Sunday, June 1, 2008

Gardening, and..what is this and how do I get rid of it?

My little memorial garden

My little memorial garden is coming along finally. My peonies have big buds this year. I'm so excited about that! Last year was the first year for them and all that came up were a few leaves that quickly turned brown and looked diseased. This year the plants are green and beautiful and the buds are growing larger every day. I can't wait until they open. I planted the peonies in memory of my Aunt Judy, who just loved them.
A growing peony bud


I also planted a miniature rose bush in memory of my pup, Olivia Rose, who passed away at the tender age of 14 months. Last year it had flowers all summer. This year it is full of leaves, but something is eating them. I'm going to have to spray it, apparantly, even though I hate pesticides. I also don't see any signs of buds yet. I'll just have to wait and see.

The daisies that my vet gave me in memory of my sweet Daisy Mae, are coming up great and looking healthy. I still haven't seen any buds, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time.
Daisy plants and the cat statue placed in memory of Ebony


Last but not least, the blue hydrangea I planted in memory of my grandmother, is getting bigger by the day and I'm anxious to see if it will get flowers this year. Last year was the first year for this plant and though it had lush, green leaves all summer, no flowers appeared.
Hyrangea plant coming up


Now, for the "what is this?" part. Our lawn is being invaded by this vine/weed. It's taking over the entire yard! It has tiny purple flowers on it and scalloped leaves. Any idea what it is or how to get rid of it?

6 comments:

Angela said...

Hi Penny!

I'm sorry I don't know what that garden invader is. Robin or Phyllis may know. But I love everything else you've done with the garden!

Knatolee said...

I think you've got yourself a fine crop of ground ivy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_ivy

In the photo on this page, it looks very upright but really you more often see it spreading close to the ground. It loves to take over lawns!

I garden organically so I pull everything by hand and am not much help with weed control!

PenDaisy said...

That's it, Nat. Thank you! It grows upright along the fence and wraps itself around everything. I'm not going to even try to get rid of it. Heck, it's better than bare spots where the grass doesn't grow.

Angie's Spot said...

What a wonderful garden! Maybe that will be my next landscaping project. We're having such success with our tomato/cucumber garden, which is a miracle! Oh, & you won the scrapbooking stuff on my giveaway contest. Woo hoo! Email me at angiemnye{at}gmail{dot}com and we'll get the shipping info taken care of. Congrats!

Knatolee said...

FUnny, I just found a huge patch of it near the barn last night. The bees just love it, and really, it's kind of pretty. I just don't want it completely taking over my lawn and flowerbeds! :)

It's funny how we decide things are weeds, eh? Some of them are quite pretty.

Crowzma said...

I have it, too. My friend doesn't call it ground ivy, although that's what I identified it as. She calls it "Jenny-o-the-woods."

That makes it less of a weed, and more intentional, right? Mine's growing around the base of a big old ash stump, so I'm leaving it. Looks good, and beats back the crabgrass.

Where it moves onto the lawn, I just mow it. Green is green in my book.