Gardening Plans.

Quite a bit has been done this year so far. I've been itching to plant various seeds that's been building up on the windowsill in the kitchen. So far there are some bell pepper, pear, grapefruit, pumpkin, and some type of squash. I don't know how many will grow this year as they've been on the windowsill for a long time. For example, the pumpkin seeds have been there since at least halloween as I saved them before I cooked the rest of the seeds.

So far, the lilies and roses have been relocated to new beds. The other bed they were in was always in shade and they weren't getting enough water. They're now back in a sunny area and I'm hoping they'll do extremely well this year.

What I'm really concerned about are the hardy hibiscus. The first few years, they've grown very huge and had lots of blooms. Over the past few years, sawflies discovered them and last year was -really- bad. These little caterpillar-like larva ate every single leaf till they were just lacy. There was a huge cloud of sawflies over the hibiscus as well. The hibiscus died down to the ground and had enough energy to shoot out again.

All kinds of things were done to try to stop them. Finally, as a last resort, The sevin spray was purchased and it's done excellent. The problem is, there is so much concern about the dogs that a big fence has to be set up around the three hibiscus that are planted in the ground. I'm hoping to beat the sawflies this year by spraying as soon as the hibiscus in the ground starts coming up.



I have two hardy hibiscus growing in pots. The three hibiscus growing in the ground is Red, White, and Pink. I took the seeds from one hibiscus and out of all the seeds, a couple grew and only two survived. What surprised me is that when they bloomed, they were different flower colors. I can't recall right now but I think one was pink and the other was red. Sadly, I can't even remember what plant I took the seeds from.

The secret with Hibiscus seeds is to plant them as soon as the pod pops open because the seeds don't stay viable for very long.



I feel bad for this English Ivy. This has to be the most -neglected- plant I have. It's been hanging from a shepherd's hook in the same spot of the yard for years now. Not only has the wire that holds up the pot has rusted but some sort of green algae has grown around the outside of the pot. Every year I just look at it and ignore it. Lots of the dirt is missing and now it seems that it may not be hanging on much longer. I'm gonna go repot this thing... soon.