Hey, how about some flower photos? I'm going to link this post to a group of bloggers posting mini-tours of their gardens as they look right now - how fun is that? I LOVE to get to 'walk the garden' with another gardener (or two or three)! So come on...
One of my favorite parts of the gardens, this last long bed - part sun / part shade.
If you double click you can get a better view.
I've got cosmos seedlings coming up in the foreground there, near the swan.
Are you offended by my (new) plastic swan?
Yes, others were, too, but that's a story for another day.
Tall sunflower youngsters over there near the (old) tomato stakes - how have the rabbits missed them? Iris, black-eyed susan, oregano, daylilies, sundrops, pinks - who can get rid of those?!, carnations, ajuga, and a trooper of a hydrangea just past the teepee legs. I must point out that hosta there, just past the hydrangea - my favorite hosta - 'Fried Bananas'. One of the only hosta that I allow to bloom, since the bloom is wonderful white and smells Divine!
First bloom from that hydrangea right back there. Pretty amazing, since I thought they all died in the drought last year! It's one of the few bushes I have that has formed a bloom this year. The most beautiful color!
Couldn't leave out a couple of 'bug' photos (NO SPIDER PHOTOS).
Bugs and gardening - it's a For Better or For Worse situation.
Check out this bumble bee passed out cold in on the stem of a lamb's ear bloom! This stem has been cut and Second Son is holding it still for the photo... Before throwing the stem in the cuttings bin, we all took turns petting the bee! He didn't move a muscle.
Do bees have muscles?
And check out this cute lightning bug, waiting on a stella bloom for his time to come - dusk!
Had to show you these perfect partners! The daylily is called Children's Festival, and doesn't it have the loveliest color with ruffled edges. She's put on her best dress! The lily blooming a little lower is brand new to the garden. I got it FOR A DOLLAR on Saturday from the Lowes clearance rack.
!!!!!!
My oldest lavender bush. I had to cut out a lot of dead branches this year, more drought results, so the bush doesn't look very good. This photo of the blooms is all I could post.
Send advice on what to do with an old and tired lavender bush, if you can.
That's it for my mini-tour! If you'd like to tour other gardens, go to
Oooh, your garden is so pretty, and no, I am not offended by your plastic swan, I love her!... also love all the little inhabitants of your garden too... as for the old tired lavender bush, just love her... she will be beautiful always... just like people as they get older and tired... xoxo Julie Marie
ReplyDeleteBeautiful flower captures! I love the addition of the winged creatures :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for lovely comment that you left on my blog. I am not a lavender expert, in fact this is only my third summer with a garden. I did have to extensively cut back one corner of my lavender hedge this year early this spring (frost damage I think). It has started to fill in again, but it does not look as nice as the rest of the hedge. So, I would say cut of as little as necessary.
ReplyDeleteI love hydrangeas too, especially Annabelle.
Lovely flowers. I love the tiny toes daylily-gorgeouis!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness- Tiny toes and Children's Festival?!? I need to get my self to Lowe's!!! They are so perfect together.
ReplyDeleteyou have some very & unique plants...Thanks for sharing over at Cottage Flora Thursday's Garden Party! xoox, tracie
ReplyDeleteI also have one tired, old, lavender. I affectionately call her my "Old Girl." She moved in the first summer we were here and that makes her 6 years old! She has a large, "woody" center at this point and is not as pretty as she used to be. Sadly I recently read an article that strongly suggest you never let that happen. This article suggest to keep your lavender young and vibrant you give a "hard cut" when you see the first blooms setting on. It said to cut back to 1/3 the plants size at least once a year and maybe even twice. This encourages the plant to stay young and will never form that trecherous "woody" growth that can leave it open to disease and ugliness. So, I have failed my poor Old Girl but I did read it in time to save my lavender border from that same fate:). Hope that helps.
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