Friday 23 April 2010

Disaster Zone


Otherwise known as my back garden :- )

I am waiting for glue to dry so thought I'd share some real life pics.



As you can see we have a serious weed problem lol.

I am limited to the amount of weeding I can do. I don't want to seize up my shoulder while I am so busy. That's my excuse anyhow :-)


We have a great young lad who does some gardening for us but he is working out of town at the moment so his time is limited.






I am actually weeding myself, a little bit here and there and left handed, but there are just so many it is a never ending job. At least now the summer is here they are all starting to die themselves.

Unfortunately I didn't know (dumb me) that the white tops of dandelions were seeds so they have been spread everywhere :-(


And yet, in amongst this suburban jungle there are treasures galore

Pink Jasmine.









Some kind of rose I think but it has no thorns. Possibly a Lady Banks, although I read they only bloom for a short while and this has been blooming for ages.




This will get staked out properly along the fence once the fence is replaced / repaired.



Random roses grow all over the place. Not very healthy and covered in tiny black fly things. I need to research if I can dig these up and replant them in more suitable places.









Bougainvillea.....how I love this plant. Not only is it stunning but it just grows and grows with no care whatsoever. At least in California...I couldn't keep one alive back in England.



These ones...I have no idea. Never seen anything like them and you can see how the flowers come of the stems in a very unusual pattern.



Yes we have ants everywhere too :-)



Some kind of fruit tree....no idea what though.




Angel Trumpet - sometimes called trumpet of death as the flowers are hallucinogenic.

I've never seen a plant grow so quickly or have so many flowers. It has to be moved as it is totally blocking the guest room window. We have a number of these around the place. At some point I'd like to replace that bedroom window with french doors and have a small patio out there.






Rosemary I think. It smells and has tiny blue flowers.
The bees love it. Needs a serious trim.




And just so it wasn't all weeds, this is our front garden. It was as bad as the back but our gardener guy did his stuff and laid turf for us.

I am not a fan of grass in the desert but every house in the street has it and the style of the house just wouldn't suit a typical desert style garden.


The grass we chose requires little watering though and I will eventually fill most of it in with plants.






This really is a huge job even though it has been turfed as there are huge planting areas to be filled. 2 of the trees are dead.... termites...so they have to come out but will be replaced.

This little strip wasn't meant to be turfed but he had some left over and put it here. I will fill this strip with plants. Oh and the basketball net will be coming down :-)






Hope you enjoyed the virtual trip around my garden....if you can identify any of the plants please shout up :-)



34 comments:

  1. Your home is beautiful! Your backyard is a diamond in the rough!! I just love the smell of jasmine!!

    I had jasmine in my other house. I miss the smell, but not the upkeep, LOL

    xxoo

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  2. sigh. Want to come-so bad! The yellow beauty is freesia- heavenly smell, right? It's a bulb down in there if you are thinking of moving it. Wish I could plant them here- too tender for our cold! Is the tree a lime tree? Or a lemon? I bet that smells heavenly too. Did I mention I want to come and play in your yard soooo bad? The roses are beautiful! Maybe I could have a new job as a live in gardener????.......do you think my hubby would miss me? I can never get enough of these pictures Jayne- thanks for posting them :)

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  3. Thanks Marsha....it was the potential of this garden that sold the house to me. the realtor thought it amusing I was loving a garden full of junk and ignoring the granite counter tops :-)

    Is Jasmine a lot of upkeep...oh dear. This is so matted it really needs pulling out and tidying. Must get some up to the armpit gloves...I have no ideas what might be lurking in all that lol

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  4. Once those weeds are done in you are going to have a real bit of paradise there. Every one of the rose pics is breathtaking.
    The Lady Banks on this side of the country are still in full bloom. It might be nicer if your's aren't the LB. Because it is true, they are so lovely then the flowers go pffft until the next year. :-(

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  5. Oh Kim...dont' sigh...just come on down. I would love for you to spend some time helping me sort this mess out. I now own a load of gardening books but that has made me even more scared lol

    I need a garden plan to know what to plant and just can't seem to get started...I am too overwhelmed :-(

    No hubby wouldn't miss you...just tell him you need a vacation....please :-)

    Fresia...dangit. I've looked at every tiny flower I remembered but forgot that. Of course it is...duh. I will dig the bulbs up and move them as they are in the wrong place there.

    It could be lime or lemon but I'll have to wait and see if and how they grow.

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  6. Jayne you lucky thing Freesia in the garden. They have such a lovely scent. I've was never able to grow them in my other garden, before moving here. They come in some wonderful colours.
    Every part of the Trumpet plant is poisonous Jayne so make sure you wash your hands if you touch it. xxx

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  7. Jayne,

    It's great to see a foreign garden! :o))

    Roses should only really be moved just before winter or late winter. As you live in California...this might harder to tell! lol Make sure you dig a good root ball around it and bury it to the same level it was previously (you might get a few problems if you don’t) and water before you move it and well after. :o)) I don't know if the Freesia’s are the same as in the UK (I assume so), but they grow from corms and grow in clumps that can be divided, again I wait till later in the year when they have finished flowering. Most if not all plants prefer to be moved when they are more dormant and not in full bloom, etc :o))

    Gosh, trees got termites?! How awful! :o(

    Michelle xx

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  8. Debbie the whole garden is a pot luck. When I moved in I decided to leave as much as I could for a year to see what came up :-)

    I will be careful with the trumpet....I really don't like it so it will be going :-)

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  9. A foreign garden lol Michelle.

    Thanks for the tips...I'll make sure only to move them that way then.

    That will be cool if I can split the freesia :-)

    Yes we have winter here lol. In fact we had hail 2 days ago :-) that was unusual though. We occasionally drop to freezing overnight but that isn't often either.

    Mainly our winter here is just rainy season but after doing 4 Minnesota winters where - 20 was not uncommon I think I deserve a break from the cold :-)

    Yeah termites...sucks huh. We have another 4 trees int he back that are dead but they are 40 plus feet tall so we need to get a proper tree guy which will cost a bomb...and why they are still there.

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  10. It's got such potential! I wish I could help identify some of these for you, sadly I'm not sure. I will say bouganvillia is one of my faves as well and I have been able to keep it, at least during the summers here in containers. Someday I'll move to climate that supports it year round :)

    Granite countertops are all fine and good, but how much fun can you have with them really?! lol

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  11. So many pretty flowers! I adore the roses, especially the pinky/purple one.

    Gardening is a never ending thing.

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  12. Wow that is some project Jayne, lots to do there for some years to come eh! Loads of inspiration for your flower making though. Can see little faces now whenever I look at roses he he Kate xxxxxxs

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  13. Jayne, I would buy this house too! Like you, I never worry too much about the inside because that we can do up. It is always the outside and yours ROCK, girl! If only I have some of that flowers. I am not really complaining, mine are all green, no flowers and tropical plants and trees are really pretty, even our weeds. Ok, I lied. Weeds suck and we have someone come in when it becomes intolerable :).

    You know we take gardens seriously here cos Singapore was for sometime known as the Garden City and we have trees everywhere, that and bougainvillea. We plant them on road dividers, along the railings of overhead bridges and some architects here will have every apartment in a high rise grow them in their planter boxes so that the whole building looks like cascading bougainvillea. They look spectacular in bunches and from far :).

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  14. I loooove gardening! Now if I lived closer... and I mean `MUCH closer... I would have weeded the garden in no time for you!

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  15. Its looking good already Jayne and how wonderful to have freesia there,one of my favourite smells !I know the weedy bit is daunting but there is so much potential there for a real haven .
    LOL at you with the dandelion heads !
    juie xxx

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  16. Beautiful garden, I'll never be able to make something like this at our house, right now the whole garden is a mess, and we need to sort it out too - need new lawn, plant a couple of new trees. My holidays on May will be pretty busy.

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  17. A weed is just a plant that grows where you dont want it to LOL. Gardens take ages to come into their own its like having an adventure. Been away from blog land for a bit but I am back now. Sorry if I missed any of your previous posts.

    Debie xxxxxxxx

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  18. You have some beautiful plants in your garden :o) I absolutely adore freesias... my all time favourite flower, they have such a wonderful aroma, but try as I might I can never get them to grow well in any garden Ive had :o( much like you with your Bougainvillea back here! I found a solution for that problem at least and have two Bougainvillea growing in pots in my conservatory, they are still only small but I can wait :o)
    Hope your shoulder is soon better so you can tackle those weeds... I have become quite obsessed of late of removing dandelion plants, its become a daily obsession!! and at times feels like shovelling snow while its still snowing!!

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  19. Thank you for your visit today. What a gorgeous garden, I was sure the mystery flowers are Fresia too because they were one of my Mums favourite. If you make up a solution of water and a little dish washing liquid and shake it then spray the roses which have black fly it removes the black fly without damaging the Roses. It make your fingers hurt with all the spraying but it works :-) They don't come back either. In answer to your question I make everything on my blog myself.

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  20. PS, the White Rose without thorns looks like a yellow one I have in my garden and until recently I did not know its name they are called Japanese rose and they flower a lot and for a long time the yellow ones get bleached by the sun though.

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  21. Hi April...how are you going ? How is Xavier ? I must get on FB more often to check. I couldn't keep bougainvillea back in England or MN. I am delighted it is almost wild here.

    Nah granite counters are no fun at all...and a pain to keep clean when they are black :-)

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  22. Thanks Dale...I am getting to learn how much work gardening it. I hope one day I'll enjoy it :-) The fresias are so very pretty.

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  23. I think it'll keep me going a long while Kate. it isn't a huge garden but there is just so much to do.

    I see faces in all my real plants now as well lol

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  24. Oh Susan bougainvillea in planter boxes on high rises sounds divine. Seems it grows well there as well...I just love it.

    I had a wonderful young lad as my gardener in the old house but he has moved away :-(

    I love tropical flowers but I plan on keeping this as near to an English style cottage garden as I can.

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  25. Lize...on of these people who loves gardening and weeding oh my. Yes I wish you were much closer as well.

    I bet you have some wonderful tropical plants where you live too.

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  26. Julie you can laugh about the dandelion heads....I did :-)

    It does have potential if I can get it all cleared up. it will take a while though...plants are pricey.

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  27. Victoria...you'll get there eventually. This won't be an overnight job for us either. I wish it was.

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  28. Debie my Nan used to say weeds were just wild flowers :-)

    I actually think dandelions are rather pretty and the birds are loving them. feel kinda guilty taking away their food supply.

    An adventure...lol...that's what a gardener says...to me is it an ordeal.

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  29. Of Wendie come on over and tackle some of my dandelions lol.

    Now I know freesias will grow here with no care I'll definitely be buying some more. Those haven't been watered or tended at all.

    You should be Ok with the bougainvillea with the conservatory. When I asked our local parkie about ours he said that'd be the best way to grow them.

    Mine were tiny as well from hhmmm...whatever the Sainsburys DIY store was called..I've forgot lol

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  30. May be you already know, nut the flower you don't have idea of it's name (the one poping out of the stem in an unusual way) is called "fresia".
    Hugs from Argentina!

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  31. Wonderful pictures, even with the weed:D
    Thank you for sharing!!!
    Synnøve:)

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  32. Beautiful flowers,I love it!!!!!!!

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  34. Beautiful pics! My family back in the UK are always amazed when they are here with me in Ca, with how things grow so profusely in my garden with very little tending on my part. Over there they have to nurture and baby the same plants, to have any success!

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