Show and Tell

Back in the spring, I posted about my heirloom flowers and the flowers that I bought at the nursery to plant. I thought it would be neat to give y'all an update on how they actually did over the course of the summer. Evidently, my thumb isn't as green as I wish it was.

This is what's left of Jeff's beautiful garden. How ugly is that? He's still picking tomatoes, but they're not much bigger than a golf ball. The garden did pretty good this year. We had lots of cucumbers and quite a few tomatoes, but they weren't very big. I must've eaten a thousand cucumbers.

I enjoyed walking around my yard barefoot late yesterday afternoon. It had rained earlier in the day and so the grass was wet. It felt so good to walk around in that wet grass. Reminded me of being a kid and getting my feet dirty.

This is my back deck. I'll be glad when it cools off some so we can sit out there more often. It's just too dang hot right now. I would like a chiminea to put out there. Once it cools off, of course. I want one that doesn't smoke like a campfire.

These are some of the flowers I bought at the nursery. The tags said they could take full sun. Well. . . I don't know what the growers consider full sun, but believe me, they can't take the full sun that my deck gets every day. I've had to water them and move them everywhere trying to keep them alive. They'll get all sad and weepy, give them a drink and they perk back up.
The containers they were in were white and they didn't really go with the furniture I have out there, so I spray painted them black. They turned out pretty good. Next year I'm going to go with different plants. I'm not crazy about the combinations in them. They're so leafy and not many blooms.

This little sweetie is something that I bought when my dad nearly died in 2003. He was in the hospital for almost two weeks with a one in a hundred chance of surviving for the first few days. Someone stayed there 24/7, so we had lots of time to go to the hospital gift shop. It was the best gift shop ever. And it was there, while spending lots and lots of times with my aunties, that I took Proverbs 17:22 as my favorite verse. This angel reminds me of that verse and that time.There are windchimes hanging off her dress. She's very sentimental to me. I dress her up for the holidays. I dress her with ribbon that goes with whatever holiday we're celebrating. I don't know if you can tell it much in this picture, but it was so humid yesterday that my windows were sweating. That's why some of the pictures look cloudy. My camera lens kept fogging up.

You may remember this rosebush. It's one I got from South Georgia from MaMa Kimball. I don't know how in the world it continues to live. It gets tons and tons of sun and NO attention. I thought it had a poke salad vine growing up through it. After looking closer, it's actually some sort of tree. Cutting that tree out of the rosebush is on Jeff's "Honey Do" List.

My hostas didn't fare very well this summer. Something (most likely deer) have eaten them up. I never got around to separating them either, so the ones that are still living look awful.
This is probably the ugliest place in my yard. It's where I have my day lillies. They were so pretty, but they don't last long at all. When they're done, you're left with an ugly stem.

I'm still loving my swing we painted. The yellow impatiens have done well there. I just have to diligently keep them watered. They also weep and cry when they're thirsty. This is my oak leaf hydrangea. It bloomed a little this year. Not as much as I would've liked. The prettiest thing about this hydrangea to me, though, is the color of the leaves. They're kind of a burnt orange. I think they're just gorgeous. Only God can make color like this. There is no crayon in the box to match these colors.

My other hydrangeas did awful. They probably had less than 20 blooms on them. The plant itself grew huge, but hardly any blooms. And now they're getting baked in the sun. I don't know why, but this year they're not taking the heat and sun well at all. And now it looks like they've got a disease or something and they are dying. Help!!! If any of you out there have any idea what those black dots on the leaves are, I'd sure love to know. I'm sad because they look so bad.

This one is huge. But look at the leaves. Sick. I'm going to move both of them this fall, if they survive, because they're getting way too much sun every day.
These are some of the flowers I got at the nursery and planted out by the pool. Again, too much sun, even though they supposedly liked "full sun." They haven't died, but they just don't bloom.

This turned out to be a good combination. Dragon leaf begonias and vinca. The vinca can take as much of the sun as Mother Nature can dish out. The begonias, not so much. I have to keep them watered or they wilt.

I painted this strawberry pot to match my swing. Then I planted the hens and bitties that Auntie Theresa gave me in it. It's out by the pool and they've grown a lot this summer. Auntie T, how do you separate the babies from the mamas?

When Jeff had to fix the pipe in the pool, he had to cut out a square of the concrete. He thought it would look cool to plant something in the hole rather than trying to put more concrete in the square. It wouldn't have matched and it would've been obvious that we'd had to cut it up. We decided to plant in the hole instead and it looks so good. The colors are so pretty and they take the heat well too. I think they like to get splashed! The lillies I got from MaMa Kimball so long ago continue to thrive and multiply like rabbits. They're done blooming for the most part. These are another plant that once they're done blooming, you're just left with a big ugly stalk. Look how hardy these vinca are. They just love it where they're at. I don't know if you can see it or not in the picture, but I found these yard stakes at Lowe's. They only had Live and Laugh. I've looked at every Lowe's around and no one had Love. Oh, well.

More dragon leaf begonias and vinca.

Poor little rose. It wants to live so bad. I have to keep it pruned because if I didn't, it'd be like Jack's Beanstalk. It gets so tall. If I'm lucky, it has about ten blooms a year. But when it does bloom, they're the prettiest and most fragrant rose ever. I guess that's why I don't dig it up because it really is u-g-l-y. I feel sorry for it.

My geraniums that are on my front porch steps didn't make it. I put some other trailing-type plant in there with them. I bet my Auntie Brenda is cringing to look at them now. She worked so hard watering them for me while we were on vacation. They just never really took off.
I threw them in the woods the other day.
My camelia cutting from MaMa and PaPa Howell's house has grown a lot this summer. It's so healthy. I may actually be able to plant it in the ground next year.

Every year at this time, all my flowers start looking awful. I'm tired of them and they're tired of me. They become so demanding. And the heat is so bad that they need watering at least once a day. Some days twice.

How did your flowers grow? Soon I'll be shopping for spring bulbs. Any tips out there?

With summer winding down, I get excited about this.
Georgia Bulldog football, baby! One week from today is kickoff. I can't wait. We always have so much fun watching the games. This year we've got a big TV to watch them on, so we're having a small get-together to watch the game next week.

That's it for my show and tell. As you could "tell", my springtime dreams for my flowers just didn't come to pass. Maybe once day they'll come up with a "full sun" plant that really is "full sun." Even hot Georgia sun!

Till tomorrow, hope you're blooming where you're planted!

P.S. I GIVE UP! I HAVE SPENT OVER AN HOUR TRYING TO GET ALL OF THESE PICTURES UPLOADED AND EVERY TIME I TRY TO PUBLISH THE POST, SOME OF THE PICTURES DON'T COME UP. I'M GOING CRAZY TRYING TO FIX IT AND I'VE FINALLY GIVEN UP!