Garden Blogger's Bloom Day

A bit late.  Again.  Well, at least I'm posting at all!  But with the weirdly warm weather, there's a lot going on in the garden! 

I actually took these photos on March 1st, so many of these trees are starting to leaf out.  This is the latest addition to our tree family.  It's a Japanese Magnolia called "Jane."  It's only 5-6 feet tall now, and will eventually go over 12 feet. It lost its leaves in the heat and drought last summer, so I'm glad it has decided to come back. The flowers are lovely and slightly darker than some other Japanese magnolias (also called Tulip Magnolias) around.

A lovely orange throated Daffodil my mom shared with me.  I have several of these that I divided and moved so that they now circle around the bottom of Evan's tree.

Sigh...Camellia!  I can't remember what the common name is, unfortunately.  She's a beauty, though!  I've had this one for a few years, and it's still rather small.  Camellias tend to grow slowly, I believe.  Once they fill in they are spectacular!



Here's a little volunteer Corydalis lutea.  I just dug it up (it was growing on the stairs down to the backyard), and moved it into the butterfly/hummingbird garden.  I love the foliage and the dainty yellow flowers.

I purchased this lime green heuchera last year.  I moved a lot of things around and planted some new stuff in the butterfly garden.  I "installed" a bendy path.  It's not complete, but I love having a project!

I seem to have a lot of these solid white Daffodils.  I don't really feel like one can have too many Daffies. 

I've started some lettuce and sweet peas in the Veggie garden.  Hopefully we'll have more rain and less heat this summer and more success in this garden!

The Royal Star Magnolia.  This is also a Japanese Magnolia.  We planted this tree in 2007 honor of Duncan's birth the previous year.  It's growing nicely and puts on a lovely spring show.

Evan's Birthday Daphne

I planted this Daphne odora "Marginata" on the 1 year anniversary of my son Evan's death.  That was back in November, 2007.  It was a wee, little thing, but I had high hopes.  It's in a fairly shady spot for the summer months, but gets loads of sun in winter.  I wasn't sure how it would perform, honestly.  But, I can say now that I'm pleased!  It's slowly getting bigger and has loads of blooms.  It bloomed this year on Evan's birthday, which is part of the reason why I planted it in his honor.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

So, I'm cheating again.  I didn't take any of these photos on Garden Bloggers Bloom Day (the 15th of each month.)  I usually just go out and take some pics when I remember (usually the 16th or 17th) and post those.  These were taken on October 7th.  Some of the flowers are still in bloom and some are not.  The hydrangeas are not really in bloom, but their spent blooms from summer still look pretty.

I purchased this  Clematis H.F Young in the spring.  I planted it, watered it a bit, and pretty much forgot about it.  Late in summer I noticed that the foliage had died back (not unusual in some Clematis, but I was afraid I'd killed it!)  I watered it, and lo and behold, new foliage started emerging!  And then recently, a bud appeared!  Which developed into this beautiful bloom.  I was very excited!

I know I've taken more than a few pictures of my ground cover roses, but they've just been outstanding.  I'm interested to see what they look like over the winter months.

I think the birds need to get their act together and come have a snack already!  This American Beauty Berry is still chock full of berries!  Mom got me the pink one, that I hope to put in Evan's Garden, along with a new Bergenia (called Pigsqueak!)

Toad Lily (Tricyrtis) and Turtlehead blooming like crazy in Evan's Garden.  I think I may need to get some white Turtlehead (Chelone lyonii) to go with the pink.  I love Turtlehead.  Such a great little reliable plant.

A few Lorapetalum blooms have appeared since I pruned last month.

This Pineapple Sage tells it all. It.Is.Dry! But finally the heat seems to have left. I am so ready for Autumn!

I've been really impressed with my new groundcover roses. I haven't babied them at all. They seem to be black spot resistant, too!

The rose bush that I'd been thinking was Apothecary Rose, I now believe is a Knockout. I just don't think anything else would be this resistant to black spot and bloom all summer long. Great plant for the South!

Empty!

I babied this American Beautyberry Bush a bit since planting it last fall. But that was mostly when I had just planted it. It's done rather well in spite of the heat and drought this summer.

Toad Lily in Evan's Garden. I'm ashamed to say that I let the weeds take over most of the backyard this year. It was too hot and humid to get out there, and when I could, I had to worry about two little rambunctious kids. Very disappointing season this year.

Jewelweed. It's pretty, but I find that, yes, it is a weed!

Some of my oh so lovely weeds. My husband weed whacked and I tore out a whole bunch the other day. I can see Evan's Garden again! I can't believe I let it get so bad. Note to self: ALWAYS mulch in spring!

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day

My new little path leading through my Butterfly/Hummingbird Garden. The butterfly part is nice and neat. The hummingbird part is a little wild. The arbor was my Mother's Day gift this year. It looks pretty good from this angle. Because it's on a hill, however, from other angles it looks, as my mother said, a little wonky. It will probably have to go to a flatter place, unless I can make this spot flatter.



This is a volunteer Corydalis lutea. I have it in a pretty shady spot, and it has a few little blooms. I wonder how it would do with just a tad more sun.



Purple Coneflower




Closeup of Rudbeckia fulgida "Early Bird Gold."



Evan's Tree is still lookin' good!

Garden Visitor

(I'm post dating this, so I can do a little catching up. These photos were taken on July 6.)



We've recently had a couple of visitors in the garden. The first occasion included a mama and a baby deer, but this time, it was just the one. We all ran excitedly to the window to have a look.



Miranda said something like, "Look, an animal!" The "animal" heard our voices or sensed our movement, and peered in at us.



And then she decided it was time to go.

Early July Blooms

I love any plant (well, except aggressive weeds) that can put up with our long, hot (and oftentimes dry) summers. This annual Vinca has been up to the challenge of over a month of 90 degree temps and not enough rain. They've bloomed non-stop, except for the ones that don't get quite enough sunshine. A great plant for full sun in the Southeast.



Another trooper this year is Echinacea. This is Echinacea purpurea "Kim's Mophead Coneflower". They have been a workhorse this year. They're starting to look a little rangy, mostly because I've been slow about deadheading. And I have had a little mildew on the leaves in late summer. But that can be managed with a little milk and water spray. Fantastic plant for sun and drought.




And the old standby, Purple Coneflower (looks pink to me!) A native to the eastern US. A garden favorite. It's a clumping perennial that's not fussy and not a thug. And gorgeous. This and the Kim's Mophead have been covered in bees and butterflies this year.



Another garden favorite is Black Eyed Susan. This variety is "Early Bird Gold." It's a cultivar of Rudbeckia fulgida that blooms earlier and longer than other varieties. For me it's been a clumper, and not a seed spreader. I have not found it to be thuggish at all (unlike the R. fulgida "Goldsturm" in my garden.)





We call this Evan's Tree, because we planted it in honor of Evan's birth in 2004. It was just a tiny thing then, only about 18" high. But it had a nice shape. Now, this Crape Myrtle is a good seven or eight feet! I believe it's Lagerstroemia indica x faueri "Acoma." I didn't prune it at all this year (and I usually only snip a couple of inches off when I do prune.) Look at those flowers! Just beautiful.