Fourth of July Stroll through the Gardens

It was a day of every kind of weather, but not the threatened rain. The evening has become very pleasant with sun and blue skies and low temperatures.  Time for a stroll through the mid-summer garden...

Starting in front with the urn planter, the hummingbird and a flag

A two-sided Welcome planter on the porch

John and Pinky helped us clean up the cul de sac

yesterday morning.

Coming around the corner of lower Laurel Ridge, you might think

you were on the High Line in NYC if you consider the plants

in the meadow on the hillside.

The meadow just below our home

Campion (pink), yarrow (white), Sweet William (red) and Bird's Foot Trefoil (yellow)

make patterns up close.

Campion (front), Black-eyed Susans, Common Mullein

Queen Anne's Lace or Wild Carrot (ready to bloom, tall center)

Shasta Daisies and Yarrow fill the hillside in clumps.

Queen Anne's Lace blooming

Foxglove still in bloom

Lupines going to seed

Coreopsis

and Black-eyed Susan blooms look like summer sunshine.

And the bees and bugs are still busy even though it's close to sunset.

Back in the front of the house my camera

battery begins to fail.

Down to the patio, from the north side

The Helianthus blooms while the woodpecker awaits a little hand to make it peck.

We ate dinner on the deck.

We should have come down here to the patio.

The fairy garden is just like Lily left it--

with flower offerings.

Bop fixed the broken fairy wings--again!

This fairy awaits you for tea.

Welcome to all fairy-lovers!

I've given the broken, concrete stepping stones I made with Alice

from her large hosta leaves a new life

as fairy patios!

I watched a hummingbird try to get nectar from this table the other day.

Blanket flower truly blankets its spot in the garden.

Hollyhocks fill the corner.

The hydrangea is lush this year.

The Lavender is struggling but the Nepeta or Cat Mint is gigantic--

and filled with bees all day.

Since you can't come sit on my bench in the garden tonight,

I'm glad you could take this tour of a 4th of July garden with me.

Early June Blooms

Just after Memorial Day, the weather turned warm and the buds burst open almost all at once.

The poppies were exquisite and abundant this spring.

I lost my magnetic sunglasses that came with my prescription sunglasses.

I was very upset and finally substituted a pair of Solar Shades 

at WalMart that cover my whole glasses.

Today I found the magnetic sunglasses in the poppy debris I was cleaning up!

It is the 4th of July!

And that made me remember that I had not posted these blooms yet.

So "all is well that ends well".

More spring blooms--

Peonies

Peonies, poppies, catmint and False Indigo blooms (deep blue in upper right)

The French Lilacs were abundant for the first time,

but the Siberian Iris were not quite as prolific or brilliantly blue.

Although they look fine in the foreground of this photo...

The Laurel and Lupines along the fence line

on the hillside meadow

Another view of the Laurels

The only one that bloomed well was the Sarah cultivar (on left).

The others are struggling this spring.

Lily dropped some straight pins from the deck when we were sewing 

up her summer quilt.  I found the pins later 

in the Martha Washington Geranium blooms below on the patio.

Aerial view of the fairy garden Lily helped me set up this season.

It's a great start to another year of growing!

And sharing my garden with others, including a granddaughter.

Wildflowers Begin to Brighten the Hillside Meadow

On a walk below the cliff tonight, I discovered lots of wildflowers 

and went back home for my camera.

Lupines

Rosa rugosa

Magenta Sweet Williams

Bi-color Sweet Williams

Yarrow

Bird's Foot Trefoil clump and Daisy buds behind

Bird's Foot Trefoil close-up

Cinquefoil

Clover

It must be almost June!

Front Planting with Fall in Mind

While the back deck plantings were a choice between tropical colors, the front planter has a fall theme with oranges, reds and yellows.  The yellow-gold Stella De Oro daylilies set the tone here with a brilliant, chartreuse low-growing cedar and the deep green of the upright holly bush.

The thriller is a Sundaze Flame Strawflower by Proven Winners. It's only 10 -14 inches high but it is in a footed urn planter which has height of its own.  From the Australian outback, it is sun and drought and heat tolerant which it will need to be in the front of the house facing west.  Smart Look Red Celosia will also provide some spikes of brilliant plumes about a foot tall.

The fillers include Festive Dance Coleus and Blush Euphorbia by Breathless. The red is in the green leaves of the Euphorbia and the blooms are white touched with a bit of pink.  The coleus may not have been a good choice. As I read more about it, I found that it cannot tolerate sun.  Too bad because it has orange, olive, carmine and parrot green edges IN THE SHADE!

The spillers are Superbells Dreamsicle in orange by Proven Winners

 and Marguerite Sweet Potato Vine in chartreuse green.

My hummingbird spike and some metal bell chimes complete the area.

Now I'll need to watch the planter as we go through the growing season 

to see if the plants can stand the same environment: hot, sunny afternoons, quick to dry out 

and the drainage isn't great in an urn.

Maybe I should drill some small holes in the lower part of the base?

Check out growing environment details at: 

Proven Winners

BloomIQ

Dave's Garden

Two Planters--One Is Purple and the Other Red

I couldn't decide which color to make the two planters on the deck this year, so I made one of each of my top two color choices:  purples and reds.

The purple one has thrillers, fillers and spillers in pinks and purples.

The thriller is a pink Mandevilla vine, a Sun Parasol variety from Monrovia

which is supposed to be much less likely to fade in color in intense sun.

One problem:  the first bloom seems to be red and not pink!  Mismarked?

The fillers are Mexican Heather in pink with textured, deep green leaves; two summer snapdragons, one in blue by Proven Winners and another in Orchid Pink by Archangel.

Proven Selections Blue Zephyr has lacy foliage and fragrant, daisy-like blooms.

Icicles is a licorice plant with upright, bushy silver foliage by Proven Winners.

The spillers are Proven Winners Supertunia Bordeaux in violet pink with deep purple throats and veins and regular licorice plants with rounded silver-white leaves.

It's already settling in well to its new home on the deck.

The red planter is home to the hummingbird feeder.

The main thriller is a crimson Mandevilla vine, again a Sun Parasol variety.

The two coleus will be fillers as well as a Watermelon Charm Supertunia by Proven Winners.

There is also some Smart Look Red Celosia with brilliant paint brush plumes.

The two spillers are a regular licorice plant and an Ace of Spades Sweet Potato Vine.

Another filler is not visible and when I searched for it at Proven Winners,

it is one that doesn't bloom in heat. And we've been having heat!

Maybe it's in there and just hiding...

It's a Sunsatia Cranberry by Proven Winners.

The filler I can't identify is the tubular flower on the right.

I will need to go back to Paul & Sandy's to see what it is.

I remember that hummingbirds love it--and that's why I bought it.

Information on these varieties is available at Proven Winners web site

and BloomIQ.com  The photos are excellent and the information interesting.

If only I could remember the specifics through the summer.

But that's why I put it up here on the blog.

If I have trouble with a plant, I identify it here and search for some tips on growing it.

A Fairy Visited My Garden

A fairy named Lily came to visit today and set up the fairy garden under our deck.

My "worker bee" grandson, Robbie, had just put down the fresh mulch.

This is how she left it--and this is how it will stay until she flies over again.

She also did some watering in front.

She--and the flowers are growing so much.

At Jessica's Garden Center July 2013

 At Jessica's Garden Center July 2015

What a cute little garden fairy!