Just Because It's So Pretty.

My Gaura is a happy plant!  It continuously opens new flowers that look like butterflies (oh, those who don't know, I am butterfly-fobia). 

Aren't they pretty? 

Cosmos - Day Dream Update

I procrastinated - again - to make entries, but I've been taking pictures of my plants :)  (Thank goodness!)

Here, I am showing the progress that my Cosmos has made in the last several weeks.  But then, I wonder if this is better than frequent updates so you can see more pictures in one entry?

 About 2 weeks after the seedlings emerged, I transplanted them in the ground, in my backyard flower bed where the soil is sandy.  I divided seedlings and planted them in slightly different conditioned spots of the same flower bed.  (Location 1: more sun)

 (Location 2: more shades)

 About a month after transplant, Cosmos in Location 2 started to show buds.  Location 1 is about the same height as these, but I don't see a bud yet.

I Almost Forgot About You.

It was at the end of September 2010 when I seeded some tiny seeds of Forget Me Not, and this plant surely took a long time to grow.  It was so slow that I almost forgot about it!  However, last week, I noticed little buds at the tips of some stalks, and this week, I finally saw the flowers!

Can you see the buds?  (You can click on the picture to enlarge)

This!  This is it!  I have always wanted to have Forget Me Not in my garden, and now it's official that I do have it!  It surely took a long time to grow(nearly 7 months!) to get to this stage, but I am happy now.

Citrus

Here are random pictures of the citrus trees I have in my yard. I bought small, stick-like plants when I first moved to this house in May 2010.

From left: Lemon, Naval Orange and Lime.  I bought these at Wal-Mart for $14.00 each.  They were so thin and small that I was skeptical they would even fruit in the next few years.

--- But! ----

Lemon buds in December 2010.

The first lemon flower opened almost one month after the above picture was taken.  Wow, that was a long wait!

In two weeks, the first flower petals fell and showed a tiny fruit.  Can you see it?  Unfortunately, the flower shown here didn't fruit and fell off completely few days later.

 The survived baby lemon, one week after the above picture was taken.

In a few weeks, Lime tree started to have buds!

 Nearly a month later, the first Lime flower finally opened.  I didn't realize citrus flowers take this long to open!

We had summer-like hot days, and lime flowers came and went quickly.  It looks like I will have a plenty supply of limes this summer.  Thinking of making lime pies already!

And this is the lemon.  It's still tiny, but it is getting bigger and bigger each day.  See the lemon shape?

2 more baby lemons and a bud that I think will open in a few days.

This is my Satsuma Mandarin tree.  This, too, started to show some buds.

Since I've never grown fruits, I am pretty excited about these little fruits!  Stay tuned for their development :)

Hearts Started To Bleed And I'm Happy.

One of my Bleeding Heart plants flowered today :)  This one was planted in the side yard, where the sun exposure is limited and I did't water much. I planted the bulb on January 14th, so it took 79 only days.  I didn't expect to see the flowers so quickly!

Just as the name suggests, these little heart-shaped flowers are 'bleeding'.  Flowers are much smaller than I imagined.

Blanket Flower Has a Bud, Too!

Ah, finally.  Blanket Flower is one of the first plants I seeded back in September 2010.  Everyday, I didn't see much change; they looked the same but subtly growing new leaves, just getting bushy without showing any signs of flowers.  However, I have found one bud after all!

It's kind of hard to see in this picture, but I am sure this is a bud. Oh, please don't make me wait too long!

Bleeding Heart Update

Exactly 2 months ago, I planted three Bleeding Heart bulbs at three different locations through my yard.  One in the front yard (partial shade, west), another one in the side yard (shade, south) and the other in the backyard (shade, east).  ...And the fastest growing one is the one planted in the side yard!

This is the one planted in the side yard, and it's about 6 inches tall (the shiny long leaves in the background is 'Naked Lady', a kind of Amaryllis).

When I saw it more closely, I found some buds already! Woot!!  These look much smaller than I expected, so it may take a long time from this stage until the flowers bloom.  I will keep you posted :)