The Fall Equinox has provided us with some blessed relief from the heat and humidity. A high of 83 degrees F (28 C) is very meaningful. My Saturday morning garden tour found some new things in the garden.
To see more SOS Equinox garden tours visit Jim at http://gardenruminiation.co.uk
After seemingly waiting for a few months, I was finally rewarded with a decent Envy Zinnia.
I like to use locally sourced materials in my garden, we added a new shell and salt finished stepping stone walkway and repaired our slightly washed out shell driveway this week. A closer view below:
The driveway repair. I had the shell drive put in about 10 years ago. As it is used the shells get squashed into sand and begin to wash away, leaving me chasing my driveway down the street. The size of the new shells breaks up the force of the rain water keeping the shells in place. These break up and smooth into a more even surface as the driveway is used.
Much to my delight, I found I still had an active wholesale account with a grower! So I went a little crazy. This bed is prepped for the addition of New Gold Lantana and Ice Plant.
Another driveway erosion correction under construction. I found some Zone 10 recommended Dwarf Lirope called Samantha on the growers website. I will be installing the new plants as soon as possible as these arrive bare root. This paver parking pad has a small concrete edging holding it in place and needs some additional support from a planting to keep it stable. As you can see summer weeds are awful in Florida.
That’s all from South Florida. I will be pulling weeds in anticipation of new plants.
Happy Gardening!!
The Shrub Queen 
Florida’s rainy season really does some damage to our gardens. Mine needs work but I’ll wait until November when it is much cooler. 😀
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That is a good plan!
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Do the shells come by the bag or truckload? I don’t recall seeing many shell driveways in
Galveston, but I will check it out the next time I go. I understand your weed situation and I assume like me, they grow all year around.
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These shells are sold by the cubic yard. You can generally get bags as well. the driveway was done with a truckload. You’ll see oyster shell driveways on the panhandle in Florida. I don’t know about TX. Weeds are forever here.
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It is very interesting and very pretty to use shells to
your path. In fact here, we use gravel, but gradually as with the shells, we have to renew it because it smells it gets buried. I can’t wait to see the result with the new plantings.
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Thanks, Fred. The walkway has several inches of screenings under the shell, I hope it lasts longer that way.
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The shell driveway is very attractive and made me think of my favourite place in thr UK – in Norfolk on the east coast of England they use pebbles and shells set onto the stone and brick walls of houses making a very pretty surface. 😃
What is the mulching material you are using on your new bed Amelia? Lantana and Ice Plant sounds like a good combination. 😃
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Thanks, Cathy. I like shells and rocks everywhere! The mulch is pinestraw, very common in the Southeastern US. Bark mulch eventually migrates into the shell and makes a mess.
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Fall spruce-up! (Always satisfying in the rear view mirror!) Glad your temps are down to make work more comfortable.
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Just opened a huge box of plants. That in itself was satisfying.
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Does shell work something like decomposed granite? We use the granite at work. It seems odd for something that can be found in the ground nearby here. In Montara, the topsoil was quite shallow, with clean decomposed granite directly below.
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The drive looks nice. I love you Envy Zinnia. None of my has been so green.
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Thank you. I think there is a lot of seedling variation in the Envy. Some are a lot fluffier than any of the ones I have grown.
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My Envy are greenish yellow at best. At least they produced a few blooms this year, unlike last time I tried them.
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