The Layered Garden

When you have a layered garden like mine it is important that that spent plants be deadheaded and cut down so the next show can begin.

Bubblegum Phlox is ready to be deadheaded cut just below the spent flower buds.  This is one of the most mildew resistant phlox but it obviously has had some other issues that did not affect the blooming.

Daylilies play a big part in my garden all season but the early bloomers take up room with messy foliage and no blooms.  Underneath these earlier daylilies I have interplanted Plumbago which is late to appear in the spring and blooms in late summer and fall.  The daylilies are cut back to develop smaller clumps of fresh leaves and let the Plumbago peek through.

Daylily foliage from Dark Ruby

Dark Ruby foliage trimmed down to expose Plumbago.  Daylilies will sprout fresh leaves and the Plumbago will bloom in the late summer and early fall.

Deadheading clematis can be very rewarding such as this Hagley Hybrid which will put on a show as long as those fuzzies are cut off.  The flowers are not quite as large as the springtime flush but just beautiful as a background.

Carefree Beauty will bloom off and on all summer if deadheaded and fertilized.

This is what I have been finding each morning when I go out to water!  They are not something I want to pick off and put in soapy water, Yikes!  I usually spray them with a strong stream of water, doesn't work, they hold on for dear life.  Sevin works, but another group is back the next morning.  I even used the Bayer product that is supposed to stop this.

Pink Promise seems to have escaped the Japanese Beetles but it is battling rose midge.  I can barely keep up with all of the aliens in my garden.

Certain roses still have to be deadheaded to produce continual blooming, the Hybrid Teas, Floribundas, and some Shrub roses to keep them within bounds.  The Knockouts supposedly do not have to be deadheaded to produce flowers but I prefer to keep up with the dead blooms for appearance.

Duchess Of Albany is a later blooming clematis in my garden because it it along the fence that has the lilac peeking over from the neighbor's yard.  It is a huge clematis and I have often thought about saying goodbye to it, but this year it has sort of begged to stay on by being a bit more controlled.

As we are saying goodbye to some of our early bloomers we are saying hello to others that herald the waning of summer.  This is Ligularia Rocket and comes up behind my sun plants in the back border.

Platycodon is in full bloom below the island phlox and rose garden.  It is too large for the edge and may have to be moved so it doesn't fall over.  Oh, we love moving things don't we?

Volcano Pink Phlox with a white eye has taken over for Bubblegum Phlox, not as vivid but definitely acceptable as a replacement.

This plant certainly reminds me of fall, Boltonia Nana, earlier than the other Boltonias and smaller.

A beautiful coneflower and I do not have the name, don't think it is Kim's Knee High as I have this in another location.  It is pretty short only about fourteen inches high, help!

Tetrina's Daughter is a mid-season to late bloomer and is more yellow than the photo.  It is tall and slender about forty-eight inches in height.

Miss Bateman is blooming later than usual but it is in  part shade and had been sheared down by the rabbits in the winter.

Heatwave

It's been an interesting week of survival in 100 degree heat for many of the plantings that we choose to grow in zone 5!

Zahara Zinnia is my plant of choice for the south side of my house.  They love the heat.

My roses have been attacked again this year even though I used the new Bayer Systemic advertised to combat Japanese Beetles.

The containers have required watering two to three times per day to keep from wilting;

Redhead Coleus is planted in my smaller turquoise containers, too small for this large of a plant.  These are the containers that I had to water three times a day in the heat!

Indian Summer Coleus can withstand high heat without wilting.

The tightly planted back border looks great because the plants shade each others roots.

The mid-season daylilies are blooming joining the end of the early and extra early (Eileen Clymer, extra early, has bloomed for six weeks).

Mary Todd in the foreground is an early bloomer but it is overlapping with a mid-season bloomer in the background.

Chicago Rosy in the background

Cherry Cheeks in the back garden side border.  It is a mid-season to late season bloomer.

Dark Ruby

Early to mid-season still blooming at the end of July!

Chicago Apache

This is a mid-season daylily that has just begun to bloom in the raised bed on the south side.

Entrapment

I purchased this at Home Depot last year mainly because of the name.  Entrapment is a mid-season bloomer.  It is a shorter daylily and I will have to move it in the fall because it is behind Eileen Clymer and blooms after but is hidden by the long blooming Eileen.

Ice Carnival

It is more of a yellow tinged white and grows in my raised bed vegetable garden mid-season.  The nice thing about it is that the day old flowers are hardly noticeable as mushies.

Nutcracker Suite

Very strong scapes on this mid to late season bloomer, tinged with peach.

Rain spattered Mauna Loa early to  mid-season (big storm again today) in the front garden.

Joan Senior

Supposedly one of the best whites mid-season but has never been a real strong grower for me.

Barbara Mitchell

One of the best pinks mid-season but has been in two years and this is the first year with blooms and very few!

Daylilies love the heat, still need some water, but are great performers! 

Lovely Lilies

I have used lilies off and on in my gardens throughout the years but I think I can finally say they are here to stay in my present garden.

This is an Asiatic Tango Lily, believe it is called Honey Bee.  I had Halloween last year in my garden but it didn't come back.

This is an Asiatic called Regal.

I am not thrilled with having to stake certain types and the fading of the darker colors is a disappointment.

Orienpet Satisfaction

Orienpet Satisfaction faded

It will take a little moving around so that I can give the beautiful raspberry one a little more shade.  Like daylilies I will need to study the bloom times so that I can have lilies in the garden all season.

Orienpet Lavon is my favorite, beautiful fragrance and lasts longer than the others.

Orienpet Lavon Look Alike in the back border.  It looks similar but I do not have the name of this one!

Orienpet Lavon with Dark Ruby Daylily.

Lilies look great mixed in with other perennials such as phlox and daylilies.  This lily is Orienpet Conca D'Or with Blue Paradise Phlox. 

I purchased a bag of mixed lilies (all Orienpet) but most of them were too small to bloom this year.  I won't do this again as I was planning on having extended color in the raised bed garden where my daylilies reside.

Orienpet Anastasia

Only three or four will bloom out of twenty-five bulbs, all came up but not with flowerheads.

Remember, when you plan to use lilies in your garden, they can become quite tall and probably will need staking.  The show is worth it!

Orienpet Lavon Look Alike

Orienpets can become four to six feet tall.

Orienpet Conca D'Or

Welcome

Nothing says welcome like color in the front garden.   There is a fine line when using perennials in the front of your home, so easy to lapse into messy and floppy.  Staking, deadheading, cutting down and general tidiness are important tasks during the growing season, whoever said perennials are carefree?

Amaranthus green and Love Lies Bleeding are in the raised bed on the south side.  They seem to like the heat and add a little interest as one walks the path.  I will begin cutting them soon for arrangements.

Heliopsis Sweet Lorraine is also along the south side.  It is about two feet tall and blooms all summer, love the variegated leaf!

Zahara Zinnias are doing very well in the hot south side border.

Two borders intersect with Limelight Hydrangea as the anchor.

Becky has center stage right now but soon Limelight will take over.

Miss Amelia Daylily

This is a rebloomer if you cut the stems to the ground.  I do not shear this one back until later because of the reblooming.  Orienpet lilies bloom in the background.

Starlight Let's Dance Hydrangeas along the walkway

Southern Comfort, Pistache, Mocha and Villosa Purpurea flourish under the Chanticleer Pear.

Ninebark Summer Wine with Silver Tidal Wave Petunia

It looks like I have an apparition in some of the photos.  Let's hope it is just a smudged lens!

Well, I have cleaned off my lens and am headed towards the back garden again just to catch up with a border I missed and some changes since the last border post.  On the way back on the north side I see another border that is often not appreciated for its beauty.

Astilbe Sprite was brought from my last home, very delicate color and doesn't seem to multiply for me in this location.

Astilbe Chinesis Visions

The veggie garden is a raised bed border along the back driveway with daylilies at one end, Vera Jameson Sedum and Nasturtiums.

Even the eggplant puts on a beautiful show with its secret lavender flowers.

I have a bountiful harvest of peppers this year.  I had better get busy picking and making hot peppers, onion, tomato and herbs in olive oil.

The nasturtium seeds were from last  year but they all germinated and add some color to a vegetable garden.

Believe it or not, this is my Bronze Sweet Potato Vine in my concrete planters by the garage,  I have never seen this vine bloom before!

The island border in the back garden has popped with lilies and phlox, Orienpet Lavon and Bubblegum Phlox.

Bubblegum Phlox

This was an expensive phlox last year and I even wondered this spring if it was going to come back.  Wow, it was certainly worth it, looks like a three year old specimen!