Garden Bloom Tour June 2015

Here we are already at the middle of June and soon we'll observe the longest day of the year.  I have been loving the extended daylight hours, though not thrilled by the chickens getting up earlier and "talking up a storm until I let them out of their coops."

Flowers are coming on quickly in the garden and some have gone their merry way already.  The last of the calla lilies are fading, I've been cutting down the daisies right and left and the last iris bloomed about a week ago and then faded quickly when we had a couple hot days in a row. 

It's been exciting to see some of my new plants blooming for the first time and to see others return with a beautiful show for this year.

Life has been busy with a capital B and it's only going to get more so this week.  School is out for the summer, for which Levi is quite grateful!  Before we know it I'm sure he'll have that look in his eyes that indicates he's ready to go back, ready to see all his friends in one place and have some structure to his days.  Until then we'll work at crossing things off his summer bucket list.  Things like:  burn school papers (boy will the marshmallows roasted over that fire taste extra sweet), sleep in the backyard, go inner-tubing behind the boat, take bike rides, build a fort, have sleep-overs with friends.  Cole's goal is to move to Texas by summer's end, until then he will continue working at the store.

Without any more rambling I will share some (lots) of photos of what's blooming in my garden now.  I HAVE to share lots now because I really don't have a strong summer garden and in the future there won't be such variety!
 
The tour will start in the backyard and then we'll come out front.  

Chai, one of my co-gardeners - she lays beautiful green eggs
(Update:  Chai died in the summer of 2016, as did Cinnamon and Cookie)

Let's Dance Starlight

This beautiful Bigleaf Hydrangea was blue on the tag.  I don't mind at all that it's blooming pink.

Astilbe

 I recently went on the Eugene Symphony Guild's garden tour. It was fun to see the 6 different gardens and their different styles.  I picked up a few pieces of garden art including the pink "flower" above.

Gartenmeister ? fuchsia

I bought this beautiful fuchsia for the pink foliage and wasn't even concerned with whether or not it would bloom.  I don't think this photo does the pink justice, it's much lovelier in person. The tag is in a "safe place" so until I find it I can't remember the rest of the name.  (I moved it and it bloomed again in 2016 but didn't return for 2017.)  

geranium from Aretha

These geraniums have such a lovely color.  Aretha tells me they won't take over the garden, but they will spread out.  Looking forward to seeing what they do.

A native bleeding heart, also from Aretha

This happy assortment of flowers is blooming well in the "window box" on the back fence.  Hopefully I will keep them happy and not let them dry out as summer goes on.

 These snapdragons are doing really well.  They were seedlings given to me last year by my friend Katie and they came back nice and strong.  I had others across the backyard but they got spots all over their leaves and looked quite unhealthy so I cut them back in hopes of not spreading something to nearby healthy plants. 

This hydrangea was a $3.50 rescue plant in a gallon pot from Home Depot a few summers ago.  It is thriving and loaded with blooms.  I got another rescue hydrangea at the same time but couldn't decide where to put it so didn't get it planted until about 10 months later and it is still fairly small and not yet in bloom.

Allium planted last fall

 I wonder just how many tiny flowers there are on this purple globe but I don't have the time to dismantle it and count them so I'll just let it go...

Morning glory from seeds sown this spring

Yesterday's morning glory bloom

The bud of tomorrow's morning glory.

This morning glory bud reminds me of hand spun candy.  Gorgeous!  From here we'll move to the front to see what's blooming out there.

To the left of the front sidewalk.

Just across the sidewalk from the above photo.

Fuchsia & lobelia basket

The daisies along the front sidewalk and driveway are finishing up so I am deadheading and or pulling them up as I can.  The coreopsis are in need of deadheading every couple days as well to keep them looking good.

I'm really pleased with my fuchsia baskets this year.  For the first time I joined in on one of the Fred Meyer planting days.  I got the starts for 5/$3 and then they planted them up in the pots and baskets I provided.  I bought additional starts and scared up a few more baskets and planted my own.  Three of the baskets are blooming strongly now, 2 others are just about to get started and one is coming along behind those.  I also got a bunch of geranium starts at the sale. Meeting a friend there made the waiting in line go fairly quickly and in the end it was all worth it.

Hebe in the driveway bed

Monarda Jacob Cline in the driveway bed

I've wanted a bee balm (Monarda) for quite awhile now.  I really want it in pink but when I saw this at the nursery I just couldn't pass up the $5 price for a gallon plant.  The flowers remind me of a jester's hat.

Gaura

 Last summer while Levi was having his teeth cleaned I took a walk through the neighborhood.  There were a couple ladies out gardening in the parking strip and I noticed these beautiful pink flowers.  I commented on them and the owner of the property invited me to just dig some up. We decided that since it was in the 90s that day I should come back later and that's just what I did when I had my appointment a month or so later.  I got 2 plants, one is growing big and covered with blooms, the other was planted in a different location and it's still on the small side with no blooms yet.  From reading about them I am aware that I should deadhead them to prevent having them reseed all over the place. 

Geranium

Daisies, Rose campion and the raspberry patch beyond

The geranium above was a "gift" from a friend many years ago. Unfortunately this IS one that grows by underground runners and it seems nearly impossible to get it out of the garden.  I think it's very pretty but I just wish it would behave itself better than it does!  If I offer you one of them please know that you've been warned!

The daisies came from Mom years ago, I'll always have them I'm sure. In part because they readily reseed themselves and come up by the "millions" and partly because it is something from her garden that is a wonderful reminder of her generous spirit.  Who knows where the rose campion came from.  A bird must have shared them with us years ago and I love the color so I let them stay.  The raspberries (from Dad and Mom several years ago) are going strong in this location and in fact this year I have been too busy to keep up with the picking! (Update:  The raspberries had a fair harvest in 2016 but really went downhill in 2017.  I plan to start over with a new berry patch where we used to park the boat before selling it in late 2016.) 

The passionflower is not thriving.  I have spent the last few weeks trying to figure out if it's getting too little water, too much water, not enough fertilizer or WHAT!  Last week it did have 44 blooms on one day, but many of the buds are just turning yellow and drying up. (Update:  The passionflower was fantastic in 2016 but died back in the winter and there was no sign of it in early spring of 2017.  Eventually some starts began appearing in the area of the pot that contained it and by early August of 2017 it was doing pretty well.  I don't expect any blooms until 2018 though.) 

I'm joining up with Carol of May Dreams Gardens for the Garden Blogger's Bloom Day.  Go check out what's blooming in other gardens across the country and around the world. 

As always, I'd love to know you stopped by so please take time to leave a comment.  Happy Bloom Day! 

A front yard tour

I just love spring!  There is so much going on in the garden and EVERY day it is different! There is always something new to see.  I find myself walking around the front and the back just looking to see what has changed from the day before and sometimes it is surprising how many things have changed in a day.

I went to Bend on Friday morning and returned Sunday evening to find a number of plants had bloomed in that short time.

The front yard tour will start with a shot from the porch looking out at the dogwood (a Mother's Day gift from Tad and the boys several years ago) and the hawthorn trees.  The hawthorn trees came with the house and have really gone past their prime.  The city removed one 2 summers ago and may well need to take out the others in the next couple years.  We enjoy the trees for about 2 weeks each year.

Hawthorns in full bloom

From here I'll move down to the driveway and the photos will just take us from the left side of the house to the right.  The front of the house faces the north so it's fairly shady here for much of the day.

The front walk

The sun was just really coming up and glowed on the trees to the west of the house. 

Driveway border garden

Driveway border garden seen from the lawn side

I have a bazillion daisies.  I got my first plant(s) from Mom many years ago.  They reseed like CRAZY and I let them.  I just pull out what I don't want.  Someday I will probably have more plants in my gardens and won't let the daisies run rampant but until then I let them do their thing and add a lot of cheer to the front.  Last year I tried to do a lot of deadheading so I could keep them in check, not sure if it worked or not but it seems as though there were fewer seedlings to pull out this spring.

A view from the corner

We've owned just 2 houses in our 29 years, both times on corner lots.  There are days when we wonder just why we wanted that extra space but most of the time we really appreciate it.  Years ago thoughtless neighbors started to wear a path through the corner of our lawn so we just removed it and put a tree and small garden there.  The tree, a Styrax Japonicas or Japanese snowbell, succumbed to a boring beetle 2 years later and now the corner is just filled in with various plants.

My first iris garden - with daisies too

Originally I planted my irises in this garden to the west of the house, just out our bedroom window.  Eventually I had too many to fit there and started adding them to other areas of the garden.  I hope to have the energy and time to dig up and redo this garden sometime after July of this year.  Just beyond the iris and daisy garden, running parallel to the sidewalk is my 30+ feet of raspberries.  The bees have been very busy back there and I've seen that the berries are forming.  Keeping my fingers crossed for a big harvest this year.

View from the sidewalk to the west of the house

And now I'll just put up some close-ups of some of the flowers blooming (or nearly blooming) this week. 

"Adonis" peony buds

I couldn't resist photographing these peony buds.  The marbling on them is so pretty.  These will be a lovely pink flower when they bloom.  I bought this plant and one other at Adelman Peony Gardens 2 years ago. 

Foxgloves

I am really looking forward to the foxgloves blooming.  This is the first time that I've had a plant that survived past the first year!  And the bonus is that I actually have 3 or 4 plants that are doing quite well and tons of little babies all around them.  I really need to dig some  up and move them.

Late-blooming dogwood

My dogwood is different from those in our neighbor's yards.  Mine gets leaves first and then the flowers.  Having grown up in Montana and then Bend, Oregon I didn't really know about these trees until we moved to Portland and then Eugene in the early 90s.  I fell in love at first sight. 

A miniature hosta in a pot on the porch

NOID heuchera

As I was working in the front garden my eye was caught by the intense color of the sun shining through this heuchera.

Scabiosa pincushion flower

The first blossom on the pincushion flower.

The year's first iris blooms

And lastly, these are the early bloomers in my iris collection.  I have lost track of just how many different iris I have and it's not easy to keep track because some of them seem to take a year off.  Most of them were purchased from Schreiner's Iris Gardens just out of Salem, Oregon.  Some were given to me by friends/neighbors and a few were picked up from someone else's discards.  All of the flowers shown above were from Schreiner's.  Another project for this year is to track down the names as their tags have mostly disintegrated.  That will be a big project.

Update 05-19-2015   This post from 2009 has photographs of several of my iris (photographed in 2008) with their names.  This will help me as I sort out what is blooming this year.   Some that bloomed that year don't seem to be blooming this year.  Maybe they are yet to come.

Thanks for visiting.  Feel free to leave a comment. I'd love to know you stopped by.

I'm so excited!

The song,  I'm So Excited, by the Pointer Sisters is running through my mind right now.  I guess that dates me. Oh. Well.

If you're wondering what I'm so excited about, it's THIS!!!  It's a passionflower bud! 

 Two years ago I received a seed packet for this beauty from my friend Katie. I followed the directions and nicked the seeds and planted up a few in little peat pots and started them in a cold frame. Eventually I planted 2 in my raised garden bed and watched as they grew very slowly.  At the end of the season I wasn't real impressed.  That winter we had some very cold weather for our area.  About when we thought things were back to normal we had another big storm.

Surprisingly, last spring the plants were back and I transplanted one to a big pot and put a neat little trellis in the pot and watched as it grew up and beyond that trellis. I moved the pot over along a fence and attached some wires for it to grow along.  Boy did it grow.  It had lots of foliage but not a single flower.  I was later told that it can take years for a passionflower plant to actually flower when grown from the seed. 

Two days ago I was out in the garden, looking at all the new growth this plant is putting out when I noticed that some of it is different than the rest.  I pinched off one of these little buds and peeled back the leaves to reveal the beginning of a flower.  I'm SO excited!  Oh, I said that already.  Really, I am so looking forward to this plant being covered with blooms.  I hope it has a very extended bloom season.  I'll definitely be posting photos of the blooms.

I'm also excited about this...my first bearded iris bloom of the season on April 21st.  I can't remember its name right now and I can't seem to match it up to the order information that I can find from Schreiner's Iris Garden up in Salem.  (Sadly I have misplaced some of that information and over time the little tags break down in the weather.)  No matter what its name, it is gorgeous and I am so glad to have iris blooming now.  Many of my other iris plants have buds forming and for the first time I will have some bearded iris blooming in the backyard.   I'm so excited!

Here's a little photo page I did 3 years ago after a trip to Schreiner's Iris Garden.  Love that place.  If you've not been there put it on your bucket list.  They have 10 acres of display gardens filled with spring flowers.  It's seasonal so check to see when the best time to visit is before you go.

This also gets me excited each year, a dogwood and azalea blooming together. It's not in my yard but in that of some friends a couple blocks away.  This is so beautiful to see that I will purposely take the slower way home just so I can look at it.  Our dogwood tree died after a hard winter storm about 3 or 4 years ago.  It was with the house when we bought it and not nearly as large as the tree in the picture, but a really nice accent in front of our house. 

And just around the next corner is this beautiful rhododendron.

One more turn and I get to see this yard with wisteria, azaleas and a rhododendron. It makes for a nice drive through the neighborhood.

Today while out in the garden I noticed this cutie.  I've never noticed the poppy in this state between flower and seed pod.  It reminded me of a little ballerina with her tutu.   She was an orange poppy like you see in the background.  Orange isn't my preferred color but these are so bright and cheerful in the garden that I just let them do their thing. They are up against our dark grayish-blue house and actually look quite nice.  They spread through seed and the plant is easy to recognize so I could just pull them all out, but why? 

 The daisies started blooming today.  I have masses of them.  They're like a weed but I love them and they are easy to pull out if I get tired of them.  Now, I didn't say they will be easy to get rid of, they send out about a bazillion seeds and come up all over the place.  When they get big enough I just pull out any I don't want.  The lucky ones that get to stay are here to brighten up the yard.  It's been real cloudy today so I didn't get out to take a picture but I have this one from a few years ago.  

I suppose that is enough excitement for one day!  I'm sure tomorrow will bring its own excitement. 

Thanks for visiting.  Feel free to leave a comment. I'd love to know you stopped by.