Great yards, everyone. I do wish you were all in my neighborhood. The dog would get walked 5 times a day.

Growing on an old weathered board:






































































Storm coming
















Potentilla:


Chinese quince:





Instinct to freeze so strong I could stroke their little heads.


Hope you enjoyed. I have more if you would like to see them.

Al

Great Bonsai

Although they were more expensive to feed than a kid, I miss having bunnies around. They're just so so so cute!!!

I love all of your pics, especially the containers! I can never end up with overflowing & perfect pots like that. Storms beat plants up here so often, gusty winds.

I couldn't bear to let this pot get ruined by winter & dragged it to a borrowed spot in a warehouse.

I'd love to see more photos, they help pass the plain wintertime views here for sure. They've also got me thinking lately if I'd really like being in a year-round warm zone where I had nonstop flowering plants. My brains screams yes... but then a part of me wonders if I wouldn't get tired of it vs having the anticipation of waiting for spring and planting again.

And then I think can my old body do gardening 12 months a year instead of just a shorter season? But I'd love to see more photos, the anticipation for spring for me is a nice feeling.

Tapla, do you have a guest house on your property? I can move in anytime. Promise I will help with the gardening. Your place is absolutely fabulous. In the pictures of the 29th, the one right after the frog's eyes sticking out of the ground, that is the biggest castor bean plant I have ever seen (if it is in fact castor bean). It says you reside in MI (being from Canada and not being familiar with all the state abbreviations I am presuming that stands for Michigan or Missouri? If it is Michigan I am amazed that you are able to grow such tropical looking things, isn't it quite cold there, almost like Canada? I surely wouldn't be able to have a beautiful place like yours. And you are a collector of frog statues, me too but yours are much nicer. Now, I must go back and look at your pictures again. Thanx for sharing.

Murky said: I'd love to see more photos, they help pass the plain wintertime views here for sure. They've also got me thinking lately if I'd really like being in a year-round warm zone where I had nonstop flowering plants.
And then I think can my old body do gardening 12 months a year instead of just a shorter season?

I agree with your first two points. Pictures sure help get us through till spring. That is why many years ago I had joined a gardening forum out of Australia. My winte here is the Aussie summer and it was most enjoyable and uplifting viewing their garden plantings. The pics really kept me going for sure.
As for the third comment, wouldn't it be better on the body to have the 12 months to garden at your leisure. Things can be paced out slowly. When one tires, go inside and relax till one feels like tackling gardeniong again. It would beat having to rush and squeeze all the season's gardening into maybe 5 months till fall is on its way again as in my zone.

tapla said:

What are the flowers in these images? Especially the red dangling flowers, a type of fuchsia?

I know you were addressing this to tapla but I'll put in my 2 cents. I think they are a begonia. I purchased one a few years back because it was a new to me and a different form of begonia. I could be wrong though.

@tigerpaws Thanks for the kind words. Castor bean is a perennial, but is not hardy here in Michigan, so it must be started from seed every spring - when soil temps reach 55* is best. I usually plant 2 seeds in each planting hole and cull the weaker plant when the more vigorous seedling reaches about 6" tall. There are many varieties of this plant, many of which are genetically incapable of reaching that height in a single season. You want the plain old species plant if you're going for size ht. I really don't do anything special for the plant, other than sprinkle a high nitrogen fertilizer on the soil surface in a 4 ft circle around the plant and make sure they get enough water.

@Murky The mixed planting you asked about are 2-3 types of Coleus; the creamy-colored blooms are an Impatiens, and the red blooms are Manettia cordifolia.

I know what you mean about working 12 months per year. When I was younger, I had 3 gardens and more than 200 plants in various stages of development as bonsai. I used to put together at least 20 mixed container plantings + another 20 single specimen potted plants that I displayed in the yard/ gardens/ decks. After tha crash of 2008, my business really took off and I couldn't keep up with everything, so I gradually shut down 2 of the gardens and started planting more bones (trees/ shrubs) in the garden, and stopped building and caring for all those containers. My real passion is bonsai, and I was grossly unable to devote the time I wanted to care for the trees. I now have maybe 175 woody plants, again, in various stages of development, and I'm 3-1/2 years retired. Currently, I can't wait until spring to get back to the plants, even though I have about 75 tropical trees under lights in a basement grow room; but by next fall I'll REALLY be looking for the break that winter affords me. I wouldn't mind living where frost would be no more a threat than the memory, but I know I'd have to cut the number of trees I keep by 2/3. It might be all for the better though, because I realize I'd rather have 25 evocative trees than 150 average trees.















The plant with the tortuous trunk is interesting because it's a 'blue rug juniper', the normal growth habit of which is prostrate - it lies flat on the ground.




































This cactus is hardy to MI. NOID It is TINY - compare to the knap on the towel.












<<< Garden is on the left










4 kinds of mint.




Zelcova (dormant). Bonsai wannabe.


Zelcova (dormant) - branching more developed


Coleus


Aeonium in a Chapstick cap


Al

I thought the red dangly flowers Murky was asking the name of were Boliviensis begonia.



These are also very striking red blossoms.

I really enjoy all the garden pics in this thread. They are amazing and so diverse.

Mike, your flower beds are so beautiful and WOW, weedfree! I love the various plants and daylilies beds in your yard. THey look harmonious and wonderful together.

Tiffany, love the different colors and textures of your foliage plants in your garden. I have never grown coleus and it is a treat to see them.

Frank, wonderful collection on conifers!

Rj, what a view from the front porch of your house! It must be a great delight to pass by the beds everyday on your way in or out. Your tulips bed and lilies are lovely too.

Tapla, WOW! Those containers are stunning! I love them! I am a fan. I am terrible at growing and/or arranging plantings in containers so I admire your work so much. It must take a lot of work maintaining them in such tiptop shape throughout the growing season.

I'll admit, the red flowers look most like the begonia linked, but I'll have to check about possibly adding both of them into my planters this summer. They are beautiful and look like hummingbirds would love both of them.

front sidewalk in the fall...

Karen, thank you very much! : )

I'm jealous of your potted flowers. I can keep maybe five pots alive through the season, and they have to be very close to the water faucet. Hanging baskets? Forget about those. They usually look terrible by the end of July.






Please ignore the fence that keeps my two pups out of my shade beds.

















I found these while cleaning up the shade bed

I think I love the early spring blooms the most. It's like a preview of things to come.

Beautiful, Rose! I especially love the cute purple bell Clematis.

Thanx fer the pitchers y'all, they are beautiful....

I bought one of those fancy begonias......did'nt take me long to kill it.

I'm definitely going to hunt down at least 1 of the fancy begonias to try. My containers are hooked up to a drip system with a fertilizer unit attached, so I'm hoping it'll do well. The hummingbirds have the final say though... if they like it, I'll get more for the following year.

@tigerpaws When you asked about the mixed planting and I said the pendulous plant with red blooms is Manettia cordifolia (Brazilian firecracker), I was in error. I glanced at it and remembered the common name had a South American country in it, so that's what came to mind. It actually IS Begonia boliviensis 'Bonfire'. Good catch!
Al