A bit of Garden Work and a new Summer Coffee Table Centerpiece

I do love to putter around on Saturday morning.  Today I was outside at 6 am.  I cut down a full wheelbarrow load of  dead iris like these:

Here is the same area after they were cut down  (right side near the bird bath):

AND from the path in the other direction:

There is not much blooming right now.  On the other side of the Arbor Gardens,  where  most of the allium heads are going to seed,

I did spot a couple of the later blooming Allium Christophii. Here is one of them:

We have had a lot of rain in the past two days.  DH made this lovely peony centerpiece on the front porch, but it did not last very long in the rain:

So this morning I dumped it and cut down some of the peonies that  the rain knocked down to the ground and remade the bouquet.

This one should last through the weekend.

I could have done a lot more work in the gardens today, but the mosquitoes were terrible, so I came inside and ironed two pairs of new gold buffalo checked curtains that I bought  for the family room.  You can see one pair from the dining room:

DH helped me put them up just to see if I wanted to keep them. I am happy with this purchase.  I still need to buy some ring hooks and then hem them as they are about 6 inches too long. This afternoon  I ordered a third pair for the living room. I will show you more of them once I get everything finished.

I decided the living room coffee  table needed a summer centerpiece.  A quick trip to the basement yielded some shells and white candles.  In less than five minutes  I had this:

Looks summery to me and it was very easy.  It also cost nothing since I had everything on hand...gotta love that!

 

Please Identify this Plant and Allium Molly

I really hate when there are no labels on plants!  This was in the annual section and has rubbery dark purple leaves that I could not resist.  You all know I love those dark foliage plants!

It came in this container.

Anybody know what it is?

Allium 'Molly' made her cheerful entrance last week.

I really enjoy the perky little yellow stars.

I am hoping to spend some time this weekend in the garden.  All of the purple spring flowers have finished their time on stage.  Now they are just ugly and need to be cut down.  By next week there will another flush of color that will be totally different from the spring pastels.

 

 

 

Agastache and Heuchera 'Circus'

I could not resist buying this container with Apricot, Raspberry and Orange Agastache.

It reminds me of fireworks!

I think I will plant it next to this aqua orb in the Arbor garden:

In front of the Agastache are two Heuchera 'Circus' that I just purchased.

I should probably separate the there colors.  I have never grown Aagastache before.  Those of you who know about this plant, what do you think?  Will they cross pollinate and produce muddy colors if leave them as planted in the container I bought?

Replanted the Daylily Area

Remember the area I showed you Saturday where we removed 5 wheelbarrow loads of daylilies?

I replanted this area with a Ninebark shrub.

 

I put some Lamb's Ear on each side of the Ninebark because I think the silver color will do wonders to brighten this area.

Speaking of Lamb's Ear, I plopped an aqua orb  in front of this area:

Here is a view from a bit further back:

 

This white poppy is on the opposite side, almost directly across from the aqua orb:

 

My purple allium has lost its color for this season.  Later I will show another allium that has just begun to flower--it is yellow and looks totally different than the purple orb allium.

I Put in a Full Day of Garden Work Today

Just yesterday Earlene asked me how many hours I spend in my garden.  I answered truthfully by telling her I don't spend much time at all anymore.  Well, today all that changed!  I was out at 6:30 am, intending to do just a little weeding.  Before I knew it I had spent 5 hours weeding, moving plants, helping my husband cut down branches, hauling the branches away, and making a quick run to Home Depot to purchase 10 bags of top soil to fill in this area where we removed 5 wheelbarrow loads of daylilies.

I have not yet replanted it.

On a whim, I dug up a lupine on the opposite side of the house and moved it to the Arbor Gardens.  I have one the same color across from this.   

Here is a close up showing how nice it looked about an hour after the move.

Here it is 7 hours after the move:

 

Probably not a good idea to move Lupine in full bloom.  Win some...lose some....on to the next project.

I was thrilled to get all these branches cut down and hauled away.

It made the entire area look so much more clean and neat.

I noticed this geranium blooming today.

Do you see the other Lupines behind the cranesbill geranium?

  I enjoyed my work-filled Saturday.  The predicted rain never came...yet.  They are predicting rain for the next week, so I am hopeful to get some soon.  I am happiest if it rains at least two days every week.  If you have a big garden with no watering system, you understand why.

On another post I will show you a few new purchases I made at Home Depot today.

The Gardens Just Before the Rain

This is a picture heavy post with little commentary.  I just want to capture what is blooming on June 21, 2013. I hope you enjoy seeing some long shot pictures of the majority of my gardens. I took all of these pictures just 1 hour ago.

It is supposed to rain every day next week, so this is probably the best these gardens will look for quite awhile.

Boneset Chocolate

When I was in HD buying my Ninebark, I saw this perennial with purplish foliage.  The tag name was 'Boneset'.

 Hmmmm....never heard of a perennial with that odd name.  The tag also  said "TALL HEIGHT" and "DEER RESISTANT".   I decided to buy it.

Once I got home, I did what any respectable gardener would do--I goggled it. 

I found out its common name is 'White Snakeroot'.  I have heard of Snakeroot.  I looked further and I saw pictures of it in bloom.  The flowers reminded me of Ninebark blooms. 

I read that it gets about 4 feet tall at maturity.  I decided to plant it here to break up all the green:

Right now it is so small you can barely see it.  If it gets 4 ft. tall, I think it will be perfect.

Do any of you have this plant?  I would love to hear what you think of it. If you have a link to  a picture in your garden, I would love to see it!

I Found a Ninebark to Replace the Smokebush

Yesterday I stopped at Home Depot and they had a few Ninebarks.  They were not very large, but I needed one so I grabbed it and immediately took it home to plant.  Here it is where the Smokebush used to be:

I like the pop of red/purple foliage among all the green.  It is a brighter red than the Smokebush foliage.

Unfortunately after the Smokebush was removed, I realized that is was not dead!  The  leaves were just beginning to come out. 

I  replanted it in a different area in hopes that it will live on and grow 10 feet tall, producing clouds of smoky blooms for many springs to come.

Yesterday I noticed my first blooms of purple Spiderwort.  Have you noticed that so many spring bloomers are in the purple color family?  I have the blue spiderwort right next to it, but it still has a few days before it blooms.

In the crappy (forgive that vulgar descriptive term) rocky area near the big arbor this pink Lupine has returned.  I am thrilled to see that it came back in this inhospitable neighborhood!

That's about it for my new bloomers. 

We have been bringing the deck furniture out this week.  I am not doing nearly as many deck containers as in the past.  A number of cannas and dahlias died out over the winter. I am taking that as an omen to cut back this year.

Hosta Heaven

It took years before I found homes that my hostas loved.  As many of us do, I originally planted them in spots where nothing else would survive--under pine trees, apple trees and crab apple trees.  They lived, but they did not thrive--poor soil and too many tree roots hogging all the water.

 

About three years ago I began to move them into my main gardens.  I have been rewarded with big lush plants. 

 

Just take a look---we have had enough rain this spring to keep them happy and no deer have found them yet. 

 

 

I could not find anything to grow well in this area next to my largest arbor.  The soil is only six inches deep before hitting pure rock.

I decided to try hosta. This area looks the best it has since the garden began -- a gazillion  years ago.

Same area but looking from behind the milk can.

This is the area directly across from the one above. I really like Heuchera 'Caramel' next to this yellow green hosta in front of the allium.

 This is Hosta Frances William -- my favorite.

 

The leaves look like they are quilted.

Just last year I planted all the hostas in the woodland garden behind the table set.

Here is a closer view.  This garden also has a piece of driftwood as its focal point.  This area is very bright and cheerful and there is not one single flower in bloom.

 

Here is what it looked like just one year ago after I removed all the daylilies that were originally planted here.

 

 

I do LUV my hostas! 

All the Iris Buds are Now in Flower

In my last post I showed you a lot of iris buds. In this post I will show you what it looks like today after they all burst into bloom.

One very tall vintage pink/yellow iris found its way in the center of the alliums.

These three dark purple iris are the ones that looked black when in bud:

Chives and purple iris--I never tire of that combo.

Hens/chicks on top of the driftwood looking toward the dark purple iris from above.

Same piece of driftwood looking in the opposite direction:

 

 

It just began to rain here.  That's good because I planted a few things this afternoon and they need the water.  I love when Mother Nature is so kind to me!