Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day and Foliage Follow Up

My two favorite memes about gardening are Garden Bloggers Bloom Day brought to you by Carol at May Dreams Garden and Foliage Follow Up brought to you by Pam at Digging.
These two memes are great for seeing what is Blooming in your garden each month and to make  you think about what else is important when blooms aren't happening such as this time of year or times between blooming seasons.

This time of year I look inside for any blooms. This 'Black Truffles' Begonia is one of two bloomers I have. The small begonia shaped bloom has polka dots on it. You have to look closely to see them. To do so in this picture you can click on the picture to make it larger. This Begonia is beautiful even when it isn't blooming. The dark Chocolate whirling leaves with limey green veins and maroon red undersides look good all year long. 
My old faithful orchid is starting to bloom too. It is such fun to have these pretty delicate looking blooms on these dark winter days. 
The Christmas tree is sporting some blooms too. Of course the Christmas rose and 
my one and only poinsetta continues to bloom year after year with no particular treatment of so many hours of darkness etc as real poinsettas need. This one actually gets months of darkness. 
I hope you are all zipping around enjoying the holidays. Try to stop and at least look at the flowers and foliage that grace your house and garden. Cheers.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Garden Bloggers Bloom and Foliage Day - October 2014

It has come to that time of year when you look around my garden and it looks rusty. Most everything is finished blooming and what blooms are still evident are either shriveled or rusted. Such as the collection of hydrangeas. 




This Nikko Blue has put up one last small bloom. It is most appreciated even though it is only about as big as a tennis ball. That bright blue shines from across the garden.
This Nikko Blue, well as you can see, it decided that at this time of year it perfered to be Pink. I can't argue with it at this time. It deserves to be as it wishes since all season there rest of the blossoms were blue.
Yes, the regular fall blooms are still at it such as the mums, asters, and toad lilies. I have written about them just lately so I won't take you there.
The Filipendula 'Kakome' has been a little trouper this fall. I didn't realize it was a fall bloomer but it has been blooming it's head off. I want to track down some more of these little darlings and plant them. 
The few annuals, Wax begonias,  I have are quite happy with all the rain and cool weather. They show no signs of slowing down.  
The autumn fern is taking on the colors of fall. 
The Coral Bark Japanese Maple is turning to that limey green I like to see.
This varigated hydrangea, that I can't think of the name now, is looking quite nice in the gloom of wet weather as is the varigated ivy with a smattering of colorful red foliage from the  Virginia Creeper. 
For more blooms go to Carol's May Dreams Garden and for the foliage round up head over to Pam's at Digging.

Monday, October 13, 2014

Monday Bouquet - Black Beginnings

Happy Monday to everyone. Today I was inspired by Linda showing her arrangements here  for What is in the Vase Monday meme.  In between showers I went to the garden and this is what developed.

I used a small Black Carnival Glass vase. With black in mind I used some stems from the Nine Bark 'Summer Wine' shrub. It turns an incredible dark almost black color this time of year. It makes a nice back drop for White anemones. The aster you see here is the Tall Wild Aster. I can't for the life of me think of what it's botanic name is, but you know the one I mean. The red and green frilly leaf is a big-leaf Begonia that I don't even know the name. I don't think it came with a tag several years ago when I bought it. It just had those huge curly-edged leaves. 
Do you have any flowers in a vase that you can share today?
To see more filled vases go to Rambling In The Garden.

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Knot Garden Redo

As you can see this past winter was rough on my little knot garden. The boxwoods really took a beating. Most of them were dead or damaged so bad I didn't want to try to nurse them any longer. I have waited all summer to see if even the less distressed ones acted like they were going to live.
I allowed volunteer Moon Flowers to spend the summer in here.
I couldn't find any boxwoods the same size as the living shrubs so I had to replace them all of course. So here it is. Next spring if all goes well I might add another layer to the design. It has been so dry here I didn't want to do more now.  
I moved two of the living shrubs to either side of this side gate. 
The other one was placed in this bed. I had to move a slew of irises and trimmed back the big High Bush Cranberry shrub that was a bit top heavy.  
You can see that leaves are beginning to fall. We got a bit of rain last night. Things are looking much happier. Maybe it is me feeling much happier about how things are looking. 




Thursday, September 25, 2014

Topiary

We had such a rough winter last year. It did some damage to these cedar trees. Early this late winter/early spring I got to looking at this trio of cedars They had big holes, some floppy limbs. The one on the far left had to come out. So what could I do with them? I didn't want to completely remove them. I planted them here to hide these unsightly guide wires.
So I decided to try to topiary them. The one on the left was to be round balls and the right one was to be squares. This is how they looked after their first shearing and they grew back in this summer. 
I went at them again yesterday. They are beginning to come around. I don't have the crisp squares on the right one or the round rounds on the left one. 
They are coming along alright. I have read that you should make more often and take off little bits to make them full. I do like they way they look. A bit of whimsy in my garden.
So now if you go around the house you see this. Your eye stops at the topiary, I hope and you don't notice those ugly guide wires or the traffic going by. 
When you pull into the drive and look over that way you look at the topiary instead of the guide wires. At least I hope so. 
Have you ever done anything like this?  Do you have any tips for me?
Happy Autumn Everyone.



Monday, September 15, 2014

Blooms Winding Down

Time again for the September Garden Bloggers Bloom Day brought to you by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. For more blooms around the world you can check out her web site. Now that you are here you can see what is going on in my Zone 6 garden here in SW Indiana.
My garden is starting to get that worn around the edges look. There are a spattering of blooms here and there.
You walk down this path and you can see that the Tall Phlox still has enough blooms to scent the air. The Datura was still open at 1pm today. It is so overcast. 
One of the bright spots of the garden is this mum. While it isn't a fancy variety it has lived in this garden for quite a few years. Out living many others I have tried. 
I have White and pink Anemones blooming now. This is unusual because the pink ones usually bloom earlier in the season. Then the White ones take over. Not this year. We have had a mild summer with plenty of rain. 
While looking out front for some blooms I got side tracked looking at all the bugs and bees drawn to the Fireworks. 
Sedums too had their share of bumbles.
The only rose blooming is the carpet rose. 
This little butterfly didn't care that the rose blossom wasn't at it's best. 
Toad lilies are blooming up a storm this year. 
It would have been a good year to add to my small collection.
This begonia looks so delicate but don't let looks decieve you. This is a hardy begonia. I couldn't believe my eyes when it survived this past winter. As you can see it is blooming up a storm. I just love begonias. I wish there were more hardy varieties. If there were I would grow them all.
Another stalwart of the fall blooming garden is Aster. I don't remember the variety of this one but it is floriferous. I am pleased with how it is blooming.
What is blooming in your garden? 
Below is a more concise listing of what is blooming. I didn't even mention the annuals that keep a bit of color going in the garden at this time. They are hard workers too.
Hydrangeas
Hostas
Begonias
Daylily
Honeysuckles
Liropes
Black and Blue Salvia
Cleomes
Asters
Clematis
Filipendula "Kakome"
Gallardia
Heather
Genetians
Spiderwort
Annuals



Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Drama In The Garden

I went out to stroll through the garden early one evening when I saw a bright red spot in the garden where there shouldn't be one. I found a volunteer salvia had popped up. I was quite surprised to find this because it has been several years since I have had one of these small red salvias in the garden.
Then I spotted a butterfly on the underside of a hosta bloom. I thought it was taking refuge there because it was getting late and the wind was blowing like crazy.  I got my first shot and I wondered why it sat still while I got so close. 
When I moved to get a better angle I saw why it didn't fly away. A preying mantis had it. 
The mantis continued to eat the butterfly as I continued to try to get better pictures. As macabre as it may seem it was fascinating to watch the mantis gobble it's dinner.   
This garden marauder was only about 3 inches long.  Now you see why I chase away the big ones from the hummingbird feeder. They could catch a hummer and devour it too.  
Have you found anything unusual in your garden lately?

Monday, September 1, 2014

September Starts

Labor day seems like the beginning of fall. Here the weather is trying to cooperate with all the people that gather for one last picnic before the weather really begins to turn.
One little white rose at the tippy top of the arbor hangs on. The bees are working furiously on any and all blooms that they find. 
Berries are beginning to turn. This beauty berry is way ahead of the one that is in more shade. 
Even the holly berries are beginning to bring on that fall/winter color. 
The veggie garden, I should say tomato patch has done exceptionally well this summer. You can see those grape tomato vines towering above the tall arch. On the right of the arch are cucumbers. They appreciated their opportunity to climb the arch. We have had plenty of cucumbers. Plenty of everything we planted except the bell peppers. They were overcome by the tomatoes.
A lesson learned...we need to prune and/or not plant so many tomatoes next year. Our neighbors and friends just start shaking their head no when we start talking about our tomato crop. 
Out front the 'Fireworks' goldenrod is beginning to bloom. 
I hope you don't have to labor much today and are able to get out in the garden to relax and enjoy the last of the lush season.
Happy Labor Day



New Blogger, Old Blogger

     All I can say it is difficult to deal with change. This new Blogger format is not as user friendly in my opinion. I guess I will get us...