Loaded with Blooms...

Lagerstroemia indica 'Rubra'

 This crepe myrtle has to be the star of the garden for this week. At close to 15 feet tall it is much larger than I had envisioned it would be when I planted it here.

I thought for many years that I could not grow these beautiful plants because our winters would cause them to die back to the ground. I know our winters can be much worse than we have had the last few years and I may have a year that they could die back but until then I will enjoy these beautiful blooms!

A Few Blooms for Friday

We had a half inch of rain last night. It was a wonderful sight to see the water drops on the foliage of the plants. They are responding to the moisture and I am beginning to see the promise of a few more blooms. This rose was planted earlier this spring. I haven't added a hybrid tea to my garden for quite some time but I loved the soft peach of 'Medallion'.

The English rose 'Abraham Darby' has started to bloom again. This plant was full of buds when the late April freeze hit it. I have a clematis 'Mr. President' growing up through this rose and it has a couple of new blooms on it.

One of the new daylilies that I purchased this spring has a first bloom on it. This one is 'Brooke's Bright Star' hybridized by Bill Waldrop in Georgia. I am finding blooms on several of the daylilies now.

As I was walking around the garden this morning and I came close to the row of crepe myrtles I could hear a constant buzz. The blooms were full of honey bees. He is a little hard to see in this photo which certainly shows that I am not that good with a camera but I was so glad to know that the honey bees were close enough to be gathering pollen from the garden.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day July 2012

The last six weeks has seen very little rain so blooms are not abundant. This is my first time to join May Dreams Garden Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. I wanted to post a few things that are blooming now to remind myself that even with little rain the garden can still reward us with blooms. My mother who is in her 80's visited yesterday. I have been bemoaning the fact that my garden is suffering and doesn't look very good. She walked around a little and remarked that there was still lots of things in bloom, which made me get the camera out this afternoon.

Blooming in my garden today is a white Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacusa) that came as a pass along plant from my mother in law many years ago. There are others in the group that she gave me but this solid white has always been my favorite.

The blooms are just beginning on my Hydrangea 'Limelight'. There are two of these in the garden planted last spring and they are quickly becoming favorite plants. I purchased a third plant that is also a hydrangea paniculata but I do not remember the variety.

I am so pleased to see the blooms on my crepe myrtle 'Natchez' this year. They were leafed out in our abnormally warm early spring when the temperatures dropped below freezing in mid April. When all the leaves turned brown I was worried that I might see so much die back that I would lose a lot of this years bloom.

I am equally pleased to have a few blooms on this hydrangea macrophylla. It was purchased many years ago and I don't know the variety. It leafed out and had so many buds from the warm spring that I was so excited since this is one that blooms on old wood. Some years it doesn't bloom at all. After the freezing weather in April I didn't expect it see any this year either, but some of the lower buds survived.

There are other blooms in the garden but I keep getting chased inside by light showers. So far they are not enough to make a huge difference but I an thankful for each drop that falls.

Hope you are out enjoying your garden today!

Red in the Garden

"If one says 'Red' – the name of color – and there are fifty people listening, it can be expected that there will be fifty reds in their minds. And one can be sure that all these reds will be very different." -- Josef Albers

H. 'Places in the Heart'

I have been drawn to red daylilies since I started to collect them a few years ago but it is very hard for me to describe the color. Reds can be so different.

H. 'Round Red Ruffles'  

Red is considered a warm color in landscape design. Its appearance in the garden has an energetic effect.

H. 'Sanford Code Red' 

When I first began gardening warm colors were always dismissed in favor of all the cool colors.

Age has changed my thinking since I find myself drawn more and more to the vibrant and warm colors.

H 'All American Chief'

Choosing red daylilies is the easy part for me. Choosing the best companions for them is much harder but is something that I want to accomplish as I continue to garden.

An Inspiring Garden

This past weekend we had the pleasure of touring four beautiful gardens during our Region 10 Summer meeting. One of the gardens had not only a collection of daylilies but also a beautiful display of hostas. So many of them were growing in pots and I loved the way they looked.

The pots were every shape and size and the hostas were growing so well in the pots that I definitely want to give this a try.

Hostas weren't the only thing that she had in pots. I loved this hanging teapot planted with a heuchera. I loved the imaginative use of containers that weren't the traditional pots. I am busy mentally planning to start searching for things that I can use.

There were beautiful display gardens containing daylilies. This section contained an unusal water feature.  I realized when I went through my pictures that I hadn't photographed nearly as many of them because I was so enthralled with the hosta gardens.

Wordless Wednesday

Consider the lilies, how they grow....

Lillies in Bloom

Three years ago while attending a garden fair I purchased a few lily bulbs. I guess I didn't have much faith that they would survive. I don't think I even kept their names so that I could tag them. They survived and I am so glad they did! These are planted with the Double Red Knockout Roses.

Asiatic Lily 'Elodie'

When I have success with a type of flower there are usually more added to the garden. so that fall I ordered several of the Asiatic lilies. Elodie is described as a double and it is planted with Verbena bonariensis. 

You can see the second row of petals which create the "double" effect.

There is much for me to learn about growing these flowers, so I want to continue to experiment with them. Any plant that can add this much beauty to the garden will be worth the time I spend to learn.

Scenes from the Garden

This morning was foggy and overcast which allowed me to capture a few scenes from the garden. 'Spiderman' was full of blooms and looked great against the canna's. Everything is so much earlier this year. I don't remember the canna's ever being ready to bloom in May.

'Bill Norris' and 'Primal Scream' which are both winners of the Stout Award were also full of blooms. The ornamental grass on the right was something my husband purchased. It will mature at almost 10 feet tall. I love the color of it in the early part of summer but it loses much of its variegation by fall. I placed it there to partially hide the work shed.

'Jim Brown' is in view from the benches in the pergola. A large wisteria grew here until early this spring. Although it has been planted here close to 10 years, it had never bloomed. In April when my grandson was visiting, the equipment came out to remove it. The trees that are planted on each side of the pergola are large enough to shade the seating area but there is also enough light that I am growing some containers there.

Garden in Late May

This is what I see when I step outside my sun room/office door.  There are lots of daylilies in bloom which is unusual for late May. The Knock Out roses are recovering from the late frost we had and are coming into full bloom. There are eight of the double reds, a double pink and a  single pink Knock Out along this walkway.

'Larry Allen Miller'

Going down the walk toward the pergola one of the daylilies you will see in bloom is 'Larry Allen Miller. I like the gold edge and the deep purple color. Although it really is not visible it has a green throat.  It is by far the best this plant has looked which is no fault of it's own. It was in a very crowded bed until last fall. We re-did both sides of the walk and gave all the daylilies more space by moving some to other beds.

After going through the pergola and to your right this is the scene you will see. There are many more daylilies in bloom in what we call the rock wall garden. The purple leafed tree in the background is a 'Forest Pansy' redbud.

'Dizzy Miss Lizzy'

 'Dizzy Miss Lizzy' is one of many daylilies which reside in this garden. It is an unusual form which also has that beautiful green throat. 

 It is a joy every morning to go see what is blooming for the first time this daylily season. There are many more to have their first flower for the 2012 season so there is still much to look forward too.

Bloom season has begun.

Daylily blooms are popping up all over the garden. Pictured above is H. 'Happy Returns' blooming with an orange Asiatic lily.

Stella is blooming in the shade garden. She doesn't seem to mind the dimmer conditions.

H. 'Texas Bouquet Beautiful'

This daylily is certainly living up to its name today with its lovely bouquet of blooms.

H. 'Artemio'

Artemio has been blooming for three days. This is the second year in the garden for this plant and to me the blooms are much prettier than they were last year.

H. 'Richard William Haynes'

 

Richard William Haynes is the first of my unusual form daylilies to bloom.

There are many more blooms to look forward to and I hope to share a lot of them here. 

Wonderful Suprise!

Hippeastrum 'Apple Blossom'

We bought amaryllis bulbs at Christmas time for several years. I tried to get them to bloom indoors during the holidays but I was never very satisfied with the results because we just don't have enough light. They always grew tall and fell over. I followed the instructions for keeping them and getting them to flower again but usually with the same results.

This past December I just didn't bring them all in from the cellar but when spring came and I went to get the dahlia's that I had stored I decided to plant the amaryllis bulbs for the summer to feed the bulb with the intention of trying again this winter instead of pitching them on the compost pile.  Much to my surprise they started to send up flower stalks.

There are going to be several more of the bulbs to blooms. The stems are much shorter and stronger in the garden than they ever were in the pots I used in the house. This may be the start of a new and better tradition with amaryllis in the garden. Only time will tell how the rest of them do but for now I am very happy with my decision to plant them in the hosta garden. If they all do well, next year I will plant them closer to the front of the border so they will be more visible.

Hosta Garden in May

I wish that I had planted more of the foxglove. They have been especially lovely this year. I am hoping that they will abundantly reseed themselves. These are planted on the sunny side of the hosta garden with ostrich fern and euphorbia.

 Many of these hosta have been in the garden for several years now and are really getting to be large plants. I have been adding several new ones to this garden every year. I enjoy working in this area on hot summer afternoons as it is always several degrees cooler here.

Wordless Wednesday

WHITE GARDEN...Maybe Someday

 

The shrubs along this walkway have been full of bloom the last couple of weeks. I have always wanted to have a white garden but just can't seem to accomplish it. I always end up needing a space to put a newly purchased plant that isn't white.

Viburnum plicatum tomentosum 'Summer Snowflake'

The mild winter has created an abundance of blooms on these shrubs. I don't remember another year where there have been so many. I limbed up this shrub to give myself a little more room to plant and was quite pleased with the way it looked this year.

Deutzia gracillis

There is one of these slender deutzia on either side of the viburnum each loaded with small bell shaped blooms. I took a couple of rooted pieces off these shrubs last fall. Because they were planted in a less protected area, the late hard frost that we had ruined most of their blooms. I look forward to next year hoping to see them as loaded with blooms as these. 

There are many other white flowering shrubs and perennials growing in my garden. Maybe someday they can all be blooming in one place place and I will have my WHITE GARDEN.

Clematis and Roses

Clematis 'H. F. Young'

Clematis are fairly new to our garden. The more that I add the more I enjoy them. This is the second year for H. F. Young and the blooms so far have been beautiful. I added four new clematis last year and there are three more on the way to plant this year. So far most of them are paired with roses but I read about letting them climb through other shrubs so that may be the next combination I will try.

Zephirine Drouhin

The first bloom on Zephirine Drouhin will be followed by many more from the look of the canes. This rose is supposed to be a repeat bloomer with a strong fragrance. I have often admired the pictures of beautiful roses climbing on arbors full of blooms. I will post pictures later when she is in full bloom.



Bleeding Hearts

Dicentra spectabillis 'Alba'

There are some flowers that evoke memories from childhood. They are often the ones that were from my grandmother's garden. A lot of then aren't often seen in modern gardens and have only recently found their way into my own.

Dicentra spectabillis

The pink colored one was the one grandmother grew. It grew by the front walk and I always enjoyed seeing it bloom in the spring and marvel at how much the plant deserved it's common name.

After its bloom is finished the plant will disappear during the heat of summer. I have placed my at the edge of the hosta garden which allows me to enjoy their beauty while I wait for the hosta and ferns to unfurl their leaves.

Hope you have plants that will always remind you of a garden from your childhood.

Full of Blooms

The bloom on the spring flowering trees is really beautiful this year. I think that they are loaded with more blooms than usual. With no late cold snaps to damage some of the buds we are enjoying unusual beauty. This Weeping Peach was planted about six years ago and has bloomed well every year.

The individual blooms are lovely and since there are so many blooms there will probably be lots of the little peaches produced. If this tree has a downside it would be when the peaches fall off in the fall and the area under the tree needs to be raked.

Spring!

Spring must be here!! Though it offically won't be here for a few more days it certainly looks and feels like it around the garden.

The daffodils that we planted last fall are beginning to bloom.

These violas were also planted last fall. It has been so mild that they have bloomed off and on all though the warmer days of winter and now they are really putting on a show.

This is the first time that I have planted a hay basket type hanging planter in the fall but I am so pleased with the results that I am sure that I will repeat this again this fall.  I may put even more of the violas in pots since that keeps them out of the reach of the rabbits.

The hellebore's are in full bloom in the shade garden under the pine trees. It is wonderful to see blooms there this early. In a few weeks this area will be full of hosta and astillbe.