Gardening

Planted the new red rose bush - The last couple of nights, we have had some heavy thunderstorms that pelted the poor little bush. 

Knocked off a few petals but I think it will be fine. 

When I see a red rose I can't help but think of my California blogger/friend, Sheri over at Red Rose Alley. 

I was sitting on the patio and noticed all the dragonflies we have - The pond draws them in and then I noticed this huge black and white one -  I've not ever seen that combination before of black and white. So pretty. The ones I usually see are orange but today I saw three royal blue dragonflies that were much smaller. I tried to get my phone - without disturbing this one and after a few failed attempts I got this blurred photo. 

It does seem as if my old iPhone took better close-ups than my newer one. 

The Dusty Miller has gone to flower - The bees sure love it. 

I'm overdue from picking the lavender - they've been wet from the unseasonable rain we have had. At least the rain has kept us way cooler than we usually are. 

Oleander or Rose Laurel - 

Nerium oleander In the Bible, the oleander is called a rose. In olden times the words for roses and lilies were used in a loose way to indicate any beautiful flowers of these types. The oleander is very abundant around Jericho, where it is doubtful whether roses ever flourished except in gardens, although seven different species of the genus Rosa grow in Palestine.

In the front, on the side of our drive, we have pink and red oleanders - WE used to have white ones but the red and pink choked them out. My dad is the one who planted them, close to 30 years ago. They love the Mediterranean climate we have here in California. 

I'm starting to do some propagating - to save money because, my goodness, plants have doubled in price - The rose bush was close to $29.99. I bought the smallest one. 

I plan on propagating some red Oleander because they are the ones people around here like - then I will give them away and fill in areas where they have thinned out. I bought some powdered rooting hormone but I also will use the old method of using organic honey and water to root as well. I want to see what works best. 

My Pomegranate is flowering - Beautiful salmon-colored flowers. They will turn into pomegranates. We have four pomegranate trees at the side of our property line. Once again, my dad planted them. 

The pomegranate was one of the pleasant fruits of Egypt, one of the promised blessings of the new land, and is referred to many times in the First Covenant.  The fruit of the pomegranate was a decorative motif on the priest's robe and in the Temple.

My son wants a couple of pomegranates in his yard and I hear they are easy to get started. 

Fig Tree

 In the First Testament, the fig tree is a symbol of prosperity. 

For example in 1 Kings 4:25; 

“During Solomon’s lifetime Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, lived in safety, everyone under their own vine and under their own fig tree.”

We've got quite a number of them starting to fruit - The back neighbor loves figs so he shares their strawberries, and we'll share our figs. 

This poor sick plant is the only one that is having a hard comeback after the unusually snowy winter we had. I won't give up on it. 

I spent all day yesterday dead-heading - what a chore but is necessary for more flowers. I also organized and went through my potting table as to what I will give to the plant stands - I also started a few seeds in my yogurt tubs - I had some spare seeds, so I thought I would give it a try. 

The gardening has made me neglect my house - my laundry. I'm playing catch-up this Friday, running around trying to clean up so it doesn't bug me too much this weekend. Tomorrow, Lord willing, we hope to drive up to Yreka for their Gold Rush Days. We asked Char, my step-daughter, to come over and let Laydee out to pee and then feed them their dinner at 5pm, if we are not home yet. 

Now, I will say, see ya later - I have to go and read blogs that I have also overlooked due to gardening. 

Take Care

Debby