In The Garden

It seems like there is a lull in the garden. Nothing looks quite as bright and shiny as it did in the first flush of spring. And then I read on a garden blog that June is often like this for gardeners–a down time between the beautiful spring flowers and the bright show of summer flowers. I hope so. Because I’m doing a lot of watering just to keep the plants happy.

So here are the happenings worth reporting in the past week or so.

MLG was here working on yet another building project. I am pretty excited about this one. I saw a picture of a “patchwork path” in a garden magazine and wanted to make that. This was one of the few flat areas in the garden. But in order to make it work, we needed to make a raised bed to the left of the path, so that is Phase One. There were a few of the stones left over, so MLG put them on the other side of the path. I am always so pleased when he comes up with these little extras.

 

The pots won’t stay there. We just put them there so it wouldn’t look so bare. And to try to keep me from buying more plants to water 🙂

I went to Home Depot to get some of the stones for the patchwork path. They mucked up my online order, so I ended up loading about 100 stones weighing over 400 pounds onto a cart, and then lugging that to the checkout counter. Where I asked that they call someone to help me load them into the car. No one ever showed up, so I loaded all of these into the car by myself. I took this picture and texted it to MLG, with the caption “I now officially hate Home Depot!”

Of course, once I got home, I had to unload all those stones one more time. Since I was already too hot and too sweaty, I decided to finally add the coat of stain to the wood surrounding the Japanese maples. I really was glad to get that done.

This purple-blue flower is a type of wild geranium. I have had it for years, but have never had it in the right location. Looks like I finally got it right this time. I was so happy to see it blooming.

Here’s a better look at the yellow flowers behind them. It is a gaillardia. They are perennials, and quite cheerful.

And yet another plant that I do not know the name of. It is a very interesting plant. I thought the spikes were supposed to be red, and I thought that it bloomed in late summer…

Another “morphing” plant. Last year this daylily had a white bloom on it. I moved it, and it is doing better in this location, but the flower has changed color!

The hydrangea is getting into full bloom. It wilts every afternoon, but it looks pretty in the morning and evening.

An early morning photo–the Teddy Bear sunflowers look like they’re in a parade! All facing the same direction–towards the east, where the sun rises. Do all sunflowers do this?

The double daisies have started blooming. You can see where I keep trying to get a blue and white thing going here. I had some delphiniums here, but they did not make it. So I planted some little lobelia this spring. And then I just got another salvia to put in here, since they have done very well for me in the sun garden. I thought I’d try them over here.

 

 

Sophie caught in the act of flower munching.

 

She likes to walk along the top of the stones. Cracks me up–it reminds me of how kids like to walk on ledges or curbs.
We have hit a real hot streak out here. I spend a bit of time most mornings and evenings, just trying to make sure each plant gets enough water. Stay cool, wherever you are, and enjoy your weekend!