LEARN from Husband Pieter's Successful Rooting of Hibiscus syriacus Jeanne D'Arc

When we did add the latest patio, we had to cut down an older Hibiscus tree. Yes, it was more than a shrub after all those years.

You can see how thick its stem was from link below this post, about our Hibiscus syriacus Jeanne D'Arc & Our Life in Italy.

This is the double blooming Hibiscus syriacus Jeanne D'Arc.
We're so happy for having now more of this one!
Let me show you how husband Pieter managed to do this...

Starting out with a cheap plastic container from Walmart - drilling drainage holes in it.

A bag of Quikrete Play Sand from Home Depot...

On August 5 of last year, Pieter did mix in just a bit of potting soul and here are the six starters he cut off.

Covered up with white plastic bag for humidity, creating a kind of greenhouse for high humidity and waiting.

On September 3, they got transferred to individual pots. The smallest one still got a 'greenhouse' treatment but using a cut off plastic bottle for a cover. Important is that light can penetrate.

Very healthy looking growth already of this Hibiscus syriacus Jeanne D'Arc on September 3!

This Hibiscus syriacus Jeanne D'Arc is smaller but looking also very happy and healthy!

This is on August 12 of 2018.

It will take years for them to have some shape and for growing into a nice shrub and eventually a little tree!

It took us about six years to grow a Hibiscus syriacus Jeanne D'Arc before, the only one surviving from several and we gifted it to a dear friend who's Mom used to have one. Just a sentimental memory of her dear Mom and we were thrilled to hand that to her.
We will wait another 5 years for having our 2 young ones blooming and being pretty again!
Below is a good video about taking cuttings and growing your own shrubs:

Thanks for your visit!

Related links:
One More Patio Added | previous post by me
{Our Hibiscus syriacus Jeanne D'Arc & Our Life in Italy} | previous post by me

Google.com/+MarietteVandenMunckhofVedder

Happy Hibiscus Pot Plant

During the summer months it is ALL about keeping your plants alive!

Let me show you one very Happy Residence on our Patio.

Now this is a Happy Hibiscus Pot Plant!

Love its color against our Benjamin Moore Golden Mist paint.

The Fiberglass Window Boxes on our Kitchen Bay Window are filled with a variety of cream colored Petunias.

But they don't look the same at the moment...

This Happy Hibiscus has the perfect color for our home!

Are you enjoying your summer and your garden?

Thanks for your visit and comment.

Google.com/+MarietteVandenMunckhofVedder

Garden Miracles After the Late Frost

On March 31, I've taken photos from some more tender pot plants on our patio and around the gazebo.

Having lived a sheltered life all winter, inside the greenhouse, they were now ready to move outdoors.

Spooky boy is always following you, like a loyal doggy... being a feline though.

Azalea is so HAPPY as one of Our Pot Plants!

Cleaning up the patio didn't make sense yet, or you could repeat it every day.

Catkins falling and frozen and dead leaves...

A very happy Hibiscus, the latest 'RESCUE', as Pieter loves to bring home neglected and abused pot plants from Home Depot and by placing them straight into a larger pot with good potting soil and being sheltered inside the Greenhouse, it LOVED us right back!

Our Staghorn Fern came out of the greenhouse for living one more year on the remainder of the special saved stump.

However, the stump is being worked over by the woodpeckers and such so each year there is less and less!

In the back you still see the frozen Japanese Magnolia leaves being brown.

This was such a delight on March 31!

Our variegated Bougainvillea was in FULL bloom while in the greenhouse...

Joy for the blooming Bougainvillea but what a SAD sight was this totally frozen Pommegranate tree...

BUT - Miracles do happen in nature!

This photo and the next are taken on May 8, and sadly there is only ONE Bougainvillea flower left...

But LOOK:

Next to the Bougainvillea this young Pomegranate tree has gotten completely NEW LEAVES!

Still you can see some of the dead, brown ones from the March 16 Frost.

Oh, one of our cat boys comes following me of course!

Closer to our Greenhouse, there is the 2nd young Pomegranate tree and here you see the very same young green leaves with some of the wilting frozen and brown ones.

That makes one very happy!
Both of us LOVE this Antioxidant SuperFruit.

Need to get out and weed our garden as on May 20 we will have people come for a Garden Tour, a fund raiser of one of my Knight Owls Choir members.

And yes, we did perform on Saturday the 6th at 14:00 and at 19:00 o'clock at our local theatre.

Together with the younger Mockingbirds; Hummingbirds; Knightingales we sang, danced and performed.

The full DVD of both performances will be available by the end of the month so finally all choir members can enjoy it too!

Husband Pieter was very impressed by this 20th Anniversary Revue.

All because of one single woman, our talented Leader Kelly Knight (hence our names Knightingales and Knight Owls...).

What a great asset to our community!

Will soon be catching up with your blogs and thanks for your visits here.

Related links:
Our Japanese Magnolias got Twice New Leaves | Previous post by me
{Dreaming of BIG Pomegranates from our own...} | previous post by me
{Growing Pomegranates the Ancient Persian Superfruit} | previous post by me

google.com/+MarietteVandenMunckhofVedder

{Our Hibiscus 'Kona'}

Our Hibiscus 'Kona' is such a DREAM...

Such perfect shape, frilly and double.

We got ours from +Logee's Greenhouses and they still have this one, just click the link below this post for finding more info in a previous post.

One can only admire such beauty!

Depending on the light, it looks even more sheer...

Hope you enjoyed this gem!

Thanks for your visit.

Related links:
{Hibiscus 'Kona' - Hibiscus rosa-sinensis hybrid} | previous post by me

google.com/+MarietteVandenMunckhofVedder

{Dahlia with Hibiscus and Clerodendrum Ugandese}

We all LOVE to have some fresh cut flowers from our own garden...

Even if it means only a few of them!

On our kitchen table... on June 12.

To the left you see a beautiful Dahlia, to the right a Hibiscus syriacus 'Blushing Bride' that came straight from Our Life in Italy!
In the center, top and bottom is our special Clerodendrum Ugandese or Blue Butterfly Bush.

Husband Pieter also captured them with his camera...
Yes, that Hibiscus syriacus 'Blushing Bride' has a very special story which you can read from link below blog, about our life in Italy.
We are thrilled that we still have it after all those years!

And again and you can see the sunshine that twinkles in the tiny vase.
The Clerodendrum Ugandese came from +Logee's Greenhouses in Connecticut

The Clerodendrum Ugandese or Blue Butterfly Bush flower a bit more in detail...

Together they just made a beautiful and very sweet vase!

Do you love to bring in some home grown flowers?

Our climate is very harsh so we never yield a lot...

Thanks for your visit!

Related links:

{Clerodendrum Ugandense - Blue Butterfly Bush} | previous post by me
{Clerodendrum Ugandense - Blue Butterfly Bush, Blue Glorybower} | previous post by me
{Our Hibiscus syriacus 'Blushing Bride' from Quero, Belluno in Italy} | previous post by me

google.com/+MarietteVandenMunckhofVedder

{Tea in Atlanta with a Blogger Friend I Admire}

FINALLY I get to post this... Meeting a very sweet and special Blogger Friend, Tamago and her husband 

Tamago writes the very humorous and fun blog: GOROGORO & NIKONIKO about her two adorable cat-boys.

Devoted Cat-Mamas together; Tamago to the right.

We enjoyed some tea and dessert at the +Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead where we were staying for a free night, annual gift that comes with their Visa card's anniversary.

This makes Tamago my 6th Blogger Friend that I met in person.

It is always very special to do so.

Mr. D. with my Pieter, two devoted Cat-Daddies.

This was on June 28 of 2015.

Thank you sweet Tamago for this special photo of the two of us together!

As usual we did exchange some delicious cookies...

Again I'd baked some Amaretti Cookies from Almond Meal with Coconut Palm Sugar to bring with me.

Sweet Tamago and Mr. D. gifted us with some very special individually wrapped Macarons from the Mozart Bakery.

This very special Bakery also seems to have a restaurant and we for sure will check it out within a couple of months!

The thrill of tasting a Mango Macaron!

For the color I added these orange Hibiscus...

And of course served, using the Japanese lacquered tray with Kyushu teapot and Japanese teacup, in honor of Friend Tamago.

Sorry for having eaten this yummy Mango Macaron almost before taking a picture!

Mozart Bakery's Macarons are yummy and their tastes are: 

Blueberry

Chocolate

Coffee

Green Tea

Mango

Strawberry

Tiramisu

Vanilla...

Thank you so very much sweet Tamago and Mr. D.!

Wish we would live closer and do this more often.

Related links:
{Brunch in Toronto with Blogger Friends I Admire} | previous post by me
{Port Huron, MI - Meeting with Blogger Friend I Admire} | previous post by me
{Livonia, Michigan - Meeting with a Blogger Friend I Admire} | previous post by me
{Visiting Ria from IT'S ME} | previous post by me

google.com/+MariettesBacktoBasics

{Hibiscus Blue Chiffon on Patio}

Our Blue Hibiscus on the Patio has been performing very well this summer.

Such a lovely color this Blue Chiffon Hibiscus and it is in its pot, right next to the kitchen bay window, within view!

Depending on the light, their color does change somewhat.

Also the time of the day makes a difference.

Hummingbirds frequently visit for the nectar.

One could just sit here and  admire their beauty!

Wish we could keep such blossoms year round!

Related links:

{Hibiscus Blue Chiffon} | previous post by me

google.com/+MariettesBacktoBasics

{Light Mauve Double Rose of Sharon Hibiscus in our Wood Garden}

In our Wood Garden, Pieter did plant several of the young Rose of Sharon Hibiscus plants that we'd ordered, as a hedge on the border with our neighbors.

But only ONE did show blossoms, this was a light mauve color.

Quite a beauty and some critter has been snacking on its leaves!

We look forward to next year as the others will show some blossoms as well.

google.com/+MariettesBacktoBasics

{Mauve Double Rose of Sharon Hibiscus Behind Our Pond}

This year we have extended our collection of Hibiscus by lots of little plants.

Not all of these young plants did bloom this summer but one Mauve Double Rose of Sharon Hibiscus behind our Pond put on quite a show.

At least, it is my guess of being this a mauve color... I am not an expert!

Don't you love this fully double version?

Just a perfect blossom!

How beautiful such a double Rose of Sharon Hibiscus can be; just for one day...

                                                 google.com/+MariettesBacktoBasics

{Our Double Orange Hibiscus}

All summer long we have had some gorgeous double orange hibiscus.

From our bay window we can enjoy them, starting at breakfast time...

Pieter did rescue this beauty at the local Kmart store, where it had been knocked down, soil out of the pot and looking limp...
For only $ 4.00 + tax, it came home with him.

Got a bigger pot, new potting soil and LOOK how rewarding it has been to us.

Don't you like their happy faces?

Depending on the light, the color even changes...

What a joy to have! 

Do you have any double orange hibiscus as well?

google.com/+MariettesBacktoBasics