Category Archives: garden

What’s Blooming!

The tulips are pretty much finished. Last night’s heavy rain took out the majority of the last lingerers. There was a beautiful rainbow after the storms:

You can just see the double, too.

I did get some pictures of the Queen of the Night a couple days ago:

Front bed:

I recently discovered Alliums. I planted some last year and then decided I loved them so much I would get other kinds. Alliums have a lot of different bloom times and so many sizes and flower types – and prices. I get my Alliums from John Scheepers. They have over 30 different kinds. That’s not a paid plug, either – although I would be happy to do that 😀

Alliums are a fall planted bulb and the best part is that they are rodent resistant, so the squirrels and rabbits don’t bother them like they do with tulips.

Currently in bloom is Purple Sensation:

These are quite tall, about 2-1/2 to 3 feet. The flower itself is maybe 3-4 inches across?

Here is that one with the funny little satellite flower:

They make a nice statement and are pretty inexpensive for bulbs. The only downside is the lower foliage yellows really quickly, so you don’t want them in the front, but behind other growing plants to help hide that.

Tippy pots back in action. These are filled with wave petunias this year. Not very inspired, but they will be pretty.

I am going to get more Allium for next year. They make a nice bridge between the tulips and irises.

Speaking of irises, I’m going to have a banner crop this year! Kicking it off is the batik, which I really think is my favorite.

This is year 2 for batik. It’s not much taller than it was last year, but more blooms. It’s just so gorgeous!

How pretty is that??

There has been a little cool down in the weather, but hopefully a long ride will still happen on Saturday. I managed to hurt my shoulder and if it’s not improved by tomorrow, the first stop will be the ortho acute care clinic to get it checked before riding. I can ride with it, but I want to make sure I’m not going to hurt anything. Fingers crossed!

What’s Blooming!

Another Friday and more blooms. I did a little plant shopping:

Some $2.99 perennials, including Hollyhock, shasta daisy and agastache. Plus some annuals. In the back are some biennials that I grew from seed. I actually had really good luck and have about 14 plants that I’m hardening off now. They are wall flowers. Hopefully they will be blooming this year LOL! The one big container on the right is one of those ready-to-go pots that you just plop into a container. Here it is in said container:

This plant stand (with pot) was sitting out at the curb by the trash in front of someone’s house. It was too nice to throw away, so it came home with me. It fills the space in this garden bed while my hydrangea grows from puny to regular size.

The tulips are still going strong:

The Catherine tulips really are gorgeous. If you want a pure white tulip, that’s the one to get.

The aliums are just starting to open up and this one sent out some strange stalk out of it. I don’t know what this will look like opened up 😀

My shade garden is still struggling. I don’t know why I have a tough time with shady areas.

To be fair, the plants are still really small since it has been so cold. My Solomon Seal has come up:

These are very cool. I don’t know how well they multiply, but I will get more if they don’t. Those little flower buds are very neat.

The magnolia tree has lost all its spring blossoms.

I was standing under the tree and it was snowing petals.

We have lots and lots of lawn violets.

I have half a mind to just do the whole front hell strip in violets. I wonder if that would work?

The last of the Cilesta tulips.

These will be gone by the end of next week, I’m sure.

While I was out in the back, a cat bird was making a lot of noise. I don’t think it was making them at me even though it was pretty close.

They are just noisy birds.

Probably little to no biking this weekend as rain is going to come in. I do hope to get the rest of those plants in the ground in between raindrops. 😀 Have a great weekend!

What’s Blooming! Tulip Time

Hooray Friday! Good thing I didn’t wait until today to take pictures since it has been raining all day long.

I go out at least once a day into all the garden beds and sometimes twice a day. I’m checking for any pest damage, particularly an uprooted plant so that I can replant it asap, along with new growth and a bit of weeding. Doing a little bit of weeding every day really keeps it manageable. Even with mulch I still get weeds. Of course, I’m out there just enjoying it and it’s like Christmas each time I see something new 😀

The front bed:

The Design Impression (pink ones) are on their last legs, but you can see how much bigger they are than these other ones.

The white tulips are Catherine and the dark purple ones are Queen of the Night.

More red tulips:

This is a Triumph tulip called Escape. It’s so pretty and almost looks like a tea rose.

A few of the Carnival de Nice came back this year:

I think I will get more of these, although they don’t seem to be too long lasting.

Monte Carlo:

It’s such an unusual looking tulip. This one has a nice fragrance, too.

I also noticed that I have a huge crop of foxglove seedlings:

A platoon of them! These are the Candy Mountain. The parent plants didn’t come back, but they left all their babies 😀 I don’t know if these will bloom this year or not.

Moving around the house to the back, Lily of the Valley:

It’s amazing to me how such a tiny flower can have such a strong fragrance.

We have some sort of flowering cherry tree out back. I don’t really know what kind it is, but it sure is pretty in the spring:

This is a generic lily tulip:

I got a bag of mixed tulips a couple years ago just to get some and they weren’t labeled. So it’s generic purple lily tulip 😀

Here is the Cilesta in all its glory:

So pretty! And none of the buds got eaten this year. I don’t know if the Molemax has gotten rid of the moles, but it did deter the rabbits. Yay!

Forget-Me-Nots:

These are in the lawn, which I am very okay with.

Debby– this one is for you!

My flowering almond. It’s about 2-1/2 feet tall. I need to stake it because it seems to be leaning and I want to force the main stem more upright. It’s so pretty! I wish it was a little closer to the house to see it.

I’m also happy to report that both my butterfly bushes survived. I wasn’t sure about one of them. And the Baby Joe Pye Weed, which was really late to begin to poke out of the ground. So, I’ve only lost a few plants. Just the bleeding hearts and one rose bush.

What’s Blooming!

Now we have blooms! The weather really warmed up and the tulips just popped open. It’s amazing because there were some that opened this afternoon from the morning being closed. Of course, I was done taking pictures, but you’ll see those next week.

On to the blooms! These are Apricot Impression.

I planted them 2 falls ago, but last year a rabbit or squirrel got the buds before they bloomed. The neem oil I sprayed seemed to do some good, although some of the petals got a little burned. Next time I will just spray the ground around them.

This is Cilesta, another one I planted in the fall of 2015.

That one will fan out a little bit more.

There are also some daffodils. These were in the garden bed when we moved in. I divided them up and put them in various places.

This flower is very delicate and droops down, which is why I’m holding it up for the picture.

Up front, the main bed is starting to really green up.

Some plants I thought didn’t make it are actually starting to poke through the ground now like the butterfly bush and the balloon flowers. I’m still waiting on a few more to see if they lived. Sadly, my 100-pound rose bush died. I bought that after I lost 100 pounds and have had that for 9 years now? Has it been that long??? Anyway, it was down to 1 cane last year and didn’t come back. Hope that doesn’t mean I’ll gain all that weight back.

You already saw the fringed yellow tulips the other day.

The name of that is Crystal Star, by the way, if you want to purchase it.

The red ones are Red Impression, Darwin hybrid.

The color really glows. I didn’t do any color alteration on this photo. You can see the little spots on there from neem oil. Lesson definitely learned. Don’t spray the buds. Or maybe dilute the neem more.

The finicky Fritillaria:

I haven’t had much success with these over the years, but for some reason I’m a sucker for expensive punishment and keep trying. I bought 2 bulbs last fall and 1 came up.

These flowers actually stink LOL! Kind of skunky, but they are not bothered by squirrels or rabbits, which also benefits the flowers around them.

My favorite tulip so far is the Design Impression. John’s favorite flower is the tulip and I asked him what color to add for this year and he said pink. So pink it is!

Such a beautiful color. I just love it!

View into the center:

Little pink soldiers:

There is always a part of me that wants to cut all the blooms and bring them inside, but I just can’t make myself do it. I need a cutting garden or something.

There will be more colors next week!

What’s Blooming!

It’s getting to the end of the blooming posts. 🙁 We have had more warm weather, which had let some buds open.

This is that chrysanthemum that I got for free:

I’m really surprised the bunnies didn’t eat this. It had buds in the spring and they all got eaten.

My Fair Bianca opened up several blooms. You can smell this rose from the driveway. It’s heady!

The blooms are almost peony like, which is what I love about them:

I am so tempted to put a big rose garden in our front lawn! Beats trying to get rid of crabgrass and weeds…

Fall displays are blooming. Here are a couple from a walk I took the other day:

The leaves have just passed peak here. The other day they were gorgeous!

Then we got rain and a lot of leaves are down now. Guess it’s time to rake!

What’s Blooming!

Okay, back to the USA for this post 😀

We had one freeze overnight earlier this week, but most of my plants survived it and it has been relatively warm for the rest of the week.

We bought some pumpkins to be carved later, but now they are outside.

Those are some of the gourds we grew on accident. They keep rolling around or something rolls them around.

The Fair Bianca has buds on it. I thought these might have gotten nipped with the freeze, but maybe they are okay:

The big one should open, but the 2 others probably don’t have enough time before more frost. I love how this rose has the pink buds and opens to white flowers.

The geraniums sent out some fresh blooms:

The mums in the ground are just starting to open.

For the life of me, I can’t remember what color the one on the left is. Guess we should find out soon! Close up of the purple.

I went to get some more potted mums to decorate with and the nursery was having a clearance sale. Clearance sale, people! How could I resist? The perennials were $2 and $3 and I found some that I was going to put in anyway next year.

Ladies Mantle. I got a couple of those and some white astilbe, all for the shade garden. With the warm days, these plants should get a good root system on them. I like planting in the fall because it gives the plants a head start for spring.

These are the marigolds that I direct sowed in the spring.

I couldn’t even get a bloom in the whole growing season and it is now mid October. I’m surprised these haven’t died yet, but another really cold night and they probably will. Please open!!

Look at all my zinnias!

Those dark patches are the old flower heads from my baby Joe Pye. I ended up getting some more zinnia seeds for next year since these were such a success.

I just need to be patient enough to wait for them.

More foxgloves:

I am letting all of the seed pods from these plants fall to the ground.

Lastly, more of the Enchanted Evening rose:

I love this rose. It smells wonderful. It would be nice if it got bushier next year. Third year is the charm for baby perennials, so my fingers are crossed.

Garden cleanup to do this weekend. That’s always a bit sad when you cut away the foliage for the season. I’m already thinking about next year!

What’s Blooming!

Back to my own garden again. I took lots of flower pictures in Ireland, which I am going to be putting on my garden blog as I edit them. We have had a pretty warm fall so far and no frost, so I still have a lot of flowers in bloom.

It’s also bulb planting time!

Ummm.. this might be my third shipment of bulbs. 😀 I planted all the tulips and this order is all alliums. The rabbits/squirrels eat my tulips in the back yard, so I will only plant alliums back there since they don’t eat those. I don’t know why they don’t come to the front yard, but I’m fine with that.

The snapdragons have stragglers blooming still:

Since I put down a bunch of mulch this year, I’m not sure how many will self seed. That will be the fun part next year to see what I get and where!

Asters:

The little toad lily put out a bunch of blooms this week.

This is actually a small plant, about 6 inches high. I have to check and see if it will get taller because it’s more towards the center of the shade bed and if it doesn’t, I will move it next year closer to the edge.

When you order plants from online nurseries, sometimes they throw in a free plant as a bonus. This one is a chrysanthemum of some kind, but I don’t know what. I took the picture now because I’m afraid the rabbits will eat it before it comes open fully.

I don’t even know if this is a hardy mum. Guess I’ll find out next spring!

The Autumn Joy have turned a rusty color:

And the hydrangeas are turning pink. This is the big one in the back yard.

My zinnias are still a poppin’!

Loads of blooms. I have to say I am pretty impressed with these. My Joe Pye is completely obscured by the zinnia. There are a lot of different colors mixed in as well.

I might try to collect seeds from these or I might just buy a new packet next year 😛

The foxgloves have sent out short little spikes of blooms. This is the lavender one.

Foxgloves are such a cottage garden plant and that is the look I am aiming for overall.

Last, but not least, the Enchanted Evening buds have opened up. I thought I might miss them when we were in Ireland, but they opened up this week.

There’s a cluster of 5 all together, which I couldn’t get a good shot of for some reason. This rose smells heavenly, too!

We’re having an Ireland picture party tomorrow because what is more fun that looking at slide shows of someone else’s vacation?? LOL I’m just trying to organize photos into smaller, more maneagable sets for viewing. We’ll see if the rain holds off for biking. Have a great weekend!

What’s Blooming!

We have had that spell of warm weather, which has really extended the bloom time for the plants.

Impatiens:

Even with all the fall leaves around them, they are looking great for late September!

The Enchanted Evening rose has sent up a bunch of buds.

Too bad I will probably miss these when they bloom, but maybe not. Guess we’ll see in a week.

The fall favorite – Autumn Joy Sedum:

My potted million bells just keep going.

The plant is getting a little leggy, but I’ll just leave it as is since it is so late in the season.

Raspberry daquiri agastache:

Please live through the winter little plants! I don’t want to hope for a lot of snow, but I think the reason all the agastache died was because there was no snow cover to blanket them. Some would be nice.

One last Razzmatazz coneflower.

I thought this plant was a goner early in the season because bunnies chewed it down to nubs, but it survived. It’s been around for about 13 years with me, so I shouldn’t have doubted it.

The foxgloves. This is the same plant with 2 different colored stalks.

I am letting these all go to seed any hopefully I will have more next year.

The zinnias have been a poppin’!

I made fun of them earlier this year, but they showed me and some are now almost 5 feet tall!

I should have lots of blooms still until we get an overnight frost. My mums haven’t even bloomed yet.

Have a great weekend!

What’s Blooming!

I am sooo glad this Friday is finally here. Now for the first day off in 2 weeks. There are fall blooms a plenty now and the garden is actually a study in white.

I did move my big butterfly bush Tuesday evening and it was not too happy with me.

It’s kind of wilty, even with plenty of water. I hope it makes it. Maybe I should have cut it back a lot. There is plenty of time for the root system to get established, so hopefully it will survive.

Fall aster:

I only have one little aster plant. John likes this flower, so I put one in.

Last gasp of the tippy pots.

I am going to change the tippy pots out to mums. I’m debating doing it this week or waiting until we get back from Ireland so they don’t dry out. I don’t want to ask my folks to water the plants on top of taking care of our house and Pixie.

Cosmos:

I got another butterfly bush a month or so ago. Darn sales… This one is supposed to only get to about 3 feet high, so it will fit in the front better:

Pretty:

In thinking about it, I have had more luck than I realized with seeds this year. Moonflowers are about as easy as it gets. I just stuck the seeds in the ground and got 9 vines! Unfortunately, I didn’t trellis them, so they are running along the ground and up a couple of poles I put up. I love the buds:

You have to check each day for the blooms to catch them. They only last a day and when the daytime sun hits them, they wilt.

I’m definitely doing these again next year. Note to self – get trellises.

More plant moving this weekend now that I have a free weekend! Yay! Bulb orders should be arriving soon as well, probably while we are gone LOL.

What’s Blooming!

There are things blooming in the garden, but I haven’t been able to get out there much other than to water this week. Thank goodness it rained last night so I didn’t have to go out there.

I just got a couple pictures.

Impatiens.

These grew great this year. The right spot and good amended soil. Amazing what that will do LOL!

The butterfly bush:

This is still pretty short. Only about 3 feet high. It was taller last year. This is going to get moved about 3 feet forward in the garden bed. If I ever get time!!

My 100-pound rose has put up a couple blossoms:

Still going 6 years later despite being moved to a different house!

Next week will be a much better blooming post and I’ll be updating Bloom Crazy as well.

Finding Radiance

Trying to live a fit life loving food, cycling, gardening and everything in between!

Category Archives: garden

What’s Blooming!

What’s Blooming!

What’s Blooming! Tulip Time

What’s Blooming!

What’s Blooming!

What’s Blooming!

What’s Blooming!

What’s Blooming!

What’s Blooming!

What’s Blooming!