I really can never get used to how fast the seasons come and go! Summer is fading away and I am going to miss all the beautiful blooms I have enjoyed since spring. I have ALWAYS loved flowers. I have always envisioned living in a cottage surrounded by flowers. Just large luscious blooms close by as soon as you open the door!
Well I don’t live in a cottage, but I did my best for where I am in my times of learning plants. (I grow a little more each year) My first few times trying my hand at planting and keeping plants alive did not work well. Actually, I had one begonia plant that my husband gifted me for a birthday, and I kept that alive! Probably due to the fact that it was on a covered patio. If I had a yard at that time, it probably would have died because I literally did not pay attention to the tags in each pot telling you the amount of sunlight each plant should receive on a daily basis.
When it died off, I thought that I killed it off by leaving it outside in the cold. It was so big and beautiful. It felt like part of me died too. It was always a pretty sight to see it in all of its glory. I was clueless to realizing that it was an annual plant that was not even thinking about coming back the following year any how!!
At our house late winter pulling weeds and prepping for spring
Fast forward to when we bought a house, I was so intimidated because of that begonia I thought I killed. I went through a phase of wanting to purchase everything I thought was pretty instead of actually looking at the tags to see if it would even survive in our yard. That doesn’t work well and its a great way to basically throw your money in the trash. But with each new season, I started paying attention more and more.
How much sunlight does my yard actually get?
How is my soil?
Where is the morning light?
Do I have shade anywhere any time of day?
Will I be disciplined enough to care for the flowers?
What can be placed in a planter?
What works best in the ground?
How often do I water?
Whats the difference between gardening soil and potting soil?
Even all the tips you get from others, many times it will be trial and error. You have to learn what works for you and your yard. Seeds require patience. Lots of patience. We are used to instant gratification. But planting seeds and waiting produces a sense of you did something pretty darn awesome. Especially when they grow and bloom! Some seeds just never come up and you just have to take it at face value and roll with it instead of beating yourself up. Try again with something else.
This plant used to look like a dead tree. So I literally tried to kill it on purpose by chopping it all down. The next year it grew stems behind the original tree like stem and grew so wildly! It was absolutely beautiful!! Its in the rose family and gorgeous!
For watering, roses don’t need as much water. But everything else in the ground and in pots, in direct sunlight could use quite a bit of water during the hot summer months! If you start to see things droop a little, they are screaming at you! WATER ME PLEASE!
The first sprouts of sunflowers from seed.
A climbing rose plant found on clearance. Potted it because I want to take it with us when we move!
I had a bit to learn with these potted beauties. I believe I used the wrong potting soil. I think I may have used garden soil on accident or planted them pots that were too small. They didn’t last long. Two were supposed to be perennials.
You can see the azaleas that were blooming here and how our lawn was wanting to seem dead! Someone in our neighborhood was getting rid of the azaleas, so you bet I flew over there in my car to grab them. They are a beautiful coral color when bloomed.
The following photos are as time progressed, plants grew, and I added more. It really became a small taste of the garden I have always wanted! Next year I know to plant lots more sunflower seeds and lots more zinnias (they are at the front closer to the tree standing tall).
We had a really bad rainy season and some really crazy summer storms. The sunflowers got in a fight with mother nature and I had to pull them up. You can see I added solar lights along the path.
My first time getting to cut some of my cut flowers! I was REAL excited!
I brought everything in pots into the garage to get the house pressure washed.
It was like this for days and weeks at a time! We learned to dance in the rain.
You can see so many blooms and many added. The house is now for sale, but I will take the lessons I learned here with me and plant even more!
The mondo grass is pretty awesome too! And it blooms so full each year!
The house is now for sale, but I will take the lessons I learned here and continue to plant even more in our next home. I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into my gardening life and I hope you decide to try again. Keep trying again and again. You too can have plants that grow, thrive and add life around you.
Much Love,
Crystal
Charleston Artist | Writer | Photographer 