A Week To Remember

I can't recall a week when so many things seemed to be going on at one time.  It began last Saturday when I volunteered for the University of Illinois Extension at a demonstration farm where the food grown is donated to a local food pantry.

While I share my saga I am going to show you a few things that are in bloom in my garden.

Allium Purple Sensation has deepened in color each day with the cooler weather.

Heucherella Stoplight

I love the airy blooms on this one and it really pops in the garden.

Well, I am certainly not like I used to be out in the misting rain, temps in the high forties and just garden gloves for my hands.  We were doing square foot plantings with both plants and seeds.  Three and one half hours later I was like a frozen speciman of a person.  It took hours to get rid of the shivers and the tingling in my hands only to begin cleaning my house for the fifty-six people who showed up for my Garden Study Group that I was hosting on Monday.

Dicentra Spectablis Alba

Oh, I forgot to mention that on Saturday and Sunday the temperatures dipped into the high thirties with thirty to forty mile per hour winds.  By the time I looked outside some of my more tender annuals had been beat into submission.  In the meantime, my computer also crashed and I didn't have it hooked up to a back-up drive (I thought because it was fairly new I didn't need one - wrong).  On Monday morning I was outside with my Felco pruners cutting away all of the shriveled leaves.

Halcyon Blue Hosta

At one time the Bleeding Heart was the same height as the hosta.

Impatiens Wild Thing

This is one of the plants I began under lights, only eight out of the twenty-five seeds germinated.  I heard from many of you that this is not uncommon with impatiens.

The Garden Club presentation on Body Fitness was like a checklist of all the things I didn't do but wish I did.

Hosta Unknown Name

I purchased this last year to go out in front under my Chanticleer Pear but it began to burn up even with light sun so I moved it to the back garden where it is shaded by many other plantings.  August Moon Hosta which is also a lighter green will take some sun so I put that one in it's place out front.

Pulmonaria Raspberry Splash

Green Sheen Pachysandra

Variegated Solomon's Seal

Hosta Paul's Glory

Hosta Patriot

We got through everything, new computer, with back up drive attached (they are as small as a wallet now).  Everyone loved the garden, put in a few replacement plants today, completed the baskets and containers, mossed most of the containers and am now sitting with an ice pack on my back!

Sanvitalia

This one is supposed to do well in heat with minimum water requirements.  I am using it in my hayracks on the little garden shed.

I think it will do well with Verbena Imagination and Zahara Zinnia Highlight which I started from seed (not blooming yet).

Azalea Karen

I like how the flowers have become lighter inside as they age.

Hydrangea Let's Dance Starlight

I planted three of these last year in blue, color determined by soil or fertilizer.  I hope they will end up looking the same or it is going to be a little strange with pink on one side of the walk and blue on the other!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Something Borrowed, Something Blue

I think I am aware of every bone, muscle and joint in my whole body!  I am hosting my Garden Study Group on Monday and believe it or not, the presentation is on Body Fitness for Gardening.  I would say it comes a little late for me as I need to know what to do to repair a broken body.

I am loving the view on both sides of my home with beautiful foliage and flowers.  Even though we are in the suburbs our lots are urban in size and we love to share the spectacular flowering trees and flowers.

I believe this is a Crabapple but I am not positive, just lovely!

This is an old lilac on the other side of my home.  Both of my neighbors own 100 plus year old homes.

I usually do my own containers but every so often I see one that I cannot pass up because of the plants and they are a good deal price wise.

I bought this container at Home Depot a Proven Winners design for $16.98. I counted the number of plants and couldn't pass it up for the price.

The containers should look like they are beginning to bloom but not like the middle of summer.  So many containers are overgrown in the spring and you will spend the summer cutting back or replacing.

This one was also a Proven Winners design and full with many plants for $22.98 at Home Depot, again a good deal for the number of plantings and just beginning to fill out.

Allium Purple Sensation

Azalea Karen

Blooms later than the Rhodies, leaves stay on all year and one of the hardiest

Something blue, Intensia Blueberry Hill, just beginning to put together my containers and hope to show them to you very soon!

Spring In Full Swing

It has been such a busy week and I am sure many of us have been working nonstop to get plants into the garden.  I have been especially concerned about the plants I started from seed that I hardened off but were so crowded in their containers.

I have not been able to keep up with blogging and digging but I am sure things will calm down when everything is finally in the ground.

I love Bleeding Heart in the spring garden, impressive and dainty at the same time!

 

This season they are huge at least three feet tall and three feet wide.  They stay green a long time after flowering, do not cut down until they turn yellow.

Things are beginning to pop on the north side of the house, Solomon's Seal, Astilbe and Dinosaur Fern.

Muscari Blue Spike

Muscaris are very different in their shapes, leaf structures and their blooming times and also their colors.

 Valerie Finnis

Tulip Tangerine Beauty

I always put my herbs in a separate container because my veggie garden is small and I cannot take a chance of them overtaking the few veggies I grow.

I have planted onions, radishes, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, spinach and parsley, cucumbers will be planted later.

I ordered the lettuce seeds from Burpee this year and it is just a green and red leaf lettuce, also planted a red Bib lettuce which is just coming up.

Hyacinth Woodstock

Funny, I don't remember planting these cream colored doubles and green and yellow striped tulips.  Maybe, I bought a bag at one of the big box stores late in the season, must look at my orders!

I kept my tropicals in the house over the winter.  This is the Croton and it looks pretty good for not being in a tropical environment.

Agave in the same tropical container overwintered in the house.

Anemone Sylvestris

Is White A Color In The Garden?

Well, I guess it depends who you ask.  Some scientists say that white is the embodiment of all colors, ask a painter and he says if it comes in a can it's a color.

Chanticleer Pear

A stronger pear tree than the Bradford, great for smaller properties or tight areas in the garden, the smell of the flowers is not pleasant but the beauty is worth the little offense to the nose.

Star Magnolia

The flower structure is really beautiful, just about done with the green leaves ready to emerge.  If you are going to prune, this is the time to do it so next year's blooms are not damaged.

Amelanchier Regent has had its difficulties throughout the past six plus years.  I finally fed them a systemic last year rather than the organic fertilizer that I had been giving them each year.  This year several branches had to be pruned out because the weight of the snow broke them.  This is the best they have ever looked!

Allysum Snow Princess

This is a newer introduction by Proven Winners, most floriforus of all allysum

White Daffodil Thalia With Yellow Itzim

White Emperor Tulip

I guess I never thought of Pussy Willows as being white, but upon close examination, they are many shades of white.

Dicentra Spectablis Alba

Not quite white yet, will have to revisit this one

I love bright colors, soft colors and everything in between but white in the garden seems to enhance all of them!

Gardening With Friends

It was a cold and rainy day when my three long time friends and I decided to do some plant shopping, a little antiquing and of course lunch.  These plans had been in place for awhile so we did not want a little bad weather to put us off.  However, the wind was bitter and I should have worn gloves and dressed more for winter rather than spring.

Heucherella Stoplight

I spotted this plant right away in the shade section, although it will take part sun.  I only bought one because I have had Heucherella several years ago and they were not as long lived as the Villosa Heucheras.  I thought I would try this new variety, expensive.

Geranium Blue Sunrise

Again, I think it was the leaf color that caught my eye, starting out orange and turning to lime green.  This is one of the long blooming geraniums that is recommended for growing under roses, similar to Rozanne with a much more vibrant leaf color.

Shasta Daisy Banana Cream

I saw this variety last year at Home Depot but did not purchase it because it reminded me of Broadway Lights which twice has not come back for me.  I read about it and decided it was worth a try because of the color.

I finally decided to pull out the Rhus Aromatica that I have spent so much time trimming and treating over the past several years.

Ninebark Summer Wine

This is supposedly carefree and drought resistant with lots of seasonal interest.

The four of us had worked together for over three decades so we many times do more talking about all of our memories rather than shopping.  It was more than once that salespeople approached us asking if we needed help selecting a plant or a vintage item.  No, we said, we're just talking!