Favorite Tiara!

Amber Tiara Hosta....one of my favorites!  

This is a favorite hosta partly because of it's unusual leaf color  but also because I do enjoy the flower it produces!

I really love the variegated tone of the 

flower and the lavender purple color 

of them! It's a relatively fast grower 

and I've split it off and doubled what 

I originally had in a short period.  

Overall it's about a 12" tall plant.

 Forgive my indulgence on this hosta, 

but I do enjoy it!  My hostas don't get 

chewed on too badly, but I am told by 

a reputable source that SLUGGO

by Monterey Lawn & Garden 

works the best!

 Now on with more lilies!

 This is a new one I picked up last year 

 called "Sunday Gloves"

This one is called 

Siloam Sue Mills

It's a large flower and shows

off nicely at a distance.

This little cutie is called

Razzamatazz

This one was new last year

too and it's called 

Crimson Pirate 

I'm going to be removing all my daylilies 

from this location and trying a little 

something different.  They are struggling 

along because they don't get enough sun

here. I end up with more green

plant than flowers because of it.

As soon as these are done flowering

I will be moving them.

I'm going to stick with hostas on the hill

and I'm going to be calling it

"Hosta Hill" from now on!

I picked up 6 new Hostas today

called Fujibotan.  They have a nice

deep green leaf color which should

make a nice backdrop to the

Japanese Forest Grass, Hakone

that lies in front along the edge of

the stone wall.

I hope your flowers are all coming along 

nicely and that this awful heat spell

that has his most of us hasn't ruined

your gardens!

Gladiolus at my Mom's house! 
I'm linking up with

 Rose Vignettes- Fresh Cut Friday

I'm linking up with

 Fishtail Cottage- Flora Thursdays

Enough rain Thank-you!

Everything is wet....I'm anxious to get outside

and trim some shrubs and see the sun 

shine again! It's been raining 3 days straight

and they say more is coming!

These Violas seeded themselves into the 

pathway...I call them volunteers!

The plants are heavy with water...

a puddle sits in this leaf....

I have been waiting for these red peonies

to bloom...it's been raining so much

they are all laying with their faces down

I hope to see the sun tomorrow so I can

get a nice picture of these!

The Endless Summer Hydrangeas are full of

flower heads...It will be quite a show

when they start to bloom

The mulch is soggy like a bog right now,

on this side of the path is a group of

Limelight Hydrangeas I planted last year.

Below them are some Elijah Blue Fescue that

are being dwarfed by the hydrangeas. I
should probably move them...they like sun!

This is early evening and I tried to get off
some shots, but it's so dull and dark already
I didn't get very great pictures.

This is one of my favorite Hostas called
Great Expectations

It's very large and has very thick heavy leaves.

(Don't forget you can click on the picture to enlarge)
This was my favorite shot this evening...a
flower  coming up under the leaves
of the hosta....

Up around the corner is this group of
hostas... this picture didn't do it justice.
I'm pleased with how they are filling in.

 A shot of the "island" as I like to call it-

I have 4 hostas on the left called
 "Remember Me" that I would like to pop out
and move. I don't know why I planted them
in a tight row.  As you can see the Japanese
Forest Grass (Hakone) has taken off this
year.  It was dragging it's feet for two years
after I split it up and spread it out.  I gave
everything a shot of an organic fertilizer
this year and I think it's working!

Just to the right a closer shot with the fountain

It was getting dark quickly...I like how the
wet stones look so old world...

Have you been getting a lot of rain?
We have had more than our share lately!
I hope this weekend will dry up and we
can see the sun again!

Rainy days

We've had rain for two days and while it seems to have let up it's very gloomy and cool. I decided to go out and take a few pictures of the progress some of the plants have made.

Compared to a month ago I think it's rather amazing how much growth there is.

 I took the pedestal from this fairy statute and used it with my new sun dial my sister gave me.  I haven't found a substitute for it (It was a bit too tall for her anyway). I planted the same impatiens that are around the fountain area at her feet.  Everything has taken off rather nicely and now I don't want to disturb that area.

I always call this my island even though it's really not an island. I have some Siberian Iris that are going to bloom soon (above her head).  I transplanted them two summers ago and it took until this spring for them to show some flower heads again!  I don't know what the rush is in my head for everything to grow and bloom, but because after our long winter I am grateful to see green again and I just get so anxious to see each flower!

The impatiens are filling out quickly.

So many hostas... just love them! These are called
Bright Lights

This Hakone, Japanese Forest Grass seems to approve of the location I put it in.  I set it next to this rock.  I had several rocks I put around the pond and when we tore the pond down I ended up with these rocks that had no home.  Eventually I put them around the ring around fountain area. I put a little moss on the rock and it has taken off.

When I started my fern garden around the corner of the deck I eventually took some from there and put them along this side of the deck.  I only put about 6 little ones and since then they've more than doubled.  The Endless Summer Hydrangeas sit next to them.  They love this spot and have been an extremely reliable shrub.

Lastly, my Weigela...it decided to bloom like crazy this year! I love the flower color on this one.  It has varigagted leaves too.  Up until this year it's been very so so and I have threatened to remove it several times.  I think I scared it into conformity!

I'm linking up with The Little Round Table's- This Week In my Garden
Thank-you for hosting this linky party! 

Planting, planting, planting

Well I finally got the boxwoods planted.

I put the alyssum along side them,

but they don't show up much just yet.

 I lost two shrubs from damage by voles this winter and

then I decided to try a new shrub rather than

repeating what I had.  So I went for these

Dwarf English Boxwoods.  They are supposed

to be very slow growing and easy to take

care of. 

The sundial my sister gave me seems to work rather

well set in this area.

My Coral Bells and hostas are rapidly growing!

You can see the Jack Frost, Brunnera in the background.

I do love that plant.  It's been blooming for two weeks and

still going strong.

Out back behind the water fountain area I have these large rocks

setting about.  I planted some Japanese Forest Grass (Hakone) next to 

a couple of rocks this year.  The Sweet Woodruff is blooming

right now..it has a nice smell.

Sunday morning was pretty and I enjoyed watching

the sun making it's way through the woods

to the back yard.

Mother nature has it together!  You can't 

compete with the beauty she provides! A

little heavenly sunshine and you've got a

perfect mix!