Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Time Goes ...



Where has the time gone? I cannot believe it has been so long since
 my last posting. Life happens though and sometimes you have
other things on your mind and to take care of.
I hope you all have been well and your flowers have been beautiful
thus far this summer.


The garden season started out a wet one but the flowers loved it....
 well most of them did.
I will display a few pictures of the garden to try to catch up.
This was our year for the 17 year Cicadas to come out and for 5 weeks it
was hard taking a picture that did not have the ugly things in it. I am glad
they only come out every 17 years because the noise they make
 gets to you after a while. LOL!
On the good side as far as pests go the Japanese beetles were few and
arrived after the first flush of blooms.


Spring blooms were so welcome this year. My daughter gave me
 this Red Cardinal Columbine for my Birthday and I love it.


This Columbine was grown from seeds that Tatyana @ "My Secret Garden"
sent to me last fall.
I just love them! Thank you Tatyana.

Of course I had the usual mix up in plants and bulbs this year. Happens to
 me just too often. The pretty Tulips that I pictured
in my last posting in the fall turned out to be...

just plain old red and yellow and not the lovely fringed Tulips I ordered.
Talk about being disappointed. 



Anyone else bought bulbs from  Blooming Bulbs"?

"Coral Charm" Peony was beautiful.



The Rhododendron's were beautiful. They are always a joy to see
 blooming in the garden each Spring.



As were the Clematis vines.




Some of the Rose did well this Summer and some not so much.
I am seriously thinking of just getting out of the rose  gardening and
keeping just the ones that are hardy and survive our winters.
Now that I am growing old I am trying to make the garden more
 maintenance  free. With having a bum back and Fibromyalgia my body
 does not want to move some days. Roses can be costly to replace also.


I did not plant as many containers this year and in some of the big pots
that I want to keep I am adding perennials cutting down on expense and
watering.


To this big container I planted a  "Red Threads" anternanthera.
I love the dark burgundy leaves on it. Sun Impatiens, Angelonia, pink Fan
 Flower and a deep burgundy Coleus was added to the container.
 I need to take a more resent picture showing how it has filled in.


The yellow Foxglove was pretty this Spring and is just
now stopping to bloom. It brightens up the shade garden.


Other flowers have really leaped in growth this summer.
I hated this "Pow Wow Wild Berry" echinacea when I first planted it 2 years ago.
 This summer it has just grown huge and I now love it and
am glad it was not moved to the bad flowers of the woodland bed. LOL!


Some other old favorites that out did its self was this "Burgundy Wine" Bee
Balm. I can divide it this Fall and plant some in the woodland bed.


The Yarrow's are really spreading out and can be divided this Fall also.


"Lilac Fantasy" veronica looks lovely with the orange Papaya
coneflowers.




Summer is going by so fast and the daylight hours are now getting shorter.
I hope your Summer has been a great one and that your flowers are growing
and bringing you joy.

Happy Gardening,
Lona








5 comments:

Karen said...

Lona! SO so good to hear from you! I think about you often, and hoped you were well. I love the clematis, gorgeous blooms, some I've never seen before. The columbines are beautiful, too, everything is glowing! What a treat to visit you in your lovely garden. :-)

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

Dear Lona ~ So good to see a lovely post from you. In spite of the cicadas, etc. you still have wonderful blooms. I just love your peonies.

I'm reworking garden areas also to make them easier to handle.

Love, hugs and prayers for you ~ FlowerLady

Linda said...

Really beautiful!!! :)

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Lona girl it is so nice to read from you again !
I love your clematis flowers they are stunning .. mine are a little off this year except for Warsaw Nike and The President which have bloomed and finished now. Your roses are gorgeous as always .. I have to have Bee Balm one year, mine never seems to over winter and I check for wet conditions .. every gardener seems to have trouble with one plant or another eh ?
I had Red threads one year in a pot and it was pretty especially come Autumn.
Glad to see you again girl !
Take care
Joy

RobinL said...

Oh there you are! Funny, but we didn't get those cicadas here, and my Japanese beetles were just AWFUL this year! LOL I've also considered getting away from roses, but for a different reason. I figured I'd lose all of mine to rose rosette disease, so I've already been pondering what I'd replace them with. My bee balm is Jacob Cline, and while the blooms are interesting, they are spare, nothing like your lovely patch. And I've loved Pow Wow right from the start, because the flowers seem to last and last and last!