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.

 

A New Garden Bed and an Evening Stroll

I weeded and prepared a bed for some new perennials 

I have tulips that come up here in the spring and some lilies that have just finished blooming.  There are some lily of the valley that got in here but I worked at getting them out today.  They have the sweetest little flowers but they are so invasive!  There was a little hosta hiding in here from an old garden that used to be here.

I clustered all my plants into my cart- I love how they look!

I got them set- they look a little haphazard but next year they will look a lot fuller.  I'm going to keep the store tags with them so next spring I can remember where they were set.  We're going to put some landscape bark down to help with the weeds and it looks good!

I wanted a dramatic bunch of Russian Sage so I put three of them in and I put these Tuscan Sun Heliopsis close by because I think their a great mix together.

These Coneflowers are called Secret Affair from the Secret Series- they are fragrant too!

This is a Helenium plant (Sneezeweed)  It's a really cute flower and will be hearty in our area.  I look forward to it getting larger each year!

Looking up the slope of this bed are the Asiatic lilies and a Crocosmia- Lucifer plant (the tall sword life leafed plant.  I guess they are related to Gladioas

I think they look very exotic like something I'd expect in Hawaii!

Turning to my side across the driveway the Limelight Hydrangea is starting to flower.  It's coming on fast- always a pleasure to see it bloom.

On the front island near the hydrangea my Shasta daisies, Coneflowers and Coreopsis are blooming away

Does this say summer or what! These coneflowers are called Little Annie

Zagreb Coreopsis

I don't know the name of this cone flower off hand but I love the color.  The stems are very dark and the flower really stands out.

The Black Eyed Susans are just starting to flower

The Butterfly Weed has been blooming for a good week or more.  

These Meadowbrite coneflowers have been in for at least three years and they've really spread out nicely.  They stay short and compact.  

This is an Orange Marmalade Hosta. It starts out with somewhat of an yellow/orange cast and then fades to more of a white look.  I think mine gets too much sun- it's color hasn't been as rich as it should be.

This island garden just blooms along without much effort.  I dead head flowers and pull a few bits of grass that try to invade but that's about it.  

Early evening at the end of a beautiful summer's day!

 

Back in the swing of things...

I've been busy for a bit getting ready for company.

Last time I posted it was before the 4th of July.

 Independence Day was kind of quiet around here but I did manage to decorate my pots with the flag.  

I found a new web site called BeFunky.com that you can play around with your pictures to enhance them, put words on them, crop them etc.  I used it to create a soft frame around my pot and added the words.

Last week before we took off for our first days adventure with our guests I took a few quick shots of the garden near the fountain.

The impatiens have finally filled in and created the border I wanted to see!

The moss is also filling in quite a bit. It's been 3 years since we added this section to the patio and the moss just takes off on it's own.  

I'm grateful for the shade we have in this yard.  The temps are in the 90's right now and it's a spot you can go for some relief.

We took a trip to Mackinac Island and

This place caught my eye! Isn't it cute and what a 

great garden!

Don't you love it!

The Lilac Tree Hotel boasts purple everywhere!
Even the hanging flower baskets are purple!

Mackinac Island has no cars- only bikes and horses for transportation.  It's a step back in time.

One of the sight-seeing rides.  
It was fun to visit again and a beautiful day!

Back home...

This is my Annabelle Hydrangea.  I planted it last year so I was glad to see it come back so nicely!  They say it's one of the easiest and reliable ones to grow.  The big white mop heads tend to droop a lot and tend to lay on the ground.  

The Coleus has filled in too.  I've been pinching it back a lot to encourage it to spread wider.  Seems to be working!

The Astilbe is blooming 

Out front on the island my Shrub Rose is blooming and growing a lot- It's the best it's ever been!  I've fertilized, and sprayed for bugs and kept things well watered.  

These are a new Aster plant I put in recently.  Love the color!

Some Yarrow and Coreopsis are new too.

The Cone Flowers/Echinacea and Shasta Daisies are blooming nicely!

The Delphiniums are shooting up some more stems so I'll  be getting more flowers from them soon!

It's been pretty hot and keeping up with the watering is a must!  My Pinky Winky Hydrangea was looking pretty sad- I hope the extra watering will bring it around again!

How are your gardens faring?