July Already ? ???

 

Well it seems a month has sped by in the hills. It was a month of break downs here and at my Moms. Seemed like whenever something leaked, clogged or broke it at her house it would happen here at ours.
From leaking water lines to leaking natural gas lines. To clogged up sewer and drain lines to broken water heaters and dry water wells. It was the month from hades. We’ve gotten mostly all back in working order all except getting Moms water well dug deeper. I love it here on top of these giant hills until we start digging water wells. Ours is 460 feet deep and Moms at only 400 feet needs to be dug deeper. So we are now waiting on a very busy well digger to do this final (I pray) chore.


Rhapsody Clematis

June was  a wet month here filled with a little rain most every day. The grass and weeds loved it but some of the flowers and the tomato plants not so much. Not complaining too much because I did not have to water the many plants but I have this eerie feeling that it will bite us back come August to go straight into a hot, dry desert instead of the tropical weather we are having now. It did show me that I would not do well in the tropics.

But the older established plants in the garden grew on despite what the weather threw at them.
The Yarrow plants handle dry and hot weather but  they seemed not to mind wet feet and are blooming beautifully. I am afraid the kids cannot see through the yarrow  in front of them. I think they need higher seating.

The many Astilbe plants were at their best in June.

The Bellflowers were happy with it all.



I ran to take pictures when sun did shine.

Campanula Alba Peach leaf is a spreader in my garden and I have been transplanting some of them into the woodland bed because they do not mind the shade.

 

The Columbines bloomed beautifully in June.

Rose Barlow aquilegia.

I was thrilled when I spied these native Foxgloves blooming in the woodland bed. Got to love free flowers that the birds bring into the garden.

The yellow perennial Foxgloves get bigger every year.

 

This Apple Blossom Geranium was started for me by Kathleen @ Kasey’s Korner, knowing that I had lost (or killed) mine. I was so excited when I got it  the mail. It started blooming in June.
Thanks again Kathleen.

Every year I find a new geranium to plant to add to my collection.
The new one this year is “Red Splash”. It has white petals giving way to a deep pink or red in the center and I just love it. It is planted in one window box with white euphorbia and red petunias.

Red Elphin Impatiens are in the shady Tipsy Pots this year with my little red wagon behind it. My Dad had built this wagon for me years ago and I have put it through so much gardening over the years. Will the back board broke from the bed this spring. My daughter got me a new wagon for Mothers Day but  I cannot let go of  the red one because Dad made it for me and he is no longer around and when I see it I always think of him so it sets in one of my garden beds. So it has been retired and I am thinking of moving it to a sunny spot and filling it with pots of flowers to get a few more years out of it.


Some butterflies did show up in June when the milk weed started blooming but still there are not as many as we had been getting before the aerial spraying for gypsy moths the last three years.

And finally as most of my old followers know I always have new kittens every spring that grow in my flowerbeds. This year there were 2 new ones, an all gray one and a black one with white paws are now growing and smashing down flowers where they try to hide. They had eaten their lunch and decided the feeding bowl was a great place to take a nap.

I hope you all are enjoying the summer and your gardens.

Blessings & Happy Gardening,

Lona

I am in Love

 

Hello Friends.
I do not know about where you live but here in Ohio it has been in the fifties for two days and after those eighty degree plus days it  just flat out feels cold.


I planted this Clematis vine last fall so this is the first time it has bloomed for me in the Rose Garden.
And I am in love….

“Little Mermaid” has such a fantastic dark pink color on its petals.

Near the center there is a ting of purple.

I first saw this  pretty on Pinterest and I loved the unusual pink color in the pictures shown of it. Sometimes (or a lot of times) you do not get the color flower blooms that are hoping for or are shown in the pictures  when buying plants, but this one is true to the pictures of it.

(My pictures are not the best with my worn out camera)
The blooms do not hang on as long as other clematis vines but I think this one is going to be my favorites.

But this “Florida Seiboldii” could change my mind. It just gets prettier each year. The vines are not as leafy as other clematis vines so the blooms look like they are floating in air sometimes.
It is has such lovely blooms that last a long time.




I bought this clematis vine under a different name from an online gardening site. How many of you have saw the same plants sold under different names??
Anyway her true name is “Josephine” and she is three years old.
It has big double pink and white blooms and it is just loaded this spring.

Despite the silly weather (it is Ohio after all) my garden in flourishing this year so far, with many plants blooming earlier.


These are three of my earliest blooming clematis vines and my favorites. I have a few that bloom a little later.

The gnomes have returned and Hens and Chucks are growing in the fabulous Hypertufa pot I got for a dollar last year at the local Library.

The little log house in it was purchased at the Country Living Fair last fall just for it. The “Burgundy Glow” Ajuga groundcover is spreading nicely around the Gnomes home under the Maple tree along the front walkway.

The neighbors living across the way (the sidewalk) to the Gnomes are the ‘Fairy family’.
They got a new Barberry bush added to the landscape and they are quite pleased with how it looks.

What are some of your favorite vines or clematis?
Do you have a fairy or gnome garden?

I hope you all are having a lovely week and are able to enjoy your flowers and gardens now that the work is getting done in them. We should not get so caught up with the work that we cannot enjoy the beauty.

Happy Gardening,

Lona

Rhododendron Time

 

It is Rhododendron time here in the hills. Mine were at there peak the first of the week.

I know… I show them to you every year but I love these big beauties which have been around for so many years now.

The lavender one reaches to the roof of my two story home and is over forty years old. The red one is about thirty year.

I wish their big, beautiful blooms would last all summer but the petals are starting to fall fast.

This has been a crazy week here in the hills as the weather in Ohio goes. Lows in the lower 40’s well after are frost dead line for here.
I am hoping this will be the last cold spell here and it will warm up to at least normal.

I have to mention one thing…. in my absence from blogging this winter only to check on a few of you from time to time. It was such a great shock to learn that one of my blogging friends had passed away. I had written her when she was just starting to be sick and because of things here happening had not talked to her for a couple of months. Many of you were also friends with our dear Balisha, or Pat. It broke my heart to hear of her passing and I felt like I had let her down by not being there to encourage her and going through it with her. For that I am so sorry. She was such a talented and loving woman.

Cancer is such a terrible disease that can take us fast or take one slowly. I know she is safe now in the arms of Jesus and is in a much better place than a lot of us. My heartfelt condolences to her family and to her blogging friends.
I want you all to know that I appreciate you for reading my blog through the years and for sharing your gardens and your lives with me.

Everyone have a safe and wonderful holiday weekend.

And

Happy Gardening,

Lon

Wonderful Springtime

 

It has been so long since my last posting. I hope everyone has been enjoying their spring and that your flower gardens are growing by leaps and bounds.
I think so many of my flowers in the  flowerbeds are into the ‘third year and leaping’. Some of the beds I am afraid are beginning to look like small jungles.

The daffodils and

tulips have come and gone.

”China Towne”

And so have the crocus.

The primroses were so pretty and full this year.

When I see them like this I want to plant even more of them.

As usual the Ohio weather has been so surprising this spring. We run the gambit of from the freezer to the oven and back again a few times. Eighties last week and then back to frost. Thankfully here on the hill the frost did not kill my Lilac blooms.

 
The two huge bushes along the bank give off some wonderful fragrance throughout the yard. The blooms were fewer and smaller this year though I noticed, but I got to enjoy their fragrance if not the show anyway.
Missing were all of the butterflies again this spring.
The spraying of the Gypsy moths here the last two years was useless. The moths and bagworms are still here while the butterflies paid the price.

Even the 3 year old Lilac bush gave me some blooms this spring.

The Lenten Roses were so pretty and now the bushes are growing so large. I wish they would hold their heads up for a better view.

I have all my annuals collected  that will go into the containers and boxes. Now to get them planted. Some sweet peppers and tomatoes will also be planted.
A lot of my garden work this spring went into trying to get my Rose Garden back into shape. The awful winter before this one killed so many bushes that I am working on replacing. They are planted now I am hoping they will grow. I had to resort to buying a couple replacements that were preserved with paraffin, which I said I would never do again because they just will not sprout for me. Fingers crossed on them.
And as usual the queen of “mobile plants” has been moving some again but don’t we all do that? Or is it just me?

 
Down in the trial bed I have tall phlox and coneflowers coming up one on top of the other. (A few Columbines are still coming up) I just threw in all the saved seeds from the Phlox and Coneflowers last fall hoping they would grow. Well I got my wish. Now where to plant them all. LOL! I see the woodland garden will be a good place to plant some of those phlox plants. Also I have a corner bed I reworked which can use some color. The only problem is not knowing what color they will be blooming. The phlox seeds were all mixed together so they could be a mixture of pink, white and purple which will go with most of my garden plants anyway.
The coneflowers will be anyone's guess.Well who doesn’t like surprises anyway? I can always move them around later. And that  is what I do best.
Also some Ohio friends brought back some seeds for me from Florida and I planted them there to get them started this spring.
{ Thank you Joe & Linda!}


”Bluetts”
Some of you who have become garden friends to me over the years have been on my mind even if I did not post any new postings. Some I have dropped by and read your blogs just to see how you have been. Life gets in the way of us all sometimes.

“Marsh Marigold”
And sometimes a flower that you have sent to me or mailed me seeds from will bloom and I am always thankful to have them to remember you by. They always bring a smile.

“Jane Magnolia”

I hope you are all enjoying the flowers in your gardens as much as I am this spring. I got to counting and the 17 year cicada  will be coming out here next year, so I am going to enjoy the garden this year because this girl will not step out of the house much for a few weeks next year. Gives me the shivers just to think about them flying into my hair and slitting my young trees.

Everyone try to get those muscles back into shape and get out into those gardens you worked so hard to make.

Happy Gardening,

Lona