Best of 2013 Part 1

I've decided to take a look back and put together pictures and moments that I think were the best of 2013.  I have pictures on 2 different computers and a phone.  So this will probably end up being a 3 parter.  I really need to learn to just put my pictures into a shared drive.  So here is the best of 2013 part 1.

Morning Glories

Primula Blue Zebra

Awesome succulent picture in hotel lobby in San Antonio

We added a dog to our family - he's quite goofy!

Winter frost

'Borsch #1' hosta flower

Making flower fairies with my nieces

Daylily

More Morning Glories

Love this Begonia I found

More Morning Glories

Even More Morning Glories

Fall Canoe trip

Halloween

Fall reds

So this is who has been eating my hostas!

Gardening New Year's Resolutions

It's been a while since I posted on here.  Once the cold weather starts to creep in and I can no longer be outside gardening I go into my winter slump.  I am also extremely busy at work in the fall, so that keeps me away as well.  So I hope no one was worried about me, I'm still here!   I do post more often on my Facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/cheeseheadgardening 

So the new year is coming upon us, time to start thinking about resolutions.  I've been thinking about my garden resolutions.  I don't want to be to unrealistic.  I really could thin out my hosta collection, but am I really going to do that??????  NO.  So this year I am going to try to commit to starting some of my seeds earlier.  If you follow my blog or my Facebook page you know I LOVE Japanese morning glories.  The problem is that they usually start blooming for me late summer about the time I go back to work.  So I want to start them inside early this year so I can enjoy them earlier in the summer.

What are your gardening resolutions?

Late fall is great time to trim smoke bush

Smoke Bushes are very popular with the most popular being the Royal Purple Smoke Bush.   They add a great purple color to any landscape.  The Smoke Bush I planted by my garage annoys my husband to no end.  I told him when I planted it that it would only grow to be about 5 feet.  Well little did I know that every summer it would grow to over 9 feet tall.  So to please him I have to let him get out the loppers once a year for a massive hair cut.  I have found the best time to trim the Smoke Bush is in late fall.  When trimmed in late fall the Smoke Bush will still flower in spring.  Then it grows another 5 feet over the summer and the whole cycle begins again.

Smoke Bush can be cut almost to the ground in late fall.

Tiger Lily Stem Bulbils

Looking to add tiger lilies to your garden?  Well an easy way to is to find a friend who has tiger lilies and is willing to give you some of the stem bulbils.  Bulbils are usually mature in fall.  If you can see roots starting to form at the bottom of the bulbils then they can be harvested.  In Wisconsin you can take them right off the plant and plant them into the ground (about an inch or so).  You can also put them in a paper bag and place them in the refrigerator for about a month.  Then you can start them inside for spring planting.  The plants I have started from bulbils usually take about 3 years before they actually produce a flower.

What's blooming 9-5-2013

Shrub Rose

Helianthus

Ligularia

Brown-eyed susan

Helenium

Hibiscus

Black-eyed susan

anemone

Morning Glory

Milkweed Aphids

I was walking by my swamp milkweed plants the other day and noticed them covered in something yellow.  Upon closer inspection I saw the yellow "dots" moving, and realized that I had milkweed aphids.  

Rather than use chemicals to get rid of them, I prefer to spray them with the water hose.  It knocks them off the plant, but keeps any monarch eggs safe.  I have also used a cotton swab to remove them from the plants.  If the aphids keep returning you can also take a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol to them.  It is tedious but kills them on contact.

Tuesday Night's Storm

Tuesday night our area was hit pretty hard by a storm.  We lost power at our house for about 36 hours, but there are still people without power today (Friday) as I write this.  We did not have any storm damage at our house.  We thought a big branch broke off of our tree, but it turned out it was a branch from a neighbor's tree who lives two houses away.  It was eventually confirmed that 5 tornadoes came through our area that night.  Thankfully their were no fatalities from the storm.  I can honestly say I have never seen lightning like it before in my life.  It was continuous, like a flashbulb just kept going off over and over again.