Whew! No Frost Damage

Okay, last Sunday I was getting very anxious to get in the garden (yes it was raining, but just a drizzle) and I planted about 3 dozen perennials. I was real concerned last night when they were calling for a frost/freeze. The temperature this morning at 6:00 a.m. was 30 degrees. I was afraid to go outside... but here you have it... I am truly blessed and my plants survived fine. Here they are.. making great progress, let's take a walk around the yard. Only have a few minutes, but don't want to miss anything.

The tulips in the front are a double petal variety and are beautiful. Notice the couple of blooms on the Magnolia tree.


The color is true red, sunlight just glistening, but look at the pretty petals.


Here at the 'garden gate' we've got Clemaitis starting to climb, Coral Bells (in the lower left), a little Coreopsis Moonbeam (to the left and bottom right) and kind of in the center are some new Coreopsis.


Hope the Hollyhocks come up ... I remember them from when I was growing up.


Some Forget-Me-Nots in white... and a volunteer day lily is starting up behind it.


The Bee Balm is really raring to go. Hope we're in town this year when it blooms.


Don't remember the exact name, but I think it's some kind of Coreopsis. I had good luck with it last year and I'm taking full advantage of it if it wants to grow in my yucky soil.


Look at all the buds on the Peony.


And the Peony bushes are really bushy.


The Scottish Bluebell caught my eye. Can't see the blue too much, but they are really pretty.


The Sedum I planted last year did well.... time to get another :)


And another Clemaitis that still needs to be planted in the tire. Need to get something for it to climb on too.


This is a cool birdhouse I found last weekend at a craft bazaar. Can you believe only $10.00!! The guy that makes them said that he sells them to boutiques in Travis City and Petosky and they sell them for $39 - $59! For $10.00 I got two lol


Another view. It even has a nice finish that can withstand the elements.


And look what we spotted on the Trumpet Vine wall.... a robin's bird nest.


This picture shows (not too clearly) that there are three eggs. I was balancing on a chair that shouldn't be stood on and holding the camera over my head lol. Hope no squirrels get them. We'll all have to try to stand guard.


So there you have it, one of my favorite times of year coming to life. Tomorrow the mulch will be delivered and my weekend is full of 'fun' exercise.

Fertilize Friday

Summer is hot and dry... anything different out there? I have a lot of plants not in bloom, but I was able to find some color to share. So enjoy my offering and head on over to Tootsie Time to check out the other participating gardeners.

The Moonbeam Coreopsis has been blooming for quite a while and it is still so pretty.

This one is the flowering Chicks and Hens. I had two blooming plants this year. They always amaze me.


The cone flowers are still blooming but have fallen over. I got a tip from a neighbor about using bone meal to strengthen the stems.


A friend got me this cute bird house for my birthday. Seeing the spigot on it I thought it would be cute sitting on this old discarded sink. MM put it all together for me. Now I just need a plant lol


Another friend got me this beautiful mum plant. Definitely a spark of color.


The Rose of Sharon is loaded with buds and blooms.


I love the ruffling of the Rose of Sharon petals.


This is the ground side of the Trumpet vine. That wall is probably 12 feet high. It is a wonderful privacy wall.


A close up of the colorful trumpets.


And finally the hanging basket that is still providing lots of color. This has been a beautiful basket all season, I love seeing it out our dining room.


What didn't make it through the season is the hosta plants. The deer had a feast! I was using a 'deer repel' product for a while.... maybe I shouldn't have stopped.


So that's it for me this week. Watering has been made a little simpler by the soaker hose that MM threaded around, but I'm still fertilizing them individually. Wonder how all of this will look when I have all the time in the world? :) Until then, I'll enjoy my peaceful little place on earth.

Watching My Garden Grow

With the 4th of July celebrations last week I missed my Fertilize Friday. Not this week. I've been watering and fertilizing and trimming and things are looking quite healthy.

The Tiger Lilies bloomed for the better part of two weeks. Next year I plan on grouping them all together for a stronger presentation.


Not sure what this plant is.... any ideas? I love the cluster orange flowers.


Looking up the driveway from the backyard it looks like we have a full garden lol. Lots of room for more, but MM doesn't agree :)


The Coneflowers are blooming a lot more this week.


The Coreopsis are so light and airy. When I went to fertilize them this week a neighbor's cat ran out from under it. Guess he thought is was light and airy too.


When I bought these the containers said they were both Shasta Daisy - Snow Lady. The one on the left is what I think is a Snow Lady, I don't know what the specific name of the one on the right is. It is definitely a Daisy, but is taller and a soft yellow.











The Salvia Blue Hills is still blooming brightly. I'm thinking there must be a way to train or shape the growth on this, and I'm going to learn that from all you girls with the beautiful green thumbs.


That's it for me this week. Can't wait to see how all Tootsie's Girls are doing.

Update on Landscape

MM has done a lot in the last few days. Last week he did a retaining wall and planted some Arborvitae.

You'd think I could have moved the hose... NOT!

This week he started removing the 'sod' in front of the porch to make way for a border of plantings. He worked hard and had the 'black diamond' in and was waiting for the plant arrangement when I got home from work. This first photo shows the before.


Next comes the new plants.... I love them.


The small tree near the front door is a Magnolia, Maryillyn - it should get no bigger than 12-15 feet and spread no more than 10-12 feet. The three flowering plants are Azalea, Renee Michelle - these only get 2-3 feet high and spread 4-5 feet - love the color of the flowers. The small green mounds in front of the porch are Boxwood, Green Velvet - this too has a height of 2-3 feet and spread of 3-4 feet. This shrub also said "Deer will not eat" - that's good because they ate everything last year. The grasses at either end and on both sides of the Magnolia are Grass, Maiden Purpurascens - it should get 3-4 feet high and spread 2-3 feet - the leaves will get red/purple in the fall and have silvery-bronze plumes in August. We also planted some Daisies kind of in between everything - they're hard to see, but hopefully they'll grow nicely. I love - love - love the way it turned out.

Out front we have a small grouping of hostas. It's still early, but they fill in nicely as the season progresses.


I'm going in search of more hostas today to plant at the base of the trees (both the big one near the drive and the Magnolia) that should conclude the plantings then bring on the mulch to keep the moisture in and weeds down. I'm thrilled with how it all came together. My MM really did a lot of work and he's made me very happy lol. He even said he wants to work on the lawn next - yeah, it's in pretty bad shape. I'll update you later in the year to see if it grows much this season. In the fall I plan on putting in lots of bulbs for early spring color.