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Hi, all gardeners


kimberly
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Well that is it. I picked the last of the garrden some tomatoes and a bunch of peppers. IT is raining right now ans supposed to get down to 32 tonight but the big freeze is supposed to be tomorrow night when we hit 25. so I picked what was left as it will just get ruined tomorrow night if i didn't

And I finished covering the flower garden in leaves.

So sad when it turns winter and so much of everything is dormant.

Now that we are having the rain the ground should be softened up so I can transplant daffodil bulbs and some lilies.

I am really excited for my flower garden this spring, it is going to be beautiful. I finally have a good under planting of sage and other plants, and will fill the rest of it in this summer with painted daisies and a couple other plants that seem to be gopher proof and drought tolerant.

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Leafy, sage is one thing I don't have in the herb garden that I am going to plant.

My poor, poor gardens. Another torrential rain day. Still can not get out there and finish covering them with compost, leaves and newspaper. I refuse to lay foot on wet soil.

The Camillias are thriving.

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Leafy, sage is one thing I don't have in the herb garden that I am going to plant.

My poor, poor gardens. Another torrential rain day. Still can not get out there and finish covering them with compost, leaves and newspaper. I refuse to lay foot on wet soil.

The Camillias are thriving.

I was gonna ask if you were on the left coast like me but you are down south LOL

My Mother in law's Camellias are having a spectacular year... I am not sure what it is about our soil in our yard but so far I have never been able to get a camillia to survive more than one year.. it may be a gopher thing..the same with azaleas.. they do not like my yard LOL NO matter there are plenty of plants that love it.. although this winter I am trying a couple of new locations where the soil is a bit better.

Regarding the sage.. be sure to add some of the ornamental sages which are real work horses in the garden.

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... I am not sure what it is about our soil in our yard but so far I have never been able to get a camillia to survive more than one year.. it may be a gopher thing..the same with azaleas..

Camillias and azaleas are both "acid-loving" plants. They require low pH (5-6) soil and good drainage. They also don't like being in a location that has too much shade.

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Leafy, what waysider said. Except, down here in the hot, humid, sunny south the Azalea's prefer shade.

Here, the Camillia's and Azalea's are in gardens all to themselves. The Azalea's bloom in early spring and the Camillia's in the winter.

Google Calloway Gardens. Some of the most spectacular show of Azalea's. The life span of the flower is very short. But the beauty of it makes it worth while.

The most organic way to add acid is the good ole stand by....pinestraw. You don't even have to turn it in. Just having it as mulch on top adds the acid. If the soil is high alkaline then you may have to add sulfur to lower the ph. Taking soil samples to your local university extension can help with this.

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Thanks guys but we have a two fold issue... our soil is pretty much solid clay as in you can dig it out and fire it into tiles with out having to clean it, and their little baby roots drowned in the winter.... and then there is the Gopher issue, which I suspect is the bigger problem... the gophers eat the new tender roots and dig around and disturb.. and i suspect they are the ultimate culprit... Where we live both of these plants have to be planted where they are mostly in shade or morning sunlight only.. We are just too hot in the summer.

But I have a place that is protected from gophers and I may try to amend the soil and put a camillia in there... and maybe a few azaleas. I will have to see how it goes this summer LOL

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Leafy, you are on the west coast and have heavy clay soil? Ditto here, girlfriend!

Azalea's and Camillia's flourish in the sandy areas as well. But the interesting thing is that they do so when planted under or near pine trees or in shaded areas and mulched heavily with pinestraw. Ain't nature fun.

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