Last of Summer Blooms

8/17/14

crepe myrtle

   



 While we were gone on vacation, there was a lot of activity in the garden and yard. The crepe myrtle tree bloomed just as we left.  The side and back yard gardens are lush with blooms.  Here are photos of blooms in the side garden.

black-eyed susan

     The rudbeckia, or black-eyed susan flowers, are doing well despite being eaten after emerging.

butterfly bush

     The butterfly bush has filled out nicely after suffering severe winter damage.

zinnias

     The zinnias, one of my favorite flowers, are gorgeous.  I plant seeds every year so I can have fresh cut flowers in the house.

cosmos

     In the back garden, the cosmos that reseeded have taken over about a quarter of the garden.

vinca

     Some vinca from last summer that also reseeded showed up in a few places.

loriope

     Some of my loriope plants have started to flower.

impatiens

     I couldn't resist showing another photo of the beautiful standard impatiens in one of my patio pots.


     The Yoshino cherry trees all over the neighborhood have lost more than half their leaves.  Isn't it a little early for that?  The acorns started dropping off the oaks a week ago.  There is a hint of fall in the weather.  We have had temps in the 50's at night and 70's and low 80's during the day for the last two weeks.  And it is only mid-August. The local meteorologist said our temps have been below average 45% of the time this summer.  I hope this doesn't mean we are going to have a bitterly cold winter like last year. 

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.

A New Yard

11/21/12

Kwanzan cherry tree

     A few days ago we closed on our new house.  Now the fun begins to turn it into a home.  We won't be moving in until mid-January because of inside renovations.

     The house sits on an acre of land, and there is a lot of lawn which I realize is a no-no for many gardeners.  We are supposed to be growing meadows to support wildlife.  But I love the spacious, open feeling of the property.  We do have woods behind us that I hear have resident foxes and many deer.  There is a country feeling to the neighborhood.  A few weeks ago I took the following photos of some of the bushes and trees that are growing in the yard.

crepe myrtle

loriope and holly

Japanese laceleaf maple

pine

   

rhododendron

black walnut

dogwood

     This is about half of what is growing in the yard.  I don't believe there are any perennials except around the cable box in a front corner of the yard.  I will be planting about 150 bulbs this holiday weekend.  A Happy Thanksgiving to all.