Fall Colors out Front

My front flowerbeds are filled with delightful colors, even once the flowers have gone.

 

The front porch bed.

Oakleaf hydrangea, I knew I could count on you for some gorgeous fall leaves!

Snowball bush, with peony and Echinacea seedheads in the background.

Love it!

Boxwood, rose, and other foliage

Barberry

The guillardia are hanging on, and those lovely red tones blend in just fine.

Catmint seedheads, with purple ninebark in the background.

 

 

Plus a bonus: strawberry foliage up in the garden

 

If our winter is as mild as the weatherman claims it will be, we will be enjoying these colors for a few more months!

Front Flowerbeds: Pockets of Pretty

 

With the unusually hot June and July we've had, the front flowerbeds have started dying off in some places. It's easy to tell which flowers are the more self-sufficient types!

I have tried to get out and water once or twice a week, but for some that hasn't been nearly enough.

So I have little pockets of pretty here and there.

Hey, I'll take it!

 

Mums started blooming early, and the coneflowers certainly don't mind the heat.

My potentilla is as tough as nails--don't let those diminutive dainty flowers fool you!

The purple bellflower, which hasn't done much for the last 2 years, finally perked up and started filling in its spot.

We've got a glimpse of phlox, a little bit of salvia, and those coneflowers in the background.

See, from this angle it's lovely! 

I'm not sure what's going on right here FRONT AND CENTER, but the dead corkscrew rush and dying peony are not what I want to see in the spotlight!

 

This is a strange angle, in an attempt to get a picture of my William Shakespeare rose blooming again.

This pocket is more interesting than pretty, with the coneflower heads and dried drumstick alliums.

This salvia, which I'm fairly certain is the 'Rose Queen' variety, is kind of a thug. However, it's so pretty and long-lasting, that for now I'm letting it do its thing.

The seedlings are easy to pull out come spring. 

Lamb's ears with dead columbine.

Just keeping it real.

Oooh, look!

We found another little pocket of pretty!

Burgundy guillardia in the front with a few more coneflowers in the back.

Heat? What heat?

[Water? What water?... wait--that's my cue!]

Despite the catmint blooms being mostly seedheads by now, the bees are still determinedly going about their business. Next year I will probably cut it back much sooner.

Ah yes. The 'Quickfire' Hydrangea.

A little loveliness all by itself.

 

Back Flowerbed, Mid-August

 

This, friends, is the face of neglect.

This poor flowerbed needs some attention and has not gotten it for several weeks.

 

I've watered it...occasionally.

It has been hot and smoky and can I whine a little more?

 

This post can serve as my checklist for what needs to happen out there.

 

Still haven't cut off the dead rose branches.

Also some serious weeding needs doing.

More weeding.

Cutting back those dead poppies would also help.

Despite everything, look at this!

My Abraham Darby rose is in bloom again, as are the penstemon and yarrow.

 

In another week or two the sedums will be blooming, which will help spark this area more, as well.

 

Perhaps this week I'll make it out there for a fall tidying-up session.

Then I can post some "after" photos. :)

June Bloom Day: Roses, daylilies, & salvia

 

Welcome to my little corner of the earth!

I garden in Eastern Washington state, USA, zone 5b.

We have been having an unusually warm summer so far. My flowers haven't seemed to mind!

Now to just keep them watered.

 

I'll start out back:

 

Mockorange is loaded!

I love the height these lilies have added behind it, as well.

I'm pretty sure these are 'Rosellas's Dream.'

This is their 3rd summer, and the tallest they've gotten yet.

 

Continuing the pink and white theme back here at the moment, is this rapidly growing clump of hardy geraniums. I'm impressed how they are holding their own amongst everything else.

 

English rose 'Abraham Darby.'

To say I was excited to see this one blooming would be a vast understatement.

I just put it in a few months ago, and while it's only about 18" high, it has had 6 or 7 blooms on it this year! They smell fantastic. As it continues to grow, I'm planning to train it up a trellis.

 

Moving to the back slope:

I've got a couple of these pink lupines blooming!

I didn't expect them to this first year.

I put them in to help fill in this ugly dirt patch up at the top of the vegetable garden (courtesy of last summer's wall-building project.) May their seeds spread far and wide! 

 

Pink clover and wild lupines

 

2 shades of wild purple lupines.

I wouldn't mind if the whole slope was taken over by lupines.

I let every one grow up that I can.

In fact, there are 2 growing right now in amongst my vegetable garden. I'm going to let them get big, then transplant them up.

 

Front flowerbeds: 

Salvia, English rose 'William Shakespeare' about to bloom, and daylilies in front.

This salvia bush looks like a hybrid, with 2 colors. Actually, the pink in front is a volunteer from the other side of the flowerbed.

Asiatic daylilies and salvia.

Another 'William Shakespeare,' this one blooming already.

More daylilies, salvia, and catmint in the far background.

Oh, and one little miniature rose.

The blue delphiniums in back are new this year.

I hope they survive to grow tall for me next summer.

Up on the top terrace, hardy hydrangea buds are just starting to pop.

I really like how they open a few at a time.

 

As you may have noticed, I really love pinks and purples. :)

I hope you enjoyed this little tour.

Come again soon!

To see more beautiful blooms, visit: May Dreams Gardens.

April End of Month Views

Hello, friends!

I'm linking up to Helen's End of Month view meme, which can be found here:

https://patientgardener.wordpress.com/2015/04/30/end-of-month-view-april-2015/ 

 

Let's get started, shall we?

 

Back Flowerbed

 

Tulips are providing nearly all the color at this point with the mockorange giving some needed height.

 

Looking down toward the deck.

 

L-R: mockorange, 'Mariette' tulips, rose

Oh, and one random iris in front.

Geum is big and bushy.

More tulips surrounding mockorange bush.

Tulip distribution is a bit uneven, so that's something I would like to work on for next spring.

 

Vegetable Garden

overview

The bottom terrace is completely planted with spring veggies.

Obviously, nothing has come up yet.

The bright green on the bottom is oregano.

 Greenery on top are strawberries.

 

Pea sticks!

I planted some "Pole Sugar Snap Peas" this year, so I thought I would give pea sticks a try.

Those are dead aspen branches stuck into the ground for a trellis.

If the aspens come alive again and start growing in my garden, I'm going to be mad!

 (Knowing aspens like I do, I wouldn't put it past them!)

 

Shade Bed

 

It's all columbines and heucheras in the shade bed these days.

I haven't seen any sign of the hostas that used to be in here too.

Maybe they'll still come later...

 



 

 

Raspberries

 

Starting to fill out.

I need to get back over there to compost and weed.

 

 

Front Flowerbeds

 

Overview

 

Front: Middle Terrace (where most of the flowers are)

 



Tulips again giving most of the color.

If I can, I want to dig up the lighter-colored ones to put elsewhere, and get a few more of the vibrantly-colored ones.

The bright green on the left is a new delphinium I put in, to replace the phlox that was mostly dead.

I put in 3 and they're all in this middle terrace.

I'll try to point them out in the pictures.

They are all 'Blue Mirror' variety.

 

The tulips almost seem to glow in this picture, don't they?

On the right is one of my new 'William Shakespeare' English roses that I put in place of the daisies.

This photo should be named "Second Chances."

Those little spots of green in front are the hydrangea from the bottom front terrace, which I thought was completely dead until about 2 weeks ago. This spot gets more shade than the former, so maybe that will help it perk up.

The peony growing in back was transplanted from a friend's yard in the middle of last summer and pretty much looked dead the whole rest of the year. Surprise!

I will be really surprised if it blooms this year.

 

A few different varieties of muscari with phlox in the background.

Still on the middle terrace.

 

Sem False Spirea, with columbine, salvia, and of course tulips.

This lovely little shrub brightens up the shady corner here beautifully.

 

Front: Bottom Terrace

 

Grape holly (Mahonia aquifolium)

This is thriving in a tough spot, which I'm glad to see.

It has tripled in size since I planted it, and even had a few of its signature bright yellow flowers earlier this spring.

 

 

Boxwood, barberry in a pot, plus another barberry.

I need to decide where to plant this extra barberry.

It has not been doing so great down on the bottom terrace, so I replaced it with another one of my new roses.

 

 

Another 'William Shakespeare' rose, replacing the barberry, as mentioned above. I planted it good and deep, and I'm really hoping it takes off and adds a shower of deep crimson roses going up the wall.

 



Looking down the bottom terrace.

 

 Tulips by the mailbox.

I'm actually thinking of taking these out.

It's hard to keep this area weeded, with no real flowerbed here.

Plus, all the real flowerbeds are just a few feet away.

They would transplant nicely, I think, to the back flowerbed.

 



 

If you made it all the way through that, way to go!

This is my favorite time of year, with things changing daily, it seems.