plants at peak aug 2014

crape myrtle starting to bloom, late this year usually blooms july. but everything got a late start.

scarlet bean runner with pods growing up the crape myrtle whose most of the tops died except the bottom where it is regrowing, yea it did not die, yippee.

red crape starting to bloom, grew a bit bigger finally, hum does it need to be shocked into growing more during summer by being hit with a severe cold winter? makes one wonder.

my giant caladium (elephant ears) started off small then got big, very nice.

sweet joe pye weed did not get big, the ones in the fields growing wild didn’t either. must of been the severe cold or something from last winter. pretty nonetheless

goldflame honeysuckle, I had to do some serious pruning for all the dead branches it had but it was a hidden blessing because now they are cleaned up of their cluttered branches look and are more uniform and their flowering has been enhanced quite a bit. very pretty.

early summer a chickadee mom and dad raised a brood out of here, I would watch them bring them food, but the little guys were to far down in to stick their heads out, then when they were done a house wren took it and raised babies too. see the nest inside?

a passion for flowers much? the passionflowers are starting to bloom, also late usually in july they bloom but we all know why don’t we.

painted mountain corn, very pretty had to fence it the ground hogs thought I grew this for them,

variegated climbing hydrangea, the canes are said to get fifty feet but it will be a couple of years before I see flowers but if I see some climbing the leaves will satisfy me enough until the flowers are ready.

touch me nots, never in my life have I seen them so tall, they are taller then me and so thick like this, wow, my whole fence on this side is like that and the plant bed near the dish is like this too, wow,must of been all that rain. (jewelweed)

rosa rugosa rose hips

black eyed susans seeds must of clustered at the bottom of my side yard because look what happened? they all clusted and bloom together, while the area around them has nothing, very pretty, did not have the heart to mow them.

rosa rugosa topaz jewel, is yellow but look what happens when you photograph it with the sun shining brightly at your back into the flower, like a beacon or something, (mirror rose)

and now the golden rods blooming, on the hill next to all my black eyes susans painted daisy? and other flowrs that finally spread, I guess mowing it during the summer was a bad idea so this year I did not mow it,

my side hills (dry conditions here) full of blk eyed, painted daisy? golden rods yarrow, ironweed,

so what do you think these are not all my plants but awwww the wonderful springs (usually wonderful) summers and wonderful fall time of year where you have plants galore sunshine warmth energy until winter spoils the party.

 

plants resurrected

topaz jewel and yellow rugosa hybrid, some of the tops actually survived this really bad winter we had, the flower is lovly. starts off dark yellow and lightens from the sun and heat, to a light yellow wonder if when it gets cooler if it will darken again like my new dawn does it get pinker when cooler and whiter when hotter.  now I know they sent me the right rose.

new dawn coming back from the thick stem, glad I did not cut it all the way to the ground, the leaves are so shiny, it doesn’t have buds on it I am hoping it will wait a few more weeks to get more canes I have a trellis I made ready for them, and to try to reduce black spot I put weed block around it to keep the hortatunia back so there would be better air circulation.

anyone know what this flower is? it grew back in my wildflower patch I grew wher I had a lot of cosmos, now I have different flowers coming up.

anyone know what this is?

my butterfly bushes all died, my one crape myrtle died too, but the one next to the garage is barly coming back from the bottom of the trunk. bummer the trunk has some pretty patterns on it, I am using it as a trellis for scarlet bean runner edible beans and is ornamental too, this is just some of my plants all which survived except the butterfly bushes and one new dawn which I just bought last year and that crape myrtle.

 

R.I.P my lovlies

GONE!

I have mixed feelings my little plants, I tried so hard to keep alive, and curse you polar vortex wish I could just punch you in the nose for murder, may you burn in lava, urrr freeze to death, don’t know which is best punishment for you. now I am down to about 10 roses, now to figure out what plants to replace these with,  so my friends what lovelies has mr creepy polar vortex murdered in your yard?

meet my new friend

butterflies magnolia will this plant live through the winter? we shall see okay I am editing this, I think I jumped the gun here, I can just kick myself for not waiting one more week, my new dawn not only survived the tops are still alive and budding out like crazy, good think I did not cut it all the way down to the ground, so now not only do I still have my lovlie the new dawn I still have my crepe myrtles too, they are budding out on the old wood near the ground, yea, they survived, my wisteria is still alive and so is my red rose. I am just flabbergasted by how tough there were, I underestimated them, I really could kick myself for cutting my red one down to the ground, and I am glad I did not cut the tree near the garage yet down, nor the fig either. wow, gardening it is a joy, a pain and frustration when you make stupid mistakes like not waiting enough time. boy did I learn my lesson. not sure of the butterfly bushes they do not have any leafing out yet. my new dawn I cut down about half I still have some of the thick stem so hopfully it will still bloom beautifully.

late summer flowers

red morning glories

white butterfly bush, the butterflies and bees just love it and the fregrance fills the air after sunset, really nice.

red crape myrtle my less cold tolerant of them all.

my golden gate bloomed, I forgot to take pictures of it yesterday when it looked better than this, but Iknow they sent me the right color at least.

my pink crape got even prettier,

purple fountain grass not hardy for ohio, just an annual. thought it was pretty enough to buy.

Well that is all for now, have some wildflowers I planted that are about ready to bloom when they do I will post them, so enjoy these for now.

 

some changes in landscaping

changed my bed a bit, I seen that purple fountain grass and thought it was beautiful, (not perennial around here) and changed it a bit and moved my caladiums into the ground instead using them at each end to create some kind of balance,

my crape again, hope not boring you guys but it seems to be getting fuller and fuller and the colors more vivid,

my bed gets more and more full without being overfull, my golden gate rose in the middle behind the horse and shells has a bud on it so I will get to see if they sent me the right rose, the morning glory is about to bloom, yea!

the sun is finally shining, can anyone explain why when we want rain is ti like no way but when we want sunshine it is like no way, it seems like summer is slipping away and it seems we missed alot of it, due to rain and cooler than average temp, yuck! talk to y’all later.

 

 

new beginnings, middle part

 before picture early may

same now in july,

june, so one for each month, see the changes?

I planted a topaz jewel next to the trellis with the morning glories, hard to see and a golden gate rose in the middle with a little fence around it. the rose that you can barly see in the first died so I removed it.

in june, shortly after I put in the edging and mulch. notice I just planted the prickly pear and hortunia.

in july notice the hortatunia start to spread, the prickly pear is growing, the end bush my crepe myrtle is like bushed out despite having some frost damage in may. I removed the hanging pots decide the area before my door was getting to cluttered and I wanted people to be able to see the plants easier so I spread things out more.

before, during june whne they bloomed now they have slowed down,

how do you like my makeshift arbor? I was trying ti keep costs way down my hubby said we are going over budget for things, so I spent 10 dollars for the poles (I had some already) and the eye screws and I had hte green wire already. what do you think? now I can keep the fence which I really like and have my arbor too, can’t beat that. will have to get back to you all later enjoy.

more roses and questions

take a look at the fence panels, this rose you can tell by the extended canes (just grew this past month) it wants to climb, so rather than have to take all the canes out of the panels, (they would probably break if I did) what kind of apparatus can I use to let them climbe? i was thinking of a metal arch that would go on the sides of the panels and extend way up like a rainbow and over to the other side, but what would I use to give it climbing help? what if I use fishing line? now a arbor that has a side and extended top to the other end would work except it is expensive, any suggestions? I can’t take them out of the panels as they willprobably break off alot of the ends of the canes and I like the fence, is there any ideas of what I can make or buy that would work? thanks.all your gardeners and carpenters and such put your thinking caps on andhelp me help this rose.

any suggestions to make this better? changes, add take away? the plants on the edges are hortutunia, I love these, should I add a fence change the hanging plants moving them? the big bush at the top is a crepe myrtel, the plant in the middle is a golden honeysuckle, the little bushy one is a crepe myrtle, the catci is pear,the little scrubby plant on the left is a rose I transplanted here,

now what adjustments can go here? does anyone know why this rugosa (which looks like a tree rose) on the left there has bare stems? the one in the back is more leafed on it’s canes, the trellis is temporary for the morning glories but right in front of that a topaz jewel is going there, (yellow rugosa) should I lose the fence or change it, shall I move the hanging plants and put something else there like a statue or maybe a water feature? I seen those beautiful lilies at the naturleum and seen those lilies at the garden centere and I am thinking humm might just make a minature pond (maybe using a cereamic pot with no holes in it and fill with muck, water and plants? what say you? should I put plants or some hardscape behind the plants next ot the hallway/garage section? give me some ideas that won’t break the bank or evensometihng I can build ormake myself? is there something I can do with adding tall plants or hard scape to the varigated grass and snow on the mountain plants? maybe put a hanging planter there that is shorter thna the ones I have?  what can I do to make the window look bettr or hide parts of it? would a five foot lighthouse on a petastl which will be hidden by the plants work behind the plants in the corner of the garage/hallway work? thanks in advance