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.