Oriental Lilies Galore

The summer heat wave is unrelenting, and so I harvested the Oriental Lilies this weekend to enjoy the blooms indoors.  Each year I get more and more flowers, and they are a happy sight and smell wonderful.

The Flowers of March

My beautiful daughter made a "wedding cake" out of flowers and foliage picked from our garden.  I am proud to showcase her masterpiece, she has a wonderful eye for detail and a creative touch.  It is a joy to watch my love of nature and gardening sprouting inside the hearts of my children.  Springtime has truly arrived and it's like magic in the air.  The hope and possibility is tantalizing, and the chance to begin anew, mesmerizing.

Wordless Wednesday: Bursting with Blooms

Wordless Wednesday: Grape on Citrus

Muscari Latifolium 

A Welcome Spring

Winter has finally loosened its grip, and the air of a new season has blown in.  The garden has at last awakened, albeit much later than typical, and the fresh blooms of springtime could not be more welcome.  I've been a busy bee, doing all the clean-up and garden chores and tasks that in a normal year would have commenced in March, but I find it totally invigorating being outdoors again after this long harsh winter.  Tomato & Pepper seeds have now been started, and this past weekend I made my first forays to the local Garden Nurseries to check out new plantings which have hit the scene.  As the garden season gets underway in earnest, its wonderful seeing browns and whites being replaced with pastel pinks, vibrant purples, cheerful yellows and other colorful shades of the rainbow.  Birds are happily chirping and rummaging about, building their nests, and fragrant hyacinths are again perfuming my garden.  Sounds (and smells) like a slice of heaven to me...

Tulip Time? Hello Spring!

It has been a slow climb towards the arrival of Spring this year, with unusually cold chilly days here in the Mid-Atlantic, however the side benefit of this miserly weather is that the bloom period of my Tulips have been extended. The garden looks as good as ever, and I am especially delighted to see the Candytuft "White Purity" doing so stunningly well, smothered in snow white blooms. As the garden matures, I am now in assessment mode, watching and judging and tinkering, assuring that everything fits together and sings to my soul like a great symphony. I am as passionate about gardening as ever, and it's a thrill to kick-off the 2013 Garden Season.

 

Late Summer Yardwork

I am on a quest to reduce my load of Yardwork, in order to free up more time for the far more pleasurable act of Gardening. It can be a fine line which separates gardening from yardwork, but I count digging holes and lawn maintenance as work. My husband on the other hand, like most men for some peculiar reason, takes pride in cultivating a pristine lawn. For him it's a hobby, not mere "yardwork". He de-thatched and re-seeded the front lawn yesterday, and is determined to make it Best in Show in the cul-de-sac.


Meanwhile, I dug 12 holes in my Front Entry Garden and embedded "permanent" 1 gal pots, so that I will never have to dig holes there again. I will simply slip pots of Annuals or Bulbs into the embedded containers, ensuring a year-round show of color and interest, and then I can slip them out and replace once the show is finished.


In addition to reducing the amount of hole-digging that I typically do each season, I am also trying to limit the time spent pulling weeds. I planted a group of 5 Ajuga 'Burgundy Glow' under the Crape Myrtle 'Petite Orchid' next to the Garage, and hopefully they will spread into a thick mat to block out the persistent weeds.


With the arrival of the cooler days of late summer, it's such a pleasure to spend time out in the garden tackling projects and making progress!

Fall Bulb Order

My John Scheepers' Dutch Bulbs order has just been placed, and I'm gearing up for their arrival and have been dreaming of the impact they will make in the garden come Spring 2012. There are so many wonderful colors and shapes when it comes to tulips, and it was quite difficult to pick and choose, but I'm happy with my final selections.

TULIP BALLADE (50)
Placement: Front Entry Garden under Japanese Maple



TULIP CLUSIANA LADY JANE (50)
Placement: Deckside Garden Bed



TULIP FANCY FRILLS (20)
Placement: Containers



TULIP MAUREEN (20)
Placement: Shade Perennial Border under Flowering Dogwood



NARCISSUS PROFESSOR EINSTEIN (10)
Placement: Woodland Garden



NARCISSUS GOLDEN ECHO (10)
Placement: Mailbox Butterfly Garden



LILY SPECIOSUM RUBRUM /SPECIES (5)
Placement: Woodland Garden near bench



LILY ANASTASIA /ORIENPET (5)
Placement: To be determined...

What's In Bloom?

It's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - August 2011 edition, and here in the Mid-Atlantic Zone 7a our gardens are at last getting a reprieve after many many weeks of hot dry weather during the month of July. Currently the following perennials are in bloom in my garden:

Anemone 'September Charm'


Daylily (unknown cultivar)


Fountain Grass 'Hameln'


Scabiosa 'Butterfly Blue'


Butterfly Garden
The real standout of the moment are the Acidenthera, a fragrant flowering bulb native to Ethiopia. I'm not sure if they're a keeper, but for now I appreciate having them since the rest of this bed is winding down.





Hosta 'Royal Standard'


Hosta 'Fragrant Dream'

The Scent of a Lily

The fragrance of Oriental and Orientpet Lilies is simply outstanding, and it literally takes only one cut flower to perfume an entire room. I'm looking forward to adding more (many more) of these bulbs to my garden come Autumn, especially the surprisingly super-fragrant Orienpets. Rabbits can be a problem for me, they gnaw off the flower buds of my lilies each Spring if I'm not careful to spray repellent in time, but with the Orienpets this is not a problem as their impressive height keeps them safe from the rabbits. Now, I just need to think of companion plants to go with the lilies. Gardening never ends for me, I am always always tinkering in the garden.

Lily 'Muscadet'




Orienpet Lily 'Satisfaction'

Wordless Wednesday: Giant Elephant Ears

-- Colocasia esculenta

What's In Bloom?

There are flowers everywhere all throughout my garden, some finishing up and others just getting started, and each day seems to bring a new surprise. Many of the Peonies, planted in Fall 2009 mostly, are blooming for the first time, and the Mountain Laurel shrub has never looked better. It is all quite a sight to behold, the garden in its full gorgeous glory.

Peony 'Louise Marx'

Peony 'Pink Hawaiian Coral'

Peony 'Karl Rosenfield'

Peony 'Charlie's White'

Peony 'Monsieur Jules Elie'

Peony 'Scarlet O'hara'

Peony 'Do Tell'

Dutch Iris

Digitalis 'Camelot Cream'

Geranium Biokovo

Dianthus 'Bath's Pink'

David Austin Rose 'Harlow Carr'

Viburnum 'Dentatum

Mountain Laurel

Kousa Dogwood