STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Elle · Hermes

Gardening 2007 - Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Eurodaisy · Dooney & Bourke

Yes, yes, yes! It's going to be in the mid-50s here on Saturday, so I'm going to be working away: cleaning up the last of the winter sticks and leaves in the backyard, cutting back some plants to get them ready for the new green that's coming out soon, and hacking up the monstrous shrubbery in the front of the house.

Even though we rent our little house, I really like working outside... it's very satisfying. And I

spring... it's my favorite season!

small fry · Chanel

Count me in

alot of my plants look aweful after our winter. I was busy with other things and they got neglected. I want to do something with my front flower bed but not sure, I will post pic when I get ready so you ladies can give me ideas . This week has been in the mid 70's maybe it will stay a while so I can do some yard work

AllieGurl · Marc Jacobs

I have the worst green thumb. Mine is actually more of a brown thumb :( I kill every plant I try to grow, DH is only a BIT better.

Cortney1982 · Chanel

I'm getting excited. Buds are showing on my lilac tree which I cannot wait to smell it! Also little buds all over my favorite blossoming tree/bush in front of my dining window. It's so lovely with light pink blossoms all over it! And all the tulips are starting to sprout too.

We did have quite a snow storm that lasted for an hour. Huge flakes! It all melted 2 hours afterwards though. Hopefully that won't effect anything because it wasn't even freezing temps.

NCshopper · Hermes

I can't wait for spring! I love spring so much because I can get outside and play in my garden before the mosquitos come out.

We have the coolest nursery near us. I seriously go there like every weekend and just ogle everything. It's pretty pricey, but I've gotten a lot of perennials that I don't have to buy again next year. I also just picked up a book that's a month by month guide to gardening in the Carolinas. I'm sure other books exist for other regions, but it's so great because it tells you what you need to do every month for your lawn, perennials, annuals, trees, shrubs, roses, etc. Pretty cool.

lynnie · Chanel

i have always wanted a garden. When I was a kid, i would draw out parcels of land in our yard (to scale) and fill in with scientific names of flowers/plants that i would find in catalogs adn books. I cried and begged for $100 to go to the nursery and buy flowers, and going to this one nursury in Annapolis on a Sunday with my family was my absolute FAVORITE thing to do. Sometimes they'd have cider and cookies and I'd walk around and pick flowers.

Now I live in nyc :( No garden for at least a few years.

side note: i really liked whitney's parents garden in The Hills. I think i want a smaller house with a cottage feel and a crazy garden.

greendiamond · Marc Jacobs

I've already been drawing my garden plans. The garden looked pretty good last year, but a few things need moving around, and I'm installing a butterfly garden around a tree just outside my picture window, so I've been planning on where to move those perenials.

And, I planted a cutting garden last year, so I'm anxious to see how it wintered over and expand it!

I'm having so much fun, and their is still snow on the ground here!

I can not wait!

-gd

Suasoria · Chanel

I'm happy to report that most everything but the Euphorbias and a Traveler's Palm seem to be rebounding from the bad frost in Cali. The gardening never stops in Los Angeles, and neither does the citrus, but here's what's blooming now:

- Three quinces (for a change - does anybody else have them, and are they as temperamental as I think?)
- Two apple trees
- An almond tree
- A a crazy magnolia whose name I can't remember
- Bilbergia (aka queen's tears; bar none one of the most amazing flowers you've ever seen unless you're from the Philippines, where they grow everywhere, apparently)
- A couple of irises
- Some cymbidiums
- Crocuses, freesias, and grape hyacinths just a-poppin'

Plus all the abutilons, lavenders, salvias, and rosemary that almost never stops blooming here.

About to bloom is a peppermint peach tree (prunus persica, I think) with red and white spotted/speckled flowers. Those are incredible pictures; if I could post one, I would. In a few weeks, there will probably be more to report.

I don't plant a lot in Spring here - Fall is better for us - but I've been sheet composting a dry shade bed under the avocado tree all winter, an area that's really never been nurtured or planted before, and I may not be able to wait. What's going in is a brunnera, some iresines, a shell ginger, and maybe some of those bilbergia and manfreda if I can deal with their spreadage.

We went to a botanic gardens/nursery on Friday and came home with a one-gallon red twig dogwood for $10 (so tough to find in a small size) and a centradenia, which I'd never heard of until I randomly found and planted one a couple years ago. It's so great; it's a lot like a cuphea or a plumbago, but its foliage ranges from green to burgundy and it has brilliant pinkish-purple flowers that almost look like a geranium.

-- Edited by Suasoria at 19:06, 2007-02-26

Tati · Chanel

Elle wrote:
We also got a 55 gallon barrel for each gutter downspout we have, and we're in the process of painting them to look like terra cotta. We're going to use them to harvest rainwater so we can water our flowers/vegetables all summer without driving up our water bill .

wow, your awesome!