Winter blahs(and its not even winter!)-share your pics!

I look at all your wonderful pictures and have to remind myself (as I look at my barren yard) that next year I will have the start of a beautiful garden to. I'm laying out the flower beds, spreading newspaper, cardboard, straw and leaves to prepare for the spring plant. I wish I could afford to have a landscaper come in and bring in tons of manure, but will just have to do what I can. I'm also preparing an area for composting. Using the techiques suggested by Dave's garden members for strawbale and lasagna gardening, I hope to have most of the 1/2 acre ready to plant. Once I finish this yard I get to move next door and start on that 1/2 acre. Most of the second 1/2 acre will be roses, esp OGR and climbers in the trees. Til than I'll keep enjoying your garden pictures. Thanks for brightening up my days.
Mary

Leaving the kitchen door is always a thrill in June and July when this is my greeting:

What a thrill Pirl
Mary!!! Be patient with the new gardens.I made a layeres spot and didnt wait longenough to start planting.
It was horrible digging thru sod.

Mary, that's how I installed most of my beds too, with the newspaper, cardboard, and organic material- it works beautifully, I'll never go back to double digging! OGRs are a great choice here in Kentucky, I grow very few modern roses any more. What kinds of trees are you growing climbers on?

Lazagna is the way to go.I took the above pic in March and started planting in late April.Never again( and besides DD says no more gardens)

Both lots maple trees on them. Plus one pine tree and a baby oak. One lot has two old apple trees that my sister says are dead. She wants to remove them. I want to grow roses or clematis on them. We are discussing it. BUT!!! As I am the one doing the gardening and work, I will win the discussion!!! Ha!ha!

Carolyn, your shot is very nice. Love that white Agastache with the veronica. Veronica is a plant I keep overlooking. Thanks for the idea.

Polly, Your Lilacs smell even through this computer!! Your Hydrangeas border is just beautiful. Does it stay all white all summer long? Gemini is right, the overall effect of your gardens is serene and peaceful

Burn, Your gardens and pond are very colorful and lovely. That tall dark hedge makes a wonderful background for showcasing your vibrant blooms. Love the birdhouse.

jmorth, your photos and plantings are always spectacular. What is that green foliage growing in the center of your lilies?

Weeze, lovely Kitty. What is the green backdrop behind him? Love that green & yellow Hosta.

Gemini, That Rudbeckia & Lilies just reeks of sunshine. It must have been quite an experience for you to switch to your wonderful sunny gardens after shade gardening. Your enthusiasm for it definitely shows in all of your plantings. I have the opposite experience.

Mary, Welcome and good luck with all of your efforts. I, too, garden under a lot of maples and an apple.

Pirl, Your patio and Lily planting is just beautiful. I saw a gorgeous photo of yours last night in PF of lily, Sumatra. Is it as red as it looks?

The front section of my road side bed gets some afternoon sun, which Is where I grow most of my daylilies. I've since added some blue Penstemons and Salvias to mix in with the daylilies and echinaceas.

Love the daylilies, stormyla. I've marked some areas to put in a daylily bed. Now I'm looking for the lilies to put in the bed.
Mary

Keep your eyes open for sales after July,if you can wait that long.

Pirl, I love the way your Lilies are looking right at you when you walk out the door- a thrill for sure!

Stormy, those Daylilies and Echies are gorgeous together- I have such a fondness for those sunrise/sunset colors, especially combined with blues. The Penstemons and Salvias will be a great contrast in color and form.

stormyla, regarding your query on foilage:

gemini, you've a discerning and accurate eye for detail...seeing the crocosmia signature in all those rudbeckias made me go back and look hard myself for although I knew there was 'Lucifer' in that area I'd not known it was in that particular pic.

pirl, love those lilies...

Such gorgeous gardens....

Arlene - if that beautiful sight that you have was outside of my kitchen door, I would never make it any further than the back stoop. Your lilies are gorgeous.

Gemini - that clem is Hendryetta. She got really big last year, so I am kind of wondering what she will do this year. She doesn't cling like the other clems and is tied onto a smallish obelisk. I believe the clem that starts with a 'v' that you are thinking of is viticella - I have pictures of viticella somewhere...

Mary - I would really like to see your pictures with the blue Penstemons and Salvias. For some reason I have had difficulties with penstemons, but I am going to keep trying....

Venu - love your cat, he looks so stoic.

Burn - I really like what you have planted around your pond. It makes me think I should revisit the plantings around my pond.

Polly - what kind of hydrangea is that in your photo? I really love hydrangeas and would like to put in more...

J - the rudebeckia with the Crocosmia Lucifer is stunning....

Stormy, the green in back of the cat is Agastache Blue Fortune. Very easy, but the bees swarm. I moved it this fall to a less frequented area. Your combination of ecchies and DLs is gorgeous. What a great color marriage.

Neal, the little plants in front of the Hostas are mukdensias. I have not had much luck with them. They seem to survive but never give me what was prosmised, which is great fall color. They peter out in the heat of August and only reappear the next spring.

Mary, best of luck with your gardening undertaking. Clems are a love of mine, and roses once were. I agree with Jo Ann and Neal that lasagna is the best and easiest way to conquer the earth, but it must be given time to do it's thing.

Jmorth, I love crocosmia, but it doesn't seem to love me. What are your secrets?

Pirl, Pirl, Pirl..Those lilies must be the best alarm clock in the world. Who would want to sleep in when that beautiful display awaits?

Here's a clem shot holding the camera as far over my head as possible, looking down, without getting a ladder.

Carolyn, my hydrangea hedge is ---from the left---Pink Diamond, Limelight and The Swan. Behind the hyrdrangea hedge is a deck attached to the kids playhouse. The hydrangeas were so packed with various bees this year the kids could hardly go on their deck.

Beautiful pictures everyone!

Neal, I see the daylily! Lovely picture. It's the perfect setting for that daylily. It's happy there, I can tell.

I'm working on a hydrangea hedge. I just ordered 7. They were on SALE :)

I love the tree peonies also, but they're devilish to get going.

Well, which hydrangeas did you get, Louise? We have to get the paniculatas here. I envy you that can grow the pretty blue or pink ones. We can also grow the oakleaf, but none of the oakleaf or paniculatas come in that pretty blue. I do have one blue one that seems hardy here, Dooley.

I love the tree peonies, but it's a lot of money, for something I would probably kill. You test them first, please, LOL. The one pictured is beautiful!

I ordered Dooley, along with Midnight Duchess, Izu No Hana, Kiyosumi ( I didn't want the Iris to be lonely with the Japanese names) Penny Mac, Mme. Emile Mouillere and Little Henry. On a sad note, I ordered from Rarefind and found out that the owner was recently deceased. He was a great guy and a lot of fun. I'm sure the Rhodie and Azalea lovers will miss him terribly. Along with many others.

My tree peonies are in test status. It will be probably be 5 years before I can weigh in on their success..or failure.

Nice selection. I've considered Penny Mac, I understand it's quite hardy.

I once saw a show on one of the gardening channels on Penny McHenry and her hydrangeas. Here's a pic of her entrance.

http://hydrangeas.org/images/mcHenryfront.JPG

http://hydrangeas.org/images/mchenry_entrance.JPG

http://hydrangeas.org/images/mchenry_home.JPG

I'm so glad you got some friends for the irises, LOL.

Sorry to hear about the man from Rarefind. I understand it was a great nursery. Will the nursery continue?

What a display of Hydrangeas.Really stunning.

A May album
http://picasaweb.google.com/jgentle4/May2009

Lovely Jo.

You have some pretty bearded irises there. I didn't know you had any of those. And you grow alliums, you stinker. I can't grow those. I've tried and tried, and I think my soils is just too light. My best friend grows the most gorgeous ones. And she lives about 50 miles to the east. You're 50 miles to the west, LOL.

Nice Jo Ann! Is the big yellow one a peony? I'd like to get one!

Polly, the nursery will go on. That is some hydrangea hedge! Some of those mopheads are bigger than their heads!!

Those Alliums arent the big deal they seem.The leaves are huge and spread all over the place.The plants dont dissapear until July,hard to fit annuals in.
The TBI thats in the album is DD's she brought it from the other place.
We hold our breath every year due to borer ,we never know when it will strike.We spray but doesnt seem to do much good.
The yellow peony is a peony tree Motherday gift last year.
I have never owned one and didnt have room at the old house.

Wow! Those Hydrangeas are stunning!

Weeze, great sale find!

I found a wide shot of the pink bed from late May or early June.

wonderful

Thanks for your nice comments
Jmorth love those Lilies and Rudbeckia shots.
Stormyla, those daylilies are gorgeous. Nice rich color.
Pirl very nice display. I wouldn't mind sitting in that corner with the lilies.
The kitty has a very nice environment to stroll in, Venu.
Ge1836, your lazagna garden bed, looks very promising. lovely outlined of it.
Enjoying seeing, what others have done with their garden.
Gemini_sage, the bloom you asked the name of, at the edge of my pond is a lingularia.
Here's a closer picture of it. Not the best, because of the bug damaged on the leaves. It's my first year with it.

A flowerbox with Lisanthus and Million Bells.

This is the Lazagna garden in September.
Spring will bring lots of plants and JI's and Lilies.

Nice flowerbox Burn!!

I'm so glad to hear Rarefind will continue. I need some more azaleas, too.

Neal, which dianthus is it in the pink garden? Stunning.

Talk about promise for spring, Jo!

pink garden looks great

Thanks, burn. That Ligularia is showier that I realized. Gorgeous planter, love the Lisianthus in there!

Polly, I'm pretty sure those are the common Dianthus gratianopolitanus 'Bath's Pink'. They're prolific, would you like some? They're so easy to start, I just yank pieces out and stick 'em in the dirt- that's all they require.

Yes, thank you Neal.

Polly, I'll plan to send you as much as you can use in spring :-)

I found a closer pic of one of the heirloom Daylilies, with Rudbeckia, Yarrow, and Heliopsis.

The above Daylilies reside in my "Salsa bed". Here's a pic of it in June. I'm kinda torn about the Poppies in there, they're a kind of pinkish red, and I thought they were going to be orange. They're so pretty I've left them, because I keep forgetting to save seed and grow them somewhere else!