Monday, June 25, 2012

Laid back gardening







Peonies freshly picked and smelling lovely, I placed them on the window ledge at the top of the stairs.   Peonies and Bleeding Heart were two of my grandmothers favorite flowers. While she preferred pink, I have planted both in white at the base of my front entry steps.




My two oldest girls and I finally finished the front walk with edging and mulch and some new plants.  Some of the plants from last year didn't make it and the lack of mulch killed others when my husband mowed and didn't know what wasn't grass.  I have more plans for the walkway, but they can wait another year. I will likely transplant a lot of plants from the back yard to the front such as Lavendar, Wooly Thyme, Violets, and more Irises.


These are all new plants I bought on clearance!!  This spot has had a tough time keeping anything alive what with getting dug up for a gas line two years ago and a greedy mower that has devoured more than it's fair share of tender young plants. I should own the fact that mulch does help the mower see where the garden ends and the grass starts.  Now finally I think these plants, if they live, will enjoy a lovely life full of sun. I am excited for the Indian Summer Rudbeckia to get full and fill out the space.




The Allium are done blooming and a dear friend who has a knack for garden ornamentation brought over a cute chicken garden stake and tied the Allium round it.  I usually cut the allium at this stage and bring them indoors for a dried bouquet. Dried Allium looks great spray painted in metallics and tucked in a dried arrangement. The Echinacea is doing quite well around the Allium and I can't wait for them to bloom.  I picked them back quite a bit this year as they had spread much further than I wanted.





My garden is in desperate need of new mulch.  But here you can see the Roses are blooming profusely!!  The Rose plant much bigger than last year.  The Salvia is doing wonderfully and is also double the size of last year.   Next to the Rose I have some Irises that need thinning again.  They are white with a deep purple border and I love how the blossoms smell like licorice.





This is a tiny miniature Rose that has come back for two seasons now.  I got it on clearance at the grocery store.  I bought three and two have survived.  It is in front of the Rose and Salvia pictured above.  I have stuck to purple, yellow, and white for the flower beds with just a spot of pink.





These Primroses were so starved for water yesterday, but have bounced back wonderfully today.  They are filling in the space so nicely.  I planted some Gaillardia in front of them yesterday and mulched



.





The Thyme planted between some Hollyhocks and Rudbeckia is flowering, such beautiful little pale violet blossoms.  Two years ago when we dug for the gas line I dug this plant up and moved it elsewhere.  Last summer I found that I missed one tiny bit of the original plant and it had survived and is now almost as large as the original planting.  I love Thyme in bloom, especially when all the fat bumblebees are slurping up the nectar.