Breck's Double Geranium Collection Arrived Today

They look great with very healthy-looking roots.   I went out and immediately planted them.

Just so I can remember where they are, I am posting these pictures:

Southcrombe Double planted here:

Birch Double here:

Summer Skies Double Here:

If I don't take pictures to document where they are, I will forget and dig them up to plant something else!

Early this morning, I finished putting together this quilt block of a pilgrim lady carrying her Thanksgiving turkey to the table.  Now I can begin to make her husband, who's carrying a pumpkin.  It's a fun project!

Sedum Autumn Joy Turns Pink and Fraternal Twin Coleus

My Sedum Autumn Joy  has reached my favorite pink stage.

Did you notice the denim rag wreath I recently made hanging above the garage planter?

Can you also see the greenish coleus in the planter under the rag wreath?

hmmm... maybe not, so here's a close up:

It's a nice green color with red edges.


Can you believe that green/red-edged coleus is the same plant as this vibrant red one on the opposite side of the garage?

 

 This side gets a lot more sun than the other side which is just a few feet away.
 
I really like both colors. I wish I knew the name of this sawtooth-edged beauty, but when I bought it, there was no name tag.  Don't you just hate that?  I know I do!

Update:  Thanks to Eileen, who knew this was 'Henna' coleus.  I must remember this one for next year.  It is the most beautiful coleus I have ever planted.

New Shrubs/Grasses to Plant

I have had such a busy week and this week looks like it will be the same. I like to be busy, but not too busy. I am sure you all know what I mean.

Anyway, thanks for the comments last week.  I read and appreciated every one even if I did not email you to say so. 

Today I went right from work to Home Depot where I found some great bargain shrubs/grasses. 

I am posting pics of the labels of all of them. This is for my own benefit.  Next year when I wonder what I planted, I can look back here and find out.

The tallest grass is switch grass:

 I am very excited about this lilac shrub, Miss Kim:

 I love fountain grass in my summer containers. This perennial version looks beautiful in the name tag.

 I bought two of these dwarf  Midnight Wine Weigela.

If any of you have any of these plants, I would love to hear what you think about them. I probably won't plant them until the weekend, so if you have any suggestions on companion plants, I would love to hear that, too.

'Green Jewel' Coneflower & 'Cherry Brandy' BES

I bought two new perennials today for my whiskey barrels.  The two older barrels on the other end of the deck have two different varieties of  coneflower. I love to have perennials in my barrels. It is a saving of work and money. Coneflowers don't grow for me in the ground,  but they seem to love to grow in the barrels. I thought it would be nice to have 4 different coneflowers as the main perennials--a different variety  in each barrel. 

So when I saw this gorgeous mahogany-colored flower In Home Depot today, I grabbed it, knowing it would be perfect with Tropicanna--and it is:

 It was not until I got home and removed the tag, that I realized it is not a coneflower!  It's a black-eyed Susan called 'Cherry Brandy'. 

Coneflowers and BES are related, so I don't feel too badly that I was fooled. :)  I still think it's a knockout color with those striped Tropicanna leaves.  I think that the nasturtium that I planted here should be a similar color when it blooms. This may be my favorite color combo for 2012.  There is no way that I can dig in the barrels to plant this right now, so I just stuck the container inside and will do the permanent planting this fall.

The second perennial that I bought today was the coneflower 'Green Jewel'.  I have been admiring that green color for the past few years, so when I saw it for sale, I did not hesitate to get it.  Too often I have waited for a better price, etc. and then my chance was gone. 

'Green Jewel'  does not really WOW me with the same Tropicanna I have planted in barrel #2 this year,

but I do like the complementary color scheme  in this container with Tropicanna 'Gold' and the yellow calla lilies.

 I like the green-tinged flowers with the Trop 'Gold' yellow veined leaves.

as well as with the white-splotched calla leaves:

So next year I just need to replicate this container in the half whiskey barrel.

No problem as long as I remember which container the Trop 'Gold' is in. So I took this pic to help me and I will save it in my "Remember Next Year" category. 

Note to self: Transplant everything from the big blue container in 2013 to the whiskey barrel with  coneflower 'Green Jewel'.

I hope you are all having a great 4th of July.  It is too hot here to do much.  I spent from 7 to 8 am outside and it was so humid that I came inside and decided not to attend any holiday festivities. 

 When DH got home about noon, we went to Home Depot to see if they had any stone pavers because earlier this week, I decided I need another path in the area where the yellow line is: 

These Lake Superior stone/cement pavers are heavy and by the time we loaded 16 of them in the truck bed, we were both dripping wet. 

I am hoping it cools off  early this evening so we can unload them and I can begin working on it tomorrow morning.  I promised DH that last year's path was the last one. Of course, this man who can't remember anything he says, remembered that pledge.

 I acknowledged saying it, but who knew then that the black-eyed Susans I hoped would fill the entire end of this garden,  would decide not to grow all big lush as they do in all the other gardens where I don't want them?

 Adding a path will open the planting possibilities--I can plant short items next to the path and I can get to the middle of the area to weed.   Every time I have added a path, the garden has improved.  The path I added last year, was this one:

It is by far, my best area this year!  So I am excited to get to work on the next path, which I really hope is the last one.  It takes a ton of hard labor to make these paths!

Side Deck Gardens - lots of Lychnis Coronaria

Here are some of the gardens around each side of my deck.  I don't do much work in these gardens  as the following pictures will prove:

There is a lot grass in this one.  I must say, those seeds heads look better than what my ornamental grasses put out! Unfortunately the only thing to do when grass infests this badly is...

Dig everything out and throw it away. Now I have a big bare area.  I plan to just let it sit bare until I need a spot when I divide something.

On side two of the deck, lychnis coronaria is just putting out its bright magenta blooms.

Just this morning I removed lychnis from the bigger gardens, as those bright flowers clash with everything else.

but in the deck side garden, I let it reseed as much as it wants to. 

 I have planted a lot of the somewhat invasive silver artemesia here, too.  I like it with purple spiderwort.

I also have a lot of other flowers in this area, like the tall butterfly bush and the sunlit phlox in the foreground  that is almost ready to bloom. 

I will show you more of these gardens as things began to bloom.
While doing come clean up chores, I cut down these poppy seed heads to save for accents in my fresh floral bouquets.   I like to use them in fall bouquets.

I did a lot of garden work over the weekend.  Among other things, I moved these Forever & Ever hydrangeas that I planted in 2008.

Yes, they are 4 years old and puny as can be!  They should be 3 ft. x 3 ft.   In a good year, one of them gets a flower or two. It's sad.  I decided to move them right at the front of the border so they are not hidden by other flowers.  Hopefully, they will like this better.  Does anyone else have problems with Forever & Ever? 

My Breck's Order for Spring 2012 Has Arrived

For some people it's scary to mail order flowers. I thought there may be a few people who would like to see exactly what you get when your order arrives.  Both of my Breck's orders arrived this week. I am happy with what I received as it all looks healthy.  I got everything planted after work yesterday.   I thought it would take about 30 minutes, but it took three times that long. 

Here is what I got:

I ordered 12 Lionheart bulbs. They come in packages of 3.

I think the brown spots are supposed to be there.


I was surprised to see the toad lily "bulbs"

It looks like a root to me.

I don't really care, I just hope they grow! I planted 11 of them all along one of my garden paths. I forgot to soak them in water as it says, but I think they will be fine as it rained last night.

I planted 12 Crocosmia 'Fire King' bulbs in two containers.

+

I can move these containers anyplace I want them in the garden. I hope they bloom this year!

  The last time I tried Croscosmia it died after the first year.  I am hoping I can bury these containers in the soil against the house to help them survive next winter.

It's been quite the week for receiving mail orders. I also received these three tanks tops--all the same, except for the color.

I wouldn't be caught dead wearing these alone, but I think the bright colors will be fun to wear under summer shirts. 

Making a List, Checking it Twice

I spent some time this morning looking at last year's garden photos to decide what to get rid of and where to plant some of the new flowers.  From past experience I know that by noon I will have forgotten what I spent so much time figuring out.  So I have learned to mark up my photos (I used Paint program) to remember.  This is what I worked on this morning:

I saved it all to a folder on my desktop.  Now when the new bulbs arrive, I can just open the folder to see what I had planned to do with them.  Of course, it's all subject to change. :)  But at least this is a starting place for me.

Today is not turning out to be very nice. It's cold and wet. I did go out on the deck and move some of the liatris plants to the other barrel.

So at least I accomplished something outside.  I probably won't do any more outside work until tomorrow afternoon when it should at least be in the 50's.