The Pre-Winter Garden

I've been busy "winterizing" the garden. Here are a few photos to illustrate:

This shows the Camellia sansanqua in bloom, a little earlier than usual, probably due to unusual weather this year. You can also see behind it the pruned stems of my Clematis Jackmanii and Jackmanii Superba. These grow 20 - 25 feet each year and give spectacular show of purple flowers.
As I was looking at the Nandina (Heavenly Bamboo), I'm inspired to include some cuttings in an autumn flower arrangement.

 I spread 21 bags of compost on my lower garden beds. Here are some of them. I cut back many of the perennials, leaving some coneflowers for the birds. The Irish Yew, Choisya ternata (Mexican Orange), and some of the blueberries stay green all winter, so the bed is not too bare.

 Here it is November 12 and the bananas, the alstroemeria, some of the cannas, and even the elephant ear (Colocasia esculenta) are still looking good. So I couldn't bear to cut them back yet.
The Angel's Fishing Rod (Dierama pulcherrimum) had gotten quite large, so I managed to divide it. I planted two sections in other spots in beds around the lawn, and potted up more for friends. It was a big job - I hope they all do well.

 My lovely shade bed is so bare. The hostas, ferns, and astilbes are all cut down. Only a little patch of Himalayan maidenhair fern and a heuchera are left showing. I top dressed this with compost too.

 Here is my wonderful potting room. I've brought in Angel's Trumpets, bananas in pots, Colocasia esculenta  (Elephant Ear), fancy-leafed geraniums, cannas, asparagus ferns, and more. I've also got begonias stored in vermiculite and perlite.

 I planted about 1200 spring bulbs! Some of them are in pots. I planted a lot of daffodils and tulips, plus some hyacinths and frittilarias. I look forward to a fabulous spring show!

July flowers with hummingbirds and bees

Just a few photos of garden flowers in the July garden, most with hummingbirds and bees:

 Hot lips Salvia continues to be a hummingbird favorite.

This last flower is a Tigridia, a bulb.

July 1 garden photos of tropical memory garden

Garden photos taken June 22

shade garden

Clematis 'Jackmanii' and 'Jackmanii superba'

growing some carrots, tomatoes, peppers & lettuce with wax begonias & zinnias

Hibiscus syriacus (Rose of Sharon) blooming already!

Gunnera by the stream is happy - I wonder how big it will be in August?

The Mason Bees are Active!

I put out my bees (from refrigeration) in mid-March. I added more tubes/reeds, since I have more bees this year. They have been very active in the last two weeks. Here is a photo of my "houses":

Here is a photo of a couple of the flowering currant bushes in my yard. These are some of the many plants the mason bees are getting pollen from:

 They are also visiting blueberries and several other flowering bushes and trees, such as these Choiysa ternata 'Aztec Pearl':

Red Admiral Butterfly

I took some pictures of a Red Admiral butterfly who was attracted to the water spray from the hose I was using to clean my garden tools. He landed on the retaining wall next to me and stayed for quite awhile, basking in the sun.