Flowerbed Tour: Shade Bed

June 12:

 

I need to figure out some kind of edging for the back of this bed.

By this time of summer, the weed grass is just about taking over.

 

columbine

 

hardy geranium amidst the grass

Heuchera, daisies, and lots of grass

fence side looking East

dogwood, heuchera, and violas

Those little violas self-seeded from last year!

Yes!

 

Irises, Dandelions, & Forget-me-nots: May GBBD

After about 10 days of pretend summer, we're back to the usual May temps in the 60's.

I'm not complaining!

It's perfect weather for working and playing outside.

 

What's blooming this month in my garden?

Let's take a look...

 

Front Flowerbed

A shy forget-me-not peeking out from behind the daisies.

I thought I had moved all of these to the back.

Oops!

 

Candytuft

 

Back Flowerbed

Irises

I always forget how tall these are in bloom.

Long-range plan is to move them out of this bed and plant them in front. I can just picture how elegant their long-stemmed blooms will look against the retaining wall up there.

 

Dwarf flowering almond

Just planted last fall. It's supposed to grow 4-6 feet tall and wide.

These blooms look like tiny pom-poms.

 

 

Back slope

 

Although tulips are done in the back flowerbed, these ones on the slope are still looking vibrant and beautiful.

Nice crop of dandelions this year.

 

Shade Bed

 

Violas still blooming, along with a few mini daffodils and another forget-me-not.

And of course, more dandelions.

 This little forget-me-not has my vote for favorite blooms of the moment.

 



Very glad I didn't kill off this Brunnera last summer.

I am charmed by the airy, diminuitive blooms on this plant.

The foliage really stands out, as well.

I would like to add another if I can find the space for it.

Shade garden update

Lovely, airy little flowers on the heuchera  

I didn't realize it was a flowering plant until now. I guess with the other one up on the slope higher I just didn't notice the flowers last year.

Just a glimpse of viola purple under the apple tree.

New additions from the neighbor:



hellebore

It's planted on the right-hand side, just above the shade-bed proper.

Big healthy fern--it's the one on the left.

So far it's done the best of all the ferns--maybe because it was so well established in her yard before transplanting it over.

Not sure the cinnamon fern is going to make it.

Shade Bed Tour & Violas

These dicentra's are supposed to die back by now, I thought, but they both seem to be putting out new growth. I don't mind!

I really love how the new growth is lighter green, with smaller leaves. It just adds dimension to the plant.

These hostas must like their new home--they're flowering already.

Quite lovely. 

 So I didn't kill off the brunnera (so glad!)

We've got a few new little leaves coming up.

I'll have to go back and clip off the big leaves that are too far gone to save, now that I'm sure it's surviving okay.

And what can I say more about VIOLAS?

Other than, I think they're fantastic, and they are some of my favorite flowers.

Oh, and they keep showing up in the most unexpected places.

 Like, in the lawn.

Not moving them!

Here's another one growing amongst the grass.

I've spotted at least 3 or 4.  

And here's one way over on the slope, by the woodland hyacinth.

They can populate whatever ground they want to. I don't mind a bit!

A Few Flowers

Front of house

 This bush out front is starting to bloom.

Not sure what it is at the moment.

This was before pruning. You can see quite a few dead branches in there.

Once I got up close and started pruning, I cut it back quite a bit.

It opened up the middle and unfortunately, cut off many of the branches with flowering tips (that were dead or very scraggly until further down.) 

Slope

 Lupines and daisies

 Wood hyacinth behind the shed

 Some violas came back after all!

These are in front of the apple tree behind the shed.

transplanted geraniums blooming, but almost covered up by weeds 

East side of house

In case you missed it earlier: a whole side of the house filled with wild daisies!

I love these! They are so cheerful. They also spread quite well.

I may transplant some more up onto the slope to compete with the grass.

The Flower Tour

 Starting right off by the front steps: suprise! dianthus

 Lavender growing big and bushy

 A few roses, plus wild clover [plus weeds]

 A huge patch of clover, down in front by the driveway and brush pile.

 Back flowerbed.

I just can't get over how bright and sunny these little bloomers are.

I will definitely start some again next year.

Back slope update:  

 I've started watering the apple tree since we got home from vacation, and these little violas have perked up and started blooming again, although you can see from all the brown foliage they were about done for.

 I think this was another type of dianthus that I purchased at the WSU horticultural sale.

I planted these on the slope, in front of the salvias.

 One cosmo plant hanging on.

 These poor hydrangeas did not get watered while we were gone.

But they may revive yet--see the new growth at the tips?

I still need to remove dead leaves from this one, as you can see.

 The other hydrangea. Stems look healthy, if it can put out enough new leaves it may survive.

Speaking of survival....

This oakleaf hydrangea isn't going to make it after all.

None of the new leaves ever opened up fully.

I'm leaving it in right now as a weed deterrent until end of next month, when I will replace it with something else. Darn! I was hoping this would do well here.

Violas, Irises, Daylilies (and daisies)

 This one of the johnny jump-ups I started from seed.

Look at the 2 different colors on the same plant! I'm loving it!

It's planted by the back apple tree.

 These gorgeous violas just keep blooming and blooming.

Love the bright orange.

These are by the back apple tree as well.  I'm having to trim the grass to be able to see them!

 More violas. Worth every penny.

 Irises blooming.

We've got maybe 2 that are this deeper purple color.

 These are what most of the irises look like.

 Reason to hope! The daylilies that I had pretty much given up on (from Costco).

I went looking for them specifically yesterday, and I found some coming up!

This one actually even has 2 buds on it. Hooray!

 Another daylily peeking up through.

Daisy patch, east side of house.