July 1, 2009 The Green, Green Grass of Home

Green! Green! Green!
We have had a lot of rain which has prevented the dreaded brown grass that is usually beginning by July 1. I went out between the rain showers and took a lot of pictures.

I can't fit the entire side gardens in one picture. This shows a bit more than half the space.

There is a lone red lily in bloom along this path. By the weekend there will be about a dozen more.
Back in the rockwall garden below the tulip foliage is almost ready to be cut down.

Once the colorful spring bloom of tulips and purple phlox, and orange poppies is over, this garden remains mostly green. I have been removing all the flowers and planting different hostas and shrubs for the past two years. My goal is easy maintenance in shades of lemon green to dark green with a few purple accents like this smoke bush.
I planted two of these smoke bushes three years ago. So far they have not taken up the smoking habit...maybe this year if that big flower bud stem does not shrivel up.
This area has a lot of big boulders. A few are full of this gorgeous moss, which I love.
Three years ago I also planted two cherry trees. So far I have not gotten any of the cherries.
I don't necessarily care about eating them. I planted the tree mostly to cover an ugly view. I think I would have to cover the trees with netting to keep the birds from eating all the cherries and that defeats my purpose of having a prettier view.

The side garden has huge peonies this year.

Unfortunately the rain is beating them down.

A bit further out, I have some Artemesia (also known as wormwood). I love the silver foliage and it's great for flower bouquets. It gets a bunch of small yellowish flowers (ugly) later in the season. I try to cut it down before then.



So that's pretty much where my garden is at on the first day of July in 2009.