New Home For Gaura

I was extremely happy when I saw the first Gaura flower, but I suddenly started to wonder if the pot was too small.  I carefully and gently pulled the stem of the plant, and whoa, the whole thing just pulled out of the pot!  The roots were tightly tangled at the bottom, and I felt bad for not noticing this earlier.

 EEK! The roots needs more room!  (Observation: the roots are pink just like the leaves.)

I hope Gaura is happy in the new pot :)  Let me see more of those pretty flowers!

Spring Has Come For Freesia!

Wow, wow, wow!  Here and there and everywhere, freesia flowers started to open in my yards. I planted the bulbs on 10/5/10, so it took little less than 5 months to see these pretty, frangrant flowers :)

 At this stage, I couldn't be 100% sure what color the flowers of this one would be - maybe yellow?

 These are from my front yard.  They smell wonderful!

 Close up shot of the freesia in the front yard. 

These lavender colored freesia is the 'stray' ones that appeared in the backyard unexpectedly.  Apparently, the previous owner planted freesia bulbs throughout the yards.  It sure was a pleasant surprise to me!

A few days later, red flower started to open in the front yard.  While the yellow ones look cute and cheerful, the red ones are quite ellegant.

More red flowers opened in the backyard.  They look great with the dianthus and the calla lilies!

Backyard Transformation

In May 2010, I bought a house.  It was a Short Sale property that had been neglected over a year before I moved in.  The house definitely needed lots of work, and backyard was...a jungle.  Overgrown shrubs and weeds were taking over the property, and the soil was totally hardened.  It took me weeks even to make flower beds.  9 months later, my backyard looks so much better, but it still needs a whole lot more TLC. 


I want to show you some of the improvements I had made so far. (Click on the pictures to enlarge)

May 2010.  Overgrown shrubs (more like trees!) were covering the windows, and weeds were as tall as 4ft - as you can see it in front of this picture.

June 2010.  My boyfriend cut down the shrubs and weeds completely (Yes, he's wonderful <3).  Exposed are a bunch of junk!

July 2010.  I decided to make a flower bed under the window of my second bedroom (currently being used as an office).  I used a pick to break and tilled the hardened soil, then mixed soil amendment as my boyfriend taught me (he's got a green thumb, and he's a great teacher).  My boyfriend installed the drip irrigation system so the plants would be watered more efficiently.  I planted 2 Hibiscus I bought from Home Depot and a Pineapple Lily that I received as gift.

My first plants! (Left - peach Hibisucs, Center, Pineapple Lily, Right- Bicolor Hibiscus) - I used the pick in the background to till this area!

October 2010.  During the summer, I didn't work much in the yard mainly because it was not comfortable to work in the hot weather, and I had other rather urgent home improvement projects inside the house.  However, I managed to make the second flower bed (front side in this picture) and planted a few other plants (Dianthus, Egiptian Stars).  Oh,I got some nice solar outdoor lights for my birthday!  They look great, and I love them!

By October 2010,  I had added Yucca (left), Dianthus (Center, front) and Calla Lilly (at the center where the soil is darker) to the first flower bed. 

January 2011.  By this time, Dianthus expanded and kept blooming, Calla Lilies and Freesia emerged from the ground and started to show buds.  I also transplanted Blanket Flower, Texas Bluebonnet, Oriental Poppies, Cosmos, Lavenders, Platycodon and Sweet Williams that I grew from seeds.  The juice bottle you see on left is my 'instant greenhouse' for the poppies.  This helps to keep the moisture in the soil, keeps the plant away from cold air and snails/slugs.

My Dianthus.  In Japanese, it's called "Nadeshiko".  In Japan, "Nadeshiko" is often a synonym to "Idealized Japanese Ladies". 

 My beautiful Calla Lilies.

 Calla Lilies and Freesia buds.

Calla Lilies, Freesias, Dianthus and Blanket Flower.

The overall look of my 2 flower beds.  (Project is still in progress, and it will always be!)

A view from the center of my yard. (I received the water fountain for Christmas from my boyfriend - can you tell how he motivates me to improve my yard?)

Tha's it for now.  More improvement/transformation entries to follow...I hope!

Texas Bluebonnet Has a Bud!

It has been 4 months after I seeded Texas Bluebonnette on 10/29/10, and the largest one now has a bud!  This experience of growing plants from seeds has been teaching me lots of things, but beyond anything else, I enjoy seeing changes each plant shows every day.

7 seedlings survived, and this one is the largest Texas Bluebonnet plants in my yard.  At this time, I didn't notice a bud.  There is a tiny plant one right next to it; can you see it?  

2 days after I took the above picture, I noticed a bud.  It's amazing how fast a plant can grow when it's happy.

Getting Bushy - Blanket Flower

Here's an update on Blanket Flower.  They seem to be happy in the ground; all three Blanket Flower plants are growing much faster than when they were in pots.  Look at the difference they made in a month!

It's hard to see, but there are 2 Blanket Flower plants in this picture.  The second one is right behind the one in front.

Look how bushy they got in one month!  I still don't see any sign of flower, though.  FYI, it's been about 150 days after seeding.

Bleeding Heart

I didn't know this flower before (like many other), and when I saw the bulbs at Home Depot, I had to get it, just beacuse.  When I looked at the pictures on the package of BLEEDING HEART bulbs, sure enough, the flowers really look like as if little hearts are bleeding.  According to the package description, this is good for shaded areas - perfect!  I needed something for the side of the house and  under my Japanese Maple tree in the back yard.

I bought Bleeding Heart and Lily of the Valley.  Both are recommended for shades. 

This is how a 'bulb' of Bleeding Heart looks like.  Doesn't this look like a piece of giant root?  I don't even know which side is up or down.  I just buried it, about 3 inches deep in the ground. 

26 days later, I noticed something new joined my yard - is this it, or is this weed ?

I checked all three places I planted the bulbs and found the same leaves at all three spots.  Yay, my Bleeding Hearts have successfully emerged from the ground. 

BULB INFORMATION:

Bulbs I bought: Bleeding Heart, Pink

Bulbs bought from: Home Depot

Origination of the seeds: Netherlands

According to the package:

*  Days to germination: Unknown - Mine took less than 26 days to sprout

*  Days to bloom: Unknown/Late Spring-Early Summer Blooms Mine took 79 days to bloom

*  Plant height: 36 inches

*  Grows best: Full Shade

*  Recommended planting season for San Diego: January through April - I planted in January

Gaura Flower - Sooner Than I Thought

After a couple hot, sunny days here in San Diego, my Gaura plant grew about an inch and started to show the sign of the first flower.

The first bud that is about to open. 

 Next day, the flower is 90% open!

This is the first flower on the plant I grew from a seed!  It has taken about 4 and half months since I planted a seed. This little flower made my day :)  One thing I noticed is that the mother plant had white flowers but this flower is pink...?  I wonder why.  Will future flowers stay pink or will be white like the original one?  Hmmm.

Texas Bluebonnet Quick Update

I really like this plant because the leaves are so cute. 
Although some of the vulerable seedlings became feasts of snails and slugs, the plants are doing well in the ground since I transplanted them.

This picture was from last entry.  Look, some leaves are eaten by snails and/or slugs :(

More leaves grew, and they are becoming more visible in the flower bed.  The plastic bottle on the right is my 'quick greenhouse' to protect younger seedlings from frost, winds and snails.  Plastic bottles make a huge difference!  The plant on the left is Freesia.

No, I Didn't Forget.

Freesia, freesia, freesia...
Besides from the bulbs I planted, very similar (or should I say the same) leaves started appear here and there, everywhere in my back yard.  The previous homeowner must've planted freesia bulbs long ago, and it seems the original ones have grown underground and spread in my backyard.  My mom told me Freesia is somewhat invasive, so I will dig them up next spring and share the bulbs with friends.

Anyway, here's the progress of 'my' freesia. 

So, this is how the first sprout looked like back in October.

 18 days later (one month after planting), they kind of looked like bunny ears.

 Two weeks later (44 days after planting), the bulbs I planted in my front yard looked like these...

 ...and the ones in the backyard.  Backyard receives more sun, so that maybe why these bulbs are doing better than the ones in the front yard?

 Freesia tilted and grew out of control.  But wait, I think I see some flower buds already!

Close-up picture of the buds.

These are a part of the 'stray' freesias in my backyard.  They, too, have buds.  I think the smell in the backyard will be wonderful once they all bloom.

I Think I Will Get To See Some Flowers This Year?

Gaura is slowly growing, and it has started to show some signs that I may even get to see the first flower(s) in a few months.

Just to recap, this picture is from the last entry; it was taken on 1-8-2011

Can you see how much the plant grew in 3 weeks?  If you look closely, there's a longer stem in the center, that seems to bear some buds! 

Close-up of the stem and its tip.  I hope it is what I think it is!