready for their long Winter nap. This past Sunday, I found a moment to sit in my swing. Look at the beautiful view I was given in my front yard! Fall happens late in the year for us Deep South dweller's. Even though, not much color adorns my gardens, I am ever so grateful to see such beautiful colors in our trees. In this picture you can see the big Green-leafed Willow Oak tree in the middle. It is the last to show color as well as loose its leaves. The last of the oak leaves will drop to the ground in late December and some times, may last until January. What about those wonderful Crepe Myrtle Trees? They give us beautiful flowers in the summer months then again in the fall with vibrant colors on their leaves.
One flower that continues to bloom for me is the Trumpet Angel that Tina gave me from her Tiger Gardens. I just love this plant Tina and cannot thank you enough for passing this beauty along to me!
The Saint's Bald Cypress is turning a bronze glow with a bright red Dogwood in the background.
The Saint's Crab-apple is yellow... and produced some fruit this year. Hopefully, the fruit will become a meal for the deer. That was the Saints plan when planting this tree in the route of the deer.

I am glad to finally be able to slow down a bit and enjoy HAPPY FALL COLORS, In the Garden...

Crabapple Success!

By Skeeter
Remember the Crabapple Dilemma we had in our Georgia Garden last year? To refresh the memory Click HERE. We were at our wits end to save this tree from the Squirrels. We had also missed the blooms each spring with them eating the buds as quickly as they popped out. We decided to give a stovepipe a try and look, it has worked a miracle for us! The pipe was able to keep the squirrels off the tree thus allowing the bark to heal and the buds to pop open this spring!
I enhanced the color in this picture to get a better view as to how many blooms we had. The Saint and I were so excited when we started to see buds forming on the tree! No squirrels can get to the buds for a nibble this year. I gave this tree to the Saint a few years ago and it has not done well due to the squirrels chewing and eating on the poor thing.
Now with the stovepipe keeping the squirrels at bay, the crabapple tree is really starting to shine for us.
A bee enjoys a nip on this bright sunny day.
And hopefully, the Chickadees that keep going inside my homegrown gourd house, will soon call this gourd home.

Some Commenter's were concerned that the stovepipe would cause heat build up and damage to the trunk of the tree. We were very cautious to keep plenty of room between the trunk and pipe for proper air circulation. So far no damage but we will keep a close eye on her with the heat to come this summer. We are hoping for a crop of crabapples for the birds and deer this fall.

We are happy with CRABAPPLE SUCCESS, In the Garden...

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,

In the Garden

Updates

By Skeeter

I enjoy all the comments from you with each topic I talk about from my Georgia Garden. At times you ask for me to keep you posted on progress with certain topics. I am also curious of how things work out on certain topics in your posts as well. Although I have not been a good reader of Blogs lately because with so much going on in my life these days, I just don't have the time. I promise I will get caught up on blogging some day soon. The heat of summer is setting in and after this current trip to VA, I don't plan on going anywhere for at least a month. Maybe I can get caught up then! So now I would like to update you on some of my past blogs.

Of course the most recent talked about topic was the bluebirds making nests in the gourd we grew! (Click Here to see that topic if you missed it.) That was an awesome experience for me and how surprised I was to peek into the hole before taking the gourd down for cleaning to find the babies still inside the gourd! The Saint and I had thought they had fledged a few days ago as he said he saw a chickadee on the gourd. Well, not so as the babies are still inside on this day of typing which is Wednesday July 1. By the time this goes to posting, I am sure they will be out of the gourd and starting the next chapter in their life.

Last year, I talked about a Rescue we tried on a dogwood tree. The deer decided to make a meal of the tree and we could not let the tree die such a death. So we built a fence around the remaining dogwood. Click Here to see that topic if you missed it.
Update: The little dogwood tree did not make a come back in this spot. Too much sandy soil and not enough rain from the skies above. The fence kept the deer from eating it but the tree was not happy in this spot. So the Saint took it out and put it into a pot for us to baby it for a while. Just look at that sad little tree. Here is the dogwood tree now! Making a slow comeback on the west side of the house under our watchful eye and lots of watering. We will find a spot for it this fall and hopefully the rains will start to fall again by then.
The Saint had something in mind for this spot but once digging a bit, he found rotting roots from a tree we took out a few years ago. This may be the culprit of the dogwood and not just the sand as the roots breaking down were leaving pockets of air for no water to penetrate. So after a bit of digging, he decided to fill the hole back up with dirt and let it go back to grass in time. Look beyond this spot and see what he did plant for me...

A few feet back from that dogwood spot of sandy soil, he found clay dirt! That is how it goes in this yard. One area is sandy and the next area can be clay.But we don't let clay get the best of us. We added bags of dirt to the hole to make a nice new home for my surprise. And the surprise is a Redbud tree! We do not see many Redbuds in our area but enjoyed seeing them with our spring travels in Tennessee and Virginia this year! We enjoyed them so much that the Saint brought one home to me on my birthday! I was not expecting this so it was a wonderful surprise for me. Thank you my wonderful Saint!

Here is the Redbud a few months later with some leaves on her!

I don't know much about Redbuds but I am finding the shape of the leaves really neat!

A nice little heart shape saying "get to know me and love me" which I will do as time continues forward...
I talked about how the Saint and I were Foster Parents to a turtle for a bit. Miss Tuttle has a wonderful new home and we still have the hibiscus plant we bought for her. Click Here to read about that topic if you missed it.

Update: The plant never made it into the ground this spring as planned. It continues to bloom on the front porch but I refuse to bring the plant back inside this winter. A closed door to cats does not make for a happy household. Does anyone want this plant? Come on down to GA and you can have it because I am going to leave it to nature this winter. Remember me talking about the squirrels destroying the Saints Crabapple tree this spring? Click Here to read about that topic if you missed it.

Update: The stovepipe on the tree trunk seems to be working. The tree is growing and the bark is healing. Some of you were concerned about heat building up in the pipe therefore doing more harm. But so far, no damage from the pipe and keeping the squirrels at bay as well. We even have a few crabapples on the tree!
I showed you the suet pole once we completed this project by topping the pole with a "See Rock City" Barn birdhouse. Click Here to see that topic if you missed it.
Update: Even though we put the birdhouse on the pole as decoration, a bluebird built a nest in one of the holes! We had to stop putting suet cakes on the poles as he was fighting with all the birds that came to have a bite of suet. Here he is perched on top of the house keeping guard. The bluebird did not lay eggs in the house and we now have the suet back in place on the pole and all is happy. We plan to take the house off the pole and put screen on the holes to keep birds out of the house. We have birdhouses scattered all over the place and they do not need this one with those available. We like our wildlife to live in harmony and not fight with each other.
I recently showed you how we trimmed the butterfly bushes in the island. Click Here to see that topic if you missed it.

Update: The butterfly bush that we dug out and replanted after filling the hole with soil is now blooming. So it survived being taken out of the ground this spring! I was worried about this bush but no need to worry any more. It is not as tall as the other bushes but blooming and calling in the butterflies. Yippee, I did not loose one of my beloved butterfly bushes!

I asked advice from you all on the Saints Bald Cypress tree. Remember that blog about the twisted branch? Click Here to see that topic if you missed it.
Update: In the first picture of the cypress, I circled the twisted branch. As you can see the Saint decided to let nature take its course so he did not prune the branch. I hope he does not regret this in the future. The tree is doing well and really did enjoy the spring rains. Gee, wish we had some more rain as we are not getting it these days. Sigh, I know that feeling well... No drought this year, no drought this year.... Fingers crossed on this one...

Remember last year how I talked about one of my favorite Crepe Myrtle tree's getting damaged in the bad storm? Click Here to see that topic if you missed it.

Update: We pruned the poor damaged tree down to not much of a tree. We watched a local garden program on PBS that talked of Crepe Myrtles. The suggestion was to prune all but the main trunk's from the ground. So we did. It looked pretty bad don't you think? I was saddened for the once huge tree.

Here she is now almost a year later and looking mighty good! I am waiting for that gully washing rainfall as it never fails to get us once Miss Myrtle is in full bloom! (Do not enlarge this picture or you will see the suckers I have yet to snip. lol)
I showed you my solution for keeping the birds from building nest in the hanging plants this spring. I put the artificial nest and plastic egg in the nest of each hanging plant. Click Here to read that topic if you missed it.
Update: This solution has worked 100% for me! Not one bird has tried to build a nest once I placed the faux nest and egg in the plants! I should market this idea as many people complain about the birds in their hanging plants!
Ah, how could anyone forget the topic of the Saint and I scooping up some Natural Fertilizer? Silver (the white horse) and Georgia (the brown horse) were the providers of the wonderful fertilizer. I had reported that Silver had Crossed over the Rainbow Bridge to be with so many of our pets that once roamed this earth. It was a sad day for Georgia horsey as she really missed her sister horse Silver, as did we...
Update: Georgia's human mommy did not like seeing Georgia depressed about losing Silver. So now Georgia has a new brother. Meet Harley a beautiful horse which will be a new asset to fertilize our gardens this fall! He has such a wonderful personality. He gives kisses too!

I hope I could remember all the UPDATES, In the Garden...

Who will come to get that hibiscus? It awaits your arrival...

Note: I will pop in here when I get a chance. We are visiting Family this weekend!

Clematis in a Tree

An old gardeners' trick is to plant clematis in a small tree or shrub. Well, not actually in the tree, but at the base of a tree or shrub. Clematis is an ideal vine to plant in this manner since it is a fairly light vine as compared to vines like wisteria and trumpet vines. I would not recommend planting a Sweet Autumn clematis in a tree though, stick with the lighter types like Jackmanii or Nelly Moser, please use common sense when choosing a vine to plant in a tree.

I chose an few varieties that have slowly begun to come into their own. The clematis blooms are a nice surprise to find 'growing' in a tree. The crabapple pictured above has a purple clematis growing in and amongst its leaves. This tree will have these 'purple blooms' off and on all summer as the clematis blooms off and on. I have several trees planted in this way, but this clematis is the only one blooming right now so I can't post the other pictures, maybe later.

Planting clematis in this way is a win/win situation in my book. The clematis gets a good support, and the tree gets some extra blooms. There is one drawback though, since the clematis vines are somewhat shaded by the tree, the blooms do tend to be smaller and it takes longer to get the clematis growing enough to make a big impact. But that's okay with me, I have nothing but time and plants and at some point they will all be mature...

in the garden...