Garden Report - May

And wasn't today a glorious way to end a Memorial Day weekend!  The weather always seems even better after several days of cold and wet - especially when we all feel this is the time for sun and warmth.  Whatever you were doing, I hope the rain didn't make things miserable and that today capped your weekend on a high note.

 

It did for us.  D was finally able to mow the lawn (isn't it amazing how fast it can grow?), and I was able to get our and plant some flowers.  I'm going to show you some photos even though nothing looks like much yet.  But . . . I'd like to keep track of how the garden progresses throughout the summer and note what works and what doesn't.  That means I have an opportunity to share it you.

 

First of all, most of the plants are annuals because I have many perennials already.  As you know if you are a gardener, the perennials flower in spring and early summer for the most part leaving a garden looking more green than anything else in August and early fall.  That is why I wanted lots of annuals that would give us color later on (the "later on" part is also why these photos won't look like anything you'd expect to see in a gardening magazine).

The planter has an orange begonia, white flower whose name slips my mind right now, and an agapanthus bulb at the back.  This all started with the bulb which, if it blooms, has blue flowers.  That's why I chose the orange begonia.  There is some green poking up from the bulb so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  And for the begonia to get bigger and showier.

Okay, a rusty birdcage?  Yes, but try to imagine it with that green turned into vines of Thunbergia alata (black-eyed Susan vine) which is a hearty grower and climber and flower producer.  It will be striking!  If it works. 

I didn't plant this downy woodpecker perched on the peanuts, but I did show you a birdcage and this picture was taken today.  This is an example of what is not growing in our garden, but we hope it continues to enjoy our bounty!  And another example of how we entice birds to our yard; it's one of two birdbaths and they both get a lot of use!

And still on the bird theme, this single bridal wreath bush has almost completely obscured the red bird house.  Remember how tall it is from previous photos?  Now you can barely make out the red the upper right quadrant of the picture.  This shrub is an example of how well our shrubs and flowering trees have done this year.

This pink azalea surprised us with its blooms this year.  But even more amazing is that the flowers were not destroyed by the heavy rains this weekend.  Although they are on the down side and are nearly finished for the season, they hung on for us to appreciate as we worked outdoors today.

This is one of the few perennials I planted today, and I'm sure you recognize it as lavender.  This one or a pair is Silver Leaf and the second pair are Munstead.  Neither are what I wanted (which is "Grosso" - the most fragrant), but after losing all of my old lavender over the winter, I'll take what I can get for now.

 

This is a view of D's hop poles, and you can see the hops almost halfway up one of the poles already.  They're also twining through the rail fence on the left.

 

And the last photo is of an orange gazania/gailardia with Mona Lavender (Plectranthus).  The latter would be a perennial if we lived in South Africa, but it's so pretty, I couldn't resist.  We'll see if it grows well during the summer.

 

I didn't show you (because they have no flowers yet and because of that and their currently very small size, they don't show up in my photos at all) are the zinnias, asters, snapdragons, cleome, nicotiana, and morning glories. 

 

We'll see if they're visible by the end of June!