Stop! It's
hammer color time!
This has been a most pleasant summer. It's been mostly mid-80s during the day and the humidity hasn't been too bad. I think it's only fair after the horrendous winter we had that we should be treated to such a nice couple of months. In the gardens, we're still a wee bit behind past years but in the last couple of weeks, plants have been steadily blooming so there's now a lot of color when I look outside. I haven't even watered (besides the pots) yet this season.
The back yard
It's so nice to look out the kitchen window and see different flowers in bloom. The phlox I planted last year has added a really nice compliment to the echinacea. I still have some holes to fill in but overall am pretty pleased with how it looks right now.
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Monarda, Echinacea purpurea, Coreopsis 'Moonbeam', Stokesia 'Klaus Jelitto', Phlox
paniculata 'Blue Paradise' |
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| Echinacea purpurea, Coreopsis 'Moonbeam', Monarda |
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| Stokesia 'Klaus Jelitto', Echinacea 'White Swan', Phlox paniculata 'Blue Paradise' |
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| From the patio looking back |
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| From the back looking to the patio |
Abeille allée
This is the first summer I've had the full allee completed and I think it looks great. I need to refine the edges and still need to sort out what type of pathway I'm going to put in (besides grass) but it's alive with color. I mulched it for the first time and it's helping a lot with moisture retention and weed control. There are definitely some holes here and there that I didn't anticipate, mostly from plants that didn't come back after the winter.
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Echinacea purpurea, Phlox 'Blue Paradise', Stargazer Lily, Nepeta 'Souvenir d'Andre
Chaudron', Coreopsis 'Moonbeam' |
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| Agastache 'Golden Jubilee', Coreopsis, Phlox, Nepeta |
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Stargazer lily. These bulbs did almost nothing last year but this year has been
blooming nicely. |
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| Monarda 'Jacob Cline' has been blooming since last Bloom Day |
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| Eupatorium maculatum 'Phantom' (Dwarf Joe-Pye Weed) |
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Coreopsis 'Mercury Rising'. I raved about this last year but only one of my two plants
returned this year and it doesn't look so hot. |
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| Nepeta, Geranium 'Rozanne', Heuchera |
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| Looking back to front |
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| Looking front to back |
The front yard
I'm leaving out pictures of the front-yard vegetable garden for now and saving that for another post. The flowers in the front yard are a bit more muted as I try to have them accent the house instead of compete with it.
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Russian sage and Black-eyed Susan. The veggie garden is actually hidden behind the
Russian sage. You can't really see it from the sidewalk unless you're looking. |
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| Gaillardia (I forget the variety) |
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| Callirhoe involucrata. This plant is doing okay but the one by the steps suddenly died. |
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| Echinacea and Black-eyed Susan |
That's it for another Bloom Day. Thanks for reading and be sure to see how other gardens around the world are doing over at
May Dreams.
Your garden is so lush and floriferous. I've been paying a lot of attention to herb gardens lately and yours is really inspiring. Some of us can't maintain a big country garden forever. and we gardeners know that change is the single constant.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I find things that work and stick to them for the most part. I dream of a big country garden but have enough trouble maintaining my small city garden!
DeleteYour garden looks grand. Have more bees shown up in the past two weeks?
ReplyDeleteI intend to have more Phlox next year. It is an eye-catcher.
I don't know if more bees have shown up or if they're more obvious because they've moved to the echinacea. The phlox is great - I also intend to add more.
DeleteEverything looks beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteYes, you deserve a nice summer weather-wise, after the winter you had. It's been brutally hot here, but hey, I have practically no garden yet, so who cares? Your plantings all look wonderful. Interesting that the Mercury Rising was a disappointment - you and several other bloggers had such high hopes, I recall. What is it about coreopsis that isn't yellow? Somehow, they just don't rise to the occasion.
ReplyDeleteThis can be the summer of air conditioning for you. And yes, I had high hopes for Mercury Rising. It gets one more year (next year) to turn things around before I declare it an Official Disappointment.
DeleteHappy GBBD...I started blogging at the end of 2012 when I discovered it was an easier way to journal...your flowers are lovely...
ReplyDeleteThanks! I agree - it's a nice way to keep track (especially with pictures) of how one's garden does from season to season and year to year.
DeleteLooks great, thanks for sharing your GBBD blooms.
ReplyDelete