I can't keep up with everything that is blooming in the garden this month. I am like a kid in a candy store! I am sure the neighbors must think this is the first house I have ever lived in my life. Every day something new comes out and I am out there morning, noon and night marveling at it and taking pictures. More often than not, it is something I have never seen before.
As a city girl for many years and a commuter business woman/mother of two for the rest, I haven't done any gardening since I left Connecticut in 1995. Then I had what everyone has up North: lilacs, azaleas, rhododendrons, pachysandra, a pear tree here, an apple one there: maybe forsythia, oh yes! and peonies and many ,many roses, always my favorite. Except for the latter, beautiful but a real pain in the neck, all those other plants sort of took care of themselves. A little fertilizer and pruning in the Spring and Fall and, voila! flowers in the Spring.
This is different, though. The previous owners obviously were serious gardeners, for the amount of perennials in both the front and back gardens is non stop...week, after week. I have a feeling it stops in about a month when the heat and the humidity become so unbearable that everything wilts, including me. The house had been empty for a long time and I am sure most of the plants have not been pruned or fertilized in awhile. As bushes finish blooming I fertilize and trim a little. Most of the pruning will be done in the Fall, hopefully by someone who knows what they are doing!
In the meantime, take a look...I am blessed!
I have no idea what this is. I think it came from a bulb and it just started blooming this week.
This is gorgeous! and separates our house from the neighbor's. No idea or how long it blooms.
Along the front of the house next to the path that leads to the front door I have New Guinea impatients in pots and on the ground...just in case.
This little fellow was having a banquet under my neighbor's oak tree until he saw me coming. See ya!
In the front garden by the street...no idea.
Day lilies...got one! (my daughter told me) These are under the cherry trees, tons of them, together with some beautiful evergreens and perennials yet to bloom.
Lantana! (my neighbor told me) by the side of the house.
The gardenias here have more blooms than any others I have seen. Welcome to the South. Eat your heart out Northeners!
More gardenias in the back
No words are necessary....
These we planted... just a few roses to see how they do.
I know what this is but I am having temporary amnesia
On the right of the path, we have planted oregano, two kinds of thyme, lavender and rosemary. The rest of the herbs are in pots on the deck.
My daughter's attempt at a wild flower garden...work in process.
My daughter came home one day last year with this birdhouse. Someone was selling them from the back of their trunk at the Walmart parking lot. It has now found a real home although, to date, no tenants. The azaleas are looking much healthier now that they have been fertilized.
Look at the details, the dog, cat, shoes and the work on the fireplace.
At long last, the hydrangeas. I hate blue flowers but have to admit they are gorgeous.
Not the intense blue we had by the lake but still....
See? we have cleared the back. Well, my daughter has. She did so much work for the last month!
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The king of the weeds, or perhaps a sunflower! BTW, those weed looking things in back are supposedly wild flowers, or so I hope. There are dahlias too somewhere.
These guys came out last week on the side of the house and they almost gave me a heart attack. I was weeding and pruning and picking up debris after a rainstorm when out of the corner of my eye.....this huge red flower!
I would love to hear from you and perhaps get a pointer or two on some of these blooms. I intend to do a lot of reading about perennials and by next Spring I promise you I will be rattling off their names like a real pro!
The sous chef wouldn't let me sign off without showing you her grass! It's come a long way and I am so, so proud, although I have to admit we have a great service that got rid of the weeds and fertilized. Next, aeration!...another work in process.
On a later note....look who just got busted!
All photos Lindaraxa
Platycodon, (blue), evening primrose (yellow), foxglove (tall pink) evergreens are boxwoods.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy both of your blogs. I found you through Reggie Darling.
What a lovely garden. I love perennials best, I think, for it's like old friends coming back and visiting year after year. Get yourself a good reference book with pictures that shows both common and latin names -- you've taken pictures so you can sit and look until you find the flower -- computers make it a lot easier than in the old days when you had to drag the book around!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your garden -- it IS lovely!
What a nice house you have moved to. How fortunate you are to have such lovely gardens, and how fortunate such gardens are to have you and your daughter to take care of them. Delightful tour, m'dear! Reggie
ReplyDeleteTo continue the plant identification...they little grey shrub with yellow button flowers is SANTOLINA CHAMAECYPARISSUS (or Cotton Lavender), the large red flower is a Canna.
ReplyDeleteYou are indead lucky to have moved into a mature garden.
Sandra and Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU!!
Reg and Martha,
ReplyDeleteYes, I am indeed very lucky. Now I have a new hobby (as if I needed another!)
And the painting of the front door had a happy resolution, too, I see. Best wishes!
ReplyDeleteJohn,
ReplyDeleteyes, one called compromise!
all that gardenia--I would be in heaven, yes, you are so lucky. And so funny, I love how you don't know the names of plants. As for myself, I couldn't grown a plant if I had too--just no green thumb at all. Give me fresh cuts.
ReplyDeleteJoseph,
ReplyDeleteWell, hopefully, we will have some "fresh cuts" from the wild flower "garden"!
You remind me that we gardeners should keep a book with listings of our plantings to pass on to the next gardener. I tease my husband that it may be his job to keep up my jungle if I die first. It terrifies him!
ReplyDeleteI'm a woody plant girl myself, but Allan Armitage (at the U of Georgia BTW) has written wonderful books on perennials. Enjoy your beautiful garden.
Home,
ReplyDeleteThe idea of a garden book is a good one. I am going to start one with drawings of what is what where. Thanks!
yes, the yellow is Evening Primrose (Oenothera) and one of my favorites! I brought some down from up North and it's thriving here...spreading all over.
ReplyDeleteGardenias: ah yes, I am in heaven to finally be able to grow them.
As you well know, I spend a lot of time gardening! But, aside from being time consuming, it gets SO expensive... I am forever buying something new I've read about, or someone has suggested.
So now I will HAVE to come down and see the garden in person, right??