Seq- amazing what you have fit into a quarter acre , that Iris is striking!
thanks greenthumb, lost tag, it is cute!
thanks coleup, that is one of the three clumps
FIRST FLOWERS MEMORIAL DAY 2015
Thanks! Most times it takes a shoe horn but they fit ;-)
The calochortus is supposed to be hardy to zone 6 but you know how that goes.
Sally I like your blue man group Lol.
I have missed the best, early blooms on my roses. Too busy gardening..
Now they look a bit heat-strained..."shopworn"...
1--Sweet Surrender
2--Sweet Surrender--trio. This rose's blooms are HUGE!
3--Climbing Rose--"Autumn Sunset'
4--"Proud Land'
The Calochortus flowers are really interesting, Jeff. There are so many varieties of Calochortus! I don't think I have ever seen this plant.
Beautiful roses, Gita, especially the 'Sweet Surrender'.
A few petunia blossoms.
That autumn sunset is beautiful Gita!
Dinner that bed looks great too!
Donner, I love that bed!
'Autumn Sunset' is also my favorite rose from that group.
Cam, petunias are my favorite annuals. I tried calibrachoa for a couple of years, but petunias are still my favorite for hanging baskets. The ones I got from critter at the swap are doing beautifully.
Donner after all these years, I think this is the first big overview
shot I have seen of your garden! Most of the time you are posting bloomb closeups. How beautiful and lush!!!
SSG, yes, Petunias bloom so profusely and come in so many vibrant colors. I have then nearly every year.
WOW Donner, how lovely, I think it may be the first wide shot of your garden I have seen, also.
Donner's pic Blew me away!
Me, too. Sure is a beautiful and lush looking yard.
Donner, it's so gorgeous I wish I could follow that path and see what's next!
What is the tree with the white flowers? Some kind of Dogwood?
I have to find a better picture of the "Autumn Sunset" climbing rose.
The pic. I posted was a bit out of focus....I know I have better ones.
It is getting on in years--some canes dying off....not much new growth...;o(
You can see from these pixtures how nice she looked way back when.
The gteatest asset ti this rose is the change in colors from bright orange to
soft yelow as thew blooms open up. Hence--"Autumn Sunset"
OK. here...from assorted years...
1--May 2006
2--May--2009
3--May-2010
4--May--2012
5--May--2013
Thank you all for the compliments. I am probably a better point-and-shoot photographer than a gardener :o). The garden looks lush in the picture, but there is a garage on the left, a driveway on the right, and lawn behind it. The mysterious path, Muddy, leads to the front door of the house. Teehee.
The tree with white flowers is a Chinese Dogwood which needs pruning badly :o)
Donner you are too modest! Who ever selected and placed the elements that give the composition you pointed and shot and shared did a mighty fine job!
Beautiful rose, Gita!
hahaha. Every closeup from my garden has a discarded nursery pot on the left and a weed on the right...
Haha you're too funny Sally.
We grow quite a few species and cultivars of Digitalis since we like them and the deer don't. These are perennial species coming into bloom:
1 - D. grandiflora
2 - D. ferruginea 'Gigantea'
3 - D. fontanesii
4 - D. lutea
5 - D lutea close up.
Some of our milkweeds have started blooming;
1 - Asclepias purpurascens - Purple Milkweed
2 - Asclepias exaltata - Poke Milkweed
Other flowers:
3 - Penstemon calycosus
4 - Clematis viorna - Vase Vine, Leather Flower - not flashy, but a native I grew from seed, producing its first bloom - exciting for me.
5 - Campanula 'Elizabeth'
Pat wants some photos that are not close-ups:
1 - Clematis 'Marmori'
2 - Campanula persicifolia 'Takion Blue'
3 - Blephilia ciliata - Downy Wood Mint
Up close again
4 - Achillea millefolium var. roses 'Island Pink' - Pink Yarrow
5 - Oenothera macrocarpa - Evening Primrose
how amazing and beautiful!A woodland wonderland!!
Thanks, Sally. You can be sure though that just out of camera range are both the weeds and the discarded pots, lots of both.
not to mention the occasional yard art installation...hahahaha
I have a campanula 'Takion Blue' too, and it is an amazing color. I really like it. The downy wood mint that GT posted and has given to me for my garden is blooming now too. Looks like a pagoda with the little bubble of blooms stacked on the stems.
LOL! Very funny, Sally.
Beautiful woodland garden, David! Love the Digitalis! They look beautiful when planted in large groups.
I have a question about woodland settings. The soil is normally very dry because of tree roots. Also, trees keep rain water from getting to the ground. Do you find it difficult to grow plants among trees? Or did you have to create small garden areas suitable for planting flowers? I am thinking about relocating some shade loving plants to the woods, but the soil is so dry that I am not sure if the plants will grow there.
This message was edited May 31, 2015 9:30 AM
Wow, you have milkweed blooming already!
That Takion Blue really is gorgeous. I can't wait for the Elizabeth I got from you to start blooming :)
That campanula persicifolia is awesome! I might have to get me one of those :-)
Donner, it depends on the particular plants you want to relocate. Many shade loving plants can tolerate woodland conditions because, after all, where do you find shade in the natural world? Some plants require greater amounts of moisture and need a wet woodland setting. In fact, once I get caught up, I have a large pond liner I will finish installing to create a shady bog.
While we have gardens out in the open where most of our bloomers reside, we also have large swaths along woodland margins and completely beneath the trees devoted to shade loving plants. Due to subsoil from excavation of the basement being spread over much of the ground close to the house our soil is less plant friendly than it would otherwise be. Despite this, our only modification is amending planting holes with compost, used potting mix, etc. In good years, a mulch of leaf mold compost is spread on the beds, eventually enriching the soil.
These woodland "gardens" tend to look incomplete due to holes from early spring ephemerals, bulbs, and slowly emerging ferns, of which we have many.
Some more shots, the last is our part-sun bog, well established at this point, but some plants still emerging.
Davis and Pat---
Everything in your gardens, and the way you have planted them--spells....
PEACE and HARMONY. ! A reflection of your life.
My Astilbes, from the $3 each purchase I made and shared with some of you,
have spikes with bloom buds on them. The ones I gave a pile of to you and others...
I also LOVE that you both always use "WE" when talking about what you do in
your garden. You two are like two peas in a pod. Just wonderful!
I can't wait to see them in bloom. The magenta red blooms so impressed me last year.
******************************************
And--an AHA moment.....My "Yaku Prince " Rhodo is NOT dead!
Glad I did not pull it out and toss it as some of you suggested. Patience paid off.
Many of the stems are gonners--but there are new stem shoots and leaves emerging
from the lower stems. YES!!!! Hope is eternal--and so is biding my time. >/b>
Gita
Thank you, Gita. They are not the typical garden with lawns and lots of order by any means.
The 3 Yako Prince we got from you last year are also surviving and have new growth, but certainly have areas where there was winter damage. Glad yours is hanging in there as well.
Very nice looking garden space David and Pat. It really does look peaceful. I'm very interested in this idea of using a pond liner to artificially create a bog garden. That is very interesting. How deep do you dig to put in the pond liner?
Azalea from Paul that I picked up at the gift table at last year's swap. The flowers look like roses.
Two oakleaf viburnums. The first one is from Jan. I transplanted it multiple times and almost killed it. It's finally blooming!
Snow Queen hydrangea. It's gotten so big this year, I couldn't fit the whole thing in the frame.
Arrowwood viburnum. It really needs a pollinator but I can't find a dwarf one.
Beautiful shrubs, SSG. The viburnums are quite interesting looking and sure look healthy.
The pond liner that is going to be used for the bog and also the one that was used for the less shady spot are those rigid liners, so they are dug in just as they would be if they were going to hold water instead of dirt. Depth is determined by the shape of the liner.
SSG, I'd say you need to take Paul out to lunch considering how gorgeous the blooms are on that Azalea ! ;) Wow, very nice !
Yeah, that azalea is pretty gorgeous! Nice oakleaf viburnum; I didn't know there was such thing.
Pat, do you have to run a hose out to it and fill it up occasionally or just let nature do the work?
Oops oakleaf hydrangea not viburnum! I get distracted when typing on the phone.
I do wish I had a maple leaf viburnum in my garden.
Yes, that was a wonderful gift from Paul. :)
Thank you, David. Guess soil improvement is the first thing to do before I can move the plants. Hopefully, the area will get less dry over time after more mulch and compost are applied.
Very nice oakleaf hydrangeas, SSG. Jan gave me one a few years back, but it was destroyed by deer :o(.
We don't normally use a hose on the bog garden, and plans are to run one of the downspouts so that it drains into the bog rather than next to the patio. Most of the downspouts go underground via pipe and drain a good bit away from the house. Because the roof is composed of 120 triangles (it's a geodesic dome), there is a lot of water coming off it when it rains.
I was confused about the oak leaf viburnum too. Flowers still look wonderful!