Why patience is a virtue

On my last blog I said:
"Already I know that the lavender plants will need to be replaced."
Well, that teaches me!
My main concern with the lavender bushes was that they were not producing new flowers. The Fairy Dusters, both daisy varities, the roses and all the annuals have already flowered several times. The lavender blooms were dead and the only thing that stopped me from removing them now,was the fact that new growth was sprouting out of the ground on one of them.
Here is what I saw this weekend: NEW GROWTH!!


The arrows are pointing to new buds. I deadheaded the plant after this (trimming off dead buds) which should encourage further growth. I recently changed my every day watering schedule to a four day a week watering schedule. Daily watering is only necessary until plants get established which as far as I can tell has occured. Lavender plants do better with less water so I think this change helped spur the plant into action. The same thing also occured with the Bower Vine we have in the front entry way. FYI- It is recommended to plant things with similar watering needs near each other so you don't run into my problem. But I wanted specific plants-- so I did it anyways!

Also, the Arizona Grandiflower Rose is budding. It's the tiniest bud I've noticed forming on either of the roses. The blooms should be sunset colored. So far, while both the rose bushes have buds none have bloomed. Still waiting on that one.



I didn't start this blog with the intention of writing only about gardening but it has been so fulfilling and enjoyable. Right now Joe and I are in the process of renovating our guest bathroom. Every week is a new project. Two weekends ago we updated the shelves in our walk-in closet to make a better configuration and took off the closet doors to open the space. The hope is for our next major project to be landscaping the backyard. It's a clean slate but is a large space. We are hoping to build a large patio, built in seating and barbeque area, ramada and more! Oh the joys of an older home--- our house is the same age as Joe! :)