Bulbs!

Some of the following I know what they are, others I didn't label them when I planted them, and don't have a clue just from the greenery. Do you?

These I know are my day lilies.



Type of Iris, perhaps? I have more than one shoot coming out of each of these three bulbs.



Found these in two different places in the yard, put them together. One of the bulbs has four shoots coming out (pictured).



More Iris of some sort? Thin shoots , getting so tall they're falling over, but no blooms yet.




In my planter box, I think these are Freesia?

I know these last two are Narcissus, the ones blooming in my planter right now are barely six inches tall, the ones in the yard are over a foot now (next picture). Can you find the spider in the picture directly below?

Calla Lillies

The plant on the right is a white lily that started out as a bulb in the back yard and moved inside once it emerged. I have another bulb in the yard somewhere, but can't remember where I put it. Since placed by a sunny window, it's grown these two leaves in about a week.

The pot to the left contains yellow and red calla lillies. These have taken much longer to come up, almost six weeks, but today the forth and final bulb peaked through the soil.

Kaifir Lilies

Updated pictures here of the orange lily I got at Christmas, the one almost killed in the 20 degree weather, blooming yet again, 8 or 9 in total.

Below that, I found at the same Lowe's another Kaifir Lily, but a yellow variety, with different shaped leaves.

Both seem to do fine inside, adds some nice color in the house.

Brief Plant Update

We now have two Amaryllis bulbs blooming, with a third in this pot thinking about opening.

The picture below that is a Kaifir Lily bought during Christmas while my parents were here. I stupidly left this plant outside when it dipped to twenty degrees, and luckily was able to salvage most of the leaves. Since that time it's now started to bloom again, which I wasn't expecting after the first set of blooms died out right after buying it. With the leaves cut away, it's very interesting watching the blooms ease out of the plant, almost like tiny snakes.

Back Yard Renovations

It's been a busy week in the back yard, with temperatures in the high seventies each afternoon, and plenty of sunshine, I've been getting as much done as possible during my lunch hours and after work before Emily comes home.

For starters, in addition to clearing out the Ficus tree and myoporum ground cover to make room for an (eventual) swing for Brenna, I tore out two orange jubilee bushes that were behind the tub pictured here, and moved them to the south side of the house, replacing the yellow elder bushes that were severely damaged from our twenty degree weather a few weeks ago.

I've also moved two of my sage bushes into a semi-circle with the other two that I already had, and positioned all of my emu bushes around the tub to where they're all together.

To anchor the corner where the orange jubilee used to be, I moved my chaste tree, which eventually will grow to about fifteen feet tall.




Here's a closer picture of the emu bushes and the chaste tree (which right now looks like a twig, dormant until March, when it will be covered with spikes of purple blooms).




Here is where I moved the two orange jubilee to replace the yellow elder. I've moved one of the lounge chairs into the spot where the third yellow elder was, and am putting up a bamboo screen along the arch to create a semi-private reading nook, as well as make room for the other lounge chair, which was a tad cramped in this tight spot.

On the north side of the house I've planted an addition rose, this one a yellow climber. I'm hoping these will do better on this side of the house where the sun is not as intense in the summer. The blocks here are to keep our meandering fat dog from digging trenches everywhere, which he tends to do either out of boredom, or seemingly as revenge for our not paying as much attention to him now that Brenna is here.

My bush river willow tree is finally showing it's "fall" color, a deep bruised purple. Not the prettiest thing in the world, but an interesting plant nonetheless. The ones they have at the arboretum in Superior turn shades of yellow and orange, and are about thirty feet tall with very knotted trunks. I have yet to find a logical place to plant mine, and have put it back into a pot where it can stay shaded in the summer. If it ever outgrows this pot, I'll have to figure out what else to do with it.

The amaryllis that my brother-in-law gave me for Christmas now has five blooms on it. It's nice to have someone nearby that shares the same interest in gardening, I'll post pictures of his yard sometime, very impressive.

To Tree Or Not To Tree...

...That is/was the question, until this past Friday when I took a shovel and pick axe to our frostbitten ficus and dug it up. We now have space for a swing for Brenna and a bench for Mommy while she supervises. Eventually we'll build a gazebo here. For five years the ficus sucked down who knows how many gallons of water, and didn't grow enough to justify it's continued existence.

This next picture is of a coral gum tree, a little hard to see, but it's right in front and center. This guy is a fast grower and thrives in hot, dry weather. It's supposed to be covered in yellow and red blooms in the spring and summer, and will only grow to about twenty feet.

Finally, one of the Amaryllis bulbs that I got from Christmas is already blooming. There are three more flowers that are looking to open on this huge stalk.