Randy4ut

Hey all,
Thought it might be interesting to start a thread of how our gardens transform during the growing season. Don't mean to leave the folks out that are blessed with year round growing seasons, but this is mainly for folks who have to dream about our gardens in the winter. Living in SE TN, I know how that feels and am starting to try and incorporate more hardy palms in my beds to add some "winter green" for winter interest. I will start and post a couple of pictures I took yesterday (4/30/09). As the season progresses, I will just edit this post and add the updated pictures. This will enable everyone to be able to see the transformation all together instead of having to scroll through the whole thread. C'mon ladies and gentleman, post your own garden transformation. Please, when you add updated pics, add them to your original post and try to keep this more on the subject...






LONG WAY TO GO, HUH!?!?! Give me 2-3 months!!!!

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paula

Bob

Great idea Randy. This should be fun to look at .I took a few of my place starting this winter and will get a few pics up when I'm done planting. It will be interesting to compare between now and August for sure.
Here's April:

You can see a microclimate right at the end of the garden that is not snow covered due to being surrounded by houses, and the cold frame at opposite end. Might be a good spot for a basjoo or sikkimensis. Some of my tomatoes were in the cold frame at the end of April(very early for here but the weather was good for it. I'll put up May soon along with a few other spots I'm working on.

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conejov

this should be an interesting thread to keep an eye on.

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conejov

btw nice yards

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Randy4ut

Beautiful, Joyce!!! By any chance do you have a pic of the same area taken during the dreaded "off season", as I have a strange feeling this ain't a before shot for NJ... Would love to see what you start the season with... Thanks for sharing!

(Paula, I apologize for the name mishap!!! Thanks for adding your updates!)

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paula

Thanks but my name is Paula ,
I stated out last summer with banana trees That I stored in my basement.
which had no leaves. By the middle of the summer that is what they looked like.
At the end of the summer they where even bigger then the pic.Here are some pics when my pool was installed a few year ago.

paula

Ok, Randy I just went out in the rain and took this pics. They are the same ones as last year. I just replanted them last week. Do you believe me know.
And thank you for the compliment. I still don't know what kind they are they haven't bloomed yet. I do know one is ice cream I bought last year, I marked
that one with a marker.

Bob

This should be a more popular thread so here's my latest photos from today July 5th 2009.
First the main garden I posted last looks like this.

A couple of shots from sunny side of deck:


Here's a small bed with a lot of plants next to driveway:

Should be interesting in a few months.

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lorax

Those are lovely, Bob. Is that Acanthus or Anthurium in the last pic, front row beside the Saskatechewan Lilies?

Bob

Thanks lorax, by the lillies is a Bordelon , in front of those Cardoon, an edible artichoke relative that the leaves are eaten. I don't think you can see it but there's also a Colocasia Gigantea down in there that I'm hoping will do well and you'll be able to see in the next month or so. You might be able to make out an African Rhino horn on the other side.

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Bob

Forgot to post one of my D. Nam Wah in a 15 gallon pot, plus the dog's a ham.

the smaller ones are Ca. gold(bigdog) and next to that a FHIA 23, behind those Dwarf key lime.

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Jack Daw

Hey Bob, you grow them in the soil and also in the pots? Nice. Me too, except that I grow tropical in the pots and subtropical in the soil.

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Thnx to Marcel, Ante, Dr. Chiranjit Parmar and Francesco for the plants I've received.



Zeitgeist - Corporatocracy 101 (~2hrs)

Zeitgeist - Moving Forward (~2.5hrs)

revensen

Here is what my wife and I have done in the last couple of years. Lots of fun. Many of my bananas are still pretty small so you'll have to really look hard to see them.

Spring 2008




Summer 2008


Summer 2009

Bob

Nice work! Looks great, it will be nice to look back on this after things have grown in.

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Bob

What a difference a month makes, here's some updated photos from a couple of days ago.




Above is the "main garden"
Next is the area around the deck.


Last is the small area by driveway. It looked spacious in spring....plenty of room for all..........Now a jungle.

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southlatropical

Ravensen,
That deck is awsome. I really like the bench.

Bob,
Your plants look like they are doing great.

I'm curious to know what kind of reaction you guys get from people that see your plants. Bananas can't be very common in zones 5 and 6.

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Bob

Thanks Isaac, people stop by all the time wanting to go in the back yard, usually I let them in. If they're scary looking starngers I call for the dogs.

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Bob

Ok this will probably be the final installment for this year unless it stays warm well in to fall. Some of the plants did better or worse than I had hoped but all together a succesful first year of growing I'd say. The Ice ream in the back is now over 7' tall(p-stem height). Here's what I think a typical New Jersey first season Banana grove should look like:


The small bed in the driveway didn't seem at all crowded in spring but....


This castor bean ended up over 12' tall( thanks Patty for the seeds) the Orinoco is leaning because it is "floating" not sure why it hasn't been overwatered but I'll find out when I dig up.


Siam Ruby was the only one my friends from Florida took any notice of.....snobs think bananas are weeds and harvest tons of Raja puri they want to get rid of!!!!



I of course have to include my fav the Dwarf nam wah which I have high hopes for in the future:


last a shot of the back deck from above:


Not a bad first year considering most of these were very small to start with and it was a cool spring and summer..........wait till next year!

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john_ny

Wow, Bob!
Now I can see what you meant when you said you were running out of space! We have got to find a greenhouse/space to erect a GH.

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John