Oops! I Missed my Blog Anniversary!

I knew I started blogging in October of 2008, so I went back to check this evening, and saw that it was the first. It was the bed we dug June of 2008 that led me to the ivillage Cottage Garden Forum, which led me to bloggers, who I mentioned in another post, which happened to be part 2 of the story of the new bed. I think I forgot to include FlowerLady, who I also met there. When I saw the freedom they had to post as many photos as they wanted, I decided to give it a try. I'm tickled that Nell and FlowerLady recently joined blotanical.

In my first post, I wondered if I was going to keep up with blogging. Little did I know how addictive it was going to be. In my second post, I learned how to post a photo.

Because it was the new bed that led me to the forum, which led me to blogging, I thought I'd dedicate this post to that bed and post more photos, some of which may have been on previous posts. A few of the dates I have may be a bit off, because I didn't include all the ones I exported, and the dates I wrote on my paper didn't quite match up with the photos.

6/30/08:

8/2/09:

8/5/08:

8/6/09:

8/6/09:

8/08:

8/09:

10/4/08:

10/4/09:

I am excited to see the changes that will take place next year. This bed was originally planned with annuals in mind, but the number of perennials that jump into my cart has increased over time. I've mentioned this is no longer my new bed, so I now think of it as my bed of many colors. In my previous beds I had colors that I limited my selections to, but in this one, I decided to choose flowers I like, and pay less attention to color. I think since I didn't allow pink or red in the other beds, I have chosen a lot of flowers those colors.

I want to thank all of those who follow my blog. I don't know what percent of those listed as my followers still come by. I check your blogs from time to time, also. I have so many I try to keep up with, that I am not always physically able to do it.

I also want to thank those who leave such nice and helpful comments. I appreciate you even though I don't always get people answered individually. I do like to answer questions, and try to do it on your blogs, and sometimes on mine, too. I am thankful for the friends and acquaintances I have here. Happy blogging!

Happy Late Birthday to my New Front Flower Bed

June 4, 2008, waiting for the rain to stop, and trying to keep it off newly dug bed, added to the circle bed that was mostly oranges and yellows:

6/10/08, from the back of the bed:

Today:

6/10/08, from the front:

Today:

6/10/08:

Today:

6/10/08:

Today:

6/10/08:

Today:

6/10/08:

Today, from the other direction:

6/10/08, from the house:

Today:

It was also a year ago that I discovered the Cottage Garden Forum on ivillage's GardenWeb.  I've mentioned this before, but that is where I met some very nice people, some of whom got me interested in blogging.  I got lots of encouragement that my bed would be fuller this year.  It is, but I'm still wanting to plant some early spring bloomers that don't need much room later, when the annuals get bigger.  The bed originally was going to be for large growing annuals, but I kept finding perennials I wanted to grow, and I'm glad I did, because they fill up some spaces that would be dirt right now if they weren't there.

New Bed, Part 5, September, 2008

I was so proud of my hard work in my February GBBD post, where I put the pics on the sides. Since I had gotten into my html, and made my font larger, I had to go back and forth with my preview, and then edit some more after first published, to get the words to line up with the correct pics.  I post on Safari.  This morning, when I got on at work in Firefox, I saw that my words did not line up correctly.  I just had to put another post up, so that the off one would not be my current post. I wasn't brave enough to try it with the pics just on one side, but hope someone may have suggestions on how to do that.

Also, some have said they can't leave comments on my blog.  I went in and changed a setting, so hopefully, that will take care of the problem they were having.  I still have the word verification to reduce spam.

Octopus Bellflower, 9/14:

Blanket Flower, Salvia, Black and Blue, 9/16:

Cypress Vine from Volunteer, 9/21:

Do you think I'll have more cleomes next year?

Cleome, Almost Finished, Moonflower to the Right, 9/21:

Anemone, September Charm, 9/21:

Helenium, or Helen's Flower, 9/21:

Debonair Mum, 9/25:

From Front of Bed, (The orange/yellow flower in the front, is wallflower.) 9/25:

From Front of House, 9/25:

Spring, oh spring, please come soon!

Story of 2008's New Flower Bed, Part 4

These photos were taken 9/7/08.  The sunflowers were blooming, the cleome continuing to bloom, and the white cosmos were finally starting to bloom, after getting quite tall and bushy.

Foxglove and yarrow, I forgot what kind:

The name of the lantana is citrus blend.  I hope to find it again, as it bloomed all summer, and the butterflies and bees loved it.  Just to its left, I planted a day lily named Wally, that I saw pics of on the Cottage Garden Forum on ivillage. The post was by Mary Lu, and started out with, "As promised..." I plant to divide the red hot pokers behind them.

I planted another kind of day lily near this Harvest Moon Coneflower, which I found out later, may not be the best thing for the insects or native echinaceas. I can't remember the details, and just now, when I tried to look it up, couldn't find what I was looking for.  I did come across an interesting article from the University of Minnesota Extension, you may want to check out,  Common Questions About Wildflowers and Native Plants.

My husband doesn't garden, but he does the mowing, and has certain plants he likes that we have to grow every year.  One of them, is snail vine, which is blooming and growing with a morning glory vine.

The sunflowers were pretty for awhile.  I think these would have liked more sun.  The squirrels ended up taking most of the sunflowers just before they were fully ripe.

The nigella were still blooming, as they were planted late.  The verbena "on a stick" reseeds every year, and these were moved from the veggie garden.  They filled the bed out nicely, and the butterflies and bees loved them, too. The orange is butterfly milkweed.

Whenever I took pics, I took from the house, as well as the front.

We got 4 to 5 inches of snow today, and I almost posted pics of that, but since I was home from work, I had a lazy day at the computer, and decided to find some more pics to update my new bed saga.  One thing I plan to do differently is not plant a bunch of annual plants that I normally would put in pots, like the white blooming diamond frost euphorbia.  They bloomed all summer, but I want other things to fill it up this year.

New Bed, Last 2 Weeks of August, '08

Top row: a wonderful lantana that bloomed all summer, Queen Anne's Lace from a friend's yard, a view from the house, a view from the front, showing the purple datura

Bottom Row: the lantana from above, vinca?, purple datura plant full of blooms, close up of purple datura, cardinal creeper vine that grew on the black fence.

Second Collage:

Top Row: orange perfection phlox, which wasn't so orange with vanilla marigold, and I'll write the name of the white flower when I remember after work, the same plants from the other side, also showing a delphinium, a close up of the delphinium, black and blue salvia, under that, a smaller blooming hibisus

Bottom Row: helenium, Vancouver dahlia, which bloomed all summer, butterfly milkweed

I don't know why these pics are not clear. They were in iphoto and Picassa.  I'm hoping the pics I take with my new camera will be better.