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| John Cabot Roses bloomed pink last year, blooming red this year. Maybe a soil problem? |
I need to throw a garden party. In celebration of all these pretty little posies.
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| Goldenrod is my calendar girl. She announces that summer is waning. |
A garden party is infinitely easier than cleaning the house. (Hey!) So, let's just cozy up in the lawn chairs, and enjoy the lovely view.
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| Helianthus - 5 foot tall perennial sunflowers - blooms in huge clumps, celebrating the August heat. |
Everywhere I turn, bright bloomers are making me smile.
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| Clematis do a fine job of covering a deck that is desperate need of painting. |
I think this is the very best these gardens have ever looked!
* No thanks to me. I imagine the new sprinkler system has inspired them to go hog wild. Because they were never that well cared for when I was schlepping hoses back and forth. :)
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| With consistent deadheading, you can enjoy a whole summer's worth of Columbines. |
Deadheading really helps. Do you go after spent blooms with a scissors?
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| Heirloom Hollyhocks are just getting started. |
I'm relentless when it comes to lopping off their heads... I'm even guilty of weed-wacking the bigguns.
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| Radioactive pink Coneflowers with some waning Catmint. |
... because nearly every perennial will 'fight back' when they are deadheaded ~ by gracing us with another collection of pretty flowers.
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| Buckets and buckets of bombproof Coreopsis peek out from beneath some larger perennials. |
This is the 10th year of gardening at my home.
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| New {last year} Clematis is coming into her own, decorating one of my scraggly trees. |
I never really took that seriously... the saying that it takes 10 years to grow a garden...
It doesn't. Every year is amazing. But, this is my first experience with a
well-aged flower patch.
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| Gazillions of 'seeded themselves' wild Strawflowers but no traditional blue. What's with that?? |
And, boy, oh, boy is it making this gardening geek happy. I hope you've enjoyed the show.
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| One utterly delightful Mexican Sunflower |
PS: Man, it's hot out there. I'm kind of amazed they're all doing so well in this hot sun. Because Bad Dog and I are way happier inside with the a/c cranked to the max.
Happy Tuesday, everyone! Stay cool.
8 comments:
Thanks for inviting me to the party--I enjoyed seeing all your lovely blooms! I'm terrible about deadheading, but you've encouraged me to grab the scissors and head outside right now.
Looks beautiful!
I'm jealous your heliopsis are so tall. Mine are only about 12-inches high. Do they get bigger each year?
I tried to grow Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia) and failed. Couldn't get any of the seeds to germinate. So again...jealous!
But also really happy for you and your Beautiful Garden!! :) :)
PS - Have you thought of adding any of the perennial sunflowers to your garden? I've heard some can be aggressive spreaders / seeders, but I'm really happy so far with Helianthus angustifolious "Lemon Queen" in its first year in my garden...http://www.gardenofaaron.com/2013/08/all-summer-long-flower-parade-continues.html
PPS - Also, how about Gaillardia? Should do really well in your garden, I would think!
So nice to see your garden thriving! John Cabot is a medium red rose, so I don't know why it would show up pink last year unless it had been mislabeled, or was coming up from the rootstock (if it is grafted) as well as from the desired plant. Whatever the case, it's lovely now!
"Off with their heads!" Rose! :)) Glad you could attend my garden party!
Thanks, Aaron! It's a helianthus (vs. heliopsis) I think they're taller. And, yes! Tons of Blanket Flowers blooming in the wild meadow part of the property. You've inspired me to go take some pics...
Well, that's the weird thing about my crazy soil, Jodi. I have a half dozen of these big roses strewn throughout the gardens. Most bloom fuchsia pink. This one has decided to bloom red. So, perhaps this soil is in good condition and the other spots are not...?
Oops! Well I feel stupid looking at your Helianthus and suggesting you should go plant...a Helianthus! ;)
I guess I was confused because your HELIANTHUS flowers look a lot like the flowers on my "Summer Sun" HELIOPSIS.
Do you know which Helianthus you've got there? Any issues with invasiveness? (I've heard that some of them, like the Maximillian Sunflower, can become a bit unruly...)
If my garden looked that good I'd have people over every week.
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