Friday, July 18, 2014

Green and blooming

Unlike the past 2 or 3 tears, we have had rain this summer.  yay!  My garden is looking happy for the first time in a long while so I thought I’d share. 

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The tipsy pots!  Love these.

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Daisies and blanket flowers flanking a barrel full of celosia and purple sweet potato vine.  The yellow coreopsis behind the daisies started blooming after I took the picture.

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Daylilies.  Their bloom time is almost over now, but they have been splashing their color around for the last month or so.

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Purple fountain grass, coreopsis, coneflower.  Sweet potato vine, lilies and daisies.  Black-eyed Susan (very late to bloom this year, just starting).

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Phlox. Sunflower.

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Asiatic lilies.  One of these years we’ll manage to keep the rabbits from stripping all the leaves off the stems so these beauties might have a chance to multiply and come up in gorgeous bunches instead of single blooms.

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The swing set birdfeeder.  My son built the storage bench in the background with guidance from my dad last month.  The sunflowers are volunteers planted by the birds.  We pulled a lot of sprouts but left a few to fill in blank spots and bloom and make the birds happy.  They like to pluck the seeds out of the flower centers.

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Coreopsis, daisies and feather reed grass. The daisy clumps are all blooming heavily now, even prettier, which I suppose begs the question why I didn’t go out and take another picture…but it’s dark now, so these pictures will have to do for now.

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The castle, now a glorified planter.  By the end of summer the German ivy in the tower will be spilling halfway down the tower.

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Behind this volunteer sunflower is half the veggie garden. Honestly, the volunteer sunflowers look better and sturdier than the ones we planted on purpose.  Next year I think we’ll skip the seed packets and take our chances with the birdseed!

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You can see we have a bit of a gnome problem.  There must be at least half a dozen out there plotting to infiltrate the house.

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In past years the impatiens I planted around these hostas completely covered the ground with mounds of color.  I think the past years’ flowers have used up the nutrients in the soil and I didn’t add enough compost this spring to replenish it.  Note for next spring…

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Herbs and marigolds in early June, then late June.  And another gnome.

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Lilies and switch grass below the deck. Sweet potato vine, red salvia, annual vinca and marigolds in the boxes.  The sweet potato is finally spilling over like I wanted it to, unlike the sorry (or perhaps just thirsty) specimens from the last couple of years.

That’s about it.  There’s also a lovely little shaded corner with a small patio and Adirondack chairs, but the rabbits, and possibly some deer, have wreaked havoc there this year so it looks a little sorry.  I haven’t been inspired to pull out the camera to document the nibbling (well, more like feasting than nibbling).

How is your garden growing this summer?

9 comments:

  1. Your garden is beautiful. My flowers aren't doing so well, but my veggies are doing great!

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  2. So lush! What a pretty yard.

    I don't keep many plants, but my herbs are looking healthy, and I have a bunch of green tomatoes on my tomato plant.

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  3. Lovely flowers! I've been enjoying the flowers here in Oregon of other people since we are living in the camper. Hopefully, I will have some flowers and maybe even a small garden with tomatoes next summer.

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  4. Your garden is beautiful. I live in a condo so I don't have much garden space but I do have a birdhouse. Blue Birds used it this spring and now the wrens have taken over.
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/wheatens/14153491886/
    And I have a teensy tiny garden off my deck, If you look, you can see the bird house in the tree behind the fence.https://www.flickr.com/photos/wheatens/14503964519/

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  5. Your place looks like a park I'd like to visit! It's beautiful! I don't know what I've been doing or thinking, but I never bought a plant this year. All I've had blooming are the roses and phlox, which have been pretty, but that's all. We kept having late freezes and drought until finally the rains came often, and I just never got with the program. ---"Love:

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  6. What a gorgeous yard. All this rain does make for happy gardens. Did you make your tipsy pots? I think I remember seeing something somewhere on making them! I love it!

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  7. Third time's the charm...my previous comments using my iPhone got totally screwed up. I wanted to say that I love the purple fountain grass. Ours didn't do well as we had a harsh winter. I also love the tipsy pots! Did you create them? So unusual. Speaking of unusual (and ingenious!) using the castle as a oh-so-cool planter is, well... ingenious!! Love everything. Rabbits and especially deer and moose caused a lot of problems in our Alberta garden. Here in southwest Ontario so far so good, fingers crossed. Lots of colour inspiration for quilts in your lovely garden! In fact, the tipsy pots make me think of your Sparkling Trail quilt!

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  8. Beautiful garden pics. I love the tipsy pots. Will be doing this next year in my garden xxx

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  9. My weeds could compete with your flowers. Because I have as many weeds as you do beautiful flowers. Too bad my weeds aren't very pretty. They're mostly the maple seedling variety. But yours...sheesh, you make me tired to just look at all of that and think of the weeding necessary! But it is truly beautiful and I love how you've made use of all sorts of things that wouldn't be expected as planters.

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