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GA, Mexican heather is very hardy here, a perennial. My son calls it the “bee bush” as it’s always covered in bees in summer. It gets about 2 feet high and wide with lovely small purple flowers spring through fall.
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Daughter- you are welcome. If you live in US I have plenty of seeds, if you cant find any.
GA-I am in zone 7, will check the suggestions and see if they will do well here, unless you already know? I love lilies. must check out oriental lilies. I am pretty sure elephant ears will do ok here as I have seen them around, i think.
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I live in Wisconsin, so our season starts a bit late. Today I went to visit Amish greenhouses and had so much fun! Ended up with a cherry tree, pink pussy willow, holly berry bush and an assortment of flowers and herbs. Can't wait to start planting! Great break from 24/7 care giving for my 88 year old mom.
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Rose, lilac, lavender, hummingbird mint. Seeding, cosmos, poppies, and coleus.
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Glad, you have to provide a plan for the HOA? Wow!
Are you aware that BHG and I believe Fine Gardening at one time offered software to design gardens? I'm not sure if they still do, and for me it would require spending too much time squinting at a commercial program, but it might "blow away" the HOA people if they realize you're a planner by profession.


CWillie, I've been toying with the idea of raised beds for years; I like the concept, and the ease of maintenance, but, I guess I'm lazy when I think about building them.

Sorry about having to buy new tires. Plants are so much more fun! Do you compost on the area that's so dry?


Daughter, I've never seen Mexican heather. Is it more or less hardy than "traditional" heather? I assume it's perennial? I understand that loropetulum is in the witch hazel family. Do you use it for any witch hazel type preparations?


Smeshque. what zone are you in? I ask b/c of the bulbs you want to plant. Are you looking for annuals or perennials? Would dahlias or colacasia (elephant ears) overwinter safely in your area? I've grown Asiatic and Oriental lilies - beautiful selections. They're bulbs and if happy will spread and spread over the years. I grew Trumpet Lilies at one point; they're quite dramatic.
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Cockscombs! Haven’t thought of them in so long! My very loved grandmother always had them next to her back porch, dark red ones. Now I want to find some! Thanks for the memory and reminder
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planted some cockscombs, my Mom likes them. Iris are blooming. Have some wild flowers growing, don't know their names, but new bees are happy. All my veggies are up. Looking for more bulb plants I like so that they will just come back on their own.(any suggestions?)
GA- you sound like you have a good plan and garden will look lovely.
cwillie, daughter, glad- sounds nice what you all have going on
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Getting plot plan finished up for HOA approval. Have to submit a landscape plan. I just showed a few trees, bushes, flower beds, etc. Not a landscape architect by any means. But am a planner so I know what a real landscape plan looks like. But this small old west community almost anything goes. Ugh should get a landscape architect to help me. Just need to get that hole in the ground.🌼🌻🌺
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Temps in the 70’s for a few days now, so I’ve planted verbenas, a few vinca, and Mexican heather. Also divided and moved amaryllis, crinums, and irises. Hubby moved a few loropetulums to a spot where they can grow big and not need to be pruned so much, nobody should try to make them into foundation plants. Loving being outside!
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Mini daffs and squills are in full bloom but today I noticed that the crocus are gasping their last. I've raked up all the twigs and walnut shells from the back yard and am now waiting for planting season. I was dreaming about making some raised planters for veggies behind the perennials along the west side of my house (the soil there is mostly fill and dry as a desert) but when I got my snow tires off on Monday I got the "good" news I need new summer tires, so that project may have to wait for another year.😞
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Already the plants are way ahead of me. The daylilies are about 7 - 8" tall, getting close to the time for transplanting as I plan to move them away from the house and use them to create borders for formal beds.

Realtors with whom I've spoken indicate I live in a strong sellers' market area, and I want to move as soon as I sell my father's house. I've always wanted a formal garden, so now's the time while I still have the large yard.

The daffodils and Siberian Squills are in bloom, I'm salivating at the great prices I've found for glads, dreaming of planting large elephant ears with dahlias inbetween them along the fence, and sometimes getting so excited that I get headaches trying to figure out how to do it all.

What is everyone else doing now? Have you bought your early plants? Started seedlings in pots? Hardening them off now? Visiting garden stores to select your plants for this year?

Or are you waiting until May to ensure that there are no more snow storms hiding around the corner?
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Its true Ms. Madge Llamas are like donkeys in that they will scare of coyotes.
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See that on Youtube!
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I'm trying to envision a llama scaring away a coyote ?
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Cwillie-Great news, you can milk a sheep. I just looked it up, interesting idea. Now I gotta get the sheep and then find someone who will milk them for me, cuz I'm not. Yeah and the Llamas are great guards, another reason I would like to get them.
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Cwillie- That is an interesting ides, sheep milking. Never heard of it, I wonder if its possible. :)
Garden- hope you did just that, relax and keep warm and dream of homesteading. :)
Hope the cold goes away for you all. Today was nice and sunshiney, in the 80's. Now the wind has picked back up, but still quite warm.
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We're having another winter flashback day, little bit of snow but primarily cold winds. I think it's time to dream about homesteading, carding and then sitting at a loom spinning wool, drinking hot chocolate....

It's somewhat difficult to think of gardening in these winter resurrection days. The Siberian Squills and tulips survived the deep freeze, but plenty of branches are down and on the curb for pickup.

Today is a day to relax and just keep warm while the winds howl outside.
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You could get both smeshque, a lot of the sheep farmers around here have a llama or two to guard their flock from coyotes. Maybe you could milk your ewes too... sheep's milk cheese would be much more unique!
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Garden- I wish I had a loom and spinning wheel, that would be great. No, we are going to get hair sheep(Dorpers). I want them because I just love animals, especially all things baby. DH wants to raise and sell, and eat :(. I wanted goats to make cheese, and soap out of milk, And even some people love goats milk(Not I). But most people we talk to say they are too much trouble. But I say if you make their environment a happy and active one, they would be ok. But, DH wins we get sheep. I would love to get llamas. The llama beans(Poo) is great for fertilizing gardens.
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Smeshque, what kind of sheep at you getting? Will they be for fleece production and sale? I'm guessing you have a loom and spinning wheel someplace in the house?
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polar bear- I guess you could say we are homesteaders. although, this is family land been in the family for years. The current area we occupy is 80 acres. 50 is used to grow corn and wheat, 20+ are wooded, we get our firewood from, and that is where we put the bees. And the other 10 has our house, greenhouse, chickens,pigeons, and gardens. Hope to have sheep soon. We are trying to be self sufficient and have been progressing towards that for years now. When we moved parents here, had to hold off on some things. But, never want to spend money on food again, is the goal. We love the bartering system, wish more people bartered. Yes, be careful what you wish for, so much truth in that statement. LOTS OF WORK ALWAYS.
I am a city girl at heart. Married a country boy. So yeah, hear I am.
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smeshque- Are you a homesteader? Sounds like you grow a lot of vegetables, have your own chickens, and now honey. Sometimes, I wish I had a big piece of land to grow my own food, but then I hardly have time to keep my house clean as it is, so I'd better be careful what I wish for. Haha. I hope you will get a lot of honey.
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This weather has been crazy, this cold,we lost a few tomato plants but other than that everything else survived. Thank the Lord.
Tomorrow is supposed to nice and warm and sunshiney. So crazy.

Oh yeah and we got some bees today. :) been waiting a long time to get some. Tired of paying so much for honey. Looking forward to getting more, they are so fascinating.
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We really didn't seem to have much ice, mostly ice pellets, snow and rain but we lost power anyway, it is back on after being out around 8 hours. Moving to town has it's perks and one of them is getting services restored before all the poor schmucks living out on the farm, hydro one estimates show some places staying out until tomorrow afternoon.
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GA, the winds Friday and Saturday were the worst I have seen in a long time. Sustained at about 40mph gusting to 70. A bit of flurry activity here, but to the east all roads had closed because of icing on roads caused by wind and snow. It was a nasty couple of days and nearly back to normal today. Though they are calling for another winter storm next weekend.

Finally, final decision (I hope) on a house plan. Now onto placement on the lot and landscape plan with tall fescue lawn, drought tolerant plants but not cactus tolerant. Agastache, spirea, Echinacea, and other thoughts appreciated. Fat Albert Spruce, Autumn blaze maple.....
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Well, we're surely in a different mode of gardening now, after the winter storm last night and early this morning. I'm really glad I didn't get anything planted yet. Maybe I should wait until the 4th of July, given this out of season weather?

I hesitate to even go out given the winds and extensive ice. And I'm not prepared to see my lovely little crocuses battered about.

Yesterday brought chilly rain; overnight brought some snow, freezing rain and icing up. Fortunately I didn't lose power. It's been a while since we've had this extensive an ice storm.

The yard and garden are covered in ice, lovely crystals which would be shining if there were any sun present. Still, ice is lovely, and has such a magical sheen.

One of the trees in the garden has been a widow maker for years. Right now there are 3 branches that are bent over at about a 30 degree angle, and another that's held steady at about 45 degrees for several hours. Another smaller widow maker has only one branch at the 45 degree angle.

I really do hope they crack and break off because they're in a location where getting to them is impossible with a cherry picker, and they're not strong trees and stable for climbing.

Anyone else hit by this late winter storm?
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I missed these comments; I'll need to make a good cup of coffee and come to this thread as the weekend turns into a winter storm, as predicted.
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iris's blooming.
Wind is so disastrous today.The fields are just tornados of dust. I hope it stops soon. I saw a documentary once about the dustbowl. How some women went crazy because of the wind and they could not keep the dust out if their house. I can see how that could happen.
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Very windy here.🌀 Burn ban. Maybe blizzard tomorrow. But the weeds are doing great. Goatheads coming up 😧 and lilacs budding out. Looking forward to new home, almost there with a plan, down to two. Then design the landscape. Cutting gardens, Phillies, Columbines. Now winter storm warming official. Maybe no work tomorrow? Fingers crossed.
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So good that you got better weather CWillie.

The wind, o the wind....cannot go outside! Went out to tie up a 12 foot high vine, it i s a very cold wind. That thing was going right over if I didn't. Dust in my eyes, boards pounding against the neighbor's carport, left from asbestos cleanup...just dangerous!
The electricity blitzed for a time, after a loud bang. It could have been a blown transformer down a ways, but this not knowing.......
My garden will be needing therapy after this.
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