Showing posts with label Cottage Garden. Show all posts

Cottage Style and June Garden Link Party

Hello my friends and welcome to our monthly Garden Party!

A big thank you to Linda for creating our sweet Garden Party button.

Garden Critic. . .

Hello friends,
yesterday I wandered out into the garden for my usual stroll.
 
I was contemplating whether or not I would share a post with Pam's
 
 
It has been so hot here for the past two weeks.  Temperatures have been soaring above 100.  Needless to say, my garden is
suffering a little.
 
I had decided that the garden wasn't worth sharing.
 
 I was my own worst critic.
 
This morning I went out early to cut back lots of my perennials.  That's when I decided to look at my garden differently.
 
 
Pretending I was on a garden tour of someone else's garden.
 
I realized that even though there is not a lot of color right now, that the shades of green are quite soothing and there is plenty to look at  here and there.
 
As I stood up on the hill by 'hilltop cottage'  looking down, I found the view to be  quite fulfilling.
 

Sure, there are things I don't love right now.  For example, the view of the neighbors house.  There was a huge tree there that made our garden totally private.  A couple years ago they had to cut it down.  We've planted tall columnar pines that have a rapid growth to help fill in the area.  They've grown quite a bit, but it'll be a few years before we have our privacy back.
 
Miniature Hollyhock
 
 
Next I wandered over to our pondless waterfall and enjoyed it's soothing sound.

 
 
There is a bit of color with the pink coneflowers and this orange beauty, Lucifer's tongue plant.
 
 
The Salvia I cut back a month ago is starting to rebloom and the view of my tiled shovel and planted twin buckets made me smile.
 
 
 
 
 
 
I strolled over to our East gate and pretended to be just entering our back yard.  The narrow garden leading up to the gate is filled with flowers that will be blooming soon. 
 
 
I began to think that yes, maybe this garden is worth wandering through.
 
The flagstone path covered with moss and other steppables felt very soft to my bare feet.  Yup, I had tossed off my flip flops by now.  Ah, yes; I garden in flip flops.  :)
 
 
 
As I stepped into my backyard I was welcomed by my rose garden.
 
 
 
Some of the blooms have slowed down, but the birdhouses still add interest to the garden.

 


And this sweet little "lavender Lady" is trying to persuade me to linger a while.
 

 
Hostas seem to be doing okay, despite the heat.
 
 
and the hot weather hasn't seemed to affect the bees. . .
 
Monkshood
 


or the butterflies.
 

 
And these pretties are blooming in the front garden.
 
Queen of the Prairie
 


Rudbeckia
 



Daisy
 

 
 
 
Yup, maybe this garden isn't as bad as I thought.
 
So, next time you think your garden isn't pretty enough to share.  Try looking at it through different eyes.
 
Sometimes I think we are our own worse critics.  :)
 
hugs,
Jann


A Garden Stroll. . .

Hello my friends,
do you have a favorite time to stroll your garden?
For me, that would either be in the morning or early evening.
Everything just seems to look prettier when it's not baking in the summertime sun.
Last week I took an early morning garden stroll. . .
The roses had just started to bloom.  This pretty climbing rose, Sally Holmes starts out peach and turns white when
 completely open.



I wish I had written down the names of my roses.  I have around 12, and know the names of very few.  Two of them have gone wild this year and will be replaced.  I'm going to write down their names in my garden journal!

A reader inquired as to what it means for a rose to go wild.  There is such a thing as an old fashioned wild rose.  They are generally orange or yellow, and I love them.

But, when a rose goes wild, it changes back to red, and the plant gets long straggly shoots.  The rose itself is nothing to rave about.  Just a simple single rose.  But it's the plant that becomes unappealing to me.  I am not sure what causes a beautiful rose to go wild.  I'll have to do some research on that.  :)



The salmon poppies were almost spent.  They bloom later than my other poppies.


I just love the center of Poppies!  More often than not they are filled with bees.


My ferns have actually been blooming for months, but I haven't shared a photo.  I love them because the starts came from my mother's garden!  They get bigger and I get more each year.  An old iron headboard is tucked in behind them.


Campanula Bell flowers are yearning for a drink from this hanging watering can.  What a temptress I am!  lol!


Penstemon, I cut back the spent blooms of my basket of gold months ago, but somehow missed this one in front.  It will get worked over tomorrow.  :) I always get a second bloom when I do that.  Never as pretty as the first, but a bit of yellow amongst
 all my purple.


Dutch Iris by our pond less waterfall.


Delphiniums are one of my favorites.  These are so tall.  They tower over our fence


Husker Red Penstemon was the perennial of the year when I bought it.  It's name comes from the hint of red in the foliage.


Tonight I decided to take an evening stroll.
  All of the above, except the roses and ferns are spent and will be cut back tomorrow.
The work of a perennial garden is never done.  I don't mind, the reward is far greater than the task!

I cut my Jackmanii Clematis to the ground every fall.  It comes back and puts on a glorious show each summer!


These hot pink cottage rose flowers have seeded all over in one of my front beds.  I love the cottage look and leave quite a few of them.  Each spring I pull out a bunch.


This unique flower was given to me by a friend.  We are always sharing starts.  In fact the Cottage rose was given to me as well.  I always think of my sweet friends when I look at my garden.


She didn't know the name of it.  anyone have any idea?  I have tons of bees in my garden.  Jumbo's and bumbles. . .Love them all!!


little carnations


lilies, these are a very pale yellow.


I love the lacy foliage and large white blooms of the Black Lace Elderberry bush.


I bought this Campanula for $1.50 last year.  It's very different from my others.


Speaking of lacy foliage, A few years ago hubby and I vacationed in AZ.  We took a day trip to Bisbee.  Fennel grew wild along the roadside.  I stopped and dug up a start.  Silly me, now I have more than I want!  Growing wild should have tipped me off that it's hard to control.  lol!


Feverfew and Larkspur seed randomly throughout my garden.


I bought 3 Foxgoves for $1.50 from the same nursery as the Campanula.  They are all starting to bloom.  This one is peach, the other two are white and pink.  So happy they are different colors.  Love, love, love!

Coneflowers, another favorite.


I'm not a big fan of orange in the garden, other than poppies.  I swear this lily was pink last year.  Is that possible?  It is such a pretty orange that I don't mind!


False Indigo in the shade garden and a little ladder with succulents.


This beauty is another gifted start.  I think it has to be a Campanula as well.


I hope you enjoyed the early morning and evening stroll through my garden!

And look what I'll be frying up soon.  Yum!  We love fried cabbage!!

Grow, baby, grow! 


hugs,
Jann

I will be sharing with these lovely parties:

 


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