New Possibilities in the Garden

We are now officially relocated and I'm back to blogging. While it was a difficult move in many ways, we are happy to be closer to family and I am beginning to really understand how many more garden possibilities I will have here in the southernmost corner of our state. The temperatures are so much more temperate that the growing season is extended considerably, and many plants I could never have thought of growing before can survive the mild winters here. That makes me so excited! So I wanted to pass on some of that excitement (and perhaps a couple of plant ideas) to you, via pics of my mom's beautiful garden (from whom I get my "green thumb"). :)


Pistachios!
I just think it's so cool that she can grow these here, and I can't get over what beautiful trees they are. Even if they didn't grow fruit I might still plant them because they are so lovely. Pistachio trees are one of those types that require both a male and a female tree to properly pollinate. Above is the female, below is the male.

Her pretty Rose of Sharon bush somehow still flowers during this intense summer heat.




Grapes are nothing new, but my mom's is flourishing so well it's amazing. I hope the one I planted back at our old place will spread and grow this well...

Pomegranates are a fruit I didn't grow up eating, but since then I have really learned to appreciate their sweet, nutty flavor. And they can be pretty expensive at the store! So how about just growing your own tree?! My mom loves the fact that the tree (or is it a bush...?) has all growing stages on it at once.
Hence, here we have a gorgeous flower...



Here a green fruit...

And here fruit that is developing a blush.

Lastly, here is one of my mom's legendary tomato plants--taller than my 8 y.o. so far. Some years they grow taller than my mom, so this is nothing new. And the tomatoes they produce are succulent!

Happy gardening, everyone!