Island Out Front- Mid July

I took a few more pictures in the early evening of the front island.

 Don't you just love it when a bunch of your flowers are blooming altogether!

When I first spotted these Shata Daisies at the garden center I liked how their flower heads stood straight up facing the sky and they start out a soft yellow and grow to a white color as they mature.  I cannot find any notes on the name of these which disappoints me greatly.

 I'm so pleased that this delphinium keeps coming back each year.  In the past I've had some that seemed to go for a couple of years and then just disappear.    Now I want another one, or two or three!

The coreopsis is at it's best right now!

 On the right is a large patch of Black Eyed Susan's that will be the next pop of color!

 I'm glad I made this border of coreopsis- they do well and make a great display.  

 We have been a little neglectful about keeping the edge of the island looking groomed this year.  We decided to forgo getting mulch this year- we'll catch up on it next year!

 I'm so tickled with the Butterfly Bush plant- it's gotten larger each year and makes such a nice display.  Great summery colors- orange, purple and yellow!

The purple looks so good standing next to the yellow.

Speedwell- Veronica and Zagreb Coreopsis

 When we created this island it was to cut down on some of the noise from the road out front and it has helped.  The blue spruces were much smaller then and I thought I had made enough room for their growth.  We've expanded the island 2 times afterwards and the spruce tree keeps getting larger!  I love seeing the branches go to the ground but it does present a problem with mowing around it on the other side.  I'm debating removing a few lower branches.  I just don't want to ruin it's looks so I need to be careful.

I'll leave you with this bouquet of flowers and wish you a very happy weekend.

 

While I Was Gone

We hit the 94-95 deg. and things really moved along.

 When we left last Friday to be gone for a few days these pink peonies were happily blooming.  I didn't stake them this year- just let them be natural.

While we were gone they finished and the white ones bloomed but they fell onto the hardy geraniums. 

My white ones are the strongest in smell!

Some lilies started blooming

I like their orange color next to the orange marmalade hosta.

This is a red version of my peonies.  I've been really lazy this year about this garden bed.  It takes care of itself but I feel bad that I didn't help the peonies stand up a bit better.

Tiny Bee Asiatic Lily blooming and soon the butterfly weed next to it will be blooming!

This red shrub rose surprises me each year.  The blue spruce is growing larger and larger and it's going to cover it up before long.  Poor thing gets neglected but keeps thriving.

The Stella d'oro day-lilies are just starting. 

Those are coreopsis all along the front. It's going to look magnificent when they bloom!

 These magic fountain delphiniums are just starting to bloom.  I just love them.  They get taller and make quite a show.

The Lemon Princess spirea on the end of the island are blooming and have bees all over them. 

The hydrangeas bulked up in size and I'm delighted they are full of blooms. The left side are Limelight Hydrangeas and the right side are Endless Summer Hydrangeas.

Once they get blooming it's going to be a great display.  Last year I had about 3 flowers.  Last fall I tied them up to help them take the snow load better and I didn't cut them shorter like I usually do.  Our winter wasn't quite as severe either so it looks like a good year for these.

On the deck I planted two of these with morning glories with a small trellis.  I've had bad luck with them in the past hardly blooming because where I had them there just wasn't enough sun.  My plan is that they will grab onto the railing and spread out- should be fun to watch them grow and pretty in the mornings once they start blooming!  Some little green caterpillars have been munching on them and the hydrangeas.

 The Annabelle Hydrangea really grew and has begun shading the fairy garden a lot.  I'm still waiting for the 2nd cottage I ordered.  The red bike is sitting on the pad I made for it.   Notice the green light hanging over the garden?  It looks real cute at night.  I'll have to take some pictures at night and show you!

The pink dianthus suddenly started blooming too!  Everything got larger in the fairy garden!

 This is a gold flame spirea.  I really cut it down last fall so I wasn't sure if I'd even seen blooms but it's starting to look pretty.

I'm so happy that I've seen a lot more butterflies this year than I have in a while.  Last year it seemed like I hardly saw any.  We also have had a lot of dragon flies and they seemed early this year.  Must be something to do with the temperatures.

Canadian Tiger Swallowtail (missing part of a wing)

Well- you all have a great upcoming weekend!

Thanks for visiting!

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Lily time once again!

The lilies are blooming all around the yard.

This area near the granite bird bath is my "pink" garden

I try to list the plants in the "label" area if you don't see it listed on the post look there.

I had to encase the rose bush (what's left after bunny ate most of it).  There is one bud close to opening on it.  

I have mostly pink flowers, some deeper wine colors and white.   Somehow one of my white lilies made it down here (It's nestle next to a very pale pink one).  I think the chipmunks have been re-landscaping for me.

This planter has grown a lot.  There are some orange petunias in the center but they are barely blooming right now.  I think they are fighting for little space.  I trimmed the fiber optic grass away from the center to see if it would helps these petunias to get larger and make their presence known!  The crazy flying pig is set up like a weather vane and spins around when it's windy!  

 I came across this over the weekend.  Look at the size of the flower!  I hope it will come back for me each year.  It's called Cappuccino Gloriosa Daisy (Rudbeckia/Blackeyed Susan's)

I put it out with my "orange-yellow garden" which is by the driveway.  The soil has always been rich over here- seems to be an area never touched by any modernization over the years.  Look at that rich black dirt!

 I moved all these two toned lilies over here in 2012.  The plain orange ones are some I've had in this area sine the early 90's and have withstood abuse from several garden transformations.

The lily of the valley plants keep spreading out.  I really don't want them here since they are invasive and can choke out other plants. 

 On the other side of the driveway is our island. The Cranesbill/ perennial geraniums have been blooming for a while and I really didn't take much in the way of pictures when the peonies were blooming.  There's a few white ones that were just about done when I took this. 

Max Frei Cranesbill

These yellow lilies were blooming for a good while but a pretty much done now.  I took these pics over a week ago.  This big blue spruce tree has gotten so much larger than I ever anticipated.  I hate to trim the bottom branches away because I love how it looks with their branches all the way to the ground but I know why people do it.  We've enlarged this island a few times to give it more room but there's a limit to doing that.  

The delphiniums are looking fabulous but as you can see below the rain can cause problems with them.

 The poor delphiniums are bent over from the rain we got.  Hopefully I can get them standing with some more staking.  We created this island to help reduce some road noise and give us something to look at other than the road in front of our home.  I'd like to take it way over towards the woods but our septic field lays over there and we don't want to create any issues with it.  

The daisies are just starting to open up and the coreopsis is doing fabulous this year.  Each plant is full and larger!  Yay!  

 Zagreb Coreopsis, Veronica Speedwell

This Butterfly Weed plant is a favorite for butterflies and bees.

In May when this weeping cherry should have been flowering I thought I had lost it.  The pathetic look of the leaves and lack of flowers sure made me think it was another loss.  

I'm happy to report that after I trimmed it and made sure it got watered a lot it's looking much better.  I lost some of the longer draping branches but I'm sure in time it will recover.  The Stella de Oro day lilies have been blooming great this year too.  

(Our flag pole is not crooked, but I cropped this from a larger picture and this was on the end of the curve that's created from the lens and somehow it seems to make it look quite crooked!)  

Out back again- The Annabelle Hydrangeas are performing beautifully!  

Final thoughts...

Isn't this the truth!

Have a great week!