August Blooms

8/30/15

black-eyed Susans

     I started this blog post two weeks ago, and so many family obligations interrupted me.  It is almost September and time for fall blooming flowers.  These black-eyed Susans are in my side yard garden which has several perennials and annuals in bloom.  Here are photos of several more flowers blooming in the side garden.

The cone flowers are starting to fade now. I put some fencing around them with netting over the top while they were growing because the deer took a liking to them.  But once they flowered the deer seemed to leave them alone

The zinnias are finally full of blooms.  I really don't like the varieties I planted this year.  They are not strong bloomers and the colors aren't as varied.

For the first time in years I planted dwarf sunflowers.  They did not do well.  Only a few grew, and even though I fenced and netted them for a while, the deer finally got to them.

This is the first time I planted strawberry lemonade zinnias.  They did not turn out as colorful as I thought they would.

This is one of my latest blooming hostas in a dark corner of the back yard.

This miniature rose bush my husband gave me on Valentines Day continues to grow and bloom, and I have not done a thing to it.  It seems very hardy.

These petunias  in the back yard garden are just starting to fade and die back a little.

     So many seeds I planted did not seem to do well this year.  I don't know whether it was the cool spells we had in May and June, or the seeds themselves.  For the first time this year I planted gomphrena from seed, and not one of them came up. Seems I've had a lot of gardening disappointments this summer.  But I am looking forward to all the fall perennials that will be blooming soon.

Lots Of Growing Going On

6/1/14

side yard garden

     During the week that I was gone visiting family in Las Vegas, Nevada, my gardens were filling in nicely.  My side yard garden seemed to have a growth spurt.  It gets the most sun of any of my gardens.  The purple-blue "midnight" salvia is the star of the garden right now. In front of the salvia are the annuals I planted, yellow marigolds and pink petunias. Following are some photos of other growth that is occurring in my side yard garden.







   

coneflower

     While the coneflower plants are still growing and are  not yet at normal height, I found a small bloom beneath them all.

Japanese iris

    
     Here is one of the blooms on the Japanese iris.

oriental fountain grass

     The oriental fountain grass "Karley Rose" is finally greening up.

digitalis

     I can't wait to see the blooms on the digitalis plants.  A friend gave me three of these last fall.

butterfly bush

     My butterfly bush was damaged by the brutally cold winter.  It has a lot of dead branches, but new growth is coming up from the bottom.

zinnias

     I planted these zinnia seeds at least three weeks ago.   They have been very slow to grow because of the very cool May weather.

lavender

     The lavender is just about to burst into bloom.

     There is lots of growing going on in my electric garden and in my backyard garden which I will tell you about in another post.  Also in a future post I will show you photos of a very spectacular park we visited while in Nevada.

Side Garden Makeover

6/2/13

fallen tree 

     Last weekend it was so cool we had to turn the heat on, and now this weekend we are having a heat wave of 90 degree days.  The heavy rain and winds from the thunderstorm that passed through our area last Monday caused one of the trees that line the back yard to fall.  Tomorrow it will be cleared away.

     For the last two weeks I have busy planning and putting in a new side yard garden. 

side yard gardens

     This is what the side yard looked like in mid-April.  Each of the three raised beds had only one rose bush in them when we bought the house the end of November last year.  I planted the daffodils at that time.

bed edges removed

     Two weeks ago my husband removed the boards that defined the three raised beds.  They look like railroad ties.  They had huge spikes through them because they were two boards thick.  It was a big job getting them out of the ground.  He had to use a chain saw, a pry bar, and some other tool he rented to get them out.

new side garden

     I combined all three beds into one, with the rose bushes defining the left, right, and back edges of the new garden.  The grass my husband cut out between the raised beds we used as sod to bring in the edges of the former beds to the rose bushes.  I added a few plants and mulched over the whole garden.  Here are photos of the plants I added.

veronica

black-eyed Susans

coneflower

white daisies

Japanese anemone and Siberian iris

buddleia bush

lavender

plants waiting to go in the garden

     The next post will feature photos of the second round of plants pictured above that were planted in the new garden.  The last three weeks I have been in full planting mode not only on this side garden, but the back yard garden and along the front of the house.  I wanted to get most of the plants in before the cicadas arrived, but it seems our area is on the edge of the infestation and will be spared.