Sweet Peas

The dark stems in the water are from the bull's blood beets. After the first day, the water was a beautiful shade of deep pink. Didn't affect the flower color either. I would have thought it would.

Door Angel

Lori gave this little angel to me. You can hardly see her now because the autumn clematis has pretty much taken over. Since we don't use that door to the garage, I've encouraged the clematis, which needs very little encouragement.

PJ's Pic

Is this from the garden tour? or PJ's garden? Don't know. Maybe she'll tell us. I love it tho. I tried to grow crocosmia once but it didn't come back for me. This makes me want to try them again. And I don't recognize the purple flowers. Love the red stool.

Pink Ladies

Mama sent these pictures from one of her garden tours in Michigan. Aren't these girls darling? Made from hollyhock blooms and I don't know what else. Their hats are so cute, and one looks like she has an umbrella. Lots of work and patience here.

White Phlox

I just posted pictures of this area, but the white phlox David is as pretty as it's ever been. Mark has been spraying it for me and the mildew is barely there. (Hope I didn't jinx it by saying that!) In the lower right is some purple phlox that is really pretty too. The black-eyed susans are going to be thinned drastically again. I have been tearing some of them out every year because they are such thugs. The tree form behind the sun-democrat box is a standard of PeeGee hydrangea, and it's just now starting to bloom. I like lots of white, especially when it's July and August weather.

More Vases

It's Friday!

And going to be cooler this weekend, which will help when it comes to all the whacking and weeding that needs to be done out there.

Ugh

We went to Washington Park the other night and here's what was happening in the rose garden. Every bush, every bud--covered. Why aren't they spraying? Maybe they're trying to be organic, but this is just too much.

Alphabet Garden in the Park

The Junior League has a garden for kids every summer and this year they did this alphabet garden. Very cute idea--each letter had a flower planted beside it. Here's R for rudbeckia and S for salvia.

Why I Plant Zinnias

I love putting them in this Bybee pitcher on the back porch. Even if it's a 105 degrees, which was the heat index today, they hold up.

Pink, Orange, and Red

Every year I think I should move the stargazer lilies that wound up planted among these orange daylilies. Then every year, I decide it's okay to leave them there. That's hyssop in the background, with Joe-Pye weed and the zebra grass. The air frisbee is one that Clayton brought--maybe to one of the graduation parties, or to JD's wedding? Can't remember when it was, but I do remember they threw that thing all over the back yard. I found it one day while I was weeding and just hung it on the stump. I think it belongs there.

Thanks Christine!

Christine works with us at McFarland as a recovery specialist. She has brightened the place up with beautiful artwork and encouraging quotes. This is a shot I took last year of an arrangement of Pat Austin roses with black and blue salvia. She spruced it up and had it framed for the hallway outside my office. Very sweet of her. It means a lot to me.

Great Plant, Wrong Location

This is a salvia, grown from Parks seed. It's a wonderful plant. The leaves are about a foot long, 6-8 inches wide. Next year, it will get planted in a pot, up off of the soil which sticks to the hairy leaves, and out of reach of the rabbits who seem to think I planted it just for their eating pleasure. I think it would look good in a short, fat clay pot that's painted black, sitting on a pedestal.

Thursday Red

Container with King Humbert canna and Alabama Sunset coleus. This bloom is an electric red. I like how it echoes the red wooden flower in the distance. One of those miraculous coincidences that doesn't come from my design.

One of the New Ones

Back in May, I missed Sandy's plant sale at the vet's office. She was so nice to save some of the "leftovers" from the sale and she even delivered! Sandy is a true gardener. It was pouring down rain and she walked every bit of the yard. Didn't bother her a bit, even though she did get soaked. Anyway, this is one of the plants she brought, and it is a beauty.

Arrangements

Here are a couple of arrangements that were in Eva's garden. All those beautiful tropical flowers put together so beautifully. There's going to be a "celebration" at work tomorrow--with cake. I'm so happy about the cake part. They were looking for a centerpiece (to put on the cake table) so I volunteered to make one. So now I'm nervous. I love putting flowers together, and I love giving them away to anyone who isn't expecting anything. But making something for someone who needs flowers? I start thinking all kinds of weird thoughts. What if they don't like it? What if the flowers wilt? What if this and that and oh, my gosh, give me a break. It's just a bowl of flowers!

Larkspur

This shot was taken several weeks ago. The larkspur is now pretty ratty, but it's making millions of seeds. And I'm trying to collect every single one that I can. It's been so beautiful this year. Thanks to my mama for starting this obsession.

Welcome Back

When some flowers bloom, it's like old friends coming back to visit after a year's absence. Kathy sent these to me years ago. I'm so happy to see them again!

More on a Wednesday

These first two shots are the "after" version. I kept looking at the arrangment (in the bottom shot), thinking something was just wrong. I think it looks a lot better with the ornamental pepper "black pearl" in among the daylily and petunias.




One of my current favorite gardening blogs is: http://www.gardenrant.com/my_weblog/. When the temps hit 90 degrees, they gave this advice. "Walk your garden every day, if possible, weeding as you go. Look at your plants and occasionally remove what's dead or overcrowding. Notice your rainfall and water as needed. And don't plant or move a damn thing until September. "

Notice they didn't say anything against buying a new plant. Just don't put it in the ground yet.

Wednesday Vases

The purple vase is a little plastic thing I found at Florascape last week. The red vase is one I picked up at the Barrel Antique Mall. I had just planned to do one vase this morning, but then had enough for two. I bet this is going to be a good day.

Fourth of July Container

Featuring Dragon's wing begonia--growing much bigger than expected; Coleus Religious Radish--overwintered in the kitchen window, making a huge mess for months; a fern,thought to be dead but resurrected; and hosta Mouse Ears. I really like the baby hosta next to the big Elegans. The dragonfly in the corner was found on a garden tour with mama and PJ.

Michigan Garden Tour

These are pictures from the garden tour that mama and PJ went on last week. Looks like it was a good one!

Daylilies

The daylilies are in full swing now. The pink one is Barbara Mitchell, which is the best pink daylily ever. My friend Ellen has one in her yard.