Since this is the most effort we have put into gardening in a long time, I feel it's worth an update. Especially since I wrecked my sciatic nerve working on it. The garden beds have not been weeded, because of said sciatica.
The Mailbox Garden
The mailbox garden:
snapdragons (finished blooming)
marigolds (yellow)
and balloon flowers - just starting to bloom.
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| Five of the six marigolds I planted have survived. |
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| The balloon flowers are just starting to bloom! |
Directly in front of the house (facing north, shady)
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| These impatiens (salmon-colored and white) are planted right in front of my office. And in the pot are supposedly some black-eye susan vines that I started from seed. |
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| Geranium - a gift from the church music director |
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| The burnt-sienna colored coleus leaves are being eaten by something. And I think I made a mistake and planted too much in this one pot. |
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| Astilbe. Recommended for shade, and deer resistant. I was only able to plant one before being chastised by that nerve in my leg. I am underimpressed by this one plant. |
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| Bleeding heart, one of two plants. This will lose all its foliage before too long. And then, God willing, will surge forth in the spring and produce those delicate hanging gems of flowers. |
The "hillside" nearest the neighbor (visible from the street)
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| Lamb's ears (perennials, planted by me) Verbena and Lantana (annuals, planted by the Common Household Husband) |
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| Verbena |
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| Lantana |
The west side - just planted this year with perennials.
It has been hard to grow things here.
This spirea bush is almost done blooming.
Yarrow (tall, red) and coreopsis (yellow-orange).
The east side of the house
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| The west side, from the top. This is on a slope. That day lily has zero blooms. When it does get blooms, the creatures eat them, so maybe it gave up. |
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| Bee balm - getting close to the end of blooming. This was gorgeous and very satisfying to see. I don't know if they will bloom again this season. |
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| Snow-in-summer. This was done blooming a month ago. I love the delicate tiny whiter-than-white flowers. |
It's very bushy. In the process of putting
together this blog post, I discovered it is
considered invasive in PA.
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| Blackeyed Susans. The one in the back is from the garden store; the others are a gift from the neighbor. No blooms (yet?). That plant on the right is a mystery plant that miraculously came back from last year. |
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| Sedum. These put forth a few little yellow flowers which were delightful. But I guess they are done. |
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| This same garden bed, from below. |
The east side of the house
This is managed by the Common Household Husband, and has
practically no weeds. The plants are healthy and thick.
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That green foliage blooms bright yellow flowers earlier in the spring. I have no idea what it is called. The more purply plants are a large variety of sedum. |
The gardens are going to have to do the rest of the growing and blooming by themselves because I am currently incapable of doing any maintenance. The blooms we are seeing give me hope.
6 comments:
Wow, you have a lot of different kinds of plants. The only one we have in common is Black-Eyed Susan. I've found they thrive on neglect.
@StephLove we planted a large variety because we didn't know which ones will be most likely to survive. We've had a hard time growing things in some spots. I love hearing that Black-eyed Susans thrive on neglect! That is my main gardening technique.
Gorgeous variety! I am especially loving your bee balm -- what an extravagantly lovely flower. It is so fascinating to me to walk around my neighborhood and see how many of us have the same plants and yet how they are all in different stages of blooming. Day lilies are OUT in my yard, and in full bloom next door and across the street... but on the opposite side of our neighborhood, they are only just budding!
Where do you get your balloon flowers? I have been trying to find them, after falling in love with them last year, and I cannot find them anywhere! I have not even had luck finding seeds for them, not that I can grow anything from seed.
How lovely! And impressive that you remember all the names - I stick everything in on the blind faith approach and have forgotten what half of it is within a week. We've had bandana lantana (pink and yellow) the last two years and I just realized we didn't get any this year and I am kind of sad.
I love the balloon flower! We had blue bellflowers in the back yard for years but they stopped coming back and I haven't been able to find them again.
@suzanne The bee balm exceeded my expectations.
In our neighborhood we have the same phenomenon - the daffodils in our neighbor's yard across the street always bloom about 10 days before ours. Is it the lighting? the soil? the fact that I am not super gardener?
I got the balloon flowers so long ago I don't remember where I got them. They started out short and more bushy, but have become tall with more stalk than bushiness, but they come back every year, which is a big win for me. You could try looking for them in the perennial section of a garden store. I don't think I grew them from seed. The deer/rabbits will eat them in the early spring if I forget to spray them with the smelly stuff.
@Bibliomama - full disclosure - for some of these flowers I had to find the names by searching on the images. I like "bandana lantana"! Even more fun than saying "bee balm."
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