In an effort to keep the yardwork from becoming overwhelming, which it has become lately, I, being the master gardener and mostly master decider of all things gardening around the Fuller yard decided to take out the roses around the corner gravel garden area and replace them with a more low maintence type of everygreen plant. I started by going to our local garden store Laguna Hills Nursery where the owner Gary and staff are always very willing to share their huge knowledge base with their customers. In place of the roses which during the winter months are nothing but basically a bunch of sticks in the ground, I wanted something that would be evergreen, but not dense foilage. Having planted Pittasporum over by the trash cans about 1 1/2 years ago I was interested in finding out if I could plant them in place of the roses to create a loose wispy shrub to continue my secret garden effect in the area. When I found out this was do-able I set out to find the Pittasporum at a good price since I needed at least 5 plants. Much to my suprise Home Depot had small containers at $4.99 each, so we picked up 6 pots. In the bottom right photo above you can see the overgrown rose and ungrowth of plants we had prior to planting the Pittasporum. The remainder of photos shows the end result. I cleared out all the plants and cut back the roses and Jerry did the hard work of digging the roses out. I will be curious to see how well things grow over the course of the next couple of years.

Come again next year, you’re welcome as you can see, there’s plenty of room for you and me!

Shout your colors right out loud, I’ll see to it you’re shown off proud.

Don’t be shy you’re all invited, we’ll see what’s got you so excited!

So goodby glads it been nice once again, we’ll keep your spot my true friend.

Before you dive into this blog you might wonder if these topiaries at Disney World and Disneyland Resort are real. I am not sure if the Peter Pan and Snow White topiaries shown here at Disney World in Florida are real, but I do know the others are as I’ve seen them up close. The only part that is not real on the topiaries in Disneyland Resort is the yellow main on the lion. That is made out of some synthetic fiber. I hope this bit of information is helpful.

My girlfriend Pauline took these topiary photos while on a trip to Disney World in Florida with her 2 children, David and Valerie, a place I someday hope to enjoy to the fullest. I am a huge fan of Tinkerbell, for those of you who don’t know me well. I love the fact that Peter Pan is getting some recognition in these topiaires, he’s really how Tinkerbell came to be know now isn’t it?

This topiary of Snow White and a few of her adorable dwarfs is just remarkable. I wonder why they can’t do this in Disneyland or California Adventure. Maybe because of Florida’s climate, where it is more humid. The California sun can sure beat down on our horticulture.

I’m not saying Disneyland doesn’t have some amazing topiaries, as shown here with their lion ornamental tree. I’ve looked at this lion up close and the mane is made out of some kind of synthetic fibers. This particular topiary is over by It’s A Small World, where they have the largest variety of topiaries in all of Disneyland and California Adventure displayed.

I love their swan featured also by It’s A Small World. The pink flowers are geraniums and are remind me of a peacocks feathers.

I found a wonderful little surprise in my garden yesterday! I dutifully planted the perennial sweet peas last year that my girlfriend Carol gave me from her Mission Viejo garden. They’ve been making a slow progress ever since, climbing and winding up the white arbor we have in the corner garden, clinging to the red shrub roses I have planted there. I was beginning to think they would just climb their little hearts out without producing any flowers until I saw their sweet sweet pea heads up over the top of their neighboring plants. I love it! Thank you sweet Carol.

Our other hydrangeas which are on the north east side of the house and consist of mop heads and lace caps, struggle in the heat. They wilt during the hot sun and like to be misted daily and their feet kept moist but not flooded. I always think I’ll stay on top of their much needed watering schedule but lately it seems even with daily attention they still get crispy around the edges. Very frustrating.

Another view of the mopheads along with the beautiful gladiolas reaching high above their heads as if there is a contest as to who can grow the tallest. The lavendar one shown below is my newest color and so darn beautiful I wish it would last forever.

We’re getting apples, though I think some of them are being eaten by our night time visitors. We get a lot of ‘possum and raccoons through our yard. They make themselves right at home with our meager supply of fruit.

It’s been 2 seasons since my gardenia has bloomed. This is one of those plants I would really love to be successful at growing in my yard but for some reason I can’t seem to quite achieve. It’s been in a pot since I’ve had it and the first year it had at least 11 blooms on it. I’m not sure if it is getting too much sun, but at least it is blooming. I must investigate this one.

Our son Matt who is a professional photographer told me that reds are a hard color to photograph. This has always been true in our yard. The color seems too saturated and intense and all the photo shop color correcting does not help. I have these shrub roses on either side of the white arbor that leads into the corner gravel garden. A good dose of epsom salts really helped them sprout their limbs this year.

Many of you who follow my garden postings might remember when I pulled this yellow jasmine out from the bed of hydrangeas that reside on the north east side of the house. It was stunning and doing quite well, but the cheap metal arbor that it rested on gave way. Initially I had decided to just dig it up and throw it away as the one on the left side was almost dead. When I dug up the one on the right side it was thriving so I decided to plant it on the white arbor in the corner gravel garden.

I threw some epsom salts under its roots before I planted it then watered it good after covering it with dirt. I held my breath and low and behold it is sprouting new growth from it’s underside. I hope it continues to do well as it would look beautiful on the white arbor! Thanks once again for the advice Janine!