Category Archives: house bed

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – May 2015

bloom day, fellow gardeners, fence bed, house bed, loki bed, sidewalk bed, the Lot

Today is Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day, a meme hosted by May Dreams Gardens in which gardeners worldwide share what is blooming in their gardens. May on the Lot is when the garden beds really kick it into gear and the plants take off. Though we’ve had less rains than previous Springs, everything is looking good and growing well.

In a northern backyard bed this Sweet Woodruff (Galium odoratum) is coming back with a vengeance and just starting to bloom. It is beginning to gobble up the poor Coral Bell. The little Labrador Violets are have been blooming for awhile now.
051515_coralbell-sweet-william-violet

In one of the back alley beds Mt Airy Fothergilla is doing its Spring thing. It survived the winter with only a couple of snapped limbs.051515_mtairy

Blooming for its first time on the Lot is this dainty barrenwort (Epimedium grandiflorum ‘Lilafee’) along the Eastern side of the house. The crocus leaves illustrates the small size of the plant.051515_Epimedium-lilafee

Another barrenwort I brought home with me from the 2014 Portland Garden Bloggers’ Fling has reappeared and is right at home as well on the Eastern side. Where the previous plant’s blooms remind me of little sprites, these flowers look like small spiders or crabs.051515_Epimedium-Portland 051515_Epimedium-Portland2

The fuzzy pasque (Anemone patens) flower is in bloom, looking soggy here as I snapped photos between rain showers.051515_pasque-flower

The dwarf irises are blooming…051515_dward-iris

… as are the bluebells which snuck under the fence from the neighbor’s property. The foreground gives a glimpse of some of the Forget-me-nots (or rather “if you plant me once you’ll be rid of me nots”) blooming around the backyard.051515_bluebells

The foamflower (Tiarella) is in bloom.051515_fence-bed

The bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis alba) is as huge and beautiful as ever.051515_gate-bed

Both cranesbill plants are brightening up the pathway back to the compost bin.051515_cranesbill

The Sweet Tea Coral Bell is beginning to bloom. Hmm, I didn’t notice until this photo I forgot to clean up those old leaves at the base.051515_house-bed

The brunnera is blooming. I much prefer this well-behaved version of Forget-me-not.051515_brunnera

Huzzah! I did not kill the Jack-in-the-Pulpit I brought back from the 2014 Nursery Crawl. At the beginning of the season it received too much hot, afternoon sun. It seems happier here. 051515_jack-in-the-pulpit

By the way, this is Jack. He’s a pretty dapper fellow.051515_jack

This is a Geum triflorum ‘Prairie Smoke,’ the prize find of the 2014 Nursery Crawl. I picked it up when it was already done blooming, only able to enjoy the seed heads (which admittedly is why I purchased the plant). This season I am able to enjoy the blooms as well.051515_geum-prairie-smokeLoki’s bed is looking great with the lenten rose (Hellebores) and solomon’s seal (Polygonatum odoratum Variegatum) blooming.051515_lokis-bed

Here is a brand new bloom for this season. Our west-side neighbors have a beautiful strawberry patch growing against the fence. I’m wondering what these stowaways will get up to on the Lot.051515_strawberry-bloomAnother shot of the Eastern side of the house shows the rock foil (Saxifraga) and the dwarf  bugleweed (Ajuga x ‘Chocolate Chip’) in bloom.051515_rock-garden 051515_dragons-blood-bugleweedAnd for the very first season in bloom is our lilac. This shrub was given to us by Miss A after she received it from the Arbor Day Foundation. We placed it in the ground as a mere twig. It was mowed over not once but twice by the neighbors (oh the challenges of urban gardening)! It smells heavenly.051515_lilac

The last of the tulips are fading, and the Sweet William is full of buds in the South bed. The carpet flox is still full of color in the Southwest bed. That is all for the Lot this May! What is blooming in your garden?

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – April 2015

front bed, house bed, loki bed, spring

On this Bloom Day I’ve noticed the Lot truly beginning to wake up from its winter slumber.  With a nice stretch of mid-fifty to sixty degree days, a majority of the perennials have pushed new shoots up through the soil. Here are some of the bloomers on the Lot that lead the way into spring.

Crocus

There are still crocus popping up in the lawn. This area happens to be more shady than others so these little ones are running behind the pack.

Snow Drops

The same applies to these snowdrop, while the snowdrops I photographed for last month’s Bloom Day have already faded.

Primrose

Sharing a bed with one huge privet is this little primrose. The edges of the new leaves and petals have been a bit frostbitten by our still cool nights.

041515_lenten-roseHere is the lenten rose, still not quite opened yet. It’s such an elegant plant and one of my favorites on the Lot!

041515_daffodilsAnd finally, putting on a show during April Bloom Day for the first time in two seasons, are the frilly daffodils up in the south bed.

Be sure to check out May Dreams Gardens and find out what else is blooming this month in gardens around the world.

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – November 2014

backyard bed, fellow gardeners, house bed, the Lot, winter

On this chilly Bloom Day, temperatures in our Zone 6a reached a whopping 30 degrees Fahrenheit. This seems to have been the weather theme for 2014. Everything has been cooler this year. This type of chill in November reminds me more of the Zone 5a where I grew up in the countryside, not in our current urban microclimate. Our trick-or-treaters had red noses and snowflakes in the air this year.

We’ve had our first hard frost already and the majority of the colorful Fall leaves are on the ground. Most of the perennials in the garden are looking quite fatigued if not completely wilted from the cold temperatures. I only have a handful of pictures to share, but thought it’d be a good idea to log them anyway.

This first mess of color is of an old-fashioned spirea we have in the backyard bed. I pruned this one back hard after it bloomed in the Spring. The growth was old, overgrown, and collapsing from the center. The shrub sprung back throughout the season with healthy new growth.

111514_spirea

Here is a bit of Lamium that is sheltered by the fence and house at the southeast corner of the backyard. Behind it is foliage from a Heucherella ‘Sweet Tea’ and a little Labrador Violet to the left.

111514_lamium

And here is our single pumpkin the raised veggie bed decided to grow this year. We were going to carve it for Halloween but never had time to do so. It’s currently under the bird feeder as a snack for the squirrels. You can see they have already started to nibble on the back corner a bit.

111514_pumpkin

So, only one plant is blooming right now on the Lot. Everything else seems to be settling in for the Winter. Head on over to May Dreams Gardens and maybe you’ll find a few more blooms from the more toasty areas of the world.