Midsummer Blooms

7/19/15

Shasta daisies

     So much blooming is taking place in the garden.  I took most of these photos before we went on vacation ten days ago.  Some of the blooms are fading now.  The photo to the right shows the daisies that line the front of what I call the electric garden that hide the electric box in the yard.

     Here's what else was in bloom ten days ago.

The milkweed surrounding the electric garden is full of bees.

I noticed that the balloon flowers in the side yard garden had finished their blooming when we returned . 

The glossy abelia bush in the side garden is growing and blooming nicely.

The butterfly bush has shot up dramatically from last year even after pruning.

The wonderful scent of the asiatic lilies perfumed the backyard garden.  Now there are only about three lilies left.

The hosta plants in the backyard garden were in full bloom when we left and are now about done.

 

The miniature rosebush in the backyard garden is putting out more blooms.

     There is more blooming in the backyard and side gardens.  But that will have to wait for the next post.

Flirting With Freezing

4/28/15

Kwanzan or the rarer Hizakura cherry?

     I postponed planting flower seeds and plants in the yard last week after looking at the weather report.  We were down in the 30's at night last week with a frost warning one night.  The beautiful Yoshino cherry trees in the front yard only lasted a week.  But now the later blooming  kwanzan is loaded with flowers.  The flowers on this tree look like flowers on the rarer Hizakura cherry in a photo from a book I got from the National Aboretum. Whatever it is, it is beautiful.  Here are some photos of what is happening in the yard.

The tulips finally showed up!

The hosta plants seem to be getting high quickly.

The two dogwood trees finally bloomed.

This is a miniature rose bush my husband gave me on Valentine's Day.  After staying on my kitchen table for six weeks, I put it out in the back yard garden at the end of March.  It just produced a bloom.

The Asiatic lilies are pushing through the soil.

The azaleas finally opened a few days ago three weeks late.

     The leaves on the trees are slowly coming out.  Most of the leaves are small, and some trees still don't have any leaves in our neighborhood.  This week I am planting flower seeds in the back and side yard gardens, and I am going to put plants in my deck pots. It is going to be May 1 on Friday, and  I am tired of waiting. 

Midsummer Blooms in the Back Yard

7/13/14

The Asiatic lilies finally opened!  Here they stand between the hosta and cosmos blooms.

A close-up of a lily.

Now that the tulips are gone, I added some begonias under the pink dogwood tree.

My large deck pots are lush with blooms.  Here is a pot of tuberose begonias.

Another deck pot of New Guinea impatiens.

My favorite pot of standard impatiens.  I realize this is a no-no to plant because of the fungus that is wiping them out, but I couldn't resist.

This is a railing pot of diascia, a favorite flower of mine.

I have some red and white begonias in another pot.

Petunias are another favorite flower that graces my deck.

This coleus needs some water.

I was finally able to catch one of the resident foxes with my camera, trotting across my driveway in the middle of the day.  We usually see them at dusk.

Not long after the fox visit, three deer went through the yard and crossed the street.  It was a day busy with wildlife

     There is a toad that has suddenly started to sit at my back sliding glass door each night.  The dog doesn't know what to make of it, and she just walks around it and barks at it.  I will try to take a photo of it soon.

     Our family will be leaving for a week long vacation next weekend to New York state.  I hope to bring some great photos back to share with you.

Lots Happening

6/15/14

back yard garden

     There is a lot of growth going on in my back yard garden and in the plants that surround the electrical box.  Here are some photos of what is growing in the back yard garden.

The roses have suddenly burst into bloom.

The astilbe have flowered.

The Asiatic lilies are set to open soon.

Brightening the area under the pink dogwood is the ghost fern.

My  hardy begonias have made their appearance.  It looks like they are spreading with lots of tiny new leaves away from the originals.  Their lovely pink flowers will arrive in August.

The seashells cosmos reseeded from last years planting.  For some reason, I have never had cosmos reseed until this year.  Hard to believe they survived the brutal winter we had.

A new garden angel graces the back yard garden.

The plants that surround the electrical box are growing rapidly.  Daisies are in the front with the tall  milkweed behind them.

Here is a photo of the back of the box when the scotch broom bushes were in bloom a week ago.

The milkweed plants in front of the box are just about to open.

     We have only had a few hot days so far.  And even though we had flooding rains again all week, this weekend was dry with low humidity and gorgeous sunshine.  But this week the forecasters say we will have a string of 90 degree days.  That's fine with me.  I like hot summer days.

Perennials Have Finally Come Up

5/18/14

rhododendron

     It has continued to be cooler than normal here.  Last night it was in the 40's.  Everything is late.  The azaleas are just done blooming.  The rhododendrons have just bloomed all over the neighborhood.  And I noticed a few iris are blooming in some yards.

     Here are some photos of my perennials that have finally come up in all my gardens.

The three Asiatic lilies are getting taller by the day. 

My Japanese iris has buds and will be blooming soon.

This balloon flower finally emerged from the ground.

The Midnight salvia is the only perennial blooming right now in the side garden.

This coneflower was slow to make an appearance.

 This is a digitalis plant a gardener friend gave me last fall.

I was worried about this gaillardia plant.  But it finally put out some green leaves.

     One of my plants, a coreopsis, did not survive the brutal winter.  I have seen nothing in the spot where it was growing.  I had damage to other plants which I will show in another post.  I hope it gets hot and stays hot here soon.  We have had a cold fall, a brutal winter, and a cool spring.  I think everybody is ready for some warmth here.

New Blooms

7/13/13
    

Asiatic lily

    In one of my earlier blog posts I wrote about three Asiatic lilies that suddenly appeared at the side of the house.  Since they were here when we moved in, I had no idea what color they would be.  I transplanted them to the backyard garden, because my husband wanted to put the trash cans there on the side of the house where they were growing.

lilies amid the hostas

     Here are the three lilies planted among the hostas in the backyard garden.  They finally bloomed about a week ago.  Their fragrance is heavenly.

butterfly bush

     This is a photo of a little slip of a butterfly bush I bought at a garden club plant sale this past spring.  It was planted in the side garden in May.

butterfly bush

 
     Here is the butterfly bush now with its first bloom.

glossy abelia

 

 

     This week the first bloom appeared on the glossy abelia shrub planted in the side garden.

crepe myrtle

     The crepe myrtle tree also had its first bloom this week.

zinnia seedlings

     Although I bought zinnia plants in May for the side garden to quickly fill up all the empty space, I really like to grow them from seed.  After reading Adrian Higgins garden column in the Washington Post two weeks ago where he said it wasn't too late to plant zinnia seeds, I immediately went out and bought some and planted two rows of them.  This is a photo of the seedlings after two weeks of planting. 

cosmos seedlings

 

     When I bought the zinnia seeds I also bought some cosmos seeds.  I always like to have cosmos somewhere in the garden, and I hadn't gotten around to planting any cosmos seeds this spring.  I thought, "Well, if I'm going to plant zinnia seeds I might as well plant cosmos seeds too".  I planted two rows of the cosmos seeds in the backyard garden.

     We've had another week of rain here.  It has rained every day since July 6th, and I'm really fed up with the weather.  Some of my plants have mildew, and there's all sorts of fungi growing in the yard.  I hope we get the hot, sunny weather that's forecasted for this week.  Maybe it will dry everyhing up, and the yard won't be so squishy anymore.