Plant-TASTIC Thursday !

Plant-tastic Thursday!
I've been promising pics, but I needed to wait until there was something to show you. The garden is up and growing:




Since this is the first growing cycle I will have at the Shack, I kept it simple...tomatoes [big, regular, roma, cherry, and "patio"...I thought I'd grabbed 2 romas, I love them oven roasted], cukes, squash, zucchini, and 2 blueberry bushes that won't produce for years yet, but it's nice to know they're there.

Also, the parsley is a really happy camper:



Parsley, chives, basil, and radishes in the 2 planters. I swear, the herbs grow like weeds, so this keeps them contained.
This is a maranta, and did not flower in the old place, it simply did not have the right conditions. It does now!



And the orchids are still beautiful.




I believe they are coming to the end of their bloom cycle, so we'll see if I kill them or not.

Now this, THIS made my heart sing.When you think of cactus, you think tons of sun, right? WHY would a person who knows she doesn't have the right conditions buy cacti? Because they are cute? I bought this tiny baby cactus in 2000. It never flowered. 2 weeks ago, I walked by it and eyeballed it....it looked like it was covered in deer ticks! I had the planter in my hand, ready to throw it out the door, and then I thought WAIT.....if ticks tried to affix themselves to cacti, they'd be stabbed to death! That can't be ticks, but what is it? THEY ARE MY VERY FIRST CACTI FLOWERBUDS!!!!! I waited til now to blog a pic so I could see the color of the blooms. The buds themselves have almost a wooden outer coating, quite unlike any other flowerbud I've seen. Probably to protect it from the spines of the cacti. I can't tell you how thrilled I am with those flowerbuds! I am a cacti virgin no more!



In one of my gardening orders from a small nursery, I got a "surprize" package of seeds. Aloe seeds. Fresh in 1998 [that is not a typo. 1998.] So I thought, what the hell? I made the attempt to germinate them. And got me a lil baby Aloe, it's planted in a rosin container:



Also, we finally decided what to do about the neighbors. Plant a living wall of evergreen, from the rear of our property, 3/4 of the lot width up to the front yard. I'll post before and afters of that rodeo too, but at least we contracted that out. *I* can't see me lugging 15-20 trees around. And I hope Steve can't see it either, or I'll give him such a talking-to.