Wednesday Garden Pics: Gardenias & Yard Views

 

On to the Garden Pics of the Day:

Below are some Gardenias. Gardenias are a flowering shrub that ranges in size from regular to dwarf. This one is a regular, full size blossom type, which can grow into a tree if you don't keep it pruned and shaped. This bush is, oh, eight feet tall and 10 around at least. It's due pruning this year once it's done blooming. (Someone asked if it's currrently blooming and it is and has been for nearly 3 weeks now--but is nearly done. The photo is this years bloom.)
  I'll probably trim off at least 2 feet. I never got around to last year. Like Azaleas, it must be trimmed quickly after done blooming and not cut again, because it sets next years blossoms before the end of summer.

The flowers on this bush range from 3 to 31/2 inches in diameter. Not all gardenia bloom so large.
The greenery is very shiny and I find it generally a trouble-free shrub. I really don't do anything to it, but pruning. The flowers smell richly of cloves, but don't last long either on the bush or in a vase. They turn a parchment color within a day, perhaps 2, then brown. I cut them anyway and pile them into a vase in the house for their sweet fragrance. The weight of the flower makes them droop, so for a vase, cut the stems short and prop them barely on edge of your vase. They look best as a short, tight mound in a vase, thereby holding each other up.
For cutting, choose blossoms that are just beginning to open or buds that are white and ready to open. You'll get a better vase life from them. Fully open blossoms tend to have mites, but less so on freshly opening blossoms. Even so, I give every blossom a quick swish under the faucet and a light shake off before placing in a vase to wash any mites off.

When I worked at a flower shop, people would sometimes like to order these for corsages. They're expensive and that's because it's so very difficult to keep them white and pretty from harvesting, to wholesaler to flower shop. If you touch them on a petal, it turns brown on these florist specimens. (Not so much with fresh cut from a bush in your yard.) 

Gardenia petals are floppy anyway and these corsage specimens arrive fully open, which means they start turning parchment yellow very, very quickly.
I don't recommend them for corsages. They sound like a pretty idea and do smell good, but aren't really a good investment.

 By the time the wedding or whatever event starts, they'll already be turning parchment yellow.

Next: A View of My Side Yard

This is a look down the front sidewalk that leads to my front door. This is the south side of our house. There are actually two very old and large large pine-trees out of frame on right.

 In the foreground you can see my strawberry bed. The first 2 orange pots have pot blueberries in them, which are done now. The darker pot further down has a pot tomato in it this year.
The tall, leafy stuff to the left in the foreground are some of my Blackberries. They're a thornless, upright breed called "Black Satin," I think.
You can see a black owl hanging there. It's supposed to help keep birds away from my berries, with "supposed to" being the operative word. Doesn't seem work on Mockingbirds.
So, I bought pin-wheels, that are shiny and flash and spin when the wind blows to startle birds away.

If you let your eyes follow the sidewalk into the distance, you'll first see a cedar tree and beyond that, the large, greenish bulge that is that huge Gardenia bush.

That's it for today!