About three years ago, we built a deck at the back of our house. The next year, Jay and Ethan were coerced (by me) into building a planting bed that ran around the deck and up the south side of the house. I planted shrubs in there. I had perennial beds there for about 7 years, but I was tired of feeling guilty for not maintaining them. Notice I didn't say that I was tired of maintaining them! But I felt a few pretty shrubs would be easier than the dozens of plants I had to deal with before.
But I like the colors and scents of flowers. So I have gradually added some flowering plants into the shrubbery beds.
This is a night-blooming jasmine. I love the star-shaped flowers, and the heady fragrance that wafts into my windows or hangs over the deck on summer evenings. I have managed to keep it alive inside for two winters. Yay, me!
Next to Princess Jasmine, I have Miss Kim. This little lilac adds to the fragrance in the late spring. She's in bloom right now, and it smells heavenly out there on those few mornings I've been able to sit on the deck to drink my coffee.
I'm calling this one Maria. She has two sisters, all lovely edelweiss. Edelweiss has no fragrance that I can smell, but Mary has found her way into a production of The Sound of Music. When we saw these at the garden center the other day, well, they had to come home with us! (And, no, I don't know what those stakes are there for!)
If I turn around from where I took those pictures, I can see this bed. I planted it about 8 years ago, because I realized I could see the chicken house behind it from the kitchen window. I like my chickens, but I wanted something really pretty to look at, too. This bed has had many plantings and some changes along the way. I don't know how this year's incarnation will turn out. That sapling to the left is a peach that found it's way there because last spring, when it was delivered, the bed was the only place that wasn't soggy with water. I had to get it in the ground somewhere, and that bed made sense. This year I waited just a bit too long to try to move it;' it had bloomed, and is now growing 7 little peaches. I'll have to move it sometime, but first I'll have to research how.
One of my favorite flowers, both in appearance and fragrance, is the carnation. I have planted red, pink and white ones. I did this last year, too, but they didn't return this year. Well, the red ones did, but not the white. Hopefully, all will be back next year!
This little southern girl won't be back next year, unless I lift her and bring her inside. Her kind just doesn't like our cold winters. But we'll enjoy her straw "hat" flowers for the summer!
I planted some lupine this year. I always liked them in mountain meadows during Wyoming vacations when I was a kid. I needed something just their height in this area of the bed, so, in they went!
I planted some delphinium last year. One did not return this spring, although this one on the left did. I added two more, to keep it company. I'm seeing a pattern here. Do you suppose I pick the wrong plants, since they don't come back? Or, more likely, I somehow neglect them during the summer? I will try to be a better gardener this year!
And I planted columbine. This little blue beauty came back after the winter. I am planting some yellow ones tomorrow. And I have the traditional pink/rose ones, too. I love these. Too bad they bloom for only a short time! In this picture, you can also see the last of the alliums blooming. They spread last year, affirming my thought that I do pick the right flowers, I just neglect the ones that don't return. Not that that's a good thing.
Can you look at one last bed? This one I put inside my garden area, with the thought that I would plant flowers for cutting in it. I have, but I've planted other things, too.
These two ladies look similar, and like somewhat similar environments, so you would think they are related. Are they? I don't know. I just know I love them, and they way they smell. And I know the lavender will most likely be back next year; it is a perennial here. The rosemary is not. I will have to bring it in, or dry it. In the past, I have not done well at keeping it alive when I bring it in. Neither have many of my friends. Some of my friends are really good gardeners, so I have that it isn't just me!
By the way, the lavender is first. The rosemary is second.
And, finally, gaillardia, which tag tells me is also called Blanket Flower. I just know it's supposed to bloom in daisy-like blooms in shades of orange all summer, and is a perennial here. Had to try something new!
I would thank you for tiptoeing through the tulips with me, but that would be silly, since I didn't show you the tulips. Unless you recognized them in their late-spring-bent-over-splendor? Do you recognize this?
1 comment:
Rosemary is notoriously difficult to winter over. I've never heard of anyone that's managed. So, it's not you. It's Rosemary. She's high-maintenance. On her 5th husband.
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