Flowerbeds and Slope Tour

Start with the slope:

Alliums

When I planted these alliums, I thought they would bloom at the same time as the lupines and provide a nice complement, but the lupines haven't bloomed yet. The lupines are close, though--should be within the next week or two. So I guess it depends on how long these last. They sure are pretty, though.

Incidentally, they are blooming at the same time as the irises, so maybe I need to move some irises up to the slope close by.

The pale purple is pretty, but I LOVE that deeper shade of purple.

Surprise, surprise!

Daffodils, Lupines, & Tulips

I rescued this stem from the patch of daffodils between the garden and the aspen.

They had broken off. Aren't they cute, though?

4 little blossoms on one stem; very fragrant, too.
I'm guessing dog damage, but can't say for sure.

Big bushy lupines

These tulips are providing a nice bit of eye-catching color on the slope.

The pink tulips are HUGE and practically luminescent.

I'm definitely wanting to add more this fall.

Blueberry Bushes

As far as I can tell, this one is dead. :(

No leaves to speak of yet.

These two look pretty good--at least they're putting out some new leaves.

I thought the red on top was new growth, but it is not growing any leaves, so maybe it is dead...?

I'm thinking I may need to get up there with a bleach solution for my shears and snip all those red tips off. Since that's pretty much all there is on the one bush (see above), if they are dead, then that whole bush has to go.

This blueberry is actually looking pretty good, compared with how it ended up the year.

Again, red tips with no leaves. Hmmm...

Behind the Shed

one more stray tulip

Lilac bush showing same leaf issues as the blueberries last year: brown crinkly margins around each leaf. I'm wondering now if it could be due to the clay soil somehow.

I'm also contemplating transplanting this lilac elsewhere.

Back Flowerbed

Finally got the raspberries staked.

Rather than tying individual canes to one post, I put the posts up roughly in 3 rows, with string between them to hold up the canes. I guess it remains to be seen if this helps production or picking. There are lots of blossoms coming, so it should be a decent crop this year.

This job would have been much easier before all the canes leafed out.

Of course, that was right when baby A. came along, so not possible this year, but note to self for next year: early spring is the time to stake--probably right after pruning, in fact.

Irises blooming.

They are super tall--I had forgotten how tall.

Between 3 and 4 feet including the blooms.

You can see them almost all blooming here behind Becca.

This picture was taken about a week later than the first two.

I am determined to get this flowerbed under control this year!

Garden all planted

Took advantage of warm weather on Memorial Day and got the rest of the garden in!

I watered it, then in the evening it rained. Perfect timing!

Whole garden

Bottom terrace
I only did 5 tomato plants this year. None of them are Cougar Red, because I missed the plant sale at the University. Better luck next year, I guess.

Here's what I did put in:
Far corner: 'Brandywine' Heirloom tomato, matures in 75-100 days, indeterminate.

Along back wall: 'Early Girl', indeterminate

In front of EG: 'Oregon Spring', matures in 58-65 days, determinate.

2 small plants furthest right: 'Sungold', matures in 57 days (our favorite cherry tomato)

Instead of putting marigolds all in one spot, this year I interspersed them with the tomato plants more. Since I have these nice cages ($6 each!), I'm hoping there will be room around the bottoms of the stems for the marigolds to shine through.

Closeup of bottom terrace, far left corner.

This picture was mainly to show the Rosemary I planted in the very corner:

Rosmarinus 'Roman Beauty'

I'm hoping that the corner there will be a somewhat protected location, that will allow the rosemary to survive the winter. Ht 12", sp. 18", hardy to 10 degrees F.

Also, top right of this picture (above the oregano) you can see the 2 little basil plants I put in: Basil 'superbo,' Classic Italian Basil.

Not much to see here, just the 2 hills of cucumbers, both 'Bush Pickle' variety. Matures in 48 days, fruit size 4". As you can see, 3 plants per hill. We may be overflowing with cucumbers if they all produce well.

I have one hill of zucchini (planted 3 seeds) next to these cucumbers, and a full 1/3 of the bed given over to it. I'm sure it will suck up all the space I give it and then some.

Finally got the twine up for the peas to climb.

I have a few actually reaching for the second string already.

I decided not to replant the back row. Instead I put some flower seeds in--climbers with orange flowers and green centers...thunbergia? something like that. If they come up (seeds take 15-25 days to germinate!) I'll go get the seed packet so I have the real name listed.

Top terrace

2 peppers, both 'Italian Yellow Bell', which I tried last year and wasn't super impressed with. I may put some sort of warmth-holding ground cloth around them, though. 65 days (supposedly).

Yep, a bunch of dirt.

So the rest of the top terrace I planted with sunflowers ('Waaooh') in a row along the wall, and 3 corn plants in front of each, for a total of 12 corn.

Then a section of the purple green beans from last year: 'Royal Burgundy' I believe is the exact type. I was going to plant other bush beans, but my only other bean seeds left were pole beans, and I just didn't have it in me this year to rig up a trellis for pole beans. Maybe next year.

I bought some new nasturtium seed that I plan to plant all along the very front as well. The 'Fordhook Favorites Mix', which are supposed to be fragrant climbers. Hooray!

I just need to rub a nail file on the seeds, then I'll get them planted. (Advice from the back of the seed packet--maybe my other seed didn't germinate very well because I didn't score the seed...?)

Flower Pots

This year I'm trying a pink and yellow color scheme for the pots.

This one has 2 geraniums: the light pink you can see blooming, plus one "Raspberry Twizzle"

Also, 2 'Madness Yellow' petunias.

I may still add one more something between the pink geranium and those petunias. 

This smaller pot has 1 'Raspberry Twizzle' geranium, 2 'Madness Yellow' petunias, and 1 'Royal Iced Cherry' Verbena, which is supposed to be about the same shade of bright pink as the geranium.

This one out front has the 1 pink geranium, and one 'Twister Pink' Verbena (white edges and pink middles). I bought a yellow Calibrachoa (looks like small yellow petunias) to add to this pot.

Then at Walmart yesterday, I got 2 Martha Washington geraniums, with oak-like leaves and the huge blooms. They are so pretty! But I'm all out of pots. So I may either put them in the back flowerbed or buy another pot...hee hee.

New! Front Flower Bed LOVE

So Jason got some composted topsoil delivered (2 yards), filled up the bed, and even gave me a gift card to buy flowers for Mother's Day. I have been loving every minute of this!

I don't usually get to design and plant a whole flowerbed at once.

Overall info:

* the bed will get full sun, like our veg. garden out back

* color scheme: deep pinks, deep purple, and yellow, with accents of white, lighter pinks and purples, and little bit of blue.

* attractive to bees and butterflies (I'm sure hoping!) I planted many things with that in mind, at least.

* mostly perennials, with some annuals filling in the gaps for now.

* no bulbs so far, except for the Asiatic daylilly transplanted from the back slope. May add those later...we'll see.

There are probably about 10 pictures too many on this post. Oh well. I couldn't resist.

Overview

I put in 3 peony bushes as the focal point, right where the wall starts to curve back toward the house.

I splurged on the big one in the middle (already has several buds about to bloom), then got smaller ones for each side.

 Left side, close to road

Right side, close to driveway 

What's in it, left to right:

These top view pictures might be a little confusing, since I was standing above the bed, but I think they show spacing really well.

far left, top view (facing toward street)
Top, l-r:
Salvia 'Rose Queen': transplanted from back slope
Candytuft [Iberis sempervirens]
Daylily [Hemerocallis] 'Stella D'Oro'
burgundy colored Asiatic daylillies: transplanted from back slope
Dianthus

Bottom, l-r:
Forget-me-not [Myosotis] 'Victoria Indigo-blue'
Shasta Daisy 'Becky' [Leucanthemum superbum] x 2
Purple coneflower 'Ruby Star' [Echinacea purpurea 'Rubinstern']

far left, front view: dianthus, coneflower, A. daylillies, daylilly

top view

top, l-r:

Daylily [Hemerocallis] 'Fragrant Returns'

Dianthus

Lobelia 'Riviera Springtime Blues' mix

Salvia 'Rose Queen' x 2 (same as mentioned above)

bottom, l-r:

Salvia 'May Night'

deep purple viola

Phlox 'Peacock Purple Bicolor' [Phlox paniculata] x 2

(same Forget-me-not mentioned above)

front view: salvia, forget-me-not, phlox, lobelia, dianthus

dianthus, salvia, daylilly

 

toward the middle, top view

top, l-r:

English Daisy 'Galaxy Mixed' [Bellis perennis]

petunia

purple verbena

white alyssum ?

blue lobelia

bottom/middle, l-r:

pansy

Peony 'Top Brass' [Paeonia lactiflora]

Forget-me-not

Purple coneflower 'Ruby Star' x 2

yellow viola

Salvia (pink color--can't remember official name)

front view

luscious purple verbena

LOVE this plant!

one more front view, just left of middle

verbena, petunia, and English daisies, with forget-me-not, Peony 'Top Brass', and pansies behind

middle, front view

Peony 'Shirley Temple' (the big one!)

 Paeonia 'Paula Fay' (on the right, much smaller)

English Daisy 'Galaxy Mixed' [Bellis perennis] x 3

purple Alyssum between E.daisies

 

just right of center, top view

clockwise, from top left:

white bacopa (should cascade over wall)

dianthus

purple wave petunia

lobelia x 2

Peony 'Paula Fay'

deep purple viola

forget-me-not

Phlox 'Peacock Lilac' [Phlox paniculata]

light purple viola

Salvia 'East Friesland' [Salvia superba]

looking toward middle, from driveway

dianthus, bacopa, phlox, salvia, violas 

Far right side of bed, l-r:

Salvia (mentioned above)

Alyssum 'Rosie O'Day' (pink)

Shasta Daisy 'LaCrosse' [Leucanthemum]

petunia

Daylily 'Stella D' Oro'

bicolor violas

 end of the line

bicolor violas, burgundy violas, interspersed with alyssum

Spring Veggies Update

Going strong!

 Peas coming along. I decided not to replant the back side, along the wall.

At least for now.

Carrots

All the potatoes are up, finally! 

Time to start filling the dirt in some more. 

Onions growing tall. 

Overview.

Tulips & Daffodils

The small green bush in front is the mockorange.

So we've got yellow and pink here. So far the one that has bloomed by the mailbox is white with pink edges. I may move it back here with these. We're putting in a sidewalk, so all my bulbs around the mailbox will need to be moved. Oh well--I knew it was a possibility. Plus, I will gain the space between our new front wall and the sidewalk all the way along for planting. I'm excited!

I couldn't resist one more shot of these beauties.

I think each year I should add more tulips along the house, until it fills up all that open space back there. Even if I put in bigger shrubs, it wouldn't hurt to have something back there each spring. And it would probably help keep the weeds down.

These daffodils are the ones on the slope, just next to the garden beds.

This gorgeous yellow one has been brightening up the view for at least a week now.

So far, the others that have bloomed in this patch are smaller and white.