MENA Gardens

[Meriem_DZ 37]

Thank you WoM! Inluvwaiting, our house is L shaped. It is the back-side of the house. I just thought that was a perfect place. I went out with a shovel to test the ground's hardness and it was a soft sandy dirt. I started digging and before I knew it I had a big hole. LOL At our old house several years ago, when Hachemi first got here, he asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I told him a hole in the ground. I had big plans to build a gold fish pond. I lined out the shape with the water hose and my son and hubbie spent 3 days using a pick ax and shovel digging that pond. The ground was so hard. He came home from work that day I was digging , he got out of his truck and gave me a stern look. lol. He was remembering that other hole. He was laughing going in the house saying "don't talk to me!" Like, don't ask me to dig. LOL. I said "its already dug!"

Meriem

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Thank you WoM! Inluvwaiting, our house is L shaped. It is the back-side of the house. I just thought that was a perfect place. I went out with a shovel to test the ground's hardness and it was a soft sandy dirt. I started digging and before I knew it I had a big hole. LOL At our old house several years ago, when Hachemi first got here, he asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I told him a hole in the ground. I had big plans to build a gold fish pond. I lined out the shape with the water hose and my son and hubbie spent 3 days using a pick ax and shovel digging that pond. The ground was so hard. He came home from work that day I was digging , he got out of his truck and gave me a stern look. lol. He was remembering that other hole. He was laughing going in the house saying "don't talk to me!" Like, don't ask me to dig. LOL. I said "its already dug!"

Meriem

It looks great, Meriem - and your fish looks very happy !

Here's one of my favorites in bloom right now:

Vitex (also known as Chaste-tree) - an improved variety called Texas Lilac Vitex

A native of the Mediterranean area, it is a small tree that is well adapted to the harsh conditions in South Texas. It is very tough - loves full sun and heat, tolerates poor soil - and the bees and butterflies love it!

To maximize bloom, it should be regularly dead-headed, and severely pruned each winter. It can be pruned up as a specimen tree (usually growing to around 15 feet high here) or treated as a bushy shrub if you chop it down to the ground every year. I have had this one as a shrub but may prune it to a tree form this winter.

[Mommy2ZaidnSalma 11]

We have strawberry plants. Thyme, Mint, and Basil in planters. In the garden we have radishes and green onions sprouting now and in a week or two will plant tomatoes, grape tomatoes, green bell peppers, cucumbers, zuchinni, jalapenos, and habaneros.

Meriem, I want a pond with Koi SO bad

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

I had a garden last year. I had made some raised beds with a variety of vegetables. When Hachemi got his new job, we put our house up for sale and bought a cute little house closer to his work. The lady that lived here passed away at the hospice place. She loved to garden and it has been so much fun watching her flowers bloom. Everyday I go out to see what is blooming. I have a huge pear tree full of pears, 2 peach trees, 2 apple trees, and a big ole pecan tree. I have added a few things. A couple of grape vines, a pomegranate tree and a little fig tree that I had rooted and transferred from the other house. I did get to transfer some of my flowers from our old house before it sold. We were so happy to sell our other house in only 45 days. I built a little gold fish pond at the new house. I had one at my other house and I missed my little fishies. I didnt get it done before it sold it so didnt get to transfer my koi, but I bought some new babies for the new pond. LOl My new pond is about 5 x 7 feet. It is only a third of the size of the one at the other house.

I planted some herbs in a big pot and did transfer some of my mint from my other house. It's growing really quick. I am not going to plant vegetables this year. Maybe next year.

so gorgeous...great job

[Shoot Em Straight 385]

So...I had a little clubhouse in the front yard for my girls and a neighbor (not naming names) called the code enforcement and said they did not like it.

I had to take it down or be fined...and the based remained. Making lemonade out of a nosy neighbor..I placed almost anything I could find around my yard onto the foundation and enjoy a lemonade on the swing under the palms.

[Meriem_DZ 37]

Thanks B for A. I have really enjoyed it!

Mommy2 Z n S, it is really not that hard. If you can did a big hole that will get you started. Just remember the bigger it is the more cost to build and it is harder to take care of. That is why this one is so much smaller than my other one I had. lol. Lowe's and home depot is where I bought my supplies.

WoM, I love that bush. Wonder if the humming birds like it. I want to plant some flowering bushes that will attract humming birds.

InLuvnwaiting. What a great sitting area. That gives me a great idea for my yard!

Meriem

[Nasturtium 500]

Nice, everyone!

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Nice, everyone!

I wanna see your sabr !

Yet more in bloom now --

Hibiscus

Pond pickerel

Cannas

Agapanthus

[Nasturtium 500]

Agapanthus is always so calming to me. I'll take a pic of my opuntia... it's in pieces because i moved it and then decide to root each pad.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

My Mexican oregano is putting on a nice show right now. This is a super plant for Texas and much of the south. It is a low shrubby perennial, more or less evergreen down here. I have mine planted out by the driveway.

The flowers are pretty and hummingbirds love them, and the leaves are very good for cooking - a little zestier than standard oregano. This plant is extremely drought-tolerant and absolutely loves our hot, dry summers, needing little or no supplemental water even in the South Texas sizzle. It will bloom on and off from late spring through fall, and performs best in full sun.

Mexican Oregano

Poliomintha longiflora

[Nasturtium 500]

My Mexican oregano is putting on a nice show right now. This is a super plant for Texas and much of the south. It is a low shrubby perennial, more or less evergreen down here. I have mine planted out by the driveway.

The flowers are pretty and hummingbirds love them, and the leaves are very good for cooking - a little zestier than standard oregano. This plant is extremely drought-tolerant and absolutely loves our hot, dry summers, needing little or no supplemental water even in the South Texas sizzle. It will bloom on and off from late spring through fall, and performs best in full sun.

Mexican Oregano

Poliomintha longiflora

Very nice!

Later on today when I get home, I'll post some prickly pear pictures for you. You will be completely underwhelmed since i disassembled my pps and planted each pad to start new plants. They have since only grown one new pad each (I disassembled them in December), and the four sedum cuttings I put in the pot went nuts and have covered everything.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Very nice!

Later on today when I get home, I'll post some prickly pear pictures for you. You will be completely underwhelmed since i disassembled my pps and planted each pad to start new plants. They have since only grown one new pad each (I disassembled them in December), and the four sedum cuttings I put in the pot went nuts and have covered everything.

Sedum is rampant here... must use container or barrier to keep it under control. But I love it

I have three little green tomatoes so far, and tiny baby bell peppers have appeared

[Nasturtium 500]

Sedum is rampant here... must use container or barrier to keep it under control. But I love it

I have three little green tomatoes so far, and tiny baby bell peppers have appeared

Yay for the peppers and the tomatoes! That is always the best-- when you see the fruit develop. My strawberries were bare root and dormant, so obviously not big enough to fruit even though the root system is huge. They have put up some leaves and now are trying to flower, silly things. It's like 2-3 teeny leaves and 10 flowers. I didn't realize they were trying to do this. I just pinched them off. I want more plant!

Yesterday I finished my balcony. Now it's just a waiting game to see if I can manage to keep everything alive so it can fill in. The tuberoses and lilies are barely coming up in spots; the tuberous begonias the same. So at the moment it looks like I have these unslightly bare spots that need plants as we wait for the slow plants to emerge. The gloriosa lilies are also still dormant. I still took pictures though, as in a few months I will probably enjoy the comparison. I have a gulf fritillary caterpillar which has decided to use my passiflora as a host. I need to move it. My passiflora is too tiny. I plan to take it for a little car ride and put it on the wild ones by the sides of the road.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Yay for the peppers and the tomatoes! That is always the best-- when you see the fruit develop. My strawberries were bare root and dormant, so obviously not big enough to fruit even though the root system is huge. They have put up some leaves and now are trying to flower, silly things. It's like 2-3 teeny leaves and 10 flowers. I didn't realize they were trying to do this. I just pinched them off. I want more plant!

Yesterday I finished my balcony. Now it's just a waiting game to see if I can manage to keep everything alive so it can fill in. The tuberoses and lilies are barely coming up in spots; the tuberous begonias the same. So at the moment it looks like I have these unslightly bare spots that need plants as we wait for the slow plants to emerge. The gloriosa lilies are also still dormant. I still took pictures though, as in a few months I will probably enjoy the comparison. I have a gulf fritillary caterpillar which has decided to use my passiflora as a host. I need to move it. My passiflora is too tiny. I plan to take it for a little car ride and put it on the wild ones by the sides of the road.

I had to look up that caterpillar. But I recognized the adult form immediately - those butterflies are all over my garden this month (did not know its name before.) Apparently passiflora is their... um... passion. I have a few "volunteer" passion flowers in the alley... that must be where they're emanating from.

[Nasturtium 500]

I had to look up that caterpillar. But I recognized the adult form immediately - those butterflies are all over my garden this month (did not know its name before.) Apparently passiflora is their... um... passion. I have a few "volunteer" passion flowers in the alley... that must be where they're emanating from.

Probably! I wish I had volunteer passion flowers! Mine are so teeny they just can't stand being eaten at the moment. I don't want to kill him though, as it's not his fault his mom picked a teeny plant and she herself was probably not the Einstein of animals. So I figure I'll just move him. Are the passiflora pretty in the alley?