Category Archives: front bed

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – August 2013

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I cannot believe August Bloom Day is already here! This growing season has been flying by as I find my time spent in others’ gardens as much as our own. The weather in the Lot’s Zone 6a has been wonderfully normal if not a tad cool the first half of this month. Here are a few snapshots from the Lot.

Heuchera in Bloom

This first shot is of some Coral Bells (Heuchera) in bloom in Loki’s bed. There are three different cultivars in the bed and this is the last to bloom. In the GIG (Grand Ideas Garden) where I have been volunteering, we are instructed to immediately deadhead these blooms to redirect energy to the plants stores for winter and additional growth. However, on the Lot I let them linger a bit longer before snipping off the spent stalks.

Backyard Bed Blooms

This next backyard bed is currently colored with Black-eyed Susans and just emerging Mums. In the very back left of the shot is a bit of purple from some Asters I purchased this season for the bed. The Asters will emerge earlier next season, adding some much-needed color beginning in July.

Plumbago

This next plant in bloom is Plumbago, positioned near the right half of the backyard bed. I love, love, love this plant. Since it’s light source was increased by pruning back some towering Sage, this plant is flourishing. When the weather turns cool, it’s foliage will turn red.

Coreopsis Mercury Rising

Moving to the Lot’s south-facing bed, there are a lot of purples, reds, and yellows present this month. Above is Coreopsis – Mercury Rising. This is a red coreopsis I picked up on the Spring nursery tour. This bed receives full sun all day, so not only does coreopsis flourish here but it blooms from the beginning of summer through to the end of Fall.

Coreopsis Route 66

Here is a thread leaf style Coreopsis called Route 66. This little one came home from the Spring nursery tour as well, purchased for a whopping $1 as a seedling, and is loving the sun in the South bed.

Blanket Flower in BloomAnother plant blooming in the front, South bed is the Blanket Flower (Gaillardia). This is another plant that will flower throughout the majority of the season into Fall if it is continuously dead-headed.

Other plants blooming on the Lot include the Jupiter’s Beard, Color Flash Astilbe, Rose Campion, Butterfly Bush, some stray Hollyhock, tall Garden Phlox, the last of the Ligularia, Thunderbird Foamy Bells, Pincushion Flower, and Coneflowers.

Be sure to take a look at other gardeners’ August blooms at May Dreams Gardens. ‘Til next month!

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – June 2013

fence bed, front bed

This year, June on the Lot has brought the passing of the last of the Spring bulbs and the transition of the season from Spring to Summer. The first half of the month found the Lot blooming with peonies, iris, false indigo, poppies, spirea, wysteria, bleeding heart, coral bell, and thrift. Unlike previous years, I’ve begun to cut little bouquets of flowers for the Other Half and I to enjoy in our home offices. I also am having a lot of fun bringing flowers from the Lot to friends and family.

Now it is the 15th of the month and it is once again Bloom Day! This year, that means roses for the Lot. Three of the four climbing roses on the Lot were already established when we moved here. This first rose was doing poorly and suffered from black spot because of a downspout at it’s base. After trying to dig it out of the ground several seasons ago, this is what it appears like now.

Red Roses

At the southwest corner of the house is our largest rose. This thing is a beast. It tries to entangle and devour trick-or-treaters, mailmen, and at times our guests. Since the Other Half is in charge of mowing, he has a deep dislike for this plant. As wild and crazy as it is, I think it is beautiful. Right now it crawls over the edge of the porch, but there are plans for a hanging trellis in it’s near future.

Climbing RoseClimbing Rose on Porch

Here is a rose we planted in the backyard along the fence. I adore this “little one” because it is an offspring of my friend Mrs. J’s grandfather’s rose. Like she says, it has a pleasant scent of “Grandma Soap.” The four-footed garden helpers think the blooms made excellent bobbles to bop.

Backyard Rose

Last season Ms. A and I extended a south-facing bed in front of the house. The unusually hot and dry summer foiled attempts at starting many new plants in said bed. One plant that survived a move from the backyard to the new bed was this coreopsis that is just starting to bloom. Above it is the fading blooms of our fourth rose, a deep red one that is always the first rose to bloom on the Lot.

Coreopsis South Bed

Last Fall I hit the garden centers and brought home a small flat of Jewel of the Desert Peridott Iceplant (Delosperma). It is pictured above to the left of the coreopsis. The little groundcover is supposed to be super drought resilient. It made it through the winter, is now blooming, and should continue until first frost. Here is a closer view.

Peridott Iceplant

And last but not least is a plant purchased this season during the 2013 Annual Spring Nursery Crawl. This plant is also in the new, south-facing bed in front of the house. Check out this lovely Cherry Brandy Rudbeckia.

Cherry Brandy Rudbeckia

Remember to visit May Dreams Gardens to see what else is blooming this month around the world!

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – October 2012

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Fall has definitely arrived on the Lot. Last week when it wasn’t raining, I was preparing the two 4’x4′ raised vegetable beds for winter. This past, soggy weekend I began to ready the perennial beds by trimming yellow foliage and raking out large clumps of soggy leaves. But Fall prep will be another post; this is a bloom day post with pretty things!

Monster Hardy Mums

First up is the classic, Fall, hardy Chrysanthemums shot. They are a bit raggedy, but still pretty, posing here with Alfred the Hedgehog. In this bed the Jupiter’s Beard (Centranthus ruber) is still blooming and the Plumbago (Ceratostigma plumbaginoides) is just finishing.

False Indigo

This is not a bloom necessarily, but this is quite cool because it’s some Fall interest in the way of sound. These seed pods belong to the False Indigo (Baptisia) that bloomed this past May. When the wind blows through the stalks of this plant, the seeds rattle within the seed pod like a percussion instrument. I’ve also snipped the stalks with pods attached as accents in Halloween and Fall arrangements.

Wand Flower

This Wand Flower (Gaura lindheimeri) was blooming last month as well, but it’s still going. I’ve admired the wispy plant in the garden centers for a couple of seasons now. This was the year it was finally added to the Lot. In the same bed the Coreopsis is finishing it’s blooming. Down along the gate bed, the Stonecrop and Maiden Hair Grass are both in bloom. Other plants blooming on the Lot include Nicotiana, Toad Lily, Lamium, Pincushion Flower, and multiple Stonecrop.

Soggy Fall

I felt this parting shot of a cold, soggy annual would capture the feeling so far of this Fall season. Brrr… a lot of gray and rain. However, the tree foliage colors were beautiful, having reached their peak in our area around the weekend of October 6th. We’ve already had a few frosts that zapped a lot of the more tender annuals.

Time to travel on over to May Dreams Gardens and see what other gardeners from around the world have blooming this October. Since a lot of us shared the hot, drought-like summer, I’m curious what Fall is like so far for them. Be sure to check it out.