Monday, May 28, 2012

East Front Yard

It feels like summer around here.  We've had highs in the 90s, and the flowers everywhere are several weeks ahead of usual.  The first of the daylilies are blooming, and there are lots of buds waiting for their turn.  We got some much needed rain last night, and the high for today is supposed to be in the lower 80s.  Yesterday, I took photos of the east front bed to make a new post.

As usual, I like to take a photo from the porch.  The Joe Pye weed is getting taller than I thought it would, since I had cut it back earlier in the season.


We'll go along the sidewalk, then around the flower bed.


 The volunteer annual salvias are in full bloom, as is this lavender, which I waited too long to cut for drying.


I had lots of volunteer love lies bleeding come up, and gave a number of them away.  Let their blooming begin!


I need to be thinning the reblooming irises.  The amsonia is crowded.


I am enjoying the two meadow rue plants in this bed.  The two across the sidewalk are not blooming yet.


Larry put some plates around that I think he is forgetting to put water in for the snakes.


I think this is fleabane.


There was a graduation party down the street, and I tried my best to avoid getting the cars in the photos.  The verbena bonariensis have seeded themselves around nicely.  I gave some to some coworkers.  One of them told me he wondered what that tall spindly weird plant was, but when it started blooming, he decided he liked it.  The insects sure like it!
   

The phlox pilosa 'Eco Happy Traveler' is about finished blooming.  Rabbits have eaten the ones in the bed across the sidewalk down.


The pink dwarf type monarda will be blooming soon.


We're almost to the south end of the bed.


I like this foxglove.  I'm thinking it may be a native one.  I couldn't find it online, though.


This yarrow is either a red kind or 'Paprika'.


The name of this clematis is not coming to my brain right now.  It's been in this spot a number of years, and performs well.  That's pink primrose below.  I keep pulling it out of areas I don't want it.




These coneflowers are one of my favorite plants.  The big orange poppies that were in front of them left their seedheads.


The pineleaf penstemon and veronica clash in the photo, but they get along fine in the garden.


I think I cut back the helenium, 'Mardi Gras' but they are still blooming early.


I am excited for 'Wally' daylily to bloom.  It's one of my favorites.


 When I got this cenataurea macrocephala, it was called a perennial bachelor button.  I sure was surprised when I saw the blooms look like this the first time.  After a bit, yellow "fluff" came out of the tops, and I decided that was a pretty cool plant to have.  It seems to be declining, because these are the only blooms this year.


I've been noticing dead leaves on  some of the daylilies lately.  I pulled some off of one of the plants by the curb today.  The yellow foxgloves are ready to be deadheaded.  It may bloom again.


The red hot pokers are blooming well this year.


I have one more plant in mind to put in this basket planter.   I really liked the bloomers I had in it last year, until it dried out between waterings, and some of the plants didn't make it.   Hopefully, these will survive winter here.


I am so very tickled that this delphinium is back for a fourth or fifth season!  In the past, I couldn't get any to survive a winter.


Can you see the clematis in the background?



The rattlesnake master is ready to bloom.


The kiss me over the garden gates are just beginning to bloom.  I shared a number of these seedlings this spring, too.


I love swamp milkweed blooms!  Well, I love all milkweed blooms.


I move Heidi's leash from place to place so she can have different views while we are outside.  I wish I didn't have to attach her to it, but she leaves the yard whenever she gets a chance.


That's hibiscus on the lower left.


And this is what we see now that we have gone around the east bed.  I am so enjoying this area!


I really surprised myself today.  I get sidetracked easily, and I ended up cleaning up clutter here and there in the house instead of gardening, which is what I had planned on doing.  Maybe now, I will enjoy my gardening even more, since the house will be somewhat under control.

Thanks to all veterans and current people serving our country in the military.

21 comments:

  1. I'm completely charmed by your late spring garden! Especially the clever succulent planter - so fun!

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  2. Wow-you really do have a lot coming into bloom. I know our weather has been so ahead of itself this year also, but yet they are still calling for frost tomorrow night--as usual! I've yet to see a year that it doesn't on the last day of May.
    I don't know how you get so lucky as to get volunteer Salvia. I've never had that happen--and I sure wish it would.
    Have a wonderful week!
    :)

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  3. I loved this little garden tour Sue. Your clematis is a wonderful color and everything looks so lush and such a fantastic variety of growing things.

    Enjoy ~ FlowerLady

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  4. I believe your clemmy is 'Purpurea Plena Elegans' but I could be wrong. I've got one too but it's far from blooming yet. I'm just amazed at how far along your garden is for so early in the season. I love all the milkeweeds too. I wish I had more room in my garden. I'd grow them all. I love your background photo too. I had a similar thing happen with some of my plants drying out and instead decided to use sedums and hens and chicks. Hopefully we'll both have success. Your garden looks wonderful.

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    1. Yes, Grace, that is it! I remember that you also have it. Thanks!

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  5. Sue, Your plants seem so much further ahead than ours. I can't believe your coneflowers and helenium are flowering. Such a strange season we're having. Really like the milkweed backdrop on the blog.

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  6. Your garden is looking great! It's been horribly hot here too. We almost had to turn the air conditioner on - in May!! That delphinium proves what great gardening skills you have. I have no luck with them at all, and our summers should be cooler than yours. Also love those meadow rue flowers - so delicate.

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  7. Love your succulent planter!! Seems that, over the last few years, succulents are becoming all the rage. .I never knew that hens and chicks ALONE came in so many different varieties!! We will cool down here this week to a bit more seasonable temperature. .80's, instead of upper 90's!!

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  8. Hi Sue, I truly enjoyed seeing the bike basket, too! I enjoy how people from other parts of the country are noticing how early things are blooming this year in the midwest. Things look really good at your place, though. :-) (My indoors isn't looking so good - and yet, my outdoors needs work, too! ha.) Have a great week. It's supposed to be a little cooler here.

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  9. Very nice to see all the beautiful plants growing everywhere with their blooms.
    It is truly beautiful.

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  10. Your garden is looking lovely, as always. Your white milkweed blooms are so gorgeous! My white incarnata is healthy and looking good, but is getting more shade now. I hope it blooms.

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  11. What a wonderful garden you have! I love the variety of plants you have in it. Thanks ofr leaving a comment so I could come an dsay hello!

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  12. I'm wondering if your mystery foxglove could be Digitalis ferruginea. I'm charmed by your self-seeding blue salvias. Can you say what species they are? Did you originally plant it from a seed packet?

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    1. Sharon, thanks for you suggestion on the id of my foxglove. I looked it up, and couldn't tell. I think my blooms may be smaller than those in the photos, but it's hard to tell what size they really are. They sure look a lot like those, though! I did not plant it from seeds, and don't even remember when or where I got it. I wish I was more organized and could keep track of the names of my plants.

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  13. Thanks for all of the nice comments. The weather sure has been changing from week to week. The high for today was in the 60s. We are expecting that again tomorrow, then the 80s are supposed to return. I hope all is well with you and your gardens.

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  14. Hi Sue, I think your unidentified clematis is purpura plenans elegans. It's so beautiful! Love the verbena bonariensis - I have it too but mine is only a few inches tall. Your garden is quite a bit farther along than mine. Same with the Kiss me over the garden gate - mine is just a few inches tall. I have lots to look forward to yet. Have a great wknd!
    Beth

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  15. It's a gorgeous time in your garden! That succulent garden in the bike basket is sweet. And I love the photos of the garden gate/Delphiniums and Clematis arbor in the background. Lovely!

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  16. How abundant and happy every thing looks!!

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  17. Wow Sue! Girl you have so much in bloom in your garden. I love your salvia and lavender.Your basket of sedums is just so cute. What a fun idea. The Red Hot Pokers are so pretty. Have a lovely weekend.

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  18. I love your garden. I do not like snakes. I grew Love Lies Bleeding and it got so big and the rain made it lay, mine looked awful, yours looks good. I live in South Arkansas we have 79 roses together. I have 40 in my yard. Visit me. We are in our 70s so we have been planting mostly plants that come up every year. I enjoy seeing your garden hope you will visit mine

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  19. You have so many good blooms now. And some of the names I've never heard of. Everything has filled in so nicely. We had a heck of a thunder/rain storm last night .. and I just fixed my camera (had to reboot it) so hope to be taking pictures in the garden if it dries out a bit today.

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