Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Our Late May Garden

I like to do an early garden post almost every year. So I figured I’d better get to it. We’re way behind our usual schedule this year, so a lot of the weeding/grooming and mulching haven’t been done yet. But hey, it’s reality and not an audition for a garden magazine, LOL.

The vegetable garden is planted. That was the first priority once Bruce was able to work outside and the weather cooperated enough to allow it. Here you can see the onion bed (foreground) and the potato bed behind it.

Along the wall, the irises were beginning to open up, but the roses not so much.


Here are some closeups of the irises along the back wall.


 This one is my favorite. I wish it were as prolific at reproducing as some of the other ones!


Also in the very back, the pollinator habitat that we built last year is beginning to “wake up”. Our trumpet vine was planted in the corner so that it could climb the metal trellises to its left and the telephone pole behind it in the neighbor’s yard. It looks like the neighbor’s ivy (full botanical name: Damn Ivy) has beat it to the pole. I have hope, though. I read in our Neighborhood App a couple days ago that our neighbor is looking for a couple kids to help him work to clear out his ivy. I sure hope he means this ivy! I try to kill any ivy that encroaches on our yard from that side or from behind the gray wall.


The stump of the apricot tree is rather forlorn. Our lawn guys are going to cut off about another foot off the stump and level it so that I can display a flower pot or bird bath there or something. He’s waiting for his chain saw to be repaired. With the apricot tree gone, that corner is much sunnier, and the hollyhocks are loving it (and so are the two irises I tucked in there last year, apparently!)


Here’s another hollyhock planted in that same corner. And Boomer’s headstone. 


And my Chihuly rose is really blooming nicely and finally growing a bit this year.


I think the fiery yellow and orange roses of Chihuly bush perfectly evoke a sense of his unique glasswork, don’t you?


We have little grapes forming on the grape arbor, but the picture I took was backlit terribly, so I’ll try again with those another time.  But these snapdragons came back with a vengeance this year, which is surprising. They’ve never acted like a perennial for me before! There is a glass pelican hanging nearby, plus the woody bases of the grape vines. You might also notice some un-pulled grass *cough* in the bottom left corner. What can I say? It’s a process.... that bed is only about two thirds done.


Moving to the east side yard, our poppy has opened. I used to have a monster bush here on the side yard, but I think I tried to do something dumb like divide it and ended up killing it or something. At any rate, I immediately replaced it about 3 years ago with this poppy, and it’s just now finally condescending to bloom for me.


I think there were a total of about 5 or 6 flowers this year.  Sorry the picture’s not too great.


The bump-out on the brickwork of the house is the chimney. We used to have a snowball bush planted there, but it died and we had to have it pulled out last spring. We replaced it with a burning bush (small green clump on the very right); it will take time to grow. In the meantime, we have plenty of spring color there with the irises and the yellow stuff. Usually I know my flowers, but this one has slipped my feeble mind.

Moving on to the front, there’s not much to show because we are still working on getting the grass out of the flower beds so I can plant the rest of the annuals. But I can show you my lovely rose at the corner of the front walkway and the driveway.


Every year we get two great shows from this bush.


You’ve already seen our front walkway lined with the Mexican Talavera flower pots we like to collect. But here is a shepard’s hook on which I hang a pot of store-bought petunias to give a little height to this front bed. Behind it are irises, a lily and in the very lower left is - goldenrod?? There is a small lupine in there somewhere too.


Our house faces north and this portion of the bed doesn’t get too much sunlight. So the hostas, irises and brunnera (with little blue flowers, below) love it.


Below is another hosta and one of the delphiniums that has grown and spread. It already needs to be re-staked. I’ll show pictures again when these beds are weeded, mulched and the flowers really come into bloom.

As for the west side yard, move along folks, there’s nothing to see there. Except more irises and grass up to our knees. We’ve already removed a couple wheelbarrows-ful of weeds and grass. If you listen, you can probably hear us crackin’ the whip as we get that yard into shape!

And last but not least, here is the revised fabric pull for the new project I hinted at in my Saturday blog post. I’m joining in with Erica Jackman of Kitchen Table Quilting for the Tessa Quilt Quarantine-along.


I’ll be making a lap-sized quilt. Today I made time to color in my coloring sheet and figure out fabric placement and yardages.  Woo-hoo! Now to begin the cutting!

12 comments:

  1. What a showoff! But it is nice to see what happy roses look like. I think I might be your neighbor with the overgrown ivy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gorgeous flowers. And that rose bush! We had quite a few irises bloom this year, one so purple it's almost black and others a gorgeous butter yellow. I have tons of iris that need to be separated and raised. A friend has offered to help me when it's time to do that.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You sure have lovely garden areas ! Luscious iris and roses...We are not putting anymore flowers in as the deer use them for their dessert--we've tried sprays and everything...we would have to fence in the property...so daffodils, marigolds and a few herbs for us...oh and a bleeding heart off the deck...
    That QAL looks interesting i will have to read about it...
    ~ ~ ~ waving in the foggy morning dew Julierose

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your fabric pull reflects your gorgeous garden, Cathy! You and Bruce have amazing skills in the gardening arena! Thanks for sharing it with us.

    ReplyDelete
  5. So nice to see all your blooming plants and I can sympathize about the weeds. I have intermediate iris in bloom,lilacs and viburnum. I moved my poppies last year and only find one that survived. It looks to be sulking with no buds in evidence. My annuals remain on the front porch. We went from snow 2 weeks ago to 90 degrees this week, but it's supposed to cool off this weekend (back to the 60's, oh my). Like Julierose, I've had to give up on a lot of plants because of the deer. I can't wait to see what you do with those luscious fabrics.
    Pat

    ReplyDelete
  6. Gorgeous garden! Have fun with that Tessa quilt. Your fabric choice are fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Cathy! What a fun tour around your yard. It is all beautiful and I appreciated it greatly. ~smile~ Roseanne

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ah! So many wonderful flowers! And then there's that fabric pull. My eyeballs are soaking it all in. We're anchored in a wildlife refuge in South Carolina with not a flower in sight. But lots of spring green and Spanish moss and osprey nests, so it's all good :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I had to look up where you live. Your yard is amazing! Southern part of the state? This was a wonderful tour. I can see how much work has gone into your gardening of all kinds, and I enjoyed seeing it all. My mother was like you, but I'm more of a plant-it-and-it-has-to-survive-on-its-own kind of person. The most I ever do is put a watering of epsom salts on my rose bush to bring on a rose flush. And aspirin water for black spot or fungus that attacks. Egg shells around the roots for calcium. Hmm, I guess I do a few things, but not often, and really? I only have ONE rose bush. LOL That really big bush you have there reminds me of the Peace rose of the sixties. My mother loved that one.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love two tone iris! We met Dale Chilhuly some time back in the 1990's I think at an art school in NW Washington State. Those roses are gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  11. So much fun to see all your Spring color! And to see plants/flowers that just don't grow here. The Chihuly rose is a knockout, for sure!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Your garden is looking wonderful - so many colorful flowers to enjoy. Don't stress about getting things done out there, just enjoy it. Your fabric choices look beautiful - of course I'm a fan of color!

    ReplyDelete

I appreciate your visit to my blog and love your comments!