The New Golf Cart Lane

After years and years of pushing carts of plants to the front of the nursery, we are finally getting smart. We put in a golf cart lane. All the old black matting (on the lane), piled 5-8 layers deep was ripped up and replaced with gravel. We love it! 

For the first time, Debra had a straight shot right up to where the action is happening.

On a hot summer day it is such a treat.

Doesn't she look cool?

Everyone has a smile on there face now that the job is done!

Catching Our Breath

It was quite a busy spring, especially with all the rain and nice weather. We are finally slowing down enough now to catch our breath and find time to post on the blog.

 It's getting exciting watching the gardens grow. Lots of hot weather plants are beginning to bloom now that the afternoons are getting quite warm.

We've had more butterflies flitting around already this year, than all of last season. Hummingbird moths have been abundant too.

We've stocked many drought tolerant and native plants this year since everone is still concerned about water shortages. Salvias and lantana are some of the best perennials for the garden.

Of course daylilies are one of our favorites. The flower colors are so varied and each year the selection grows. We find them hard to resist.

We are just happy to be back in the gardening swing. Last year was so difficult with the heat and drought and none of us were very enthusiastic. It has been amazing to see how well many of the perennials survived and are now prospering again.

Early butterflies

We have seen many varieties of butterflies this spring, not just our usual visitors.

Here's one we don't see through the summer. I'm not sure if it is a Question Mark or a Comma, but it is one of those punctutions.

I found this Buckeye on the inside of one of the greenhouses, beating its wings against the plastic trying to get out.

This Pearl Crescent is new to me. (Aren't these names great? Better than most paint names)

                                                                       

We are starting the next generation of butterflies now

This is the larvae of the Pipevine Swallowtail devouring our pipevine, getting ready to pupate.        They will become the butterfly below.

Soon we will have many of the big butterflies flitting around. Now it mainly the medium-sized butterflies and the little skippers.

Incredible roses

It's been a really weird spring. The irises hardly bloomed and our larkspur didn't even germinate - in the beds or the greenhouse. But the roses are fabulous!

I've written about this Ballerina rose before. It is so happy in the full sun now.

It took several years for the Seafoam rose to get going but now it is big and beautiful. It is billed as a white rose but it is really a lovely blush pink.

We planted these antique Mermail roses on the fence as security - they have wicked thorns. They have spread like crazy in one year. We are going to have to dig up every other one before they engulf the fence.

A close-up of the flower of the Mermaid. It is really stunning when in full bloom. We don't currently sell these, but will try to do some cuttings this year so we can offer them in the future.

     Our old Red Cascade rose that we have had for years is in full bloom now. It has literally thousands of flowers.