"My Flowers"

When our house comes into view past the trees this is what you see, my woodland garden with Rhodies, two different Azaleas, a Camellia, little Wild Irises, Crocuses, Hens and Chicks, Peony, a Stargazer Lily that showed up after we moved the main one, Lily Of The Valley, Helleborus niger, better known as the Christmas Rose, and some decorative planters which I'll show later. The view in the next picture below is the front bank and actually below the woodland garden.

I didn't think I'd ever get this bank right but it finally made it after years of starting over. I've planted Lithodora, Campanula, Dianthus, Saxifraga, Snow In Summer, and Armeria on the side that gets more sun and Periwinkle or Vinca and Violas on the left end that is a bit shadier. These will all grow down over the garden ties that are rotting out so they don't show. This is finally so pretty when it's blooming. If it looks a little rough in spots it's because there was an 80 ft. fir tree that we lost in a storm before this picture was taken. As much as I hated losing that tree it's amazing how much better the flowers started doing without the competition.

Nobody ever loved this place until we came along (on my homepage I tell about the different characters that lived here like squatters and party boys). The contractor just shoved some earth back and built a house. So we had to move it back farther and we built a deck that has stairs coming off of each side. Then we put in stairs on each side of the bank so walking to the upper yard was easier. First we put in gravel that scattered everywhere then my husband was going to put in cement and I got an idea to plant both stairways in Thyme. You can see one set in the background. It has worked out great but somehow I ended up planting 2 different kinds. I wanted Wooley but it was a happy accident as the other blooms alot more and is brighter in color. Everyone loves my bloomin' stairs!
I've had to fight loggers and the stump grinder to keep the 2 old growth stumps you can also see in the background. I have another one on the side of the house. 2 of them have Vinca around them and on some years I've planted annuals on top. But now I've decided to take out the Vinca and do Campanula around them - alternated with the Delosperma cooperi hot pink Ice Plant. The purple and pink should make a really bright statement! We're a little higher up here and Ice Plant doesn't always make it through the winter so I keep it in my greenhouse and replant it each year.

Up at the top of the yard is a raised bed with Siberian Irises, Campanula, Hardy Fuchsias, Johnny Jump Ups, Violas, Lambs Ears, Snow In Summer, Vinca.

On the left is a Rose Of Sharon tree. It is a double bloom but one that I bought early on and don't know which one it is. On the right is another Rose Of Sharon Minerva. It has a beautiful bloom.

Left is my Mallow bush and the right picture is just a closer view of it's bloom.

I have 2 different Weigela bushes. The one on the left has a silvery green leaf with a lighter rosy/mauve colored bloom. The right one has green leaves and a darker rose colored bloom.

2 different Butterfly Bush blooms, the dark one on the right is called Black Knight.

This Dahlia is Blackberry Ripple and so much fun to watch bloom. Some will be all speckled, some will have a pie piece of dark wine, others will be half dark wine and I've had some that were all that color. You can do a whole bouquet with one flower!

2 more Dahlias. I use to know all their names but I had surgery in Oct. of 2007 before the first freeze so we couldn't dig them up - after that I couldn't and my husband was so busy taking care of me he couldn't either. Thank goodness they came back. In the meantime a friend gave me a bunch more and she didn't know the names of hers and now I'm a little confused about what is what. Hopefully I'll get them figured out. But thank goodness I made it a point of getting them dug up in 2008 because this side of the state was under water after so much snow melting and rain then record flooding!

This Dahlia might be called Pink Gingham and to the right is a pink Peony.

2 of our first flowers! These 2 Rhodies - purple on left and pink blooms on the right and the purple blooming one in the first picture have been with us almost as long as we've been together around 27 years.

My brilliant blue Lace Cap Hydrangea. I love the way their blooms are flat!

My newest Hydrangea Buttons & Bows - each petal is lined with white. On the right is my beautiful Clematis Josephine with her big pom pom in the center. I thought she was in the perfect location on some lattice with my climbing rose Veilchenblau on the other side but apparently she didn't like it there too much because she kept creeping and didn't go on to leaping. She's moved now and hopefully she'll be happier this year.

I didn't get a picture of my Clematis Purpurea Plena Elegans but do have the tag from it with a nice picture for now. It's smaller and darker than Josephine but hopefully it will cover my whole cast iron stand when she's full grown. On the right is Clematis Jackmanii doing very well.

I think this is a Stargazer Lily on the left and an Asiatic Lily on the right.

My first Stargazer Lily and on the right is a Spirea Little Princess bush.

On the left is a Ceonothus bush. Loaded with little blue balls and a million bees while they're blooming too. We have one on each side at the end of the driveway and do I ever hate to check the mail at that time. Wormwood on the right doesn't bloom but has a nice color for contrast with all of the dark Siberian Iris leaves behind it.

I love lopsided. There's lopsided all over the place around here. I've planted alot more in this flowerbed so this summer I'll take a new picture. The milk can has Campanula planted in it now and in the spring I add Ice Plant for a brilliant display of purple and hot pink. I've changed the wheelbarrow too - a different Campanula, Snow In Summer and I'll add the Ice Plant and probably some Lobelia to that also.

Links

My first link is just a wealth of helpful information on gardening. He covers everything you can imagine about gardening including pest control, dividing and transplanting, pruning, drying flowers, houseplants and which ones purify the air, right down to putting wood ash in your gardens. He has so much on this site I can't begin to list it all. Ed Hume's Website

This is a great site with much useful information. His flowers are to die for and you won't believe how big they are so I think you'll enjoy strolling through his gardens. And if ya want to grow Delphiniums, like I do, you might want to check this site out.
Gardening Alaska Style

Crafty Gardeners site has pictures of her gardens, wildlife and lots of cute crafty ideas for the garden or indoors when ya can�t get outside and work. She has one called �Tipsy Pots� I can hardly wait to do in the spring.
Crafty Gardener

This is a wonderful site if you like sedums. The pictures are great and it's the best I have found for information and identification.
SEDUMPHOTOS.NET

I�ve found this gardening forum to be one of the best. The people are friendly and if you need to identify a flower they are there to help. I�ve always gotten answers to the questions I�ve asked here. The Gardener�s Forum

Check out the National Gardening Association with a number of helpful things to read. There is a Garderner's Dictionary, a Weed Library and a Plant Finder among other things. National Gardening Association

Please take a moment to sign my guestbook so I'll know you were here

VIEW MY OLD GUESTBOOK

BACK

Get your free homepage from Geocities

<bgsound src="summerplace.mid" loop="infinite">
Theme From A Summer Place