Tango with a Toad

A few images of the side garden:

Lily among the daisies

Mallow and daisies. I will be getting rid of this mallow in the fall. I am planning to redo this area completely. I have already been removing plants from the other side.
Here is the same area last month. What a difference! These poppies are going, too.

Drumstick Allium - I am quite fond of this allium. I have it in few other places, but it really seems to like this spot and multiplies nicely.

Long view of the areas above. Up front to the left is that big clump of mallow and the area I am redoing. I planted some Sunflower seeds from Dianne against the lattice, but it does not look like I am going to be successful with them.

What do you think this big bud looked like when it opened?


Ta da! It's a Tango lily (Cappuccino). I love these large flowers with the bold purple/black speckles. They are in the Arbor Garden.

And here's the promised toad. He's a big guy. I am standing on the deck looking down into the side garden. I did a doube take when I spotted him.

I Love Daytime Thunderstorms

So far this has been a great summer for rain and I LOVE it! Here's a short little video to give you the true effect of being on my deck at 4:30 p.m. yesterday. I brought a couple of the table cushions inside so they would stay dry. It's supposed to thunderstorm every day now until next week.


Since I couldn't work outside during the rain, I worked on a new table setting instead. I posted more about it on Tablescapes.

An Old Building, a Bachelor and Me

On a warm September morning in 1985, I walked into a local bank to open an account.

After a short time with the new accounts lady, I was all set. As I left the bank, I walked past the desk of a thirty-something, bachelor loan officer I knew from taking night college classes two year’s prior.

He stopped me to say hello and asked what I had been up to. I informed him that I was newly single and had just moved back to town. He said he was sorry to hear that, then asked me for a date for the following night. He even remembered my seven-year old son and included him in the date offer of dinner at a pizza joint and a walk along the local beach. How could I not say yes?

After another ten minutes or so of conversation, I got up to leave. It was lunch time and this guy had piqued my interest. I asked him if he’d like to go to lunch. He glanced at his watch and said that sounded great. We walked across the parking lot to a nice restaurant located in a century-old building that once housed the best hotel rooms in the city. We spent a leisurely hour enjoying a big salad while catching up on the past two years of our lives.

When the bill came, I grabbed it since I had asked him to lunch. He tried a few times to sway my decision as he had always paid when in the company of a female. I did not ask him to lunch to get a free meal and I insisted on paying.

Four years later the banker was no longer a bachelor.

We still joke that he only married me because I was the only woman who ever picked up the tab.

I am telling you this little story because today they tore down the building where we had our first lunch.

It's a little sad. The end of another era in my life.

Wild Garden and Callas Galore

About two years ago, I started throwing shovelfulls of plants over the small rockwall garden into the wooded area. I just slung them over. I didn't dig holes and carefully plant anything...just threw it over the wall. I figured a few things would take hold and would provide a bit of color instead of all the weeds that were back there.

I was right.

Just look how colorful this area is today.


As you walk through the arbor, you see billowing masses of white ground cover.

Guess what that is? The dreaded 'coral carpet' sedum that I am trying to remove from all the other gardens! You can see why I fell in love with it way back in the beginning. It's like falling for the pretty boy in high school. After a while you discover he's all about, me, me, me...and you can't wait to dump him for someone a little less pretty, but more sociable.


There are plants growing all the way down the path to the compost pile.


It's pretty dark down that path and I am just amazed that flowers bloom in those conditions!

I often walk thru this wooded area to cut flowers for inside bouquets. That way I don't have to cut from the main gardens.

How about something a little less wild? Just look at the callas!

I wish I had some other colors. Are there red callas? I will have to remember to get some different colors for next year.

update: I went searching for red callas. I found this one called Anneke. It's more purple, but I like it.
They also had this pretty mixture, but I don't need any more yellow.

I Love it When a Plan comes to Fruition

I was planning last fall to revamp that area where we just put the new path in.
Here is what that area looked like last September:

I was killing off this area in preparation for this year's rejuvenation.
Here it is July 14, 2008:

I'd say it looks much better!

You wouldn't believe how many daylily roots I had to dig out in just the tiny center area where I planted the hostas. . . a whole wheelbarrow load. It was amazing. Every shovel full turned up more daylily roots. I am sure I missed some, but I gave it my best shot. I can only dig down about eight inches in this area before I hit rock.

That is why I have such a difficult time growing anything in these gardens. Most areas on this side are solid rock below 6 - 8 inches. Growing flowers here is nearly impossible, so in the beginning if anything grew, I would plant a ton of it. Now I am paying the price trying to get rid of the invasive stuff I planted way back then.

Gardening is always a challenge. I guess that is why I find it so much fun. How boring if I just planted this area once and never had to revamp it!

Where is that New Path in Relation to the Rest of the Garden?

O.K. so nobody really asked me that, but I always like to know these things, s0 just in case somebody is wondering, here it is.

I can now walk across a wide grass path and continue on my afternoon stroll to see what is happening deep within the border. I like that I can now reach into the center to weed. That is so much nicer than trying to walk through dense plantings where you can't see the ground. I don't want to step on any surprises, if you know what I mean.

The new path ends in the seating area of the woodland garden.
Early this morning I sat here with a cup of coffee. After a few minutes I took the cup of coffee and walked down the new path, across to the second path which turns in two directions, so I walked it twice, and then I continued on past the table to check out the rockwall garden.

I only had time for one cup of coffee, because on my little stroll I noticed that the deer have really attacked my hostas. Some of the biggest hostas are half gone. So I mixed up a bath of Hinder and sprayed everything.

Then I spent four hours digging, hauling, and moving plants. I also sprayed the 'Coral Carpet' sedum with Roundup for the 4th time. I think the 4th spraying might be the charm. I told you that stuff is tough to kill!

Now it's just after 8:00 pm. DH and I have just come inside from another stroll through the paths. A perfect ending to a wonderful day.

I Bought a New Stove so We Had to Go out for Dinner

You would think if you had a brand spanking new state of the art stove, you would be able to cook a pretty good meal right a home, wouldn't you?

Well, once the delivery guys got everything set up yesterday, I looked at DH and said, "Where do you want to go out to eat? I haven't the vaguest idea how to operate this thing!" LOL.

We went to Applebee's. We only go there about once a year because I have never had a meal at Applebee's that I've liked--until last night. Oh my, I loved my meal! Every bite was super delish. I just had Caesar salad, some kind of lime chicken, and a key lime dessert cup. Prior to dinner, I had an apple martini to celebrate the new stove (and mattress)..........I wonder if that martini twisted my taste buds or something.....anyway, I can't wait to go back there!

I was outside at 6:30 a.m. this morning moving the Red Carpet Lilies. I clustered them in this area of the path. I also brought in a couple of yellow daylilies, of which I have just forgotten the name. You all know them, they are the ones that rebloom and are quite popular.

Up front there are some taller red/orange Asiatics that are almost the same color, so they lead the eye to these reds at a lower level.
I already had a little cluster of them on the opposite side of the path, so now I think everything ties in nicely and I am very happy to have done the little bit of extra work this morning.
After finishing the lilies, I moved to the other side of the Arbor Gardens and started digging out plants so that we could put in a path. I removed about three wheelbarrow loads and then DH came out to provide some added muscle.

Last night after the delightful Applebee's outing,we stopped at Home Depot and bought 20 16-inch stone pavers. You might remember that I mentioned that I have looked for two years to get more of the round stone pavers to match the other side. They are nowhere to be found in my town, so I decided I needed to get this done now and bought square stone pavers. They weigh 34 lbs. each, so I was so happy that DH agreed to help.

He had it all put down in less than two hours.

Now that my coffee break is over, I will go back out and pretty it up a bit. It's going to rain most of the day today, so I want to get the outside work done first, then I will go inside and figure out how to use the new stove.

Rose Campion (Lychnis Coronaria)

Yesterday I got an email asking about rose campion.

I have a question...I bought my Rose Campion 3 months ago and it has not done nothing. When does it start to bloom?....Thanks DRF

Since I had planned to post about it today, I decided to answer the question right here.

DRF, rose campion is a biennial so it may not bloom this year at all. Actually there is some debate as to whether it's a biennial or a perennial, but in my garden it behaves as biennial. The first year it stays small, just a clump of silver leaves. The second year it grows tall and flowers. Good luck -- don't give up hope!

Sylvana left a comment on an old post, too.
I was trying to find a source to buy seeds for this variety, as it is my favorite flower -- and I found this post during the Google search!! It was probably the 5th down too. Seems like you are the place to go for info on Rudbeckia Hirta "Autumn Colors"!
Hmmm, well mine died the first year and never reseeded. I hope the searchers are able to find a more successful source for their info! LOL. I've been blogging for so many years now, that I come up on the first page of lots of Google searches. It's still kind of a neat to see my own blog show up--especially when it's the first one. I hope you found some seeds!

Time to get ready for work. After work today my new mattress and stove will be delivered. I didn't get my quilt finished. In fact I have not even started to sew the binding on. Maybe this weekend. After I go out and remove all the dead areas where I sprayed the Roundup two weeks ago (like the two big spots in the picture above).

Red Carpet Lilies

I am not exactly thrilled with the red carpet lilies that I bought from Breck's. They are supposed to multiply quickly. This is the pic from the catalog:

Here's what they really look like.

I can't see that the front lilies multiplied at all. In fact, they are much smaller than they were the first year. I would just love to have a thick border of them in front of the Sedum Autumn Joy. The area to the left of the center Lily has a plant, but something ate it so it looks like a large gap there.

This is a red carpet lily that I just planted last year. It's nice. I counted 13 buds on this one.

Unfortunately the ones I planted two years ago are way smaller. They have more like 5 buds.
I bought more of them last year because I wanted to place them around the path so the ones in front did not look so out of place.

I like this view. You can't really see either of these views unless you click to enlarge. I wish Blogger would post bigger pictures.

I don't know if I should dig them all up from the front and plant them in one big cluster, or wait another year to see if they multiply.

Dianne, didn't you plant some of these a couple of years ago? If so, did you have any luck with them?

I am leaning toward digging these out and planting one big cluster. I doubt that they will ever multiply to fill in the area in photo #1.

What do you all think?

Who 'Ya 'Gonna Call...........

Wasp Buster!

While watering my hanging baskets, I noticed a wasp flying in and out of this birdhouse. Luckily it has no bottom.

When turned over, this is what we found:
Yes, I ignored all danger and got within inches to take this photo. Few things are too dangerous to share with my dedicated readers. :)

I also found my first rodent to pose for a photo op.
He's kinda cute for a pesky little rodent.

Look at this weed.
It's beautiful.
I would buy this if I saw it in a Breck's catalog. And it's just a weed! I left it because I couldn't bear to dig it out. Does anyone know what it is?

I had a good day at work today. It was that kind of busy where you look up and the day is over and everything went just as it should. On days like that I think I want to work forever.

There was one sad moment. I was on the phone long distance to a lady who was booking a festive 50th anniversary for her parents. When I got off the phone I started getting everything ready to fax to her: contracts (food and rooms) as well as menus, banquet brochures, etc.

Before I could finish, a group of people were at the desk and wanted to see me.

It was an elderly father and his two daughters. They were there to book a memorial luncheon for their mother. The luncheon was large--the exact same number as the 50th wedding anniversary.

I was saddened for a moment as I realized that within 30 minutes I was working with one daughter who was rejoicing in the planning of her parents 50th while two other daughters now sat before me deeply bereaved to have lost their mother.

As they left I shook the father's hand and expressed my condolences. It was all I could do to hold back the tears.

I find it so unfortunate that a family's loss helps our bottom line.

What a Difference Two Weeks can Make!

On June 25, I posted the picture of this canna container bemoaning it's small size.

Well, look at it today! This should be proof that size does matter!

It has really taken off and I am so much happier with it.

Here are a few pictures of feverfew blooming. It's one of those plants that reseeds itself all over and I pull handfuls of it out all the time.

You can never get it all, which is a good thing because I do love the tiny white flowers when it's in bloom. I never know just where it will pop up from year to year.
I must have bought some more red carpet day lilies last year because I have some blooming on the Arbor Garden path (By the time summer arrives, I can never remember what I planted in the fall).


Here is a picture of one of the deck wall planters that is not doing so well. I am hoping to shame it into production like I did the big canna container.


Maybe in two weeks this one will be big and beautiful. I don't want to see any of the front of the container and the geraniums should be at least twice as big. I am not a big geranium fan. I can never get them to grow big and beautiful. I only bought these because flower varieties were very limited this year and I needed that orange color.

Let's hope they surprise me this year.

Side Garden on July 6, 2008

My Shasta daisies have just started blooming in this side garden. Last year at a garage sale, I bought what I believe to be 'Golden Marguerite" (yellow flower) and it's blooming at the same time.
With the lychnis coronaria (rose campion) and the Sweet William in the same magenta color, I am liking this area. I have spent a lot of effort during the past year to rid the space of the pink mallow and purple asters that were overtaking everything so I am very happy that I like what's left.

This unkown allium is blooming in the Arbor Garden. I only have one of these. I would never buy only one of any bulb so I have no idea what this one is. Does anybody know? It's more pink than the other alliums I have. I wonder if one of my pink drumstick allium were playing hanky panky with my Persian Blues and this is an offspring?

Pink Lady Posing in Front of Sweet William Tower

I was inspired to make a larger tower of Sweet William bouquet for my new desk corner of the living room.

I thought maybe someone would want to know how to make these so I took step-by-step photos:
#1 First put a full piece of wet floral foam in a sink full of water while you take a bucket of water outside to cut flowers. Make sure you have the floral foam for wet bouquets. It's not the same as the foam used for dry arrangements. I buy it at Walmart or Joanne's.

#2 After the foam is saturated with water, take a knife and cut it in half (don't sweat getting it exactly in half )

#3 Stack one half of the foam on top of the other and stick a wooden skewer through the whole thing to hold it in place. Just break off the extra wooden skewer sticking out the top. I stacked mine so that the bottom would be slightly fuller than the top.
#4 Take the flowers that have soaked at least an hour and begin sticking them in. Keep the stems short.
Just keep sticking them in until all the foam is covered. It probably took about 5 minutes.
#5 Clean up the mess. Yes, you will get water all over and a bug or two may fall out of the flowers. It's best to do this outside, which I often do.
I used a cake pedestal to hold mine. It has a slight lip to hold the water. You won't need much water because the foam will remain wet for a few days. Every couple of days just put the bouquet in the sink with a few inches of water and it will absorb what it needs. This bouquet should last at least a week.

The one I made a few days ago is still looking good. I moved it to the dining room table when I removed the July 4 tablescape.