Tropicanna Begins to Bloom

My first Tropicanna bloom appeared in the whiskey barrel.
The green/white striped leaves are Tropicanna 'Gold'. It has a lighter orange flower. Hopefully it will bloom this year. Trop 'Gold' seems to have a tough time producing blooms in my garden. Some years I only get the leaves, but that's OK, because I grow them mostly for the foliage anyway.

The Tropicannas were my first cannas and still my favorites.

The next two pictures are from 2005, when I used to spend a lot more time caring for the deck containers.


I don't think the Trops ever bloomed as much as they did that year. I think it was the first year I had them.

The Good, the Not so Bad, and The Downright Ugly

This is the good growing side of the arbor gardens (you usually see it from the other end). It gets the most sun and everything I plant seems to like it here. Most of the area is not terribly rocky and I can dig down deep enough to plant.

This is the opposite side, which also looks pretty good from this end.



This is the exact same side, but looking from the end up to the arbor.
It's not so bad. . . I have been on working on making it better (last year I installed the path and replanted that section). It's coming along. I need a little more color in that center area. It's the rocky area where the Obedient plant is. The Obedient plant is in bloom in this pic, but it's so small you don't even notice it from this angle! I need something with a big punch in this area. Even more phlox would be better.

Here are both sides looking down almost to the end. There is actually a pretty good-sized area down by the white table that you cannot see as it turns in towards the woods.


and thank goodness you can't see it, because it is the ugly!
I can't get anything to grow here because there is so little sun. I had hostas for a few years, but they did not do well because they like water and this area is way to far from the hose (even when I put two together), so it gets no extra water. Last fall I removed all of the hosta and put all of the big clumps of black-eyed Susans that I took out of the upper gardens in their place.

Genius idea, I thought. BES grows like a weed and a big swath of them would look great way down here. I would have plenty to cut for indoor arrangements. I was pretty excited to see how it looked this year.

Well, the excitement turned to sighs as I the weeks passed. As you can see, the Black-eyes Susans did not grow like I expected. They are still alive, but tiny. I am hoping that they are sleeping the first year, will creep next year, and leap like crazy in year three!

Blooming Tuesday

I am really loving this speedwell 'Sunny Border Blue'. I originally planted it in one of the whiskey barrels on the deck, A few weeks ago, I moved it here.

It has been blooming since June. That is what I call a great perennial!

I was pleasantly surprised to go on my garden walk Monday night and see that canna 'King Humbert' had shot up a couple more blooms.

So much better than my last pic which had just one red bloom. I am beginning to like this dull canna more each year. I think the elephant ears that I have planted in the same container adds a bit of interest.

My obedient plant is just starting to bloom.

In my garden Obedient plant is such a lackluster perennial. The flowers are very tiny and it is so invasive that I have removed it from most areas.

This particular area is all rock about three inches down, so I am pretty happy to get anything to grow here. That is the only reason that Obedient plant remains in my garden.


It is better than nothing--but not much better!

So go visit the other gardens at Jean's Blooming Tuesday and see what they have. It has to be better than my dull Obedient plant!

A Minor Tweak Makes Me Much Happier

It was a rainy Sunday morning, so I worked on labeling some photos from yesterday for my files.
I removed a few more containers from the deck and added them to the main gardens. I put stars where the new containers are. (I am having fun with the program called Paint)

I was very discouraged with that bare spot that really ruined every picture.

I decided that I could not wait for the new plants to grow, so I dug out a few more Bergenia from the rockwall gardens and moved them here.

I should have a lot more of the pink dahlias blooming in the next week or so.

No Farmer's Flea Market Treasures, But DH Makes Garden Art

What a disappointment the Flea Market was--despite arriving at 7:00 a.m., I did not find a single treasure to buy!

I did get a few garden veggies.

I made a delicious tomato sandwich for brunch and we enjoyed grilled squash, onions and cucumbers for dinner.
So it was not a complete waste of time.

See those metal rings leaning against the whiskey barrel?
They are all that is left from a full-size whiskey barrel that fell apart a few years back. This old barrel was my favorite deck container. It filled this corner perfectly.
I wanted to throw them away last year as they have just been sitting in the garden shed. DH kept them even though I could not think of a thing to do with them.

A couple of weeks ago on Jean's Blooming Tuesday, I visited a blog that showed a whiskey barrel sphere she had made from these rings. I have been searching for the past hour and I cannot find the blog to give due credit! I remember that I left a comment to the effect that I had the same rings and thanks for the idea. If it was your blog, PLEASE let me know so I can add a link to your post!

I have mentioned numerous times that my DH is not really the handyman type. We have a nice big tool chest in our garage, but there is nothing in it but old sheets to cover plants when we have frost predicted or to toss on the ground when I am spray painting.

Nonetheless, I told my dear husband about the cool garden art that was made from these metal strips and within a few weeks, he had gone to the hardware store and purchased some bolts/screws and a drill bit for metal. One of the few tools we do own is a drill

Just look at my hunky hubby wielding that power tool!

After a short time he had my new garden art completed.

What a great idea for those otherwise useless metal rings! I am tickled that he was able to complete this project so easily!


I even moved Fergie to this area to complement the orb.

Arbor Garden August 6, 2010

A few late afternoon pics of my garden on August 6, 2010:





Close up of canna 'King Humbert'--nice vibrant red, but blah green leaves.


I hope you all have a great weekend. I am planning to go to my local Farmer's Market early tomorrow morning. It is the once a year flea market at the Farmer's Market. In past years I have found quite a few treasures.

Wish me luck for tomorrow morning!

I Waited Two Seasons for this?

What a disappointment this Peruvian daffodil (also known as Spider lilies) proved to be! I planted it in April of 2009 and have been waiting patiently for the gorgeous blooms the package promised.

So far I have just one bug-nibbled bloom. It's interesting---you know how I love flowers with weird blooms! Have you ever seen a daff that looks like this? Cool!


But this is what the packaged promised:
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.......that is all I can say.

In honor of the slightly cooler day today, I had chili for dinner.


MMMMM...MMMMMMM....cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips and fresh chives--Now this is how chili should be eaten!

Mandevilla Vine and Cannas Begin to Bloom

The Mandevilla vine is finally putting out a few of its luscious red velvety blooms.
Now that is more like what I had envisioned! I hope I can overwinter this in the basement. I would really like to have it again next year. Does anyone have any tips on how to do this?

Yesterday as I walked through the garden paths, I took this pic of the bud on Canna 'Black Knight'. I cannot remember just what color the flower is.

I rushed out today to see if it had opened. Not quite, but it looks like it will be a nice orange color.

One of the best reasons I know to plant cannas is that they do not even begin to bloom until August. That is about the time the perennials are winding down for the year. It gives me something new to look forward to in August and September.

I was so excited when I made my mid-afternoon walk around the deck and noticed this bloom---such a soft apricot color. I don't remember having this color.
It is Canna 'Wyoming'. I bought it from Breck's two years ago. I think this is the first year it has bloomed, which is why I don't remember the color.


My favorite canna has bloomed! Isn't this just the most happy-looking flower? It always makes me think of a clown.
I just love how the color is split between yellow and orange. Then to top it off it offers those lovely orange freckles. Every bloom is different. The one next to this is mostly dark orange with a spotted throat.
I purchased this one from a chain store and it was labeled 'Picasso'. The label is not correct. Picasso does not have the big splotchy orange color. I think this plant looks a lot like 'Cleopatra', but I cannot be certain what it is. I just know it is my current favorite!

This year I bought another one labeled 'Picasso'. The leaves are so different. They do not have the stripes. I also bought 'Lucifer'.
I planted these low-growing cannas (3 feet or less) together in the long containers on each side of the dark-leafed canna.
I hope they bloom this year!

Globe Thistle and Little Laura

The globe thistle has now turned blue.

Did you Ever Look Closely at a Globe Thistle?

They are amazing flowers. First they are nearly perfectly round--amazing in its own right.

Then all those little spiney things turn into teeny tiny little petals that open to form the whole flower.

Liatris is another one where many tiny flowers form the whole.

Saturday morning I moved half of the 'Little Laura' phlox to this area behind the lavender at the beginning of his garden.
Now the purple color is distributed throughout this garden.

Ah, here we have the black-eyed Susans. I've been removing them from most of the gardens for the past two summers. They do takeover everywhere! But I like them in certain areas, like here by the deck entrance:
This area next to the main arbor is one where I intend to remove them.
From this angle they look pretty nice. But overall I think they look weedy. This is a difficult area to grow anything, so I am taking my time before I remove all of them. I think I have removed about half of them from this area. I will probably leave the rest until next year.

It's Blooming Tuesday over a Jean's today. Be sure to stop over and see what everyone else has blooming this week!

The Dog Days of August

this phrase was never meant to have anything to do with these:
But after enjoying a delightful dinner of chili dogs, I had to let you all know how delicious these big franks are.

I just hate to have a tiny little hotdog and a ton of bread, as is the case with a regular hotdog and bun.

Well, let me tell you these dogs know how to fill a bun!

We topped these monsters with beanless chili, mustard and onion. . . too die for! I just wish I could have eaten more than one. Unfortunately we ate them before I even thought of blogging about the meal---really, who would even think to blog about hotdogs?

Once it was too late, I wished I had taken a pic of the big dog all doctored up. At least I had one left over, so I could show you the size.

Not wanting to waste the chili, I decided to top a few potato chips with the same mixture I had put on the hotdogs....

OMG...fit for a queen!
I can't wait to have this simple meal again!