Mackinac Island on July 5

We decided to go to Mackinac Island the day after our country celebrates Independence Day.  I expected it to be busy on that day and it was...Busy and HOT!

It was so busy at the island docks ( 9:30 am) that our ferry needed to kill a quarter hour before the docks were available, so we got a little extra ride under the Mackinac Bridge.

It was a gorgeous morning for a boat ride.  The ferry ride is usually 16 minutes--ours was doubled due to the congestion on the island as everyone was trying to leave after the July 4 festivities.

We did not mind.  In fact I loved it! I have only been under the bridge once before and it was at night during the fireworks so I have never really seen this underside view.

 

For those who have never heard of Mackinac Island, it is an historic island in Michigan with a population of less than 500 full-time residents. During the summer tourist season there could be up to 15,000 people per day.  I think there were at least that many last Friday!

For well over 100 years, the island has had an ordinance banning automobiles. There are three ways to get around the island – bicycle, horse or your own two feet.

Most tourists choose bikes--they can bring their own over on the ferry or rent a bicycle when they arrive.  There are bikes EVERYWHERE on the island.

 

I hate to ride a bike, so we chose a combination of walking and a two-hour  tour in a horse-drawn carriage.

 

 

 

  I wanted to peek into some backyard gardens of the local residents, so we bypassed the downtown area and walked down some residential streets where I snapped a few garden photos.  The peonies were huge! This one must have supports hidden among the massive amount of flowers.

 

 

 

Look way to the back.  See the old trunk planted with yellow begonias?

 

Here are a couple of the huge planters hanging all over the island.  I like the purple, pink with a pop of orange color combination.

Here is a more subdued color scheme.

 

I thought the two big rocks were a nice focal point for this small border.

 

A couple of sidewalk borders:

Oh, by the way, Mackinac Island is a very pricey place to live. It would be rare to find anything for under 1 million dollars.  Amazing, considering these are only summer vacation homes!

 

 

I do love the island colors on some of the old houses on Mackinac Island--like these two on the main road:

 

A bed and breakfast garden:

 

Nice allium in this garden!

 

 

 

This old home has some very tall white Valerian....my mother-in-law gave me some Valerian from her mother's garden. We call it "Sweet Annie".  It is a very old fragrant herb.

 

 

Nice foxglove. I wish I could grow it like that!

Did you notice how the color of the flowers match the bicycle color?  I wonder if it was planned.

 

This post is getting quite long.  I will stop here and continue on my next post.

 

  I have a lot of new flowers blooming in my own garden. I will show you those later in the week.

 

I hope your holiday weekend was wonderful!

 

 

 

Decorating the Wreath Worked

I finally have my robin family.

Have you ever seen a more adorable baby?

The birds will only make a nest at the top of this wreath if it is decorated.  I guess they want to feel hidden & protected. 

 

 

Hope you all have a fun July 4.  I am off to work. We are putting an entry in the parade. It is our first time doing so.  I hope it turns out to be fun. I will be walking and tossing 75 lbs. of Twizzler sticks to the kids along the route. I hope it is not too hot!

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.