Pictures!

Here are some pictures of the work that was done on Sunday...

Catmint, Purple Bearded Irises and Foxtails planted

Broom, Lavender and Sedum Autumn Joy

Achillea mill. Oertel's Rose in front of Ornamental Grass

Cleaned up the semi-circular planting bed too...

South side:

Echinacea Prarie Splendor and Primroses were added in the Spring

North Side:

Lavender was also added this year; the primroses look more lush on this side 

Middle of the Bed:

It's a bit hard to tell from here, but you can see the sad looking
transplanted peony between the sedum and Russian Sage

Cleopatra Foxtail Lilies

Planted 3 of the Cleopatra Foxtail lilies which came in the mail last week yesterday. I snuck in an allium bulb and planted some purple bearded irises next to them. The catmints were moved up to the front of the planting bed. It now has a more prominent place along the new path and looks good there. The broom, which never bloomed, was moved next to the new lavenders as well as the sedum which is currently in bloom.

Here is a before picture as well as my plans. I won't be planting the daylily since the catmint is taking up more room than expected. I'll post an update picture later!

Update

I forgot to mention that C and I also moved some peonies planted by a previous gardener to the half round bed in the back, in front of the garage. It was sitting under the pine tree near the mailbox and had bloomed only once after C cut down a couple of young shade (weed?) trees. I am hoping that moving it out to a sunnier area will help it to rebloom in future springs to come.

Geraniums and Lavender

Planted 3 Geranium Lancastriense and 3 Lavandula Hidcote Superiors today, as well as weeded a bit. Move 3 of the half eaten lilies to the back of the house, by the driveway. I accidentally shattered one of the bulbs while digging it out. I left the lily cloves in the front. Maybe they will grow into lily plants later.

Also visited Peddler's Village. They always seem to have nice landscaping with lot of flowers. I'm thinking that maybe I should create a new bed with salvias and some other nice low growing flowers in the front.

September 2014

This week, I received a shipment from Bluestone Perennials for some plants:

Achillea Oertel's Rose (3)
Geranium Lancastriense (3)
Lavandula Hidcote Superior (3)

Today, I was able to plant the Achillea before it started to rain. While doing so, I discovered that there was not much depth to the soil due to some underlying asphalt (the previous homeowners used the front of the house as a parking area). For now, I installed them and will come back and maybe throw some compost them later. I'll probably move the plants again later if they seem to be struggling. Some shallow-rooted plants might be a better idea.

In the garden, the Echinacea and Russian Sage are still in bloom and the Sedum have started to turn pink. There is also an abundance of weeds all around. Lots of work to do!

What's Growing - Mid-Late July 2014

In bloom and going strong

• Hollyhocks
• Catmints
• Echinacea
• Russian sage
• Hostas

Fizzling out

• Daylilies
• Butterfly weed
• Primroses

Plumeria with Its First Set of Leaves

The Plumeria (Frangipani) has finally leafed out at last!

 On June 1, 2014

On June 24, 2014

I can't believe how fast is is growing! So far, it has been out of the house for about 2 weeks and it seems to be developing well outdoors. The one leaf on the left is really long in comparison to the height of the stem. I've never seen this plant in person before, so I'm curious to know what it will look like with a full set of leaves. 

Foxy Lady!

One of the Eremurus that I picked up earlier this year from the Roberta's Unique Garden booth at the NJ Flower Show bloomed. It is really nice to see since I didn't expect them to have any flowers at all (according to the instructions, they bloom during the second year). The second Eremurus has foliage, but no bloom. I wonder how large the flower will be...

At the end of this flowerbed, is the Autumn Joy that I had transplanted earlier. Something needs to be done to liven that area during the summer. I am thinking about adding yellow-orange day lilies since they are drought tolerant and tough. The color should contrast nicely against the purple plumes of the ornamental grass.

The lilies that I planted last year does not appear to be making it through. It looks as if something had eaten to top of the stem where the flower should be, as well as several leaves. It could be insects. In any case, I won't be planting oriental lilies again since they don't seem to work well for me.

The strawberries are not doing very well either. There was at least one berry with sooty mold and some of the berries were looking very sad. I cut them all away, hoping to do better. One problem with the hanging baskets is that since I can't see into them because of my height, I don't know if anything is wrong with them. I'm contemplating taking the strawberry plants out and planting some flowering plants instead.