BfloGirlGeek/BfloGirlGarden: Khaleesi’s Garden

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…

Ok, not really…

circa 2014 - the originals

It was about 10-12 years ago, and it happened in this quaint little suburb of Buffalo.

circa 2015 - the move to bigger and better gardens

My “geek garden,” which has grown into “Khaleesi’s Garden,” started with just a couple of plants: a daylily called Jedi Free Spirit and a dahlia called Dark Angel Star Wars (which just totally reminds me of Mustafar). It became something of a game to look for new plants each year, and eventually it grew beyond Star Wars.

circa 2018 - overlooking Mustafar

Some annuals have changed over the years (where did my Hedwig and Black Widow coleus go, Rosy Dawn?), and many perennials have been added (finally got a Midnight Marvel Hibiscus to grow!), but I always find joy in a new discovery, and sometimes I even grasp at straws (I planted Veronica in the garden because Veronica is the code name for the Hulk-buster armor in Avengers: Age of Ultron!).

2019 garden

Along the way, I picked up a few sculptures – three dragons (hence Khaleesi), a baby dragon (so cute!) and a unicorn/Pegasus combo (which I know doesn’t exist, but Peter’s steed in “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” was a unicorn and Valkerie rode a pretty sweet Pegasus in “Endgame,” so I can’t dismantle it now!) – plus a couple of “sun and stars” pieces (odes to Khal Drogo). I also picked up a cute Baby Groot planter that I proceeded to fill with “Mint Marvel” sempervivum.

2019 succulent collection

Every winter, while I’m worrying about the next snowfall and how much sleep I’m going to get, I find the bright side of things when I go searching for next year’s new additions.

2019 garden

all photos: PaulaThompsonFreelance

BfloGirlGarden: Khaleesi’s Garden wrap-up

This was my fun project for the year, and for years to come as well. From collecting “dragons” to finding the perfect wind spinner to telling the story of the garden to anyone who would listen, I loved my little corner of Sci-Fi/Fantasy in the garden (my kind of geekery!). Since this was the first year for the large garden (it was previously much smaller), I learned a few things, like:

Hedwig gets MUCH BIGGER than Lord Voldemort (remember, the “t” is silent!).

Hedwig (left) and Lord Voldemort (right)

The Red Witch has a BIG ego (she must go to the background next year – sorry, sweetie!).

yes, that is just one coleus plant!

Belarion was engulfed by these Black Dragon coleus.

there is a dragon in there...

Bunnies like the Dragon Blood sedum…1) must buy more, 2) must cover them earlier!

munching bunnies lead to...strawberry basket covers!
(I kinda miss those types of strawberry baskets!)

And a few more photos of the garden in its glory:

 

Apocolypse...sooooo need that movie already!!

 

King Peter's Unicorn protecting his end of the garden

Baby Dragon :)

all photos: paulathompsonfreelance.com

BfloGirlGarden: Proven Winners wrap-up

This is the time of year I both hate and love: I hate it because the gardens start looking a little shabby, but I love it because I can look back, see what worked and what didn’t, and start planning for next year!

Receiving the Proven Winners preview box was one of my garden highlights this year. Not everything made it, but it was a weird summer as far as periods of rain and dryness, and temperatures fluctuated from one week to the next.

One of my favorite plants was a sedum called Lemon Coral (available spring 2016), which looked great in the stone-like planter! In spite of losing one, I really liked it and will look for it in stores.

I also liked Superbells Holy Moly! calibrachoa – I added it to a couple of containers, along with Campfire Fireburst bidens (both available spring 2016). I love the colors of the cali – the pink and yellow flowers are very unique!

The three Meteor Shower verbenas (available spring 2016) were a little lanky for my tastes – they got tall and seemed to grow wild, with very little structure.

I was really looking forward to Summerific Perfect Storm hibiscus (available spring 2016), but it wasn’t long for the world – not sure what happened, it just stopped growing :(

The Magic Show Enchanted Indigo veronica (now available) landed in my Sci-Fi/Fantasy garden and did well, so it will be staying there for next year.

The Fun and Games Leapfrog heucherella (now available) is doing quite well in my “air conditioner” garden on the west side of my house.

I planted Tuff Stuff hydrangea (now available) on the east side of the house (my garden project for next year!), because my neighbor has hydrangea on the east side of her house – and they’re beautiful. I’m not sure how big it should be after the first year, because I have no experience with hydrangeas, but it looks full and healthy.

The Pink Mink clematis (now available) needed a little TLC after the bunnies wouldn’t leave it alone – it was placed in a container for the time being, and will be replanted somewhere else before the fall. It looked sad when it was replanted, but is flourishing now :)

Double Play Red spirea (available spring 2016) has found a home in my lilac/butterfly bush garden, but I’ll need to weed out some of the “volunteer” butterfly bushes that are trying to choke it out.

Proven Winners provided me with the above-mentioned plants. All ideas and opinions are my own.

all photos: paulathompsonfreelance.com (taken throughout the summer)

Khalessi’s Garden: Month Two

So, this is what happens in Buffalo in the summer: It gets to be July, it gets to be busy, and then, by the time I have a chance to actually write something, it’s a few weeks later – like, August!

The new garden has, thankfully, more hits than misses – and most of the misses are of the cute, fuzzy tailed variety! While they stopped picking on Lord Voldemort, they started picking on the Dragon’s Blood Sedum like it was the only thing in the garden…so what’s left now has berry baskets covering them…they demolished two of the four plants…they are SO LUCKY they’re cute!

I looooove the Leia Aloha Lilies – they look like pink pineapples!

Both batches of Dark Angel Star Wars Dahlias are doing well – they’re actually HUGE!

Balerion (the Black Dread) is surrounded by Black Dragon Coleus…

…and one Black Dragon Coleus joins Red Witch, Fire Dragon and Yellow Dragon Coleus.

Hedwig Coleus is doing much better than Lord Voldemort, but he had his problems…

The Veronica is doing beautifully…

As is the Apocalypse Coleus (I REALLY need a new X-Men movie, like now!).

And Darth Vader Coleus is backing up the Dahlia quite nicely.

All photos: paulathompsonfreelance.com

Khaleesi’s Garden: Month No. 1

So the new garden is, for the most part, doing splendidly – I say “for the most part” because it could use a serious dose of weeding! This weekend looks good, so weeding all the gardens is tops on my priority list.

I’ve also had some bunny trouble (they’re lucky they’re so cute!). First they decided to behead Lord Voldemort, hence the green strawberry basket covering the rest of the coleus…of course, then they moved on and decimated one of my Dragon’s Blood sedum (Really?? A sedum?? Come on guys!).

Hopefully the appearance of a herd of dragons will bring them to their senses, right?

I still have one more piece of metal to get out – the unicorn – and then I just have to sit back and keep up with the weeding (in between raindrops, so the season seems to be going!).

Here are a few new images from last weekend.

all photos: paulathompsonfreelance.com.

Beyond Khaleesi’s Garden: The Rest of the Gardens

I’ve focused on the new garden and the Proven Winners collection so far, but this time let’s look at some of my other plantings around the homestead.

I went a little crazy with the Perilla this year – I bought eight! – but they do so well out in front of the porch it was a no-brainer. Behind them will be cannas and zinnias (from seed).

This is one of my favorite hanging baskets this year, and I think I’m going to buy this combination for all the baskets next year! It’s a combo of Petunia Baby Duck and Sophistica Blackberry from Burpee and Grape Supercal Petchoa from Jung Seeds.

This may be the combo for this container forever also! It’s Petunia Cascadias Autumn Mystery (Lavocat’s), Sweet Potato Vine Bright Ideas Black (HiWay Gardens) and Petunia Stonewashed Crazytunia (Jung).

My huge canna garden – the home of my “pet” hummingbird once they bloom!

Possible my favorite garden ever, the area surrounding my air conditioner fills in beautifully even this early in the season.

The hibiscus and coneflower garden is also filling in nicely.

all photos: paulathompsonfreelance.com

Beyond Khaleesi’s Garden: Proven Winners – Month One

It’s been about one month since I received my big package of goodies from Proven Winners, and for the most part I’m pretty happy. I did lose one of the sedum – it just disintegrated – and the hibiscus seems to be at a stand-still right now, but 16 out of 18 success stories isn’t bad at all!

The sedum in question is called Lemon Coral (available spring 2016). It’s very cool – and it looks even cooler in this stone-like planter set in a metal chair! In spite of losing one, I really like it and will likely look for it in stores.

I mixed Superbells Holy Moly! calibrachoa and Campfire Fireburst bidens (both available spring 2016) in two different containers – one containing two of each and one where I mixed one of each with a Chocolate Drop trailing coleus.

The three Meteor Shower verbenas (available spring 2016) were added to a small garden (left in front of fencing) which also includes the Summerific Perfect Storm hibiscus (available spring 2016) and a previously-purchased Summerific Summer Storm hibiscus.

As mentioned previously, the Magic Show Enchanted Indigo veronica (now available) landed in my Sci-Fi/Fantasy garden and is doing well, while the Fun and Games Leapfrog heucherella (now available) landed in a perfect spot in my “air conditioner” garden on the west side of my house.

The three flowering shrubs I received were plants I had never considered buying previously, so I’m very interested to see how they work out. I planted Tuff Stuff hydrangea (now available) on the east side of the house (my garden project for next year!), because my neighbor has hydrangea on the east side of her house – and they’re beautiful.

Pink Mink clematis (now available) and  Double Play Red spirea (available spring 2016) both made their way into my lilac/butterfly bush garden, the clematis sneaking into an empty spot where I could brace up a trellis and the spirea replacing a butterfly bush that had seen its final days.

Proven Winners provided me with many of the above-mentioned plants. All ideas and opinions are my own.

all photos: paulathompsonfreelance.com